It Is Not Wrong If You Say That God Does Not Exist

भावः – प्रपञ्चरूपेण भवतीति भावः – One who exists in the form of the universe. The root is भू सत्तायाम् – to exist.

Don't get into an argument if someone says 'God does not exist, God has no existence'. Sri Hari is there in both the real and unreal, he is there in both sentient and insentient. When he is there in everything, you cannot say that he does not exist in the unreal, you cannot say that he exists only in the real.

What is the difference between real and unreal, or sentient and insentient? Unreal is apparent truth. It appears like truth.

So and so is the President of India. As long as that so and so is the President of India, that is for real. When he stops being the President of India, somebody else takes over. The statement that 'so and so is the President of India' becomes unreal. Unreal need not be a lie. Unreal means not permanent or something that looks like permanent but it is not.

You think that Sundays are holidays everywhere. You visit Mumbai ten times, every time on a Sunday, and find the shops open. You tend to believe that there are no holidays in Mumbai. This is because you have not gone to Mumbai on a Monday or Wednesday. This is because you have not seen the whole truth. This is what is unreal – incomplete knowledge.

What keeps changing is not real. What perishes is not real. What would perish – how can you say it exists? It exists now but it will not exist some time afterwards.

But Sri Hari exists even in such things which are non-existent. Since he exists even in the non-existent, since he is there even in the non-existent, there is no harm in saying that he is non-existent. So they are also correct. God exists and also God does not exist. He exists because he is in things that exist, exist forever. He does not exist because he is also in things that are non-existent, that do not exist forever.

When they say God does not exist, it actually implies that God exists – only difference is that they don't understand the meaning of the word existence. Words are not that easy to understand and use.

श्लिष्टत्वात् भाव ईरितः – it is not that he created and just left them to their fate. He is permanently connected to them by residing as Paramatma inside each and every being that he created. Hence Sri Hari is Bhava.

भाः means brilliance. भाः अवति ददाति इति भावः – provider of light, brilliance to the luminaries.

• What does it mean to say Bhagavan exists in everything?
  It means the same presence underlies all things — living and nonliving, changing and unchanging. Nothing is outside that presence.

• How can someone say Bhagavan exists and does not exist without contradiction?
  Because the word ‘exist’ gets used in two ways: for the permanent and for the changing. He pervades both. So, from one angle you say ‘exists’; from another, you say ‘does not exist’ in the usual, limited sense.

• What is the difference between real and unreal?
  Real is what does not perish. Unreal is what appears true for a time and then fades. It is ‘apparent truth’, not a lie.

• Does change make a thing unreal?
  Yes. Anything that comes and goes is unreal in the strict sense. It functions, it matters, but it is not permanent.

• Are unreal things the same as falsehoods?
  No. ‘Unreal’ means time-bound, not necessarily false. A statement can be true for a time and later stop being true.

• What is incomplete knowledge here?
  Drawing conclusions from a narrow slice of experience. When you do not see the whole, you mislabel the part as the whole.

• What is meant by sentient and insentient?
  Sentient has awareness and feels or knows; insentient does not. The same indwelling presence supports both.

• If Bhagavan pervades even the unreal, why worship?
  Worship aligns you with the permanent. It cleans the mind and shifts attention from the changing to the changeless.

• How should one respond when someone says Bhagavan does not exist?
  Stay calm. The debate is about the meaning of ‘exist’. Clarify terms if they are open. Do not quarrel.

• What does ‘indwelling as Paramatma’ actually imply?
  The sustaining presence is within every being at all times. Creation is not abandoned; it is continuously supported from within.

• Why connect Bhagavan with light or brilliance?
  Light reveals. Brilliance is a symbol for the power that makes things knowable and vibrant. That illuminating power is attributed to Him.

• Is language good enough to settle this topic?
  Language helps, but it also misleads when words like ‘exist’ are used loosely. Definitions matter.

• How do I apply this in daily life?
  Notice what changes and what does not. Value the changeless more. Be humble about your conclusions and widen your view.

• What practical test distinguishes real from unreal?
  Ask: does it endure without perishing? If it withers, shifts, or ends, it is unreal in the strict sense. If it abides, it is real.

Ramaswamy Sastry and Vighnesh Ghanapaathi