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Our life would be rudderless if we did not trust God or some universal element which is behind this wonderful and perfect creation where we live. Even an atheist may not believe in God but will acknowledge the perfect and objective system of running of this universe. Sunrises are never late, Earth rotates in exactly the same fashion and ecological cycle brings seasons in time. It never happens that when you sow wheat, rice comes out. Each small seed is showered by nature the capacity to blossom into a huge tree. Isn't this perfection unmatched by anything else that we do?

Trust and devotion in God is therefore prescribed as one of the values. Our trust in God makes us feel secured. Devotion to God does not necessarily mean bowing before Him, doing pooja or singing stuti (prayer). The bare minimum devotion is to accept that God exists behind the creation in some form. Trust in karma or karmaphala theory and poonya-papa theory is basic ingredient of this devotion. God worship is a process in which we express our trust and gratitude for the system in which there is complete objectivity.

If God exists, why is there so much misery in the world? Misery is not created by God. It is a result of our own doing. It comes to us as karmaphala. God is impartial, but it appears to us He favours some, making them rich while others very poor. In order to understand how just God is, we have to link our present destiny with karma of our past birth, about which we do not know much. God's justice lies in being impartial and not partial. He cannot give more benefit to an undeserving person.

I am reminded of a Hindi movie called 'God Tussi Great Ho' in which God, when nagged by the hero as a miser in granting people's wishes, gives him power to be God for 10 days. The hero then starts granting everyone's wish and a huge turmoil is created in the society by this. This movie beautifully brings out this point that God is always objective and impartial.

When there is devotion, there cannot be feeling of resentment towards any adverse result. Also, worrying about future is also like distrusting God. We have to be conscious only about our actions. Results will always be as per our deeds. This interpretation of God

presupposes that there is only one universal element in whose hands we can be carefree. One may call Him Ram, Krishna, Allah, Jesus or any other name but Vedanta proclaims that God is nothing else but pure consciousness pervading all objects and beings. Whichever form of God we worship is immaterial as long as we believe in this universal element which is objective.

If God is so objective in giving us karmaphala as per our karma only, is there any benefit in worshipping God? The answer is yes, there is. First of all, we need to have a concept of God worship to reiterate our trust in his justice system in order to feel secured. Also, while reward goes with efforts, there is always a possibility of grace in every transaction. God give his grace if the devotee is sincere.

The author is an IAS officer of Gujarat cadre