ATHEISTS TOO GENUINE THINKERS , NOT TO BE DESPISED ? – By N.S.Venkataraman
From time immemorial, inevitably, people have been wondering as to from where they have come and where they would go after the demise ,when the body would be burnt or buried. Saints and religious scriptures all over the world have made earnest efforts to explain this phenomenon and in the process they have arrived at some postulates , that could not be proved beyond doubt in a rational way
These postulates say that there should be a creator and there is a creator, who is termed as God. Perhaps, the saints and scriptures may have come to the conclusion based on the thought process that no article or entity can be created without a creator . Is it like the analogy that a pot cannot be made without a potter or a wooden frame cannot be made without a carpenter ? In the process, the postulates have led to so many other derivative postulates such as the existence of hell or heaven , fate , rebirths , miracle and so on.
Any explanation better than no explanation :
Certainly, these postulates may be viewed as vague and the non believers (atheists ) question such postulates . However, the logic is that if one were to argue that a postulate is wrong, then it has to be explained as to what is the other and convincing explanation. This is where the atheists reach a dead end and end up as stray thinkers. While the saints and religious scriptures offer an idea and concept the atheists have nothing to offer.
In such circumstances, billions of people who have lived and passed away over several centuries and those who are still living think that any explanation is better than no explanation. Wanting to understand the phenomena of life and death, the postulates of saints and religious scriptures have come to be accepted as appropriate by almost all the people around the world, while the atheists remain as miniscule in number.
Not a subject for debate :
The religious scriptures and saints have gone a step further and tell everyone not to be a disbeliever and have faith and accept whatever has been said without question. This appears to be an acceptable suggestion for people who want to live in peace and move on with life , which is essentially a time passing exercise.
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The saints and scriptures simply declare that God is a concept that cannot be a subject for debate and human brain cannot visualize and realise the concept of God .
Now, further development is that a few highly respected saints who also pass away like anyone else are considered as incarnation of God and worshipped as God and temples and places of worship have been built for them. Does this amount to distortion of the God concept by ardent followers? Is it not appropriate to view the great saints as role models , instead of appropriating them as incarnation of God ?
Limits of science and technology :
Science and technology have succeeded in negating some of the traditional views held over centuries to some extent with discoveries such as the development of artificial intelligence, medical technology for prolonging life to some extent and even preserving the dead body for any length of time, cloning technology to “ create “ goat etc. However, such technology development do not go beyond a stage and it do not explain what is known as nature and how nature happens .
What do the scriptures say ?
There is no end to this story , as the riddles have not been solved in religious scriptures and by saints in a way acceptable to the non believers over past thousands of years and unlikely to be solved at anytime in the future.
A statement in Hindu Scripture Ashtavakra Gita put the record straight or not so straight but nevertheless say “ you are that – the Brahman”. It insists on the complete unreality of the external world and absolute oneness of existence. It says that Brahman alone exists and Brahman alone pervades everything from atom to universe and this Brahman is God that every human should strive to find within himself and merge the human mind d to the Brahman, so that nothing exist thereafter.
All religious scriptures essentially state that God is in every human and every human should reach the state of God by meditation, adhering to truth and rejecting the lower nature and dissolving all the cravings and thus achieving a mental state of bliss .
Believers and non believers face the same predicament :
All people, whether believers or non believers , focus their life activities on achieving material gains and affluence in whatever way possible for them. Both the believers and non believers do not seem to be unduly concerned while going is good. Of course, in the event of death of dear and near ones , they wonder about the event of death but mostly it ends up as momentary thought for a few days only and they then proceed with their life pursuits in a normal way.
However, in the ripe old age , the possibility of death looms large in the mindset and inevitably everyone whether believer or non believer have upper most thought about the birth and death .
In the case of believers, they try to calm themselves based on their faith as enshrined in the religious scriptures and stated by saints. However, the non believers remain confused and uncertain. In any case, both the believers and non believers pass away helplessly and unwillingly.
Now, should we applaud the non believers for their “original thought process” or applaud the believers for realizing their limitations and accepting whatever the scriptures say without questioning.
The fact is that non believers are also genuine thinkers and though they can be called as stray thinkers. In any case, let them not be despised.
