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Re: A CHALLENGE

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Govind Rengarajan • September 2, 1997 


On 2 Sep 1997, KESHAVA  PRASAD wrote:

> benefit I reckon can be got only by total belief in the presence
> of God and I cant bring myself to believe in this God for the
> simple reason that as soon as I want to do this my mind asks: how
> do you know that there is this person? 
> 

Dear Sri Prasad,

I can identify easily with the questions raised by your young friend.
Here's my two-cents worth, and hope this helps. 

It is clear that there are a lot of opposites around us (birth and
death, pleasure and pain, etc.), and there must be a
constancy/substratum on which everything is happening. This constancy
is Sriman Naaraayanaa. But, this is a mere intellectual statement. How
to realize Him? There are two ways as indicated by our teachers. One
is prapatti, which imho, is very difficult. People who have taken this
mArgA are indeed truly blessed. The other way is bhakti, which also
goes hand in hand with our visEsha dharmA. This approach is almost
akin to focus/dedication/effort that one would require in any
scientific effort. Indeed, this approach to realize Him is an
experiment guided by the overwhelming statistical evidence of
our Alwars, AchAryAs, and other great saints. Sincere practice of
our visEsha dharmA, and say atleast, ten minutes of meditation
in the morning and evening, leads to chitta suddhi, and slowly, one
begins to perceive His presence. 

To summarize, I think conviction of His existence immediately is
difficult, reserved perhaps only for truly great souls. However,
a conviction to find Him/Truth is a necessary step, and this will
slowly lead us to Him. And conviction to find the truth comes from
merely looking at ourselves, our lives, and the universe, and
wondering what is going on?

adiyEn,
govind rengarajan