You know, this is something I usually talk about when I am with VT. We usually have a good laugh over it. Once I mentioned this to my ex-boss - he did not particularly like it, but smiled dutifully!Anyway, given the times, I think I will apologise in advance to everyone who might issue a fatwa on my head after reading this.

Assume there is a competition between the respective gods. For the sake of simplicity, I will stick to the main three - the Christian God, Hindu Gods, and the islamic God.

Who is da best? The God on top?

Let me start with Hindu Gods (or God, depending on which philosophical stream you belong to. If you try to tackle in the Advaita route, there is nothing much I have to say, thats stuff beyond me.

The thing is, your regular Hindu Gods get jacked ever so often. They take panga with each other, often fall prey to jealousy, sometimes gang up, the Asuras often have them on the run, they are in bad shape overall. They can grant some wishes and have some powers, but sorry - they are all on the level of say, a Superman 100x. Things change quite a bit if you tackle the Trimurthi - but even they get into major shit often enough. Powerful alright, but not omnipotent. And often their political strategies curiously seem to reflect what happens on earth!

Now to the Christian God. Here, things are totally strange if you look at the Old testament and the New Testament. The God in Old Testament - Yahwe - is super angry. Vengeful, revengeful, and more. He demands loyalty and complete subservience, and he will take it. He punishes at the drop of a hat, and pray to another God (even a non-existent God) and he won"t wait for your afterlife - he will have you right here, right now!!

But the new Testament presents God as someone who has kissed those days Goodbye. With Jesus the son of God, no more anger is needed. All you have to do is be good and spead the word. God now is all forgiving - as long as you ask for mercy honestly. It is all sweet and stuff, and stick with him, and he will take care of you. Did I mention he is omnipotent? Yup, he can do ANYTHING. (That explains that question of Immaculate Conception - the Christian God can make a rock conceive, and a virgin is too easy).

The Islamic God. This is in my opinion, the toughest. Assume that the Christian God did not undergo that metamorphosis - and continued on the same track. Thats what you get with the Islamic God. Tough. Vengeful, if you mess with him or his followers. Demanding. AND omnipotent. I have read on islamic sites that you should not even bother to understand the logic of what he demands. Because his logic is beyond you, his senses are beyond you, and his idea of justice and right and wrong are defintiely beyond you. I can understand that, the Universe is huge, and whoever runs this place knows the complexities we cant even begin to fathom. But that is one school, there are other equally popular schools of thought I am sure.

So who is the big guy here? My feeling is, omnipotence and discipline and toughness is one difficult combo to beat.

If it all turns out wrong, and in the afterlife we discover that there are only Hindu Gods, you still have a chance. They can probably understand you are an idiot, and therefore, might pardon you. And God forbid if you have gone against the Islamic God!

Tough luck, baby!