Why Do Atheists Deny God's Existence?

[This question is part of a mahā satsaṅga or a great spiritual discussion between Swami and several devotees who had come from various places, seeking the clarification of their doubts.]

Swami replied: An atheist is also a citizen of any country. Any citizen must wish for a good and justified administration from the government ruling the country in which the atheist lives. Governments run by human beings are subjected to error or sometimes even to unjust partiality. Even the courts of Law are run by human beings as judges, who are not omniscient. A statue of the deity of justice exists in every court with a black cloth tying her eyes, which means that the judge is based on the witness heard and not on the witness seen. The judge has not seen the actual incident, but only hears the witness, which is the basis of his judgement. Even during the arguments, the intelligence of the advocate is winning in interpreting the constitution. The advocate takes up any case for the fees paid and does not bother about the truth and justice present in the case presented by the party to him. Sometimes, some judges are becoming partial due to various factors and are seen getting imprisoned. Under these circumstances, there is every chance for the criminal to escape the punishment of his sin. But, the sinner is punished outside the court in his life severely by God, which is recognized by the public. Even the advocate is punished. Even the judge is punished if a wrong judgement is wantonly given.

This brings the inference of the existence of omniscient and omnipotent God, who knows the truth without the help of witness and advocate (omniscient) and is punishing the sinner in his life due to the omnipotence possessed by Him. Long experience of people observing such punishments of sinners, who escaped the law from so many generations onwards, established firm belief about the existence and perfect administration of God, who is constantly witnessing everything in this world. The existence and administration of God are well established in this world by majority of people based on perception of inevitable punishments faced by the genuine sinners. Atheists believe perception and I don’t know why they are opposing the existence of God. The divine kingdom of God mentioned by Jesus is not somewhere else, but, is here in this world itself, pervading each inch. What is the ultimate aim of the atheist? Does he want the absence of God doing perfect administration so that he can do the sins without any fear? He is going to such extreme extent to say about the absence of unimaginable God even though He is inferred from the actually perceived unimaginable events, called miracles performed by devotees and human incarnations of God. Why the atheist is so vehemently objecting the existence of God? This vehemence of objection is nothing but the vehemence of his fear to do the sin freely? The owl can’t see in the day time and if all owls meet together and pass on a resolution that Sun doesn’t exist, is it truth? You can’t see the unimaginable God directly. You can’t see even a worldly quality like the sweetness of sugar even though you can see the sugar possessing such sweetness. Similarly, you can see a person (human form of God) possessing unimaginable nature through His exhibited unimaginable event, called miracle even though you can’t see unimaginable God, who is the source of the unimaginable miracle.

These atheists deny even the genuine miracle in the name of magic because if God is agreed, they can’t do sins freely. Of course, they fear for the law of court that punishes the sin. They can escape the courts through the intelligence of advocates, influence and corruption. They can’t escape the court of God with the help of these above said factors. Hence, they oppose the existence of God. They say that ethics can be followed even without God. My dear atheist! You are a person with strong will and can follow ethics even without the concept of God. But, what about the majority not having such strong will? You need not worry about the existence of God since anyway you are following the ethics. Since you are opposing God with so much emotion I feel that your speech (that you can follow ethics even without the concept of God) is hippocratic because by saying so you want to establish that you are a perfect gentleman in the society and under this mask, you want to do the sins secretly so that you can escape the punishments from courts to be given based on the complaints of public against you. You want to mislead the public so that public will not believe in your sins. If you are a genuine person of ethics, you need not bother about God and His administration.

The atheists propagate that the devotees are exploiting the name of God. When a good system exists, certainly, there will be certain faults by exploitations. You can’t cancel the system of examination since copying takes place in certain places! You take all the measures to prevent such exploitations. The atheist is appreciated if he proves the exploitation of a devotee and get the devotee punished for the sin. Nobody objects this. But, you can’t generalise this and cancel the very basic system of God and His perfect administration. Perhaps, you are finding a false pretext like this to oppose the administration of God so that you can avoid the fear in doing a sin secretly!

God is in contact with this earth for the sake of His good administration on the earth so that human beings will fear to do a sin secretly or to do a sin and escape the court here by influence and money. God created this world and earth in it and wants perfect peace on this earth. If you have established a factory, will you not wish strongly to maintain peace in it through your efficient administration? The sole aim of God to establish His existence on this earth (by coming often as incarnations) is only to establish peaceful and justified administration (Pravrutti) on this earth (Dharma samsthaapanaarthaaya... Gita) and not to propagate His name and fame for the purpose of hearing praise from devotees (Nivrutti)!

Nivrutti is the discovery of the believers of God by becoming devotees. God is not at all fond of Nivrutti and in fact, He opposes it through several acid tests. What all God wants is Pravrutti (fear for God to do sin) only and not Nivrutti at all. He expects belief in God and not devotion to God. Belief in God (for the sake of Pravrutti) is the mandatory and devotion to God (for the sake of Nivirutti) is optional only based on the fascination of devotee towards God, which is not at all induced by God. Of course, people are very much attracted to Nivrutti as devotees because the fruit of Nivrutti is far better than fruit of Pravrutti. In Pravrutti, everywhere, your careful responsibility alone can protect you like the child catching the stomach of its mother-monkey (Markatakishora Nyaaya). In Nivrutti, God takes your full care like the mother cat catching its child by its mouth (Maarjaalakishora Nyaaya). Hence, the fruit of Nivrutti is highest, though not liked by God, In Pravrutti, your bond with God is employee–employer in which you have to follow the rules strictly and get protection from Him. In Nivrutti, your bond with God is personal relationship in which your climax love to Him forces Him to take your total responsibility. If any devotee is wrong, you shall not blame God. You shall not blame the University and its system of examinations, if somewhere copying was done in examination!

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