Does God Exist?

Sadhguru explains about the difference between a belief and seeking and how it relates to a spiritual process.

Transcript

What's happened?

Gautama the Buddha,

You heard of him?

Hmm?

Everybody heard of Gautama?

So Buddha is not his name,

His name is Gautama Siddhartha.

He became a Buddha.

So he is not the only Buddha in the world.

There have been thousands of them and there still are.

So Gautama was sitting in a large congregation of people one morning,

An early morning,

Earlier than this,

Okay,

A man arrived and stood there in the shadows.

This man is a great devotee.

He is a devotee of Rama.

You heard of Rama?

Not Rami,

Rama.

Rama is one of the most popular deities in India.

If you do not already know this,

In India we have 36 million gods and goddesses.

It's a very rich country.

So he is a great devotee of Rama.

The devotees in India,

Not now and not everybody,

But those who take this seriously,

They will not utter any other word than the name of God that they believe in.

So if they want you to come,

They'll say,

Ram Ram.

If they want you to go,

Ram Ram.

If they want something,

Ram Ram.

No other word but Ram.

The clothes are all printed Ram Ram,

They utter only Ram Ram,

They live Ram Ram.

They devoted their whole life to God.

You are smart,

You are not like that.

You kept God like insurance.

Just in case something goes wrong,

I have also paid my premium.

Everything that you need to do,

You do it yourself.

You kept God like insurance.

You are smart.

But this man invested his whole life in God,

Total.

Age is passing away,

Little doubt has come.

Other people here who don't believe in God?

Nobody?

No leftists?

No?

Only one?

Okay.

What's your name?

John.

Only John?

Nobody else?

I have bells.

So little doubt has come.

He knows there is God.

Just a little doubt.

Suppose there is no God.

I am wasting my whole life doing Ram Ram Ram.

See this doubt will come to you only if you invest your whole life.

You invest just ten minutes in a week,

Then you will not get this doubt,

It's all right,

What's the problem?

No?

If you invest your life completely into God,

Then within three days doubt will come.

I am not wasting my life just doing this and there are other people who don't believe.

See look at this John.

He doesn't believe.

For him also sun comes up in the morning.

For him also flowers blossom.

From him also life happens.

Looks like he is having a better time than me.

It's a little doubt.

He knows there is God.

Just a little doubt.

Now there is an enlightened being here,

He wants to confirm.

But after being a well-known devotee for a long time,

Because he did not just go to the temple,

He built many temples.

At this stage in his life,

How to ask whether there is God or not now?

So he came early morning,

Stood in the shadows there and asked this inevitable question,

Is there God?

And Gautama looked at the man and gave a clear,

Emphatic no.

Here this large congregation of disciples,

This has always been a struggle in their mind,

Is there God or no God,

Is there God or no God.

Oof,

One big relief.

Whenever they ask such a question to Gautama,

He just becomes silent.

He doesn't say anything.

For the first time he gave a clear answer,

No God.

Joy spread across the congregation.

Just the struggle is that God or no God is over.

The enlightened one has declared there is no God.

The message spread across the town.

Through the day celebrations happened because… Just imagine the freedom of it.

No God means nobody sitting up there keeping accounts of what you did and what you did not do to punish you,

Burn you in hell or do this or that.

Life is completely yours.

So through the day celebrations happened.

Everybody was in great joy.

This evening once again the congregation is sitting,

Another man came.

He also standing in their shadows.

This man is a Charvaka.

Charvaka means in India there are groups of people who are known as Charvakas.

These Charvakas are out and out materialists.

They don't believe anything other than what they can see.

Probably this is the only culture that allows this.

You will see actively missionaries of God going from village to village spreading their God message and missionaries of no God going from village to village arguing with people and proving to them how there is no God.

Probably this is the only culture that allows that anywhere else they would be killed.

So if you want you can spread God or if you want you can spread no God.

This is true democracy,

You know.

This has been there like this for thousands of years.

People come and set up arguments in the village and they prove to you how there is no God.

So this is an expert Charvaka.

Whatever kind of believer you are,

If you talk to him for ten minutes he'll prove to you no God.

For thousands of people he's proved no God,

No God,

No God.

Age is passing,

Little doubt has come.

Suppose there is God.

When I go there will he leave me?

And all these believers say that he's got all kinds of torture equipment up there.

So because I went about proving to everybody that he doesn't exist,

He may torture me much more.

He knows there is no God.

He's proved to thousands of people there is no God.

Just a little doubt.

Now there's an enlightened being here he wants to confirm.

So he appeared there in the evening and he asked the same inevitable question,

Is there God?

Gautama looked at the man and said yes,

Once again turmoil started.

Morning he said no God,

They were all really happy.

In the evening he says there is God.

So what's the game Gautama is trying to play?

See if you believe there is God or if you believe there is no God,

You're in the same boat,

You believe something that you do not know.

I believe this,

You believe that,

Doesn't make any difference.

You can believe whatever you want.

Yes?

Everybody can believe whatever they want.

It need not have anything to do with reality as such.

If you see I do not know,

The longing to know will arise within you.

If the longing arises,

The seeking arises.

If the seeking arises,

The possibility of knowing exists.

Reviews

As always, amazing perspective.

This was a really good talk. Thank you.

A beautiful tale and given with the tenderness of awakening.

OMG. This is great! Thank you!

Always teaching me something, always with a smile.

I could listen to this man for days!

I never thought anyone would celebrate that there was no god! These people must come from shame. I act the same in public and private as I am square with my morals and principles. So the thought of having no God means i would not have my companion to walk with, my friend, my beloved who listens to me every day, who sits with me, who watches over me, who i find solice in when I'm hurting, and who has shown me S/He listens and cares for me thru coincidences that I could not have orchestrated in the slightest. However, often we try to personify this entity, and that is where it breaks down. It's a presence, an energy, not a personified authoritarian that will shame us if we don't behave. When you grow up and take responsibility for your actions, you begin to realize such things. Diety doesn't exist to blame for your actions or inactions, but rather as a guide & constant companion when you fully step into the clothing you call"your life"... thank you for prompting this insight.

Good to hear his thoughts, including those of us who are educated and non believers but but keep the door open a crack that we could be wrong.......I've read the bible and the Qur'an but they're not working for me.....but maybe we're wrong!......I guess we just keep on researching.

I need to listen to that again!

Always thoughtful/thank you!

Thought provoking

Had to listen twice 🙏🏼 isn't this pure quantum physics. 💙💜💚

As usual ...awesome🙏🏻💕

Liked this but it is saying the obvious