Conversation between an atheist and a spiritual person

1. do you think a human being can become god..

The answer to this question depends on the definition of the ‘god’

1a. if yes, what would you like to change in you to become god?

To know myself only as pure consciousness (soul), and body as an instrument to achieve this goal. The notion of caretaker of everything and detachment from people and things is the key to become god.

1b. if no, what inhibits for a human being to become god..

According to ‘Dwaita’ school of thought there is always duality and one can not become god, though he has all the attributes of ‘god’

According to ‘Adwita’ you are always equivalent to god, only your ignorance makes you human being.

2. what are attributes god has which a human being does not (overlapping question but might bring up some different points)..

God is pure consciousness filled everywhere. It has its own laws which we are not aware at the moment. Or only esoteric practitioners are aware and not everyone.

3. is god 'an entity which u can define' or 'state of knowledge of the answer "koham?".."who am I?"'.. from your perspective

God is never an entity. But as it is pure consciousness, it can take any form. All prophets, our mythological figures, saints, and enlightened entities are nothing but the human beings with awareness of their true nature. Even all the gods and godesses (Shankar, Vishnu, ganapati, brahma, durga, kali etc) are manifestation of GOD. God is beyond them. According to me those all were human beings like us. We have this tendency to worship to everyone who has supernatural powers. But every one of us has that ability as well. (We have devi and devata as common word for them and parameshwar or paramatma for pure consciousness.)

‘Who am I’ is the natural quest of human being. ‘Aham brhamsmi’ is the ultimate understanding. But this understanding is not just mentally but one should feel it in totality. The patanjali yogsadhana is the science of unfolding it.

4. what role does god play in your life.. directly and spiritually?.. [directly like when one forgets to pray in the morning he gets a flat tire while going to work kind of role.. ]

Direct role: Concept of god keeps us always aware that there are many things already accomplished in this world without you and very few things you can control on your own. The ex. cited above is very lower level of god-human relation. May be for the people, those totally unaware of their true nature and confined themselves to body.

Indirect role: There is law of ‘karma’. Not a single karma goes unnoticed. Prarabdha (fate) is the accumulation of our past karma. Pryatna (karma in present life) decides our prarabdha of next life and partially in this life as well.

Spiritual role: Our progress from body to consciousness is facilitated by understanding the unified soul which is in all of us and outside as well.

Vivekanada said all this very precisely. At given moment all kind of people will be there in the society. According to him, karmyog, or dnyanyog, or bhktiyog or any combination of it can help a person to transcend this body depending on his/her background and understanding. We can not mould all in one manner. This aspect was totally ignored by Semitic religions and understood by sanatan dharma, That is the reason we have innumerable sects in India.

It’s totally subjective matter.

EACH SOUL IS POTENTIALLY DIVINE.

THE GOAL IS TO MANIFEST THIS DIVINE WITHIN BY CONTROLLING NATURE, EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL.

DO THIS EITHER BY WORK OR WORSHIP OR PSYCHIC CONTROL OR PHILOSOPHY – BY ONE OR MORE, OR ALL OF THESE AND BE FREE.

THIS IS THE WHOLE OF RELIGION.
DOCTRINES OR DOGMAS, OR RITUALS OR BOOKS, OR TEMPLES OR FORMS, ARE BUT SECONDARY DETAILS.

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA