Worship...What is it at the end of all? Part I

Part I :

A disclaimer !

I am just 23yrs old and I am already confused and have umpteen questions about the way we worship. I am sure there are lot of people out there with questions relating to God, its existence, various poojas, after death reality and much more. Well this is no eye opener but just my ways of letting God know how confused I am!

So far I have gained knowledge from sources like Bhagvad Gita[Epic about Shri Krishna], Ramcharitmanas[Epic about Lord Ram], Shivlilamruth[Epic about Lord Shiva], Conversations with God[Novel by Neale Donald Walsch], to some extent Shiva Trilogy[Novel by Amish], Oh my God[ Hindi movie; remake of “The person who sued God”] and finally Sister Shivani [Brahmakumaris who believe in Shiv Baba]. Now my source of confusion is the extent of diversity and differences in the beliefs that each of these claim to be true.

What is the right thing to do?

To start on one common ground, all of these point to the existence of only one God. Lord Ram, Krishna , Shiva, Sai baba[irrespective of order of their arrival which is still debated] were the forms of God to restore harmony when the mankind was disturbed. True and agreed. Then why is it that all epics written about these forms of God[ref: ram, Shiva, Krishna] asks/commands people to worship these forms and not the original one and only on whose behalf these forms were created? I am sure these forms of God would not have told people to worship them. Surely there would have been a spread of knowledge regarding the supreme, the almighty and way to worship/reach out to them. I consider this to be the human created thing that the original knowledge got lost in its way of descending down the generations and the only remembrance being that of “human forms of god”.

I so far consider God to be lovable, kind and forgiving. I sit to pray when I feel I need to talk to God. This talking may involve thanking, asking for advice, guidance, questioning, sometimes conveying anger, frustration and other times asking for strength to face all. This has been my idea of connecting with God. I always wondered why people did it as a ritual/routine? In Recent times I have been able to spend a lot of time reading books related to God. And that is where I found my answer to the above question. The books define long processes of connecting with God, ways of offering to God and ways to avoid his anger. In the books it clearly marks out the segments where people have been punished /cursed with God’s anger due to their negligence, arrogance/failure to follow rituals. The writers of the epics/books mentions at every instance how people were treated when they mistreated/forgot to worship god, not just worship but worship in the right manner. This is the root of “Fear instilled love for god”. But my mind wanders, is God such an ordinary personality to force people to worship him/her and curse them if they do not do it? As human beings we might have the need to be loved by others, the need for power to be demonstrated over others to feel good about ourselves. But God is Divine! Would he have defined such ways of worshiping?

To be Contd.....

Part II [ What is it at the end of all - part II]