is God dead? If God is not dead, what reason do we have to be so sad and downcast - Dada J P Vasvani - Article from Frozen Thougths Magazine - December 2011

is God dead?  If God is not dead, what reason do you have to be so sad and downcast - Dada J P Vasvani

 

The first adhyaya (chapter) of the Gita is entitled Vishada Yoga - the section on Arjuna's despondency. Vishada Yoga is the beginning of the Gita, and indeed the first step in spiritual life is Vishada, the darkness of the soul. We are overwhelmed by doubts, fears and sorrow. "What is the meaning of life? What does it all mean? Why are we here? Where do we go from here?" 

Even Jesus cried out on the cross, "My God, my God! Why hast Thou forsaken me?"

Draupadi too, experienced this darkness of the soul when she cried out, "Everyone has abandoned me, all have left me - my kinsmen, my brothers, my father, my husbands - even You 0, Krishna!"

We have to pass through darkness, so that the light can come!

Arjuna is a great warrior, a brave archer. He has come to the battlefield prepared to fight, confident of  victory. He is Drona's greatest pupil; he is Sri Krishna's favourite disciple. But he is confounded by the grave situation that confronts him.

"My limbs do fail, my mouth goes dry, my body quivers, my hair stands on end, my bow slips from my hand, my skin burns, my mind reels: I am unable to stand," Why does the great hero suddenly suffer from nervous fright? In his weakness, Arjuna fails to listen to the voice within. He quotes shastraic teachings to Sri Krishna to prove why he should not fight his kinsmen. His mind is under a cloud. He sinks down on his seat, and even casts away his bow and arrow! He says he would go into a forest and lead the life of a mendicant.
Arjuna's mental conflict is born out of a fallacy. And Lord Sri Krishna is at hand to lead him out of his despair, "Yield not to unmanliness, 0 Arjuna! It doth not befit thee. Cast off this impotence of the heart. Arise, 0 Arjuna.1" The Lord knows that Arjuna's despair and 'pity' are born of self-delusion - a form of moha or attachment. It is a major weakness, and must be overcome by the man of true culture and religion.

So, to Arjuna is addressed Sri Krishna's appeal for action! Uttishta Paramtapa! The blessed Lord tells Arjuna: "Thy words sound wise, indeed, Arjuna! But thou art wasting grief where none is due. The truly wise in heart never grieve for those who live, nor yet for those who die!" We may substitute 'fear' for grief in this context = for often, fear is also a form of delusion.

The story is told to us of a Frenchman, who incurred the displeasure of Napoleon and was put into a dungeon, His friends and family, it seemed, had forsaken him and forgotten his existence. In utter loneliness and despair he took a stone lying in the corner of his cell and carved out the words, NOBODY CARES!

 

One day, a green shoot came up through the cracks on the damp and moist floor of the dungeon. Gradually, it began to grow and reach out upwards, toward the light in the tiny window at the top of the cell. The prisoner was given just adequate water to drink each day; he saved some of it and poured it on the blade of green, until it grew into a healthy plant with a beautiful blue flower. As the petals of the blue blossom opened, bending its head towards the light, the solitary prisoner crossed out the words previously written on the wall, and replaced them with the words:GOD CARES!

 

There were two friends who, in their youthful arrogance, had rather blatantly proclaimed themselves to be atheists. In old age, one of them fell fatally ill and was tormented by the fear of what lay ahead. The other came to visit him, half afraid that his dying friend would abandon atheism. He took the sick man's hand in his own and said to him, "Stick to it, friend! Stick to it! Don't give up the belief of a lifetime, just because you are down and out! Stick to it!' 

"You fool," replied the stricken man, "there is nothing to stick to!" The Persian poet Saadi put it across boldly: "I fear God, and next to God I fear, most of all, him who fears Him not!"

Robert Ingersoll professed to be an atheist all his life. He heaped ridicule on God, religion, faith and believers. But when he was close to death, his soul was haunted by terror. In his fright, he is actually said to have cried out, "0God, if there be a God, have mercy on my soul, ill have a soul!" Caught in the clutches of the Grim Reaper, Death, he seems to have realised that the greatest tragedy of life is to enter Death without God, and go into an eternal Godless thereafter! 

An atheist French scientist was crossing the Sahara desert with the help of an Arab guide. The Arab was a pious man who believed in God and prayer. Whenever a sandstorm arose in the desert and they were unsure of the way, the Arab would bow down and pray to God for guidance. This annoyed the scientist. "Who do you think you are talking to?" he asked the Arab contemptuously, "How do you know there is a God?" 

Solemnly the Arab answered, "How would you know whether a man passed by your tent at night?" "Why, by his footprints on the sand!" said the atheist.

"I see God's footprints on the sun, the moon, the stars!" replied the Arab. "They proclaim His greatness and His power! His presence keeps me from fear!" 

Alas, we are ready to place our faith in wealth, power, strength and intellect. But the giver of all these is God - and if we cannot place our faith in Him, then our own lives are truly lost. Martin Luther, the founder of the Protestant Church, had to face a series of difficulties and dangers. One day, his wife found him in a dark mood of depression. She was an intelligent woman who believed in the Providence of God. Finding her husband deep in despair, she wore dark clothes and stood before him. 

"Why these black clothes?" asked Martin Luther. 

The wife quietly answered: "Don't you know? He is dead!" 

"Who is dead?"

 

 "God!" 

"How can you say that?" admonished the Christian leader. "How can God die?"

And the wife said, "If God is not dead, what reason do you have to be so sad and downcast?" Martin Luther immediately realised his mistake, put a smile on his face and said, "Yes; to the devil belongs to be sad!"

 

There is a touching story told to us concerning the great American slave orator, Fredrick Douglas. One day, he said in a mournful speech, when things looked dark for his race: "The white man is against us, governments are against us, the spirit of the times is against us. I see no hope for the coloured race. I am full of sadness and fear."

 

Just then a poor old coloured woman rose in ti audience, and said, "Fredrick, is God dead?" Often, many of us behave as though God is dead.