Does God Exist?

Many people in the world do not believe in God because they say physical scientific evidence has not been found that can prove His existence. But the evidence is all around you. Some evidence lies within each one of us. We know that we can feel love or hatred, joy or sorrow etc. Nothing that scientists and engineers have constructed so far possesses any such feelings. Moreover, we all believe that we possess free will i.e. the ability to make choices every moment of our lives (albeit within constraints). Machines cannot possess such freedom of choice. All actions of machines are based on their design, programming and inputs. Machines do not even possess a consciousness. They neither exhibit fear nor make any attempt to protect themselves if you destroy them

Thus, life possesses something that goes beyond anything that has been found in purely material and physical constructions. What is this extra, mysterious thing that gives us the ability to possess feelings? Here we may rely on the collective wisdom of mankind from ancient times. Many wise persons have declared that humans possess a soul that is not subject to physical laws in the same way as physical things and that things such as feelings and even consciousness of beings arises from this mystic source. They go on to declare that even though our physical bodies perish at death, the soul does not. It merely migrates off to other existences. Eastern religions declare that a soul may be born again and again through reincarnation.

Existence Of God

Once a human accepts the fact that he or she possesses an imperishable soul then the question arises as to where this soul came from. Our physical bodies are due to our physical parents. However the same parents cannot be the parents of our soul because our soul has existed before birth and will continue to do so after death. In future life times it may take on other bodies with different parents. Everything comes from something and we may like to know the source of our souls. Once again the wise ancients come to our aid. According to them the source of our soul is the universal source - God, One may view God as father or mother since our soul arises from this single source. To say that science can not detect these things is not enough to deny them. Science as yet knows little about dark matter or dark energy but deduces them from the effects. The soul and God is similarly deduced.

Most of us love our fathers and mothers and we know that they love us too. If God is our eternal father then He too must love us, and if we love Him too it can only enhance our relationship with Him. Not to believe in Him is to ignore Him. Many question why there is sorrow and trouble in this world if we have an eternal, all-powerful God as our parent। The answer to that can be found if we view our relationship with our physical parents. When we were young and at an age they could have imposed their wishes on us in all things, they often allowed us the freedom to have our own way. The consequence of exercising this freedom at times produced trouble and our parents permitted that willingly, though sadly as a learning experience. God, too as the universal source, our eternal father, has provided us the freedom to choose and to suffer the consequences from time to time. If we were to exercise our choices according to His advise then we can avoid suffering and sorrow. How are we to know what is God’s advice? This is where developing a relationship with our eternal father and understanding the fundamental workings of life comes in.

The scriptures or saintly persons can be our guides too (if they are sincere ones) since their aim as messengers of the universal law is to alleviate human suffering. They declare that conduct which involves greed, lust, anger, lying, stealing etc. produces pain and sorrow. We indulge in such behavior at times because of a temporary advantage or gain. In the long run though, evil consequences follow. In contrast, truthfulness and loving behavior produces happiness. Animals are not able to rise above basic instincts of lust and violence because they are unable to reason. They must then depend entirely on God’s mercy to evolve. However with human birth comes the ability to reason and thus hasten our evolution through conscious effort and practice. It would be a pity if we miss this opportunity and continue to get tossed about in miserable existences.

God as a father of all the souls of all life forms in this universe must maintain his family with not just a loving eye but also a just one. It is because of this we reap what we sow through the principle of retribution, divine justice, karma or whatever you wish to call it depending upon your cultural background. This principle helps life to evolve and also maintains an overall balance in the universe, otherwise the individual doings of beings could alter the destiny of the universe as a whole. Good actions produce happiness in this life as well as subsequent ones and bad actions the reverse.I recall a saintly piece of prose, which went on to describe the conversation between a saintly person and God. The person questioned God that whenever he walked on the sand he saw a second set of footprints and was assured that God was beside him. However in some of the most difficult moments of his life he found that there was only one set of foot- prints and wanted to know from God why it was so. In this composition God answered, that was when He carried him. Even though we may ignore God he never ignores us coming to our aid during the most distressful times in our lives just as a loving parent grabs the wheel from a child's hand when the car is headed for disaster. If we do the same and help others in times of distress whenever we have the opportunity and ability to do so then that must surely be pleasing to our eternal Father. When we do something nice for our human parents it expresses our gratitude to them. When we do something nice for other humans, animals or nature we express our love for Him.

In modern times many have turned away from God because they have been disappointed in man-made religions. It is all right to turn away from a religion that does not please us but that should not mean turning away from God. If one is turned off by the manner in which food is served in restaurants it should not imply that we should turn away from food. One may find many independent sources to learn more about Him besides His many delightfully illustrated books that are all over the forests, fields of wild flowers, trees and mountain streams.

You could learn a bit about Him from this blog too, but only a little because this blogger is still learning about Him and only knows a little, that too approximately. No finite mind may know Him fully. He alone knows Himself fully. But we need not worry about this. After all we hardly knew our human parents fully too yet loved them while resting assured that they too loved us when we were infants. For the Almighty lord we are far smaller than infants, how so ever grown-up or important we become for other humans.

He is ever engaged in sending forth security, warmth and love all around the universe. He is the provider of the water we drink, the air we breathe, sunshine and everything else besides. If we miss his presence at times it is because we now take Him for granted and because our attention is focused elsewhere. One need not conform to the practices of any religion if it does not please one to have a loving relationship with God who is present everywhere. God because of His infinite nature cannot have a defined and finite form such as those of living beings, therefore we have to feel Him rather than see him. However in certain religions they believe that if a disciple wishes to develop a relationship with God he may visualize God as possessing a definite form and attributes. This is all right as long as one does not forget that the chosen form and attribute is only a point of focus on infinity, a matter of convenience, just a facet of the Infinite. There is nothing else besides Him in all of the universe except the erroneous thoughts of the life forms that dwell within the universe and actions born of those thoughts. When our thoughts are in harmony with Him, our actions are marked by Love, Truth and Simplicity.