Since time immemorial, history has witnessed the attempt of demons & atheists to outdo and outsmart God and that race for supremacy seems to continue even in the virtual world of today.
This is the age of the Internet. People are spending more and more time online. They are emailing, socializing, chatting, downloading, uploading, sight-seeing, and blogging. And of course they are searching for all kinds of answers too.
CHURCH OF GOOGLE
In fact, one cannot imagine life without a search engine like Google. Google is so famous today for helping people find something on the Internet that it is almost synonymous with the phrase “search engine”. Phrases like “google it” meaning “look for it” have become commonplace.
This has led to a funny notion of wondering whether Google can be God. There is a Church of Google1 on the Internet. Of course, it was done in a fun manner but the people behind this idea believe that Google comes closest to the concept of God and they hilariously named their religion Googlism. But even in a fun manner, one should never attempt to belittle God by comparing Him with anything. Nothing and nobody comes anywhere close to God.
The Google-devotees even mentioned some justifications to the claim that Google can be God. They claim Google is the closest thing to an omniscient entity in existence that can be scientifically verified. Google is everywhere at once (omnipresent) and it knows everyone, etc.
GOOGLE-DEVOTEES ARE ABORIGINES
For a quick answer, God or Kṛṣṇa as we know Him, provides for all our necessities before we even ask for it whereas Google only responds when you ask something. For example, when a child is born, immediately, without the child asking, the breasts of the mother are filled up with milk to feed the baby. And what about the air, water, sunlight, vegetables, fruits, grain? Everything is already provided for without our asking Him for it.
Therefore, although it is common in some faith systems to ask God for one’s daily bread, in reality it is not required because He already knows what we need. Real prayer or devotion means to be eager to engage in His service, not to ask Him to serve us. The only reason for any scarcity of natural supplies one might experience is a lack of God consciousness or Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Under His supreme order, Mother Nature (Durgā) restricts her supplies to sinful agnostics.
Furthermore, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.1.1) states that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is janmādy asya yataḥ. He is the origin of everything. He is also abhijñaḥ, a conscious, all-knowing person. And His infinite knowledge is svarāṭ, independent. He is not dependent on some other source than Himself for His knowledge.
Google is just a storehouse of information. Google is not a person. It is an engine, a search engine. Just as a car engine requires a driver to make good use of it, Google requires a person or many thousands of persons to make good use of it by searching for information from it. And the information it has is fed by the billions of people who use the internet. So, it is neither independent in acquiring its knowledge, nor it is perfect. Moreover it is run by algorithms created by humans.
If anyone thinks Google is God, he is no more civilized than aborigines. It is a practice among aborigines that they bow down to great, supernatural creations of God like a gigantic mountain, or some wonderful natural phenomena thinking that the phenomena themselves are some great supernatural beings worthy of their respect. They do not know that all such wonderful manifestations of nature are just insignificant displays of God’s limitless energies. So if we bow our heads down to Google, it is just 21st century barbarianism.
THE REAL GOD
Even the slightest impulse to compare Google with God springs from utter ignorance of His greatness. A graphical description of the extent of Kṛṣṇa’s greatness is given in a scripture called Brahma-saṁhitā. This universe consists of billions of planets, each with its own atmosphere and suitable living beings. The material world is a conglomerate of numberless such universes. Such an expansive display of energy is said to be only one-fourth of the total energy of Kṛṣṇa, in which repeated creation and dissolution occurs. The rest three-fourths of the energies is displayed in the eternal spiritual world where there are innumerable Vaikuntha planets and the Lord presides each of these planets in His multifarious forms. In these Vaikuntha planets, there is no birth, death, old age and disease and all other concomitant miseries.
BORROWED PLUMES
It is often observed that when one achieves a little power by the grace of Kṛṣṇa, one immediately defies His authority and considers oneself as good as Him. In this way, atheistic rascals take all credit for their glory which they actually borrow from Kṛṣṇa.
One should always remember that all energies and powers are derived from the supreme source Lord Kṛṣṇa, and they act as long as He desires so and cease to function as soon as He withdraws. For example, all electrical energy is received from the powerhouse, and as soon as the powerhouse stops supplying energy, the bulbs are of no use. Without warning, such energies can be withdrawn by the supreme will of the Lord. In fact, in His ghastly feature as death, He renders even the most powerful person helpless within a moment by withdrawing His power.
There is a nice allegory in this connection. One day, a crow found some peacock plumes lying on the ground and she adorned herself with them. She began to imitate a peacock thinking that she is now as beautiful as the peacock because of the plumes she wore. But she will never be able to become a peacock by doing that. It will only be a cheap imitation.
In Bhagavad-gita (7.8), Lord Kṛṣṇa says that He is the ability in man. The position and power we may have acquired are our ‘borrowed plumes’. One should not be proud of them but acknowledge that Kṛṣṇa is the real supplier and glorify Him in every way possible. [End]
1Church of Google: http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Fun:The_Church_of_Google
