Are we really Gods?

I recently read The Lost Symbol (again... third time). It has sparked a few questions. Hell no.. I'm not promoting the book! Most of what has been discussed in the book has already been discussed in Hinduism. When I gained some Wiki-wisdom about Advaita and Dwaita philosophy it kind of left me confused. Both these philosophies talk about God (Brahmam) and Soul(Atman). While Advaitam says both are the same, Dwaitam talks about them being two different things. I'm not knowledgable enough to say which is right but generally speaking, the essence of life is to find oneself through which we find God. So I guess soul is part of God. But what or who is God? Religiously speaking, God is the Supreme Being. He (or She, the female version) controls the world - created the world, created the animate and the inanimate, controls the nature.. even controls luck to some extent! In Hinduism, we have so many choices of Gods - the real Gods controlling the creation, sustenance and destruction, some other Gods controlling the software part of humans - Knowledge, Wealth and Courage and numerous other Gods who we even believe to have walked the earth in the form of incarnations.

That leads us back to the topic of the book - "Know ye not that ye are Gods". In Hindusim, Vishnu's incarnations on earth have been called "divine" and are the crux of our epics - the Ramayana and Mahabharata. But I wonder if their contemperories knew that they were divine? They were exemplary men. They charmed the people around them. They helped people around them. They destroyed evil. They imparted wisdom to the people around them. Wouldn't it be nice to have someone(or many) like them around us? Someone, who doesn't get upset or angry with our behavior, someone to correct us if we are wrong, someone to protect us and someone who doesn't play politics! Would we call them Gods? I guess we wouldn't. Why? Simply because it is too good to be true to happen in today's world! We would suspect some scheming happening behind such good behavior. We would keep watching out for traps that we simply wouldn't enjoy the company or relationship of such a person.

The closest I've seen to being divine are parents. They correct their children if they're wrong, they don't play politics, they protect them (at least until their children are living with them), they don't expect anything in return from them but of course they do get angry with their behavior!! When a parent can exhibit such behavior towards the child, why can't we, as a person, exhibit a similar behavior towards others? Do we do that? No. Why? Simply because we are afraid of losing. If we correct someone else's mistake or not play politics, they will use us as ladders. We will be at the losing end. We will be left behind while the rest of the world advances.

So how can man unleash the divinity within himself? How can we be divine and sustain at the same time? Somehow, this situation seems to be similar to what Arjuna felt on the battlefield. He was not ready to kill his relatives and teacher but that means accepting defeat. But Krishna justified that Arjuna had to answer the call of duty. As a warrior, it is Arjuna's duty to kill. He is not comitting a sin by carrying out his responsibility. Bhagavad Gita talks about God(Brahmam), Soul(Atman) and duty(Karma). When Arjuna fighting the war is justified, the war that we wage with our contemporaries needs to be justified too, right? Well, according to me, the answer is yes! We have to function according to our capacities. When we need to be tough on people when we have to be. We have to justify the roles we play, without attaching ourselves to the results. Well, we can't live without hikes or bonuses... but you are getting paid for what you did. So it is still within our responsibility to get what is rightfully ours. So where does divinity come in? Contentment. In simple words - happiness. The smallest of things that make you happy and content brings out the divinity within us 'cos for that single moment we forget everything else - the past, the future, the implications, ifs and buts. Be it your favorite movie on TV once again, or the first words your kid says or finding the first program that you wrote works. How many times a day do we feel really happy? We become God by making ourselves happy and how happy can we get when people around us are happy too!!