Why did God create everything?

Most religions of the world tell us how the world and all living beings were created. However, there is hardly any explanation ( from my limited knowledge) on why God created the Universe, the World and all living beings.

I have heard that according to Christianity ( I believe it is in the Genesis), there is a mention on why/ how light was born. “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.” Apparently, the light was made before either Sun or Moon was created: therefore we must not attribute that to the creatures that are God's instruments, which only belong to God.

Hinduism takes a similar approach to explaining it. The Mandukyopanishad takes a shot at explaining the why part. According to Chapter 1 verse 7,

“As the spider sends forth and draws in its thread, as the herbs and plants sprout from the earth, as hair grows on the head and the body of a living man—so does everything in the universe arise from the Imperishable.”

The moment the word Creation is mentioned, we tend to think of God as being separate from the creation, as if He is a pot-maker, collecting mud and making pots from it. This verse above from the Mundakopanishad completely denies this scenario- that the Creator is separate from the Created. The Created, much like the web, are part and parcel of the spider ( The Brahmam).

In the above, anaology, one may argue that the spider weaves the web for it’s personal gratification ( and hence the suggestion that God’s creations too are for similar reasons). However the second analogy of the herbs and plants, to me, seeks to fortify the argument that there was, after all, no real purpose behind God’s creations, and that the act of creation itself is as a result of his “Lilas” or , crudely put, “playfulness”. The sprouting of herbs and plants on earth is without motive and devoid of any specific reasons. Now, to counter any possible argument that the Brahmam or the Supreme is inert or lifeless, perhaps the third analogy of hair growing out of the living man is given- signifying a Conscious Living, Vital personality- full of positive energy.

A better analogy, in my opinion, was given by Suki Sivam in one of his discourses. He describes how a child brings out his toy box, takes some play things to outside the house, plays till as long as he feels like, and in a manner he feels like, and the moment he thinks he has had enough, he takes them back into the house. Can anyone ascribe any reasons for the child brandishing his wares in the first place? Or the way he played? O rthe duration? Nothing but whimsical. Suki Sivam agrues that God’s creations are like the child’s play – no motives can really be ascribed.

Suki Sivam goes one step further to argue that it is pointless to delve into why God created the Universe and the living things, and in particular, mankind, as if to answer the question “why was I born?” in the first place. He mentions that instead of spending on the why part, we just need to acknowledge the fact that we all are here, along with all of God’s other creations, and , instead, focus on what we need to do till the time we all are on this earth. Makes common sense, doesn’t it?

The iPigs are coming

This is the age of i. Anything from iPods to iPads, everything now-a-days is christened with an appendage “i” . Perhaps it connotes the EGO of the self , or the self-centric approach to life that the Human Race has taken to, in the 21^st century, and coincides well with the technology mania that has gripped much of the 21^st century.

I decided to fall in line. After all, “i” pervades all, and “i” am no exception. The result , is iPigs – a rip-off, if you will, from the clichéd acronym. No, I am not manufacturing ham as yet. And I am still keeping my hands off Farmville (that contraption for time-pass in am even larger contraption for time-pass Facebook).

iPigs, in my fantasy, are the five European countries , which could ultimately contribute to the demise of the Euro as a Unifying currency in the European Union. Switzerland, Denmark and a handful of other countries were wise to keep their hands off the Euro, while a few other Big Brothers bit the bullet in the late nineties, and now are busy licking their economic wounds. The cause of the wounds? iPigs, of course.

Ireland, Portugal, Italy (to a lesser extent), Greece and Spain constitute the iPigs. In my opinion, these never deserved a strong currency like the Euro, in the first place. Everyone knows the value of the Lira before Italy embraced the Euro. Or, for that matter, the Escudo in Portugal. If ever you visit these countries, the disparity is there for all to see. Germany, France and the other Big Brothers are well and truly ahead of the pack in terms of material prosperity of the people. This is aptly backed by economic data.

Case in point – exports from Germany, in 2009 are estimated to be only a fraction lower than that of China, in US$ terms. Contrast that with Greece, which runs a budget deficit of close to 14% of GDP. Clearly shows that it does not produce enough to qualify to be in the same Industrial league as its more illustrious cousins across the Adriatic Sea. In normal times, the IMF would have swooped in and branded Greece a Banana Republic by now. But then we are not living in normal times! The pressure on IMF from the USA and Euro Zone, to desist from such “unwarranted” branding is palpable.

I strongly suspect that the Euro as a single currency may not see the light of the next decade.

Everyone is calling out the fall of the US$. But it continues to defy everyone. In my opinion, that is not because of any inherent strength in the US economy or the dollar itself, but the TINA factor ( there is no alternative). If people have to pull the rug from under the Dollar’s feet, where do they then park their funds? The Yuan? Chairman Mao will surely be turning in his grave. Gold? Bretton Woods made sure that gold will not take tha spot any more. The British Pound? That currency’s strength is history now. The Yen? Of late, the Yen is the punter’s paradise, being used ( and abused) for carry-trade. And Japan is a declining economy, and I do not see the Yen taking over. That leaves it to the Euro… hmmm, think of the Portuguese and Greek currency becoming the de facto reserve currency. I am sure the world is yet to come to such a pass.

At the risk of being snubbed, I stick my neck out and predict two things:

• Strong chance that the Euro may not survive as a single currency of the EU for too long, given these vast economic disparities.
• I suspect that the Deutsche Mark, in such a scenario, may well make a comeback, and with a bang.