Is there a God?
Before we answer this question let me tell you a story about AdiSankaracharya:
When Adi Sankaracharya was alive, there once came a man to him and said , “ what is wrong with you? no one knows if there is a God or not, then why are you wasting your life, living the life of a celibate, wearing just a piece of cloth and applying ashes (vibhuthi) all over your body and hardly eating anything tasty?, and following your daily “anusthana”( discipline of daily living, pooja, rituals, meditation, studying of ancient texts, philosophy etc); Why not enjoy life, the way I do?”
To this Adi Sankaracarya responded, “ you are right, no one surely knows if there is a God or not, but here is how I see it, the very “ enjoyment” that you talk about, the very enjoyment that you get in wearing fancy clothes, fancy jewelry, the very enjoyment that you get out of watching plays, chasing women, the very enjoyment that you get in eating the tastiest meats, the tastiest alcohol, the tastiest food; I get the very same “enjoyment” in living the way I do, I get the very same enjoyment in wearing just a piece of cloth, in doing my “Anushtana”, in applying vibhuthi, in meditating, in eating just enough to live while focusing on realizing the divine”
Adi Sankaracarya, the said “But dear friend, just remember and understand this, one thing that surely will happen, is you and I will die, we will leave this body, and IF there is a God, I will leave it up to you, on what you think will happen to you after that inescapable eventuality.”.
This is such an important story in understanding and in trying to answer the question “Is there a God?”. To me the answer is, I know there is a God, I know because I know. Just as I cannot prove to you that I saw a tiger in my living room when I was 5 and you were in another part of the world, I cannot prove that there is a God to anyone. It is for anyone to find out themselves. But again, let us just for the sake of an argument, take the stance of I don’t know if there is a God (which I think is the only alternative, until there is unequivocal proof that there is no God; so atheists, please shut up till you can prove other wise)”. I can understand the I don’t know argument. Sure, there is no way to prove existence of God (whatever the meaning may be), unless and until someone finds out by herself/himself. But here is the way, I would look at it, if I were skeptical;
That’s true, there may be a God, there might not be a God; But from the burning monk (remember the burning monk from Vietnam?), and hundreds of other Buddhist and Hindu guru’s claiming that “Enjoyment” and “Happiness” is a state of the mind, something you can train your mind in to. There cannot be a better proof of such capability than the burning Monk, who had trained his mind to not care when his body burnt into ashes. If a human can do that, a human surely can also always be in a state of happiness, in a state of “enjoyment” all the time. This is an indisputable fact. If someone cannot see this through and needs to argue this, please stop wasting your time reading my blogs. You won’t get it.
Having established that it is possible to train the mind to be happy and enjoy at will, and that I don’t know if there is a God, then the premise Adi Sankaracarya took above, that he enjoys' his own lifestyle, can be adopted by everyone. Everyone can live the way prescribed in the Sanatana Dharma, and still “enjoy” life. And in living the way prescribed by the great Rishi’s of India, we not only stay Happy and enjoy life, but there are other positive consequences to it as well on society, civilization and environment as a whole. Those lifestyles (as prescribed in the Sanatana dharma), while leading to “Enjoyment”, lead to sustainable consumption, sustainable wishes, sustainable impact on the environment.
And of course, if there surely is a God, which you will find out, assuming you have a soul, you’ve hedged your bets pretty well. You’ve enjoyed life, and you are in the good books of the almighty? Talk about hedging bets the right way!
On the other side assuming we are all just an accident, hey… no one lost anything. Its all for naught anyway and you still “enjoyed” life.
Now what are the ways suggest for living life the right way? Now that’s a topic for a different blog. Or a topic you should get in touch with learned scholars who you and y our family have put their “faith” in, or just get in touch with me.
One thing I want to be very clear about is, no one is suggesting that the ONLY way to live right is the way Adi Sankaracarya lived, the life of a celibate. Sanatana Dharma has prescribed many different aspects of the "right ways" to live depending upon a lot of factors, including your stage in life, your psychology, your dependency structure etc etc. As I said, that is a blog for another day.
A very valid question would be: Why should I live ONLY as prescribed in Sanatana Dharma and not according to the other major faiths? Answer: Another blog.
