Why Google Equals God?

Today, we simply cannot imagine life without Google. The very name is synonymous with answers to any question that one may have. The founders of google search engine wanted to name it googolplex, googol being a mathematical term used to denote 10 to the power of 100 which is 1 followed by hundred zeros.

I recall those times in my life when I had too many questions to ask but could not find answers for from anyone. It did not mean that the answers did not exist, they were too difficult or even impossible to find. The advent of google in 1998.

I believe that google is the 11 avatar of Vishnu after Kalki, with the difference being that Google was born before Kalki! We all know that Kalki will take birth when the Kali yuga has to finally come to an end.

Even when it was launched in 1998, I was unaware of its utility. It was my younger daughter, Vagisha, who actually made us realize Google in it's full scale and form, much like Lord Krishna revealing his Vishwaroopam! To understand why I am trying to equate Google with God, one has to understand God himself. We human beings created God (Gods and Goddesses) thousands of years ago. What was the need?

In his formative years, man was ignorant and illiterate. He knew very little about life and the universe. He struggled to understand why it rained, why there were floods, who created winds that blew away homes, whose fury caused earthquakes, why was there disease and death...and so many other things that affected his existence on earth. The early man had questions but no way to find answers. All these mysterious happenings could only be the handiwork of a person or persons who were very powerful and possessed magic. However, these powerful people, for reasons unknown to man, chose to remain invisible. They were hiding somewhere high up in the skies so that no man could reach them or destroy them. So, there was no way of fighting these invisible powers.

The names and identities of these invisible people in the skies being hidden, the earthlings feared them and realized that if they had to survive, they would need protection of these powers. It was clear that these powers had created everything on earth because otherwise how could all these wonderful things have been born? To seek protection, earthlings needed to pacify these powers with gifts and thus a whole new set of rituals and sacrifices were created. These entities were named for convenience, with the supreme power or the big boss named God. Other names depended on the nature and function of the entity like the Sun God, Moon God, wind God and so on. Humans in different parts of the earth had different names depending on the language they spoke, but they all meant one and the same thing.

We know that human beings are intelligent and inventive. Soon, they found out ways to talk to various gods and goddesses, with some men and women developing special skills. These then became the official spokesmen for all kinds of gods and powers and others just had to ask them to know what gods wanted. We can call them Godmen. Of course, over time these Godmen became very powerful, some of them even equated to God himself or herself (as you prefer). Thus it was that Jesus started Christianity, Buddha started Buddhism, Mahavir Jain started Jainism and prophet Mohammed started Islam. These men were apparently vested by the Gods themselves with powers to interpret and communicate their commandments.

Whether we are religious or not, all of us are influenced by religion. Though the objectives were the same for all Godmen and women, the paths they prescribed were entirely different, or so it seems. There have been many who have raised their voice against established pundits of God and have charted their own course. We now have millions of messengers of gods who preach their own ways of attaining God's knowledge and realization.

When my daughter,Vagisha, told me that I need not waste time asking for answers to my questions and can get them by a mere click of the mouse, I was fascinated. I tested the new oracle called Google with simple questions like what kind of food is best to eat and what clothes I should wear, and voila! The screen before me was spewing thousands of answers. I had heard of multiple choice in exams, but this was stupendous! So many answers to a simple question?

So impressed were we with our daughter for opening our eyes to a new kind of God that we nicknamed her Googisha! 

What is the difference between the old gods and the new gods? Initially I hardly bothered to know the answer to this question, until I read a book named “American Gods” written by Neil Gaiman. The book has also been adapted as a web-serial on Amazon Prime Video by the same name. We will talk about it later.

I found that the new God was different from the ones I had been told about. This new God gave the information I needed and allowed me to formulate my own views and opinions. Now, this was challenging for me as I was used to accepting whatever I was told by pundits and my religion as Gospel. This God was asking me to analyze all the information and come to my own conclusion. He was not teaching or preaching. He was not talking in favour of a particular religion or against it. He was neither forcing me to believe anything as the ultimate truth or even saying that there is truth, a final truth that I must understand.

This is exactly why I am equating google with God. God is a human creation, much like google. Unlike google, god was created by numerous individuals and groups. Now, Jesus Christ, for example, was actually opposing the men and women of his time who he thought were misrepresenting the Gods. So was the case with Buddha and Mahavir Jain and the prophet. They were all asking people to give up the complicated versions of god and goodness being presented to them and instead simplify God. It was their followers who started religions after their death to continue with their preaching. In this process, the original teachings were again complicated.

I believe that no God ever wants his subjects to fear him or believe that following them would take them to heaven and disobeying them will take them to hell. Here lies what I observed a similarity between God and Google. Both of them do not make any laws for men and women to be strictly followed.

I was telling you about “American Gods”. It is a fantasy and a fascinating book on how the old Gods look at the new ones. Old gods now feel threatened by new-age gods (read Information Technology). They feel that their credibility is being destroyed by the free access that people are getting to the hitherto undisclosed truths about the old Gods. In the story, the Oldest God Odin, is creating an army of old Gods to fight the new generation led by IT. The confrontation is of epic proportions between the old gods and the new. The book is a tough read and it would take effort to understand the characters. But the concept is novel.

In the Indian context, has the advent of new age knowledge driven by Google and technology changed the way we understand religion and Gods? Would you consider google as a new tool to understand old gods and our various beliefs about them?

Well, I have no answer. I would best leave it to you to figure out.