Human beings have repeatedly tried to use science to argue that God did not create us. But that’s bound to be a losing battle, says Sant Rajinder Singh
No matter what religious background we come from, we all are taught that God is the Creator. It is from Him that the entire universe came into being. It is He who created humanity and all forms of life. Considering this fact alone should be enough for us to realize that we are but small specks in the entire scheme of creation. He is all, and we are but tiny insignificant beings. Yet, few of us realize this. If we examine our thoughts, how many times do we think of God as our CreatorIJ How many times do we thank Him for our lifeIJ How many times do we realise He is the giver of everything we haveIJ Few people go through their day-to-day lives remembering Him and His gifts. We are so absorbed in this panorama of life that we have forgotten all about God. True, we say mechanical prayers to Him either at our places of worship or before eating. True, we remember Him when we want Him to save us from a calamity or from serious illness. But most of the time, we hardly give Him a thought. In modern times, forgetting God has become so serious that some people have even denied His existence. For many years, scientists removed God from their view of the universe because He could not be verified by their scientific instrumentation.
We can see how far our ego can get the better of us. Some scientists propagate theories that the entire universe has either sprung up as some accident or some fluke nature. There is the dust particle theory that this whole universe came into being from dust particles. In trying to trace humanity’s roots, some scientists have even removed God from the picture, as if we sprang from nothingness. There are some enlightened scientists who have begun to question how such a perfectly designed universe and such a complex, well-planned organism as a human being could come about through chance. There have been great scientists who do believe that only an intelligent Creator could design this universe, nature, and all forms of life, including human beings. Those who delve into the intricacies of nature and are in awe of it have the humility to recognize there is some higher power responsible for the universe. A majority of human beings, though, go through life unaware of the invisible Creator. This results in placing too much importance on the individual self and in our personal capabilities.
Pride of knowledge encompasses a wide range of traps laid by the mind. When our soul enters the body, it works in this world through the mind. The tool of the mind is the brain. The brain is a complex organ that receives sense impressions from the world. We are taught from infancy a culture that makes us interpret these impressions in a certain way. If we receive the impression through our eyes that folded hands means hello, then whenever we see someone make that gesture, we will interpret it as hello. Yet in some countries, folded hands do not mean hello. It might mean someone is praying. In still other countries, folded hands mean someone is begging for something. The gesture is the same; we receive the visual impression in the same way, yet our cultural training teaches us to interpret it as having a particular meaning.
Besides receiving and interpreting impressions, the brain is a vehicle by which we can communicate with the world. It is capable of learning a code of communication known as language. It is through this facility that we can make our thoughts known to others. We can express ourselves through speech, through writing, and through body movements.
There are many involuntary actions controlled by the brain. Our breathing, our heartbeat, and the release of hormones that regulate body functions are performed by the brain. Certain actions of the brain protect the human organism. When we touch a hot object, the nerves send a message to the brain which causes the muscles to withdraw the finger from the heat. When we are in danger, the brain sets in motion the bodily function which releases adrenaline to give us the energy and strength to fight or flee.
Many think that the brain is the seat of thinking. But there is a difference between the mind and the brain. The brain is like a computer which performs many functions. But it is the mind that controls the brain. The mind is a product of the causal plane of creation. This region consists of a mixture of spirit and matter. With the mind in control, many of our decisions and actions in this world are based on meeting the mind’s desires and wishes. Because the object of the mind is to keep us enslaved to the world, it controls our thoughts, words, and deeds. The soul, having forgotten itself, goes along with the mind. As we grow up, we learn how to speak and how to act in our given culture.
We go to school and gain knowledge of this physical universe. We are bombarded by sense impressions at every moment. Our brain has the capacity to take in billions of bits of information, store them, and retrieve them, much like a computer chip. It is a flexible instrument that can be used by the mind to put together all its information in new and unique ways. Thus, human beings are inventive and innovative. Words can be combined in billions of ways to create new stories, new books, new ideas, and new inventions. The notes of the musical scale can be combined in billions of ways to create a wide variety of music. There is no end to the creations which the mind can bring into being. The mind can keep us occupied and involved in this world for aeons without ever getting tired or bored. There are always new and exciting inventions or devices that can be created to keep us engaged.
As the mind creates new ideas and new inventions to change and improve the world, it thinks it is the doer. It has totally forgotten that the colors of the palette it uses to paint have been created by God Himself. It forgets that the notes of the scale that it uses to compose songs are of God’s own making. It forgets that the wonderful brain it uses to communicate with the world is also a creation of God. We are so full of pride of knowledge, of how much we know, of how creative we are, of how inventive we are, that we have forgotten that the tools we use are inventions of God.