Radhanath swami on Faith and Science

The scientific approach is that I will only accept if there is tangible proof, I will believe it if you can show me. If you cannot show me God, if you cannot put Him before me to see, to touch, to smell, to taste, to experience directly with my senses, how do you expect me to believe it and remain scientific? This is a great fallacy because factually everything in your life that you believe is true, you have no means to prove it directly through sense perception and yet you accept it. Gandhi was the father of India. How do you know? Can you see him, can you meet him? You cannot show me Gandhi any more than I can show you God with your senses. How do you know that Mahatma Gandhi existed? Through books and through persons who knew him, through faith. There are thousands of times more books explaining the nature and the history of God’s events in this world than there are about Mr. Gandhi. There are saints and sages from all traditions throughout history who explain that they have met him, they have experienced him. Faith is a part of our life, which is the basis of practically everything we believe to be true. And this faith is on what we never will perceive with our senses.

Radhanath Swami on The All-Powerful Time

The body is the temple of God. It is not our body. It is a great illusion to think anything is mine. Realistically, if we own something, we have control over that thing. Now we are calling this body ours. Do any of us want to grow old, do any of us want to get disease, do any of us want to die? It is forced upon us. Therefore we are not the proprietors of this body. It is Time which is consuming our life’s duration, it is the power of Time that we are evicted from this body, we are told get out after a certain number of days. So Time is the real proprietor or controller, or owner of this body.

Radhanath Swami on Solving the Greatest Problem

Through all our intelligence, all our efforts in this world, we are very anxious to find a solution to problems. Even businesses are based on trying to eradicate people’s problems – people grow food to solve the problems of hunger, you buy tooth paste to solve the problems of cavities, you wear clothes because you don’t want to be a social misfit or to solve the problem of cold or heat. Throughout our lives we are endeavoring to solve the problems that face us, but there is one problem that is guaranteed to be faced by each and every one of us. Through all science and technology, we have no solution to this problem and that is the problem of death.

Radhanath Swami on the Science of God

Everything we have ever witnessed within our life proves that something comes from something. Science means to be consistent. If everything comes from something, can everything come from nothing? If everything comes from nothing, it is scientifically not possible because what ever we have must come from either an object or a mixture of objects which should have all the characterisitics of the final product. That is physics. How can something with quality come from nothing with no quality? There is no rational explanation. There is no scientific understanding to this – if something could come from nothing, then there is no God. But if everything comes from something, then that something is God. What are the qualities of that something? What is the nature of that something? That is a great science to understand.

Radhanath Swami on Action and Reaction

For every action there is an equal corresponding reaction. There is no question of exceptions. Anything you throw up will come down – this is the law of nature. If you commit violent activity to another, you cannot escape the reaction. That violence must come back to you. Exactly when, exactly how, that you may not be able to understand the detail, but it will be an equal corresponding suffering which will come back to you. If you give in charity, it must come back to you. Ignorance of the law is no excuse to breaking the law. If I put my hand in fire, I am burnt whether I believe its going to burn or not. The laws of nature are never subjected to what you believe. The laws act regardless.

Radhanath Swami on Channelizing Our Intelligence

The air pollution, the water pollution, the wars taking place, the prejudice and hate throughout the world, the putting of nuclear waste in the ground, the horrible diseases like cancer and AIDS which are born of misuse of our own bodies, the breaking down of the ultraviolet layers of the ozone covering which protect us from the sun, and so many other innumerable problems – are they caused by the birds and the beasts? Or the frogs and the grasshoppers? They are all caused by human beings. Because human beings are trying to use the conscious power of discrimination towards satisfying our lower nature like the insects and animals, we cause a complete mess. We become endlessly greedy and envious and proud and lusty. What is happening to the whole planet and the suffering of all living beings is a direct result of that. Therefore, it is very important for us to apply our good intelligence for the ultimate goal of life which is to understand who I am.

Radhanath Swami on Being Connected

The greatest musicians study under other great musicians. The greatest artists study under other great artists. The greatest lawyers, doctors, and professors study under other great lawyers, doctors and professors. So why should we take spiritual life so cheaply? To study every other subject matter seriously, we try to find a teacher to teach us. But we think that in approaching the science of God, we can just figure out our own way. If we are truly and deeply serious about finding God, then the Lord within our heart will direct us to a teacher who can show us the path. Even the great personalities who don’t need teachers accept teachers just to show us how important it is. Jesus accepted John the Baptist and Krishna became the disciple of His own devotee, Sandipani Muni, just to show the world the importance of being connected to a teacher. When genuine faith awakens within our heart then we understand what is a guru.