What is GOD? My question is important. I do not ask 'Who is GOD?,' instead I ask 'What is GOD?.' 'Who is GOD?' is a religious question, while 'What is GOD?' is a spiritual question. Religion is a way of life – not the way of life. Religion is 'getting answers', while Spirituality is 'experiencing answers'. I feel 'What is GOD?' is a more important question than 'Who is GOD?.' So how do we answer this question?
'Sahasra Seersha Purushah' – thus starts the Purusha Suktam. The Purusha Suktam extols the personality of the Supreme Being, the Almighty God. What does the first verse in this Suktam mean? By literal translation, it means 'One with thousand heads'. The Suktam goes on to praise the purusha as one with thousand hands and feet and eyes. Does this mean God has thousand heads, hands, feet and eyes? What is the significance of the number 1000? It is well known that in Hinduism the holy numbers are 18, 108, 1008, or numbers like 11, 51, 101, 1001, etc. Why then 1000? Large numbers are often used to represent uncountable. The meaning of the beginning verses of the Purusha Suktam is, to me, means God is everyone. So, according to me, the Vedas say how people must lead their life ideally. All the traits and powers that are extolled in them refer to the ability of the humans, what humans should strive to achieve.
So coming back to the question, What is GOD? God is the ideal human being, the human being with all the ideal values. So attaining these values is the goal of life. GOD is the want to be ideal, the want to inculcate the ideal values. God is not a power, nor a separate entity. We are GOD, our want to inculcate the ideal values is God.
There are two types of religions: Theistic and non-Theistic. Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, etc… are theistic; while Jainism and Buddhism are non-theistic.
