Hi,
That's a thoughtful question for any sincere seeker! I will answer mostly based on logic and the ideas described in the oldest scriptures (i.e. the Vedas - as there are 1, what I am associated with from quite some time and 2, they contain lot more details available about these questions).
It may be long, but I am positive that it will help you develop more understanding below esp. if you are open minded.
Firstly, I assume that 'his creation' is referring to what we are experiencing as reality currently. i.e. the material creation. 'We' refers to all living beings in the material creation consisting of several multidimensional universes (our earthly beings perceive only three spatial dimensions plus one time dimension). But there exists a creation in a different realm (transcendental reality) which is beyond all hyperspaces of material universes - i.e the spiritual creation.
Some questions about God?
Does God live vicariously through his Creation?
Answer: He does not exist vicariously through his Creation, but it is true that he ALSO exists through his creation. In his material creation (where universes exist), God lives by exhibiting his creative and time potency - the intelligence and the influence of time around us.
Incomplete, but useful Analogy: Though it may appear that the traffic lights are going on automatically for a child, but in reality there is a human controller behind it. The controller is using his skill of actuating the lights by intelligent algorithms, he doesn't need to exhibit his other skills for that purpose.
Secondly, he pervades his spiritual creation (which is perceived by us when we realize that we are the soul) by himself and his expansions for giving and experiencing happiness in his relation with all of us (spiritual beings, alias souls). When we realize this, surrender to him and go back to the spiritual creation, we will experience this real bliss - the bliss of love by selfless service. It may be difficult to conceive this matter at this point, but if you have tried selflessy (without ANY motives other than that you wanna please the other person), you can get a glimpse of unlimited pleasure what I am talking about. Its beyond sensual, emotional, intellectual, egoistic and mental satisfaction. If these are the type of pleasure one gets by realizing and serving GOD, then he/she stops service as soon as these perks are not provided. But if that service is in relation to spiritual souls with GOD as the PIVOT, it transcends all other pleasures and is the culmination - it is selfless, genuine and spiritual. This is because it is satisfying to our'SELF' (soul) and not just our senses/mind/intelligence/ego etc which are different from ourSELF.
Does God live a life, separate to that of his creation?
ANSWER: He lives a life separate to "THIS CREATION" (i.e. the material world where we live). This is because in "this creation", he does not need to use all his potency. Of course, he lives in own spiritual creation performing wonderful activities with his relations over there - enjoying and giving enjoyment to others. So, he is both separate and pervading the creation - this is called achintya bheda abheda philosophy in Sanatana Dharma (Hinduism) that unifies the understanding of God amongst different conceptions and offers a comprehensive explanation.
From above analogy: Does the traffic controller have a life separate from the traffic controller?
Yes and NO. Yes because, as a person he has his personal life. NO because, he is no longer perceived as a traffic controller when he's home - he's just a husband, father etc. This analogy is limited in the sense that: GOD is NOT OBLIGED TO CREATE whereas the traffic controller is OBLIGED to perform his job. He does it out of his own free will.
Does God have companions outside of his creation?
Answer: Yes, outside the material creation, he lives with those beings (purified souls - we will also join when we become qualified) who are completely free from exploitative tendencies without having Lust, Anger, Greed, Pride, Envy & free from Illusion. Of course, in that relationship there are pure emotions of love as opposed to apparent nothingness as talked about by some.
Does God have interests outside of his creation?
Yes, God has interests outside "THIS CREATION" just like the traffic controller has interest in his personal life apart from work.
Is God's Creation larger than himself?
ANSWER: God can be seen simultaneously one and different from his creation. Its like asking: Is the sun bigger than sunshine? Well, depends on your perception - but fact remains, that sun is the source.
Does God's creation include anything that he did not create himself?
ANSWER: We tend to think of creation as being associated with time. This is because we are so long used to living in this material world running under the influence of the time potency of the almighty God. In the spiritual world, time exists, but it does not influence the beings - that is why there is no birth, old age, disease and death in spiritual world unlike this creation. Everyone is youthful and eternal there. Further, we should understand that time is UNDER THE CONTROL OF GOD. So, it is NOT true that he created all of us at SOME POINT OF TIME, but he is eternally expanding out of his will. Ask the question: When did the sunshine originate from sun? As soon as the sun is in existence. But in this case GOD exists ETERNALLY. Even material science also relates to the concept of eternity - but not complete though. Law of conservation of energy? It means that energy is eternally existing without being destroyed.
