Existence of God

Swami Vivekananda was one of the greatest spiritual masters who was responsible for spreading and explaining the principles of the Hindu faith both in India and abroad. He was a Hindu monk who played a significant role in the growing Indian nationalism of the 19th and 20th century, reinterpreting and contemporising several critical aspects of Hinduism. As a result, his teachings and philosophy had a profound impact in several domains, including education, faith, character building, social issues pertaining to India, but he was also instrumental in introducing Yoga to the West.

According to Vivekananda a country's future depends on its people, stating that “man-making is my mission.” Religion plays a central role in this man-making, stating “to preach unto mankind their divinity, and how to make it manifest in every movement of life.” He was once asked for proof of the existence of God.

He responded by saying: “What is the proof of God? Direct perception, Pratyaksha. The proof of this wall is that I perceive it. God has been perceived by all who want to perceive Him. But this perception is no sense perception at all; it is super sensuous, super conscious.

“We have to sense God to be convinced that there is a God. We must sense the facts of religion to know that they are facts. Nothing else, and no amount of reasoning, but our own perceptions can make these things real to us, can make my belief firm as a rock.”

“Truth has such a face that anyone who sees that face becomes convinced. The sun does not require any torch to show it; the sun is self-effulgent. If truth requires evidence, what will evidence that evidence?”

“The Hindu does not want to live upon words and theories. If there are existences beyond the ordinary sensuous existence, he wants to come face to face with them. If there is a soul in him which is not matter, if there is an all-merciful universal soul, he will go to Him direct. He must see Him, and that alone can destroy all doubts. So the best proof a Hindu sage gives about the soul, about God is ‘I have seen the soul; I have seen God.’”

In other words, truth can only be experienced. It cannot be perceived by the senses.