Today atheists have met in a conference in this city and talked, as they like. I can answer every point raised by them provided they are not rigid conservatives of atheism and have open mind to accept the truth.
Atheist: There are 33crores of deities in India but poor people are suffering.
Swami: There are several teachers in a school who teach classes equally. Why the students are not of equal standard? The cloud rains the same water drops. Why one drop fallen in the pearl shell becomes pearl and another drop becomes mud fallen in mud pond? The creator is equal to all but the creation has differences by its own nature of merits and defects. Are there no differences in the people in foreign countries where there is only one God? The 33crores of water drops (deities) have the same content of water (God). Due to the association of different materials, some drops became pearls and some became mud. The difference in the deities is due to the superimposed multi nature of human beings. You have indirectly indicated the inevitable differences in the nature.
Atheist: Religious exploitations have led into misery of poor people. Why there should be golden jewels on the statue in the temple when poor people are suffering?
Swami: I agree that there is some religious exploitation done by selfish priests. But these exploitations are not of such magnitude to cause poverty of some people. The politicians and rich people are responsible for the poverty of some people. Even the terrorists are attacking such rich people only but not the priests. You are diverting the main issue to the wrong direction of a minor negligible issue. Your main issue is negation of the existence of God. It is a path in philosophy and hence Vidyaranya gave a place to atheism proposed by Charvaka. But now you are trying to get the support of poor people by such diversion. Now you are no more a philosopher and you are now a politician. Actually you are harming the poor people who live peacefully with pure devotion on God. Their devotion is excellent and God is giving them the peace and lot of happiness. The rich people are not blessed with such peace and bliss due to their impure devotion. Money is not the single criterion of life. The religion is doing social service along with devotion to God so that the suffering people get the blessings from God.
Take a patient of Cancer or AIDS. Your social service cannot change his worry. Only the concept of spiritual knowledge and devotion can console him completely. Sometimes the grace of God may give even a permanent cure. The society is peaceful to a large extent based on the belief on God and fear for hell. Now if you remove these concepts, the society will end in chaos. Thus you are finally turning into anti social element. If atheism spreads, the corruption, killing each other etc. will go to the climax.
All the rich people will kill all the poor people and perhaps you want to remove the poverty in that way! The rich people and the Politicians are controlled to a large extent due to belief on God and hell only. You want to remove that also and support fully the rich people! How can you tell that hell does not exist? I could not show the hell to you but could you show the absence of hell by taking me to the end of this space? In the case of equal probability it is better to be careful believing the hell.
You have criticized about the golden jewels on the statue in the temple. The statue is a representative model of God to give a strong impression in the minds of ignorant people. The concept of God has several sociological uses like giving confidence, peace, happiness, control of sin etc. God is poor man’s heaven, which cannot be purchased by rich people. You are criticizing the material used in the model, which is building up such most important concept. A villager says that the material used in building up the experimental models conveying the scientific concept is a waste, which can be used to feed poor! Why do not you criticize the heavy jewelry of rich ladies in highly expensive function, which have no representation of any useful good concept? Why have you conducted your conference in highly expensive five Star Hotel?
Atheist: The spiritual knowledge is having no reason and perception. Hence we do not believe in it.
Swami: There are several things, which are beyond reason but their existence is experienced through inference. This is accepted even in science due to inefficiency of measuring techniques (refer to Heisenberg’s uncertainity Principle). Work is a form of inert energy, which is neither energy nor the machine and nor the motion. But it is inferred by the final effect. The limit of space is beyond even imagination and reason. The life is from food (Matter) and matter is from energy.
Energy has no cause. Do you not believe the existence of energy, which has no cause? A boy loves a girl even though she is totally rejecting him. This is a factual case even though the reason does not exist in it. If love is reason, the reason of such love is absent and the question returns to the original state. Again the love is abstract, which is invisible but inferred from the above case.
All these points are created by God to give the information about Himself that He is unimaginable and His existence is only inferred through the experience. This does not mean that space, love, work (awareness) are God. These indicate God by giving the indirect information about God.
At the Lotus Feet of His Holiness Sri Dattaswami
Anil Antony
www.universal-spirituality.org
Universal Spirituality for World Peace [email protected]
