How to prove if GOD exists?

As discussed in the previous post, there are various means to acquire right knowledge.

Generally accepted means are

1) Knowledge gained by the means of senses

2) Knowledge gained by the means of inference

3) Knowledge gained by the means of analogy

4) Knowledge gained by the means of texts

I tried to answer the question Is GOD just a myth? by employing some of the above means. However the first three have their own limitations and they best act as tools to acquire right knowledge. The texts that speak about GOD are plenty and written by many authors. After all when an author writes he uses one of the above means to acquire right knowledge. For composing a text an author will refer to texts written by other authors prior to his work. This process of referring can go on infinitely until there was an ever existing text source from which all the future texts have been derived. This ever existing text source which speaks about GOD must have been a creation/revelation of/by GOD (ever existing entity) which otherwise would have been a referred work. This ever existing text source having been created/revealed by GOD must remain consistent irrespective of the time, situation, place and other necessary conditions.

Now in today's world we can observe that there are handful of such texts which are considered to be such revelations. In the interest of acquiring right knowledge from texts we have to explore and analyze the texts. But it is equally difficult to acquire complete knowledge from at least one text considering the average life span of a human being. So an attempt to study one of the texts, would be helpful in getting the right knowledge during the life span. If we agree there is re-birth, then we carry forward the knowledge acquired so far to the next birth. If we disagree then we are still better placed to have at least made an attempt to acquire right knowledge.

Having born in the frame work of Sanatana Dharma [eternal law] now interpreted as Hinduism, i will henceforth make an attempt to explore and interpret the ever existing revealed texts of sanatana dharma.

Is GOD just a myth?

When we took birth, we were ignorant of everything in this world. Ignorant of what?

We did not know what to eat? what to drink? what to wear? what to work on till we die? where to live? which is our family? ... in fact infinite number of such questions.

Before that we didn't even know if there were such questions to be asked? That was the ignorant state we were in.

Today we can answer most of these questions convincingly. How was this possible? Through out our lives we come across numerous other human beings(who might know answers to such questions) with whom we develop relationships. Our parents, teachers, elders, friends, books etc help us find answers to the infinite number of such questions.

When someone asks us "How did you deduce that sugar is sweet?"

We say when we eat sugar we sense the sweetness through our tongue. Therefore we declare sugar is sweet.

Similarly when we are asked "How did you deduce that fire will burn?"

We say when we touch fire, it burns our skin. Therefore we declare fire burns.

Now if someone asks a question "Is GOD just a myth?"

Some of us say it is a myth because we cannot see him. Our elders have told us GOD exists so we believe/don't believe GOD exists.

If you see the above three questions, we are happy because we know answers to all the three questions. But the impact of finding an answer to the third question in a way similar to the first two is really exciting & interesting. But how many of us have ever tried to find if GOD is just a myth or does GOD really exists? Is it as easy as finding the sweetness of sugar?

Knowing an answer to a question is acquiring knowledge. The knowledge acquired can be right or wrong. It is always good to acquire right knowledge unless we have other intentions! Right knowledge about any object can be acquired by us through various means.

Generally accepted means are

1) Knowledge gained by the means of senses

2) Knowledge gained by the means of inference

3) Knowledge gained by the means of analogy

4) Knowledge gained by the means of texts

Now coming to our questions Is GOD just a myth? We say we cannot see GOD, hence it is just a myth. Seeing is an action of one of our senses. We should try to perceive GOD through other senses.

It is a common practice in Science to infer something when you cannot practically prove it through senses. Similarly if we are not able to find, Is GOD just a myth? we have to infer it from the perceived facts. Any rational person who observes this creation (existence of the universe) - its complexity, its structure, coordination and beauty - makes an attempt to identify its cause (the sustaining principle behind it). We can easily say that creation is not an ignorant act. If it is then an intelligent act we can conclude that the entity from which the creation happened will be super set of all intelligence because any creation is just a part of that entity. So we can conclude that the entity responsible for the creation is OMNISCIENCE [knows everything].

Just like there is a potter behind a pot, we can say that there is an entity behind the creation. Now the entity which is responsible for the creation must be an ever existing aspect, if not then, that again will be a creation of another entity. So any creation must have come from an ever existing aspect. Therefore the entity from which creation happened is ever existing.

To create something we must have raw materials. For the creation to happen the entity responsible for it must create from nothing or from itself. Ruling out the former we can easily conclude that raw materials for creation came from the entity itself. So the entity manifests itself in all the creations. Hence the entity must be OMNIPRESENT[present everywhere]

Similar logical analysis must be done to get clarity on the subject. The entity mentioned in the above analysis is termed by theists as GOD. Well science calls that entity "Unexplored Science"

Inference has its limits and it acts as a very good tool to acquire knowledge about GOD. However it wont help us prove if GOD exists?

We have now got some clarity on the question Is GOD just a myth? I will continue the article in another post. Please keep watching the space...