Page 1 - Does God Exist
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Does God                                                       that they try to apply a criterion that they wrongly      But, in the post-Einstein period, in the early years
                                                               believe to be scienti?c. They want a proof in terms       of the 20th century, when the atom was split, the
       Exist?                                                  of observation, whereas this is neither the scienti?c     whole situation changed. After the splitting of the
                                                               method nor the criterion by which to judge. If you        atom, matter as a solid substance, disappeared. It
Does God Exist? This question often comes into                 apply the right criterion, you will ?nd that God is a     was replaced by the micro-world, beyond the atomic
our minds. Let us rationally try to ?nd an answer to           proven fact.                                              world, where everything was reduced to unseen waves
this question. My answer to this question is in the                                                                      – neither measurable nor observable.
af?rmative. Based on my study and my experience, I             Here I recall an incident that took place in 1965,
can say with full conviction that God exists. There is         when I was living in Lucknow. I happened to meet          Present-day science includes so many things, such as
no doubt about it. When I say that God exists, I say           a gentleman, who was a Doctor of Philosophy and           electrons, the law of gravity, x-rays, etc., all of which
this in the scienti?c sense and not in the popular sense.      a great admirer of Bertrand Russell. Of course, he        are non-material in nature. They cannot be observed,
                                                               was an atheist. During our conversation about God         but every scientist believes in their existence, for the
People generally believe that they are in a position           he asked: “What criterion do you have to prove the        simple reason that, although we cannot see these
                                                               existence of God?” I replied: “The same criterion         things directly, we can see their effect. For example,
to prove or disprove anything. But this is not the             which you have for proving the existence of anything      a falling apple, in the case of gravity, and a photo?lm,
                                                               else.” The dialogue ended there. There was no             in the case of x-rays. We believe in the existence of all
scienti?c position. According to modern science,               question and no answer after this.                        these things, not by observation but by their result,
                                                                                                                         in other words, by way of indirect knowledge or
you cannot prove or disprove anything; you can only            Why did this learned man fall silent? The reason is       inferential argument.
                                                               very simple and well known. My answer reminded
arrive at a probability, rather than a certainty. If there is  him of the fact that we are living in a world where
                                                               inferential argument is as applicable to the concept
suf?cient data to show that this or                            of God as to any other concept.

that thing probably exists, then      Belief                   The Existence                                             This change in human knowledge also changed
one can make the statement        in God runs                                                                            the theory of logic. Now it is well established in
that this or that thing exists.   in our blood.                          of God                                          science that inferential argument is as valid as direct
                                                                                                                         argument. (For details, see Human Knowledge, by
The present question of Every man and                          Human knowledge has two different phases—the pre-         Bertrand Russell)
                                                               Einstein period and the post-Einstein period. In the
whether God exists itself woman is a born                      pre-Einstein period, knowledge was con?ned to the
                                                               macro or material world, which was observable and
raises another question.             believer.                 measurable. So, it was generally held that everything,    In the pre-Einstein era, unbelievers held that the
                                                               which has a real existence, should also be observable.
Studies in anthropology, that                                  Anything, which could not be observed, had no real        concept of God pertains to the unseen world. And
                                                               existence. This meant that only the seen world was
is, the science of man, have                                   real and what was unseen was unreal or some kind of       since no direct argument was available to bear this out,
                                                               ?ction.
established that the concept of God                                                                                      belief in God was held to be illogical
                                                               This concept created the theory that is generally
is ingrained in human nature. Belief in God runs in            called logical positivism. It means that the only
                                                               valid logical argument is one that is demonstrable in
our blood. Every man and woman is a born believer.             material terms; otherwise it is simply a baseless claim,  and all the relevant indirect               If
                                                               and not a valid argument.                                 arguments were considered               you apply
Especially in times of helplessness and in crisis, we                                                                    scienti?cally invalid, since            the right

discover that there is a Supreme Being. Every man

and woman has experienced this natural fact at least                                                                     they were inferential in criterion, you will

once in his or her life.                                                                                                 nature.                          ?nd that God is a

Then why this question? If the concept of God is                                                                         But now the whole situation      proven fact.
present in our ?esh and blood, why does one question
the existence of God? The reason is very simple.                                                                         has changed. Nothing is
People want to know whether there is a rational basis
to their inner belief, whether there is some scienti?c                                                                   observable. So the existence of
proof in favour of their inner feelings.
                                                                                                                         anything can be established only by

                                                                                                                         means of inferential argument, rather than by direct

                                                                                                                         argument.

I must emphasize that there is certainly a scienti?c                                                                     If inferential argument is valid with regard to the
basis for belief in the existence of God. But people                                                                     unseen micro-world, it is also valid with regard to the
generally fail to discover it for the simple reason                                                                      existence of God.
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