Atheists believe that a superbeing named God does not exist; agnostics believe that nothing can be proved about the existence of God; and theists believe that a divine being named God does exist. It appears that atheists and agnostics are on the same side, although atheists tend to have a strong view. Theists are on the other side. All these views differ in order to prove whether God exists or not.
Let us consider these views with respect to Vedic philosophy. The earliest philosophy of mankind (which flourished in ancient India) is called Vedic philosophy. The entire philosophy may be summarized in a few lines, which run as follows -- Brahman is the ultimate Reality; the world is ultimately false and the individual soul (atman) is not different from Brahman. In Sanskrit language, Brahman means 'the great.'
There are two realities in the universe -- one is life and consciousness and the other is unconscious matter. Brahman is associated with life, consciousness and soul of beings. Soul is the source of life and consciousness of beings. It is eternal, unborn and indestructible. On the other hand, matter and material world has no real existence. World appears to exist because of the existence of Brahman or soul. It is an imagination of conscious beings. This imagination exists for the illusion (maya) associated with Brahman.
<script type="text/javascript"></script><script src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js" type="text/javascript">
</script>
- Only life and consciousness has existence - According to the Vedic philosophy, the material world has no real existence. Only life and consciousness have real existence. So in the whole universe, only soul (which is the source of life and consciousness) is real and exists. For this, soul has been described as Brahman. Soul is simply the 'self' or 'I-ness' of an individual. An individual always feels that he has a self and this self has real existence. He can't say that his self or "he" does not exist. Self is his real identity or true nature. Because of this self, he says, "This is my body," or "This is my house," etc. If a man is taken to a dark and unknown place, he can't be sure if anything exists around him or not. But certainly, he can say that he exists or his self exists. This is the truth for the whole universe. Only self or soul exists and nothing else.
- Both the world and God are illusion (maya) - According to the Vedic philosophy, this world of names and forms is ultimately unreal. It is an illusion. This illusion exists because of ignorance (avidya) of beings. This ignorance shall continue so long as one has not realized soul or Brahman. Brahman is pure consciousness whereas world is unconscious matter. Brahman is the subject and world is the object. One thinks about the creation of world due to ignorance. Brahman is pure consciousness, unborn, without a beginning or an end, formless, cannot be perceived through the senses and is without attribute. The concept of God arises when people try to understand or perceive Brahman through finite mind. God is the personal aspect of the impersonal Brahman. So long as an individual has not realized his soul or Brahman, God shall appear to be real. God becomes unreal only for him who has realized his oneness with Brahman by rising above his senses. So ultimately God is unreal but from practical purpose, God (as well as world) may be accepted as real. So when atheists believe that God has no existence, they are right but only partially because they don't even believe in the reality of life, consciousness and soul. When theists believe in God, they are also right but only partially because when they shall realize the reality, ignorance about God shall disappear.
- How much theists believe God - Theists believe in the existence of God but very few or none accept his presence seriously. They know that God is omniscient but people think evil or do evil without fear. Even in places of worship, people are exploited. They know everything happens by the will of God, but people don't wait for His will and punish or kill others. Religious fundamentalists kill thousands of people of other faiths in the name of God. In courts, people take oaths in the name of God but give false evidence. People take the name of God only to give weight to their empty words.
Hence, according to the Vedic philosophy, one should believe in the existence and reality of life, consciousness and soul which is Brahman. When Brahman is realized through knowledge, ignorance of world and God disappears
Recent comments
32 weeks 2 days ago
32 weeks 2 days ago
32 weeks 2 days ago
35 weeks 3 days ago
43 weeks 3 days ago
1 year 22 weeks ago
1 year 22 weeks ago
1 year 23 weeks ago
1 year 23 weeks ago
1 year 23 weeks ago