Once It happened, Buddha was sitting with his disciples giving a sermon. