God doesn’t provide incontrovertible proof of His existence; He only gives subtle hints like when He performs miracles, says AJIT KUMAR BISHNOI

Lord Krishna has strictly prohibited, “Such knowledge should never be imparted to one who is not austere; who is not a devotee; and not to one who is not desirous to know; and not to one who envies God.” (18.67) God, Himself, does not make a big deal out of His incarnations, when He does appear on the earth because God respects our free will. He does not want anyone to be forced to accept God as such. Therefore, God neither provides incontrovertible proof of His existence, which He can nor wishes us to try to do so. God only gives subtle hints like when He performs miracles. This allows diehard atheists to dispute them as many did when the milk miracle took place, though scientifically no one could explain the disappearance of milk in countless temples.

The same fact holds true about temples, etc all over the world. A murti of God is made by an artisan, which is then installed in a temple. What changes? Devotees of God come to the temple and reverently worship the murti. This changes the murti into an idol because God must reciprocate their devotion; He becomes active in the idol. He begins to radiate spiritual energy. This is similar to God becoming active in our hearts. Devotees of God feel the presence of God when He destroys the darkness born of ignorance by the shining lamp of knowledge. (10.11) We call them intuitions. Let us remember that God is omnipresent, therefore, He has to be present in the temple as well as in our hearts. The only difference is that He becomes active if we so desire. Again, the free will is at play. He leaves us alone if we so choose.

This connecting through the heart is very much at play with spiritual writers and preachers. Many famous writers have admitted that what they wrote was inspired by higher forces. They had no idea about what they wrote when they did. The same experience is not so uncommon with preachers. They surprise themselves sometimes with what they say.

None of this is meant to be a proof of God’s existence, but it does help if one is looking for something to reinforce one’s faith. What will you say about astrology and palmistry? Good astrologers and palmists have better than 90 per cent accurate predictions. We cannot explain this by chance phenomenon. It can only be explained by a system set in place by God. How could soothsayers like Nostradamus predict about something which was non-existent when they were alive, like Hitler’s rise in the 20th century, when Nostradamus died in 1556?

If God’s existence is mysterious, so is the truth about soul. But we cannot disregard rebirth as recorded extensively by authorities like Dr Ian Stevenson. Can anyone deny that we carry impressions from our past lives? How else can a five-year-old play an instrument like harpsichord expertly? Similarly, why does a tiny toddler, who cries or laughs when asleep, unless he or she is seeing something from the past life/lives?

Many persons known to me well have witnessed astonishing feats performed by persons with material siddhis. Same is true of out-of-body experiences of many. Ghosts have been talked about for centuries and the jury is still out on their existence. Similar is the experience of people who have seen planchet in operation. I will round off with a mention of truly great saints, who could not share their time prior to their death with others; they just wanted to be with their Lord alone. They couldn’t be pretending at the end of their lives. Let me repeat that none of the above is proof of God’s existence because God, as mentioned earlier, does not want it to be so. However, if someone is wishing to reinforce his or her faith in God, these will help a lot.

Bishnoi is a spiritual writer and can be reached at spiritual@ajitbishnoi.com