Dear God,

I am taking a class at my college in which we learn about classical Hinduism. It’s fascinating, but it’s leading me to ask many questions I never could have imagined - questions about you.

In the Mahabharata, the great spiritual epic of the Hindu tradition, there is a passage that describes a supreme, ultimate being: “Isana, to whom multitudes make offerings, and who is adored by the multitude; who is the true incorruptible one, Brahma, perceptible, imperceptible, eternal; who is both a non-existing and an existing-non-existing being; who is the universe and also distinct from the existing and non-existing universe; who is the creator of high and low; the ancient, exalted, inexhaustible one; who is Vishnu, beneficent and the beneficence itself, worthy of all preference, pure and immaculate; who is Hari, the ruler of the faculties, the guide of all things movable and immovable.”

God, this sounds a lot like you. What’s the difference between you and Isana?

- Penelope

Penelope,

I’m saddened that you have to even ask this question. There are lots of differences. Isana has red hair, whereas I’m bald. I love sardines, but Isana doesn’t. I’m shorter than Isana, but Isana has more of a belly. That’s just for starters.

Incidentally, did you notice that the description of Isana that you cited doesn’t call Isana “both corrupt and incorruptible”? There’s a reason for that. Isana had a little run-in with the IRS a few years ago. Some say it was just an indirect way to try to bust him on charges of drug dealing.

- God

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 27th, 2008 at 5:15 pm and is filed under All God's Advice, Divine Rivals. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.