{"id":84455,"date":"2022-10-02T11:22:56","date_gmt":"2022-10-02T09:22:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dandavats.tumblr.com\/post\/165612652736"},"modified":"2022-10-02T11:22:50","modified_gmt":"2022-10-02T09:22:50","slug":"sarva-dasa-as-a-blogger-on-a-metropolitan-newspapers-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=84455","title":{"rendered":"For Atheists and Theists Alike: Time as God."},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

For Atheists and Theists Alike: Time as God.<\/p>\n

Sarva Dasa: As a blogger on a metropolitan newspaper\u2019s religious blog page, I find that some of my references to a higher power or supreme being are met with ridicule or scorn by those readers who profess faith in atheistic views. This is certainly not surprising.<\/p>\n

\nHowever, even the staunchest atheists will have a hard time logically denying one form of a \u201chigher power\u201d that invariably affects both believer and non-believer alike: almighty time. In the Bhagavad-gita 11.32, Lord Krishna declared, \u201cTime I am, the great destroyer of the worlds,\u201d theologically linking time with God or at least an aspect of the divine. Robert Oppenheimer quoted this Gita verse at an initial test of the atom bomb in the early 1940s. Swami Prabhupada, the founder of the modern Hare Krishna movement in the West, often pointed out that if someone does not voluntariy submit to God while in health and youth, they will be forced to submit to an unseen higher power ultimately by time and death, involuntarily. He often pointed out, \u201cNo one wants to get old, but every one gets old. No one wants to die, but everyone is forced to die.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nOne of Shakespeare\u2019s characters famously admitted, \u201cI wasted time, and now time doth wasteth me.\u201d Whether we waste time or not, the second part of this statement is certainly true: time will undoubtedly vanquish us, at least it will vanquish our bodies and material possessions. Of course, with our science and technology, modern medicine and cosmetic surgical advances, mankind tries to defeat time. Genetic research attempts this as well. However, the death rate is still 100%. Time is still winning. Atheists are trying vainly to become all-powerful, but in truth they are not all-powerful.<\/p>\n

\nTime can be seen as a friend in the sense that it can help us to learn. For instance, in school, a time-deadline for a test or term paper helps us concentrate on what we need to learn. Without the deadline, in fact, we would space out and not learn as much. The deadline can be helpful. Ernest Becker cited Ben Johnson on death\u2019s possible redeeming effect: \u201cThe prospect of death,\u201d said Johnson, \u201cwonderfully concentrates the mind.\u201d Spiritual traditions the world over hold that while the physical body does in fact die, the non-material soul within it does not, and the deadline of death can help it focus on higher spiritual lessons which will benefit it after it graduates from this short fleeting span of sixty to one hundred years.<\/p>\n

\nA benefit for theistic people who see the bigger picture is that they tend to be more graceful and self-composed in the face of forces more powerful than themselves, including even death. Cyprian of Cathage eloquently upheld the wisdom of respectful obedience to death\u2019s beckoning:<\/p>\n

\n\u201cHow preposterous\u2026 when God calls and summons us from this world, we should not at once obey His will! We struggle and resist, and like obstinate servants we are dragged into the presence of the Lord with sadness and grief, departing from this world only under the bondage of necessity and not with the obedience of a free will.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nOf course, some atheists may say they\u2019re not afraid of death, that they control time; time doesn\u2019t control them. As Woody Allen said, \u201cIt\u2019s not that I\u2019m afraid to die. I just don\u2019t want to be there when it happens.\u201d What do you think?<\/p>\n

\nAt the time of death, the Vedic teachings of India give an important tip: call upon the name of the Lord. What have we got to lose?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Sarva Dasa: As a blogger on a metropolitan newspaper’s religious blog page, I find that some of my references to a higher power or supreme being are met with ridicule or scorn by those readers who profess faith in atheistic views. This is certainly not surprising.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10650,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[118],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-recent-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10650"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=84455"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90168,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84455\/revisions\/90168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=84455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=84455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=84455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}