Swami Tejomayananda

In the present age of Internet, technology and information explosion it may interest one to know that there is even more information on one topic — God. Even God would be surprised and amused at this! God reigns supreme, whether or not we believe in His existence. The atheists endorse it by not believing and the believers by surrendering to God.

The former do it by disproving His existence and the latter by trying to establish it.

The question that therefore arises is, “Does God really exist?” Believers take the knowledge in the Vedas or the scriptures of other religions, as their support, whereas the non-believers are sustained by their own logic. But logic is a peculiar thing — it can be used both to support and nullify and is, in the end, inconclusive. Even in a court of law, mere arguments are never entertained without supporting evidence. People generally have a concept or idea of God, which may or may not be commonly accepted. It is this notion that they refute and hence their arguments cannot be accepted. A systematic approach would be to refer to the scriptures or books that refer to the word God, check its use and find out how it has been defined.
The Upanishads refer to God as Ishvara, Bhagavan, Brahman and so on. They explain the concept and if, after studying these books, we conclude that we do not believe in God, it is acceptable. Both believers and non-believers need to have clarity of the concept.
The Taittiriya Upanishad says, “That from which all beings are born, that by which all beings are sustained and that unto which they merge back is Brahman”. This beautiful statement means that if there is a creation, a product or effect, the effect must have a cause. Everyone has to accept this. There may be a dispute about the nature of the cause. Something cannot come out of nothing. So if the whole creation is the effect, there has to be something in the origin, a cause. Something exists and that self-evident being has to be accepted. It is this existence or pure being which is God.
Let us examine this point without taking recourse to the Upanishads. Take the example of government officers, ministers or secretaries. Each officer has the power to do so many things. They are all part of the collective government power. The government is not seen, but its decisions are implemented through these functionaries, who function because of the total power of the government. Even the peon in the office, wielding the power allocated to him, proves the existence of the government.
These days we have several workshops and seminars taking place with very catchy titles. One such title, which is drawing much interest, is “P to P” (Performance to Potential). Every person has infinite potential. Despite this we find that some people succeed and some fail. The reason is that they do not work to their potential. What is this potential? Do we know the potential of the earth, the water, the sun or other energies? Their potential is infinite. That infinite potential is called God.
Now that we know He exists, the next logical question is — Can I realise God? This could also read — Can I realise or manifest my infinite potential? We are continuously manifesting some of our potential and therefore we are able to achieve what we want. So the answer is — Yes, you can realise God! And if one is able to, the true end of all human aspirations is gained.

— Swami Tejomayananda, head of Chinmaya
Mission Worldwide, is an orator, poet, singer, composer and storyteller. To find out more about Chinmaya Mission and Swamiji, visit www.chinmayamission.com.
© Central Chinmaya Mission Trust.