Tough Answers, part 4

Naughty Krishna holding a piece of candy

Introduction

July. Warm evening air. But nothing to write about. My mind was blank. Then I saw an article on Microsoft News (MSN).
The title: “Nineteen Tough Questions Atheists Want to Ask People Who Believe in God.”

But the questions were not so tough. After all, Lord Krishna is tougher than any atheist. And I needed a topic to write about anyway.

So I decided to answer the questions with the teachings of Hare Krishna. It will take more than one post, of course. But please bear with me and see if my “tough” answers to “tough” questions are not also logical.

Question 6. How do you know your religion is correct?

I

s my religion correct? I know it is because the other religions confirm it. By worshiping Lord Krishna I get the results that all godly religions say will come from worshiping the true God.

Krishna Consciousness has changed me.  I have easily walked away from my late-night parties and my psychedelic sessions to a life of prayer and bowing to Krishna.

Now, instead of lighting a cigarette, I light a stick of sandalwood incense. Instead of listening to the Beatles, I listen to the melodious singing of my spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada.

Not only service to Krishna. I now want to live my life in service to other people. And what greater service can I offer to others than what my spiritual master has given to me? Dancing and singing for Krishna.

Let me take someone step by step through the Bhagavad-Gita and show them  how to offer the sandalwood incense on Krishna’s altar.

Is this not the mark of a correct religion?

And I have seen wonderful changes in others too.

I have seen shallow-minded people become deep philosophical thinkers. I have seen timid, nervous people stop trembling in their little corners to stride boldly and confidently into the world. All from practicing Krishna Consciousness.

I have seen people face death fearlessly.  Even me. When I was in the hospital after a series of heart attacks and the doctor told me I might die that night, I could accept it calmly. No visions of funeral homes and coffins. No organ playing a funeral dirge in my head.

Just a bottle of yellow goo hanging on a hook with a tube plugged into a vein in my arm. And a bed I couldn’t get comfortable in no matter how much I turned and squirmed. But no fear. It still amazes  me. I knew then and I know now that it came from Krishna.

Is my religion correct?  What more proof do I need?

Question 7. What Is the Evidence for God?

I thought I would ask some of my scientist friends about this one. Here’s what they said.

Albert Einstein:

The more I study science, the more I believe in God.

Isaac Newton

Atheism is so senseless. When I look at the solar system, I see the earth at the right distance from the sun to receive the proper amounts of heat and light. This did not happen by chance.

In the absence of any other proof, the thumb alone would convince me of God’s existence.

He who thinks half-heartedly will not believe in God; but he who really thinks has to believe in God.

Galileo Galilei:

God is known by nature in his works, and by doctrine in his revealed word.

Holy Scripture could never lie or err…its decrees are of absolute and inviolable truth.

I am inclined to think that the authority of Holy Scripture is intended to convince men of those truths which are necessary for their salvation, which, being far above man’s understanding, can not be made credible by any learning, or any other means than revelation by the Holy Spirit.

For the believer, everything he sees is evidence for God.

Krishna says in the Bhagavad-Gita:

A true yogi observes Me in all beings and also sees every being in Me. Indeed, the self-realized person sees Me, the same Supreme Lord, everywhere. (6.29)

For the atheist, however, the everything disproves God’s existence. As Krishna says:

What is night for all beings is the time of awakening for the self-controlled; and the time of awakening for all beings is night for the introspective sage. (2.69)

“Nobody could be intelligent enough to create such a universe,” an older friend once told my younger self.

But now it reminds me of an example I once read of a butterfly resting on a book. The butterfly can’t imagine that the book contains expressions of an intelligence far greater than his own. The little butterfly can’t even conceive of such intelligence. But does that prove the intelligence cannot exist?

The god Sri Brahma creates the objects and beings in the universe as Krishna’s agent. He lives for the duration of the universe, and his intelligence is greater than ours to the same degree that his life is longer.

How can we even conceive of such intelligence? Well, just look around you. Look at the trees and the clouds and the rivers. Listen to the robins chirping in the trees and the cuckoos calling in the forest. Smell a rose.

It’s all an expression of that intelligence.

But as inconceivable as Brahma’s intelligence may seem to us, it’s only a speck compared to Krishna’s. Brahma’s intelligence contains one universe; Krishna’s intelligence contains millions and billions and trillions of universes, some hundreds of times bigger that ours.

As Krishna says in the Bhagavad-Gita:

Know that all opulent, beautiful and glorious creations spring from but a spark of My splendor. (10.41)

What more proof does anyone need?

Question 8. Why Does God Require Worship?

Krishna does not require worship, but we need to worship him for our  own benefit.

Srila Prabhupada says:

Yes.Why would Krishna need my stick of sandalwood incense? He can create boxes and bags and crates of incense with a wave of his hand.

And why only sandalwood? Why not rose too? And gardenia and the heavenly scent of night-blooming jasmine?

By the way,  smelling the incense of night-blooming jasmine has one advantage over smelling the bush: you’re not as likely to trip over a cobra relaxing underneath. (Yes. They like it too.)

And why do we offer rice and soup and steamy buttered vegetables  to Krishna? Why do we wake him up in the morning with bite-size cheesecakes and lemonade? Krishna is served by thousands of  goddesses of  fortune. Does he need my soup and  cake?

Still, he accepts it. As  he says in the Bhagavad-Gita,

If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, a fruit or water, I will accept it. (9.26)

Krishna is magnanimous. He doesn’t need my cake or my stick of glowing incense, but he accepts them just to reciprocate with my attempt to show love and devotion.

Ever hear the old saying, “You can’t eat your cake and still have it too”?

But Krishna can. He can eat the cheesecakes, but they’re still on the plate. And now I can eat the cheesecakes that Krishna has already eaten. It’s a kind of communion, part of the sweet relationship between Krishna and his servant.

So no, Krishna doesn’t need our worship. But the devotee craves the sweet pleasure of offering it.

Wanna try?

⁓Umapati Swami, October 7, 2024

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ove it? Hate it? Got a question? Write to me: hoswami@yahoo.com

© Umapati Swami 2024

Srila Prabhupada

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada is the teacher who brought Krishna Consciousness from India to the West and then to the rest of the world. He is the founder of the worldwide Hare Krishna Movement as well as the author and compiler of many works of Vedic knowledge. He left this world in 1977.

Umapati Swami

One of the first American devotees of the Hare Krishna Movement, he became Srila Prabhupada’s disciple in 1966. Since then, he has preached Krishna Consciousness in many countries and is the author of “My Days with Prabhupada,” available from Amazon. Now 87 years old, he maintains this blog to share what he has learned.