When Adi Sankaracharya was alive, there once came a man to him and said , “ what is wrong with you? no one knows if there is a God or not, then why are you wasting your life, living the life of a celibate, wearing just a piece of cloth and applying ashes (vibhuthi) all over your body and hardly eating anything tasty?, and following your daily “anusthana”( discipline of daily living, pooja, rituals, meditation, studying of ancient texts, philosophy etc); Why not enjoy life, the way I do?”
To this Adi Sankaracarya responded, “ you are right, no one surely knows if there is a God or not, but here is how I see it, the very “ enjoyment” that you talk about, the very enjoyment that you get in wearing fancy clothes, fancy jewelry, the very enjoyment that you get out of watching plays, chasing women, the very enjoyment that you get in eating the tastiest meats, the tastiest alcohol, the tastiest food; I get the very same “enjoyment” in living the way I do, I get the very same enjoyment in wearing just a piece of cloth, in doing my “Anushtana”, in applying vibhuthi, in meditating, in eating just enough to live while focusing on realizing the divine”
Adi Sankaracarya, the said “But dear friend, just remember and understand this, one thing that surely will happen, is you and I will die, we will leave this body, and IF there is a God, I will leave it up to you, on what you think will happen to you after that inescapable eventuality.”.
This is such an important story in understanding and in trying to answer the question “Is there a God?”. To me the answer is, I know there is a God, I know because I know. Just as I cannot prove to you that I saw a tiger in my living room when I was 5 and you were in another part of the world, I cannot prove that there is a God to anyone. It is for anyone to find out themselves. But again, let us just for the sake of an argument, take the stance of I don’t know if there is a God (which I think is the only alternative, until there is unequivocal proof that there is no God; so atheists, please shut up till you can prove other wise)”. I can understand the I don’t know argument. Sure, there is no way to prove existence of God (whatever the meaning may be), unless and until someone finds out by herself/himself. But here is the way, I would look at it, if I were skeptical;
That’s true, there may be a God, there might not be a God; But from the burning monk (remember the burning monk from Vietnam?), and hundreds of other Buddhist and Hindu guru’s claiming that “Enjoyment” and “Happiness” is a state of the mind, something you can train your mind in to. There cannot be a better proof of such capability than the burning Monk, who had trained his mind to not care when his body burnt into ashes. If a human can do that, a human surely can also always be in a state of happiness, in a state of “enjoyment” all the time. This is an indisputable fact. If someone cannot see this through and needs to argue this, please stop wasting your time reading my blogs. You won’t get it.
Having established that it is possible to train the mind to be happy and enjoy at will, and that I don’t know if there is a God, then the premise Adi Sankaracarya took above, that he enjoys' his own lifestyle, can be adopted by everyone. Everyone can live the way prescribed in the Sanatana Dharma, and still “enjoy” life. And in living the way prescribed by the great Rishi’s of India, we not only stay Happy and enjoy life, but there are other positive consequences to it as well on society, civilization and environment as a whole. Those lifestyles (as prescribed in the Sanatana dharma), while leading to “Enjoyment”, lead to sustainable consumption, sustainable wishes, sustainable impact on the environment.
And of course, if there surely is a God, which you will find out, assuming you have a soul, you’ve hedged your bets pretty well. You’ve enjoyed life, and you are in the good books of the almighty? Talk about hedging bets the right way!
On the other side assuming we are all just an accident, hey… no one lost anything. Its all for naught anyway and you still “enjoyed” life.
Now what are the ways suggest for living life the right way? Now that’s a topic for a different blog. Or a topic you should get in touch with learned scholars who you and y our family have put their “faith” in, or just get in touch with me.
One thing I want to be very clear about is, no one is suggesting that the ONLY way to live right is the way Adi Sankaracarya lived, the life of a celibate. Sanatana Dharma has prescribed many different aspects of the "right ways" to live depending upon a lot of factors, including your stage in life, your psychology, your dependency structure etc etc. As I said, that is a blog for another day.
A very valid question would be: Why should I live ONLY as prescribed in Sanatana Dharma and not according to the other major faiths? Answer: Another blog.
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