Question: How to prove the
existence of God?
Answer: Why
do you want the proof of existence of God?
Because
without proof, how to believe?
Belief
or Faith is invariably blind, and it works too. Better not to have faith in God
if you are too keen to have a proof of it. After all Buddha did not believe in God
or Atman!
But that will
make me an atheist.
What
is the harm? Most of the people, although they profess to be believers in God,
are, for all practical purposes, atheists, because their faith does not express
in their life. Swami Vivekananda once said, ‘If there is a God, we must see
him; if there is a soul, we must experience it.’ Direct experience is the only proof of
existence of God. Sri Ramakrishna and other sages of world religions had
such experiences. The fact is that most people do not want such experience
and are not prepared to pay a price.
How
come there is so much of misery and evil in this world of the merciful and
benevolent God? Why does he make me undergo so much suffering?
When
the mother washes and bathes the child, the child cries. It does not want to
take bath; it wants to play in the dust. Does that mean that the mother is
merciless and cruel?
A
surgeon operates upon a patient; patient gets pain due to incisions; he has to
remain lying down in the bed in an uncomfortable position; has to observe
restrictions of diet; and has to get injections. Does that prove that the
surgeon is cruel?
Indeed
all saints consider suffering as the greatest blessing of God, and a sign that
God loves them. The life of most of the saints is full of suffering.
We
suffer because of our misdeeds. According to Vedanta, God is only the dispenser
of the fruits of our action, good or bad. Good deeds lead to happiness; bad
ones to suffering.
Besides,
blaming God for our misdeeds is bad psychology. Better take the whole
responsibility on your own shoulders. This is manliness.
It
is believed that there is only one God who is all-pervasive and universal. Then
how did the idea of multiple Gods arise?
If
you trace the history of the evolution of the concept of God, you will find
that God was conceived first as a tribal god, and when the tribes fought
amongst themselves, the gods of the tribes also fought. The victorious tribe’s
god became the god of the vanquished tribe also. The most powerful tribe and consequently
its tribal god became the God of gods.
Secondly,
gods were conceived as the presiding deities of natural forces like rain, wind,
fire, sea, etc. As the human beings evolved, these different gods merged into
one God, the all-powerful and omnipresent. Thus the concept of multiple gods is
historically more ancient or primitive and the concept of only one God is
relatively newer and later.
We
have so many Gods—Rama, Jesus, Buddha, Allah, etc. Who is the real God amongst
these?
These
are the different names of one God, and not different Gods. Sri Ramakrishna has
expressed this in a very beautiful way. Just as water can have different names
like water, aqua, pani, jal, etc., in the same way God has
different names like Rama, Allah, God, Brahman, and so on.
I
like all the gods equally, more or less. Then how to select the chosen deity
from amongst these?
This
task can best be done by one’s Guru. Guru decides the chosen deity for the
disciple. In the absence of the Guru, that Godhead must be accepted as the
chosen deity or ishta-devata whom one loves most. You will have to decide for
yourself. Since you consider all gods as the manifestation of the same truth,
you can select any one without any ideological conflict.
It
is said that God is the sole controller of my entire being. He is the one who
endows me with good or evil thoughts and tendencies. That means I don’t have
any free will nor any control over my mind. How can I then own any
responsibility?
Same
thing was told by Duryodhana to Sri Krishna: ‘I know what is righteous but I
don’t practise it. I know what is evil, but don’t desist from evil actions.
(Because) I do as you, sitting in my heart, prompt me to do.’
This
is sheer self-deception. If a person is fully convinced that everything is
being done by God, he will never take a wrong step, nor do any evil act. As
long as you have the slightest feeling of separate, independent ego, and a
feeling of free will, you are fully responsible for all your deeds, good or
bad. Saints give credit for whatever good they do to God, and take the responsibility
of the evil on themselves. If you really and sincerely believe that God is the
sole controller of your body and mind, then you will neither rejoice in
happiness nor lament if evil befalls you. You will take both as gifts of God.
Such total surrender to the will of God is extremely difficult and rare.
It
is said that God knows all our problems. So, when we pray to him to solve our
problems, it is like telling him what he should do for us. Are we telling the
all-knowing what to do? Since he is all-knowing, we shouldn’t pray, then?
Please clarify.
Yes,
God knows everything. Hence many saints do not pray to God for anything, because they are convinced that God
will give them what is best for them.
But
apart from God’s omniscience or otherwise, prayer has its own usefulness for
the person who prays. It elevates the mind and brings the devotee nearer to
God. Prayer for purity, strength, renunciation, and devotion are more like
assertions of one’s will. Such prayers are answered by our own inner self, and
not from outside.
More
important than asking for solution to our problems, prayer to God is a means of
establishing a closer relationship with Him.
There
are also prayers in which the devotee does not ask for a solution to his or her
problems. Such prayers are a form of thanks-giving, God’s praise, etc. Yet,
prayer has its own efficacy. It is a powerful psychological tool. The devotee
is greatly benefited by prayer.
How
to find God?
There
are innumerable ways of attaining God. Swami Vivekananda has classified them
into four yogas. Sri Ramakrishna lays down only one condition: Intense yearning
for God.
Are
we all God? If so, why should we pray to God?
Do you
really feel that you are God? Or is this merely a philosophical concept for you
that all are God? Philosophically, our real nature, the soul, is divine. But
this must be realised by sincere spiritual practice. As long as this is not
realised, one may take the help of a concept of God separate from us and pray
to him. For a person who has realised his/her divine nature, there is no need
for him to pray to any other God.
And yet,
there have been saints, who, even after realising their divine nature, continue
to pray to God just for the bliss and sublimity of it.
