What is All This Stuff about God?

The choice of topic for this post may surprise you, what is there to discuss about it? We are already well versed with our God; what else can we possibly talk about in this post? The following lines inspired me to write this post:

हरी हरी वसुंधरा पे नीला नीला ये गगन

के जिसपे बादलो की पालकी उड़ा रहा पवन 

दिशाये देखो रंग भरी चमक रही उमंग भारी

ये किस ने फूल फूल पे किया श्रृंगार है

ये कौन चित्रकार है, ये कौन चित्रकार

Looking at the beauty of nature around us can make us wonder about the greatness of its creator, the Almighty God who has created the sky, clouds, stars, Sun, Moon, Earth, mountains, flowers, rivers, ocean, and everything we see around us. 

We have already learnt a few things about the God whom we worship from our religion, which is a different picture for each of us based on our religion. Some of us have learnt that He is an invisible being, while others believe that He has a form, and this form itself may be different for each of us. 

People worship God, give Him different names, or even deny His existence, but let us face it, no one can ignore Him. Does it not point to a strong possibility that such a mighty being is more likely to exist than not?

Most religions advocate that God in some form created the universe and looks after it. If you ask a scientist, he may give you an altogether different answer, talking about the big bang theory, evolution, and other scientific principles that govern the creation and running of the universe, denying the role of any supernatural being in the process.

Let us first look at this important question – did God create everything in the universe? Actually if we change our viewpoint a little, there is no conflict between the scientific view and the religious view on this subject. Imagine that a boy throws the ball in the air we can look at the ball going up and explain the phenomenon in different ways, not really in conflict with each other:

We can pay attention to the ball following the laws of motion. It went up in the air since it had a vertical velocity under the influence of a force and countered by gravitational force etc. 

We can also explain it simply as, "The boy threw the ball in the air, that is why the ball went up".

Similarly, the scientific view that Big Bang started the universe may be true, but it does not deny the possibility that God Himself started the Big Bang process, similar to the boy throwing the ball. 

The existence of God is established, but how do we reconcile different positions taken by different religions about Him?  Which one is correct? Are the Gods worshipped by people of different faith are really different? By the very definition of an Omnipotent God, it sounds logical that it is the same entity, who is given different name and form by different religions. Also, it seems that God Himself does not mind the diverse views people take about Him.

That brings another vital question, Did God create religions? This looks unlikely as why would He create so many different versions in that case? Religion seems to be an attempt by man to understand and explain the universe around him. God does not want people to follow any one particular faith only. The evidence for this is that even after thousands of years people following different faiths and beliefs still co-exist happily together.

How can one experience God? When you go out and see the beautiful nature around, think about its creator and you can begin experiencing Him. Prayer is another established way to experience Him. Taking time to pray as per your belief is the most direct way to experience God. When good things happens in life, remember to thank Him, and when you are in trouble, take your problems to Him in prayer.

Disclaimer: The discussion above is just my attempt to form a simple common view about this very complex topic. No disrespect is meant for any faith, religion, or belief. Advance apologies if anything in the post sounds offensive to you.