leavesIt seems that fewer and fewer people believe in God these days. Even in India, the Land of the Veda, this is happening with many of the young people. We do well to examine why.

When I was a kid, the idea of God was very odd to me. He was presented as someone who was sitting on a cloud somewhere orchestrating our world. Answers were weak at best to so many fundamental questions like, “If there is a God, why is there suffering?” Even I, for a period of time in my youth, could not accept what I was being told. Like most youth all over the world these days, I was brought up with rational, scientific thought. I was taught to think for myself and demand that things made sense. What I was told about God simply did not make sense.

At first glance, this seems to be a terrible state of affairs. However, this cloud does have a silver lining. Over the generations, misunderstanding and superstition have crept into the understanding of God. Also, older understandings no longer address the mentality of our modern age. As I like to say, the knowledge is eternal, but the way it is taught must change eternally to interface with, to be understood and accepted by, the mentality of the times.

If God is something the younger generation is to believe in, these times demand that God must make sense from a rational scientific perspective. The silver lining here is that after older understandings of God are rejected, the nature of existence is pursued anew. Then a deep and rational knowledge of the underlying basis of existence emerges. Then, after long and careful examination, the time comes when one realizes that, when understood in this modern light, the ancient Vedic knowledge is realized to be not only correct, but profoundly correct, extensive, detailed, and scientifically consistent. The only problem was that we were not provided with the rigors of understanding that the ancient Rishis held. Of course, our modern scientific language is new, but that level of rigor and rationality was certainly there in the minds of the ancient Seers.

Adi Shankara said that the knowledge must be revived generation after generation. If not, it is lost to time. So in a sense, we can thank the modern thinkers. It is individuals among them that examined the nature of existence carefully enough to reveal the underlying truths in the language of our time. It is they that are bringing forth the spiritual regeneration of our planet and the rediscovery of the wisdom held by the ancient Rishis.

To those modern thinkers I simply say that in the final analysis Vedic science does make sense to the modern mentality. In fact, I encourage you to demand that it make sense. Do not stop until the nature of life and existence makes sense to you. Purify the knowledge. Cast out any superstition or distortion. Pursue truth. Know that it leads to an incredible place… one that satisfies the mind as well as the heart… one that at first glance may make no sense what so ever, but in time, makes perfect sense.

© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.