(Bharat Das_/\o’_ HH Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Maharaja)
The philosophical conclusions of Vedas establish that the universe is created by the eternal all-powerful Supreme Lord. A believer takes it as given that the universe must have a creator therefore God must exist. Over centuries great personalities have tried to establish or refute this proposition in various ways.
Pascal wagered based on real world observation that believing in God the best bet man could make. Belief in God is the better option whether or not God exists. St. Anselm of Canterbury postulated the existence of God based on pure reason. St Thomas Aquinas attempted to discern divine truth in the order of the natural world primarily by using the argument of regressus ad infinitum. Namely there cannot be an infinite chain of causes if we are to explain everyday phenomena like motion. We can contrast these to Srila Baladeva Vidyabhushana’s elegant presentation based on Vedic scriptures.
For the believers Baladeva Vidyabhushana uses evidence from Rg Veda, Upanishads, Puranas and Mahabharata to show that the Supreme Lord and the Vedas are eternal. The Upanishads describe the eternal, unborn, and omniscient features of the Supreme Lord. He cites the Rg Veda and Mahabharata which state that there is no difference between the Supreme Lord and the words that describe Him. As the subject of the words the Supreme Lord is Krsna and as the word He is pranava or the syllable “Om”. Just like Nrsimha, Matsya, Kurma are words describing His forms similarly the words describing Him are the Vedas. Both the Vedas and the Supreme Lord are eternal and they simply appear and disappear in different times.
Next he proceeds to prove the same to the atheists by using anuman pramana or inferential logic. Nastikas (non believers), Buddhists and logicians accept that if something is not constituted of parts, for example, “space” then it is not an effect or result of a process. An effect or process necessarily presupposes a cause, an initiator. Therefore, the existence of an entity like “space” does not need a creator or initiator. Simultaneously they insist that the universe cannot be the result of a process since it is too complex. Even an extremely intelligent being would not be able to even mentally produce mountains, ocean, directions and sky. Therefore the universe cannot be the end result of a process initiated by a creator. In fact the Buddhists and Jains postulate that the atomic particles spontaneously agglomerate to develop various elements and complex forms. Therefore they postulate that the universe has no Creator. Clearly these are self contradictory postulates.
Baladeva Vidyabhushana applies the same atheistic postulate to a universe that is obviously composed of innumerable parts. Therefore he argues the universe must be the result of a process that brought the parts together. A process needs an initiator therefore it is inferred that there must be a Creator. The atheist might then use this as a springboard to propose that if the universe is a result of a process, it cannot be eternal since the process began at some time in the past.
In the same vein the doubter may question the eternality of the creator as well : God may be the creator but he cannot be eternal, but non-eternal like Lord Brahma or other creators. It is not possible to prove this hypothesis unless one has examined every single object in the universe since there may well be an exception. There is no convincing evidence to prove that everything is temporary since we do not see that in existing objects like planets, continents etc. Baladeva Vidyabhushana quotes the sruti “sa nityah” God is eternal. The Supreme Lord never accepts a material body like the other creators. He is beginningless and exists without any cause.
Anything that has a cause cannot be eternal. Just like a clay pot, before it is created it does not exist since there is no cause to create it. But after it is created there is a cause for its existence, the potter, clay, water , fire etc. Therefore it is not eternal since it has a cause. There is also an argument that everything that exists only for a certain time and cannot be eternal as we have experience in everyday life. However the above inference that one who has no cause must be eternal defeats this argument. The Supreme Lord exists without a cause therefore He is eternal.
If the universe was not an assembly of parts like space or individual particles then perhaps one could insist that there is no creator. But we observe that it is constituted of assembled parts just like a potter’s clay pot. Therefore the universe must have a creator. There still remains the question if the existence of a creator implies knowledge, will and executive ability. Just as a potter who creates a simple clay pot possesses knowledge, executive ability and will power, similarly creation of the universe must necessarily be attributed to a being with these qualities. It is also inferred that the Creator of the entire universe must have transcendental knowledge, executive ability and will power to enable creation of a complex universe.
According to Sankhya philosophy the unmanifest material nature “Pradhana” becomes conscious when the “Purusa” glances at it. Pradhana itself is devoid of consciousness like wood and creation cannot be attributed to it. Yet others hold the view that living beings are the creators of the universe. Perhaps the grand total of unseen past pious and impious activities (“Adrsta”) of a living entity or of many living entities combined would give them such power to create a complex universe. However we see that individual living entities do not have such power otherwise they would become God. Also there is no evidence to prove that a combination of pious and impious activities of all living beings ever happened. Therefore living beings cannot be the Creators of the universe.
Therefore the Supreme Lord Sri Krsna who alone has transcendental qualities of knowledge, will and executive ability is the Creator of the universe. He is the ultimate cause of everything that exists and he himself has no cause:
īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ
anādir ādir govindaḥ sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam
(Sri Brahma Samhita 5.1)