“If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him!”
"If God really existed, it would be necessary to abolish him!"
- Mikhail Bakunin, 19th century Russian revolutionary and Father of Collectivist Anarchism
Mercifully, human beings have stopped "inventing" gods in modern times. Is it because gods are not born in Kaliyug? Or is it because people living in Kaliyug refuse to buy the story if someone claims to be 'god'? Also, people have stopped "abolishing" other people's gods with the fanatical zeal of the ancient hordes because we have become more secular, tolerant and accommodating in our religious beliefs and outlook.
- Voltaire, 18th century French Enlightenment writer, historian, playwright and philosopher.
"If God really existed, it would be necessary to abolish him!"
- Mikhail Bakunin, 19th century Russian revolutionary and Father of Collectivist Anarchism
I was quite amused when I came across these two diametrically opposite views of Voltaire and Bakunin about God. But I was not surprised at all because both of them have stated the truth: Gods have been "invented" and "abolished" over the course of about four-and-half millenniums (3000 BC to 1500 AD).
Consider these historical facts:
The residents of ancient Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq) "invented" and worshipped Abzu, Adad, Amurru, Anu, Ashur, Enki, Ishtar, Kingu, Kishar and many other deities. People living in the land of Canaan (present-day Lebanon, Israel, Palestine and Syria) "invented" and worshipped deities such as Adonis, Asherah, Ashima, Ba'al, Chemosh, Derceto, Eshmun, Hadad, Melgart, Moloch, Shalim, Yahweh, Yam and many more. Egyptians "invented" and worshipped deities such as Amun, Ra, Apis, Bakha, Isis, Horus, Osiris and Ptah. But all these and many other gods were "abolished" systematically and replaced by the one and only Allah "invented" by Prophet Mohammed. The Jews retained the Canaanite god Yahweh and abolished the rest!
The Europeans too had their own share of gods and goddesses! The ancient Greeks "invented" and worshipped deities such as Apollo, Aphrodite, Ares, Artemis, Dionysus, Hades, Hera, Hermes, Poseidon, Zeus and many others. The ancient Romans "invented" and worshipped many deities, including Mercury, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Apollo, Vulcan, Minerva, Juno, Janus, Diana, Vesta, Hercules and many more. But then came Jesus Christ and his followers who "abolished" all these pagan gods to make way for Jehovah, the 'Supreme Lord'. Later, Christians started considering Jesus as their God, thereby replacing Jehovah for all practical purposes.
I wonder what happened to these thousands of gods "abolished" after the advent of Judaism, Christianity and Islam in Middle-East and Europe. Where did they go? Are they still there ('there' means where? In the heavens? I don't know!) or have they taken refuge somewhere else in the cosmos? Are these ancient gods hoping that some holy man (or woman) will rediscover them and bring them back into business? (Yes, business! Isn't spiritualism a large-scale and highly lucrative business? Look at the ultra-luxurious ashrams, private jets, fleet of super-luxury cars and other kind of 'maya' accumulated by modern godmen and godwomen, and you'll agree).
And what happened to the faith of the people who believed in these deities and worshipped them with all their hearts? These people must have offered their prayers, sung hymns and paeans to seek the blessings of these deities, sacrificed animals and birds (and probably human beings too) to appease them, asked all kinds of favours (mannatein aur duayein) from them, celebrated festivals in their honour, performed all kinds of rituals to please them and undertaken fasts to seek health, wealth and happiness for themselves and their families. All of this vanished into thin air along with the deities. An entire social ecosystem of customs, traditions, beliefs and practices died when the deities were "abolished".
I wonder what happened to these thousands of gods "abolished" after the advent of Judaism, Christianity and Islam in Middle-East and Europe. Where did they go? Are they still there ('there' means where? In the heavens? I don't know!) or have they taken refuge somewhere else in the cosmos? Are these ancient gods hoping that some holy man (or woman) will rediscover them and bring them back into business? (Yes, business! Isn't spiritualism a large-scale and highly lucrative business? Look at the ultra-luxurious ashrams, private jets, fleet of super-luxury cars and other kind of 'maya' accumulated by modern godmen and godwomen, and you'll agree).
And what happened to the faith of the people who believed in these deities and worshipped them with all their hearts? These people must have offered their prayers, sung hymns and paeans to seek the blessings of these deities, sacrificed animals and birds (and probably human beings too) to appease them, asked all kinds of favours (mannatein aur duayein) from them, celebrated festivals in their honour, performed all kinds of rituals to please them and undertaken fasts to seek health, wealth and happiness for themselves and their families. All of this vanished into thin air along with the deities. An entire social ecosystem of customs, traditions, beliefs and practices died when the deities were "abolished".
Indians too have "invented" and "abolished" gods but, unlike Middle-East and Europe, we "invented" large number of gods and goddesses, but did not indulge in large-scale "abolishing" of gods. That's probably the reason why we have incredibly large number of living ( jagrut?!! ) gods and goddesses!! Apart from the "invention" of grand deities such as Ram, Krishna, Shiva, Ganesh, Hanuman, Durga, Mahalakshmi, Balaji, Murugan, Ayappa and few others, there are thousands of local deities "invented" and worshipped by Indians in villages across the length and breadth of the country. In fact, the number of village deities might run into a few lakhs, considering that there are over 640,000 villages in India and almost every other village in India has its own presiding deity (gram devata). The deities named above are the most favourite among the masses, but other deities such as Indra, Brahma and Vishnu, who were highly revered and worshipped in ancient times, find themselves almost banished and ignored (if not 'abolished'). Of course, Vishnu has been cleverly retrieved in the form of his ten 'avatars', but that's a small consolation!
Not many Indians know that India's first two organised religions, Jainism and Buddhism, never propagated belief in any supernatural god. Probably, that was the reason why these religions failed to take roots in the psyche of the Indian masses who were bred on the belief in god for thousands of years. Also, since both these religions preached non-violence, the followers of these two religions never resorted to violence to spread their faiths and impose their world-view on others.
Mercifully, human beings have stopped "inventing" gods in modern times. Is it because gods are not born in Kaliyug? Or is it because people living in Kaliyug refuse to buy the story if someone claims to be 'god'? Also, people have stopped "abolishing" other people's gods with the fanatical zeal of the ancient hordes because we have become more secular, tolerant and accommodating in our religious beliefs and outlook.
Humans beings have "invented" and "abolished" thousands of gods till date across all cultures all over the world. That's why I say: God by now must be really weary and wary(!) of being "invented" by the believers and "abolished" by the non-believers!!!
[I have presented above some of the bare historical facts and treated the subject in a sarcastic, light-hearted and casual manner, with few serious comments thrown in between. Also, I have deliberately used the words "invented" and "abolished" repeatedly in relation to gods to keep the focus on the views of Voltaire and Bakunin. For an exhaustive and critical exposition of the phenomenology of God and religion, read my forthcoming book.]
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