22 Jul 2009
[Solar Eclipse Day] Today is the day of eclipse of Sun and we see arguments between the theists having old religious belief and atheists having scientific belief. This debate has nothing to do with the existence of God. Science is nothing but the normal administration of God in the nature. The truth in this running administration of the nature was found by the ancestors based on the then available scientific concepts. The modern scientific concepts are certainly better than the old concepts, since the present science is based on experimental studies involving intricate instruments and procedures. But, this does not mean that all the concepts found out by the modern science should be correct. The limitation of the scope of accuracy of instruments is established by the great modern scientist, Heisenberg, through the theory of un-certainty principle. Dalton said that atom was indivisible. Later on, atom was found divisible and electron was thought to be indivisible. But today, electron is found to be divisible. Therefore, science is changing day by day. But, even today, scientists feel that Dalton is still correct, because the atom is the fundamental unit of the matter with respect to a specific property. The subatomic particles do not exhibit any chemical property of the substance, which is made of specific atoms. Hence, the angle of observation is also important. Therefore, you cannot believe completely the science of today, which may be disproved by the science of tomorrow! In an issue of the possibility of such controversy, it is wise to follow the possibility of the path of safety.
Exposing Superstition Does Not Disprove God’s Existence
You may say that eating food during eclipse will not affect the health in anyway by demonstrating the eating of food during the eclipse. But, are you sure that it will not give any bad effect in long run? We do not oppose science. There may not be a bad effect even in the long run. The bad effect in a long run may be due to some other reasons also. Now, there is confusion in this point, since it is very difficult to isolate both these factors. In such fifty-fifty probability, it is better to take the possibility of safety path. It is better to avoid eating the food during eclipse, which does not cause any inconvenience at all. Moreover, whether the food taken during eclipse causes illness or not is in no way connected with the existence of God and praying to Him. The Unimaginable God is always beyond logic and science and therefore, the atheists do not achieve anything in their fundamental task of disproving the existence of God. The Government passed a G.O. The correct version of G.O. is not known and two persons are debating on the correct version. One of these two may be correct and the other may be wrong. Whatever may be the version, you cannot disprove the existence of Government by disproving the other wrong version. Hence, even if the science disproves some old belief of the tradition, it is immaterial and this has no connection with the existence of God.
The eclipse may not have any relevance to the worship of God. But, by saying that there is a special effect in worshipping God during eclipse, the normal people worship God at least in that particular span of time of eclipse. For a real devotee, who always worships God, the eclipse is meaningless. A scholar said that he need not worship God during sunrise and sunset (Sandhya Vandanam), since the God-Sun is always shining in heart, who has neither rise nor set (Hrudaakaashe chidaadityah…)! The atheists can never disprove the existence of unimaginable God due to several unimaginable events (miracles) exhibited by several Godly people and due to several practical experiences of the existence of unimaginable power of God during the lives of several people in this world.
The miracles are exhibited not only by Godly people and human incarnations but also by evil people having very bad character and conduct, cheating the public in many ways. The development of atheism is mainly due to the existence of such evil people only. But, the atheists also do not analyze the miracle performed by an evil person. The concept of the miracle is completely different and has nothing to do with the character of the person performing that miracle. A petty fellow, who has worst character due to bad habits like drinking etc., announces a rule of Municipality in a town to the public. The message of the announcement has nothing to do with the character of the announcer. Since the announcer is a bad fellow, you cannot ignore the message of the Municipality and behave as you like. The announcer will be separately punished for his bad character. You will be also punished if you ignore his announcement based on the point that the announcer is not a good fellow. Similarly, you have to take the point conveyed by the miracle and ignore the character of the evil person performing that miracle. God will punish him separately for his evil nature. From the unimaginable event (miracle), you should conclude the existence of unimaginable God. This is the message of any miracle to create the fundamental belief in God. Some people, having jealousy on great devotees of God or the human incarnation of God, reject the greatness of devotees or incarnation based on miracles by saying “even dirty people perform these miracles. What is the greatness by doing such miracles?” They pass such comments due to two reasons: 1) they are jealous of the greatness of devotees or incarnation and 2) they have not understood the message conveyed by a miracle. If a good fellow announces a message and if you say that the same message was also announced by a bad fellow previously and hence, the message should be neglected, is it correct?
A miracle is necessary for majority of human beings to have real belief in the existence of God. Several people are standing on the ground and require this, to climb the first step. After having the full belief in the existence of God, miracles are not necessary because the second step is to attain the grace of God through practical sacrifice. But, several theists also need the observation of miracles because their belief is not perfect and hence, to strengthen their belief, miracles are necessary. Even a person having full faith in the existence of God should not criticize the miracles because you cannot ignore the first step after climbing the second step.
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