Is our God's creation established within a larger creation not of his making?
ANSWER: Firstly and Lastly, there is only one GOD who created everything. So, there is no question creation being separate from him. It is because his potency that gravity, light, heat is made possible (one could postulate by introducing gravitons blah blah, but ultimately the characteristic of all such particles of potency is a mere reflection of the lord's potency). In other words, the truth behind this material universe is NOT MATERIAL (very clear in BG 7.7), so any number of material experiments cannot understand the glory of GOD as the axiomatic limitations and scope of observation do not permit.
Just FYI: I am a follower of Bhagavad Gita and am convinced that the same almighty GOD is described in the scriptures - both Abrahamic and dharmic. These scriptures also mention that his glory is unlimited. He is not limited to religions, regions, gender etc.
The dharmic as well as abrahamic conceptions talk about it. The Vedas give a detailed explanation of WHO HE IS, WHAT DOES HE DO, WHERE DOES HE LIVE, WHAT DOES HE LOOK LIKE, WHOM DOES HE EXPAND INTO AND WHY, WHY DOES HE CREATE etc. The abrahamic scriptures do not deny a spiritual form for him (they reject only the materialistic conception). Further, some conceptions describe only his impersonal all pervading potency, but the true scholars know the fact that if GOD is absolute, the he should be both PERSONAL as well as IMPERSONAL, as there is no meaning to completeness otherwise. If you believe in abrahamic evidence, you might want to read the following. They mention the personal form of God: "under His feet" (Exodus 24:10); "inscribed with the finger of God" (Exodus 31:18); "the hand of the Lord" (Exodus 9:3); "the eyes of the Lord" (Genesis 38:7); "the ears of the Lord" (Numbers 11:1). Ezekiel (1:26) describes God as having "the semblance of a human form." Such phrases permeate the biblical literature. Similarly, in the Quran there are references to "the face of your Lord" (055:027), "under My eye" (020:039), "under our eyes" (052:048) & (054:014), and "the hand of Allah" (048:010), (038:075) & (039:067).
The Vedic scriptures also indicate his personal identity: Vedanta-sutras (1.1.2, 1.1.5, 'Rasovaisah'), Mundaka Upanishad (1.1.6-7, 1.1.9), 'God in human like form' Bhagavad Gita (9.11, 10.8, 7.7) 'multiple potencies of him' Svetasvatara Upanishad (1.1, 5.4, 5.5, 6.6), 'eko bahunam' Katha Upanishad (2.2.13, 1.2.22), YajurVeda (N.Sukta v.5), Rg Veda Samhita, Mandala 10, Sukta 90, Maha Upanishad: I-1-4 and many more.
He is happy with some one calling him Jehovah (the self-existent one), ELOHIM (the powerful and mighty), Allah (God - referring to Generator, Operator and destroyer - describing the glory that is within our capacity to understand), Krishna (the all attractive one - containing all the potency in full, namely power, beauty, knowledge, wealth, fame, renunciation), Vishnu (the maintainer of creation), Rama (the supreme enjoyer) etc. All these names describe his various qualities and which ever is most appropriate for our level of understanding and conviction, we call him by that name and he reciprocates accordingly. It is only the people with incomplete, partial and bogus understanding of religion promote extremism and hatred, but the supreme lord is all loving.
Relation to traffic controller analogy: The same traffic controller is in office, he is called xyz by children, abc by relatives, qwe by wife etc. etc. So, its a completely personal relationship each having a sweet flavor (rasa) in itself in terms of the exchange between them.
When it comes to relation with God, we cannot call anyone and everyone as GOD. Some may be godly and saintly but not GOD. At the same time GOD expands into multiple forms in the same level of truth (tattva in sanskrit) and each of those forms are qualified to be addressed as GOD (avatar in sanskrit). I guess its enough detail for now
. Let me know if you have more questions.
Thanks for the nice question and wish you best regards for your spiritual practice. Hope that some will benefit to all of you... coz it took me few hrs to compile it.
Chaitanya
