WHO IS THE ONE TRUE GOD–THE MOST POWERFUL? ALLAH? THE FATHER IN HEAVEN? BHAGAVAN? OR ANY AMONG THE MANY OTHERS TOUTED THE NAMELESS REASON FOR CREATION?

Modern archaeology dates humans on planet Earth to 6 million years. Our great-grand ancestors initially worshiped animals and birds before moving on to the elements of Nature, after which they came up with a host of mystic spirits and godheads they looked upon as their objects of exaltation. This went on till the dawn of Hinduism, the world’s oldest religion, which found its footing on human soil a little before 1200 B.C.E. Buddhism, Jainism, Christianity, Islam, and the rest followed.

• Who is the Almighty to the Hindus? The Hindus believe in Bhagavan, or Paramatman, the formless one, with his several forms comprising a lengthy list of Gods. Hinduism has its principal trinity of Gods, Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, who create, preserve, and destroy this arena of existence to keep the Yugas, or the cosmic cycles running. A set of Gods and Goddesses comprise the trinity’s larger group, each finding their unique association with one among them, and accompanied by a hoard of sub-deities. The Hindus hail Rama and Krishna as Avatars of Lord Vishnu, and the holy texts, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, revolve around them.
• Who is the Almighty to the Buddhists? The Buddhists have no personal God. They abide by the teachings of Buddha, who they consider as their enlightened spiritual guide, and aim to reach the state of Nirvana, or enlightenment.
• Who is the Almighty to the Jains? The Jains believe in their 24 Tirthankaras, or the divine physical manifestations of the formless God, including Mahavira, the last among them.
• Who is the Almighty to the Christians? The Christians affix their faith in God, the unseen creator of the Heavens and the Earth, and in three parts: God - The Father in Heaven, his son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.
• Who is the Almighty to the Muslims? The Muslims believe Allah to be the absolute. And they look upon Allah’s chosen one, Mohammed, as their prophet.

There is no Hindu who will place any other God above their chosen God or Goddess, including the ones from their religion, for their elected supremo, to them, is the all-powerful that will grant them Moksha, or liberation from the cycles of birth and death, to lead them into the imperishable Swarga Loka, or the heavenly realms. A Christian will declare their Father in Heaven alone to be the ultimate, while a Muslim will offer the pedestal to Allah. Buddhists will listen to none, telling all that the Buddha is the single authentic source to the gates of eternity where their Almighty lives, even as the Jains will disagree and state their Tirthankaras alone can lead them to their all-pervading yet unseeable godhead.

Each reserves the ‘all-powerful’ title for their God.

A minute, though. What does ‘all-powerful’ mean? It means the Alpha-Omega. The Dum-Mazdaa, or the one and only breath giver — the creator of the multi-universes that alone knows the secret of creation, for the enigma with no form or gender has conceptualized the caboodle one can think of, and cannot!

The Hindus, owing to their religion being the oldest, ruled their part of the land that once encompassed a much larger terrain embracing Pakistan and Afghanistan until the Moguls came in ushering their supremacy, claiming sovereignty over the former–none of their bejeweled Gods adorning their revered shrines and brandishing their formidable weapons could help them despite their ‘all-powerful’ stature.

Christianity, as it entered the scene, heralded the belief of one supreme God against the several worshiped in Israel and its neighboring areas prior to the incarnation of Jesus, and the resurrection of the Messiah rubber-stamped the movement’s authenticity. And those following Christianity after its spread were a happy lot for centuries until Islam robbed them of their religious preferences through Arab conquests in Egypt, Syria, Palestine, Persian Empire, North Africa, Spain, Sicily, and others, starting 665 C.E.–their ‘all-powerful’ Father in Heaven did absolutely nothing, notwithstanding his Alpha-Omega ranking.

In retaliation, Christianity forayed into Arab land with aggressive mass conversions that to date divide major Islamic countries between devout Christians and steadfast Muslims living in hostile, insecure territories–Allah, the ‘all-powerful’, it appears, turned a blind eye when this went on over a period of centuries, regardless of his being the Numero Uno as per his devotees.

Different races, from before our books of history got written, pursued their faiths and Gods, and conquests to them meant nothing but shoving the same down the throats of those they conquered. Period. No God belonging to any saved any.

That said, it wasn’t as though the Avatars, Messiahs, Prophets, or Gods bore no power to secure their believers’ lives. The tangible expressions of the single maker that took form as humans to live among humans, albeit as superhumans, and whose descents took place in every religion worth citing, for it was owing to the former the religions came to be, all had the power to ensure the religions their advents brought about never lost to another!

How could a side that had Krishna’s invincible Sudarshana Chakra and his ever-flowing grace fortifying them lose? Could defeat dare near the faithful who had Jesus’s indomitable Holy Spirit beside them? Or could Mohammed’s mighty spiritual ranking let his multitudes raise their white flags in collapse? Why then did their followers lose when they did? Did Jesus sometimes prove mightier than Mohammed? Or was Mohammed single-handedly too much for the many-armed strength of the countless Indian deities when the Moguls marched in?

Krishna and Rama wielded powers over the elements to effect impossible acts during their lifetimes. Jesus gave eyes to the blind, walked on water, and brought the dead back to life. Mohammed, unlike the miracle-workers that preceded him, displayed his other-worldly powers rarely; however, the splitting of the moon and its re-joining to convince nonbelievers who challenged him to show them a miracle, water that once flowed from his hands to quench the thirst of hundreds who had no water to drink, and the crying tree affair pointed to his mastery over everything. The Messiahs shed their mortal coils and passed on, but their wonders every so often kept taking place across the globe–they do to date!

Any Hindu Avatar could have easily secured India’s status as a Hindu country and protected it from attacking trespassers throughout time. Jesus could have doubtlessly routed the invaders who escorted their beliefs, to keep the concerned provinces steadfastly Christian in faith. And Mohammed could have effortlessly done the same, I dare claim! For the supermen scoffed at every law of science and routinely broke them–the aggregate called them miracles. As embodiments of the Alpha-Omega, their will would have been the Universe’s command!

What in heaven’s name then happened? Why didn’t any involve themselves?

• The Messiahs, or their Gods, did not intervene in the affairs that went on because they did not write their Holy Books. For none took up human forms to establish religions. They arrived here to speak of unity, to usher oneness among everyone; their religious, social, educational, financial, or any other status regardless. The Messiahs preached the same, then left. Some chose gory ends for themselves, like Jesus. A look, a mere look, would have reduced his attackers to ashes. For he was one with the Almighty. He lived inside God as much as God lived in him. But he followed the path he taught — the path of nonviolence, harmony, and love.
• And uncannily, the Messiahs before and after him spoke the same language, the language of the heart. They abhorred violence. They shunned immoral ways of life. They treated all equally. They loved and breathed God. They found God within every minuscule atom around them. They descended here, taking up human bodies to live their lives as examples for us to follow, then exited. They neither wrote the Sacred Texts nor named the religions their followers took up and named, so did not win wars for any.

The Messiahs unanimously worked their miracles for one reason: To nurture faith in people’s hearts so they would listen to them, then live their lives by dropping their barbaric, depraved ways and embracing morality, truth, love, and harmonious living. So one among them said, ‘Father forgive them for they know not what they do.’