- Author: A. Vijayavittala, Ballari
- Translation: Lakshmi, Bangalore
- Illustration : Brundha Aravind
People claim to know all. They assume that their scientific temper has answers for everything in the world. They question the existence of God saying that He should have been visible if He existed. Śrīmad Bhāgavata answers such questions aptly.
svarṇaṁ yathā grāvasu hēmakāraḥ kṣētrēṣu yōgaistadabhijñaḥ āpnuyāt |
kṣētrēṣu dēhēṣu tathā’tmayōgaiḥ adhyātmavida brahmagatiṁ labhēta || — Bhāgavata 7-7-21
Gold is dug up from mines. But, is it readily available in its purest form? Not at all. In fact, the presence of gold is not even visible. All that we can see is dirt, stones and soil. Only a person qualified in that field can determine the presence of the gold. Once the ore is mined, a technician, using his knowledge, will extract gold from the ore.
Our knowledge of God is also similarly limited. We are only aware of things pertaining to the material world. Just as the presence of gold can only be known by a technically qualified person, the existence of God, the One who is responsible for all creations in this world, and His divine acts can only be understood by qualified persons. Only they can show us the way to see the God.
Prahlāda, while still in his mother’s womb, was taught this simple and beautiful lesson by Nārada.
This topic is also discussed in Chāndōgya Upaniṣat.
Śvētakētu asks his father Uddālaka, “Where is God?”. To clarify his son’s doubt, Uddālaka gives him a task. At bedtime, Uddālaka gives a handful of salt to Śvētakētu and asks him to put it in a vessel containing water. Śvētakētu does as told. Next morning, Uddālaka calls his son and asks him to show the salt he had given. Śvētakētu looks for the salt in the vessel but is unable to find it as it had dissolved. He tells his father that could not get the salt.
Uddālaka then asks his son to drink a little water from the vessel. Śvētakētu drinks some water and finds it salty. Then, Uddālaka answers Śvētakētu as, “The salt you had put in the water has dissolved in it. So, irrespective of which part of the vessel you take the water from, you can taste the salt in it. Although the salt is not visible, its presence can be sensed. In the same way, God is present everywhere. He is not visible to our external eyes, but His presence can be sensed through His actions and His causative force which makes us perform our actions. From this, you can know of His existence.”
This world is created by the Lord. The living beings, the myriad inanimate objects, the diverse animal and plant life around us are a constant reminder of it’s creator.
Śrī Madhvācārya talks of this in his work Dvādaśa Stōtra as “Bahucitra jagatbahudhā karaṇāt paraśaktirananta guṇaḥ paramaḥ” — This diversified universe is the proof of the presence of the Lord with infinite auspicious attributes and absolute supremacy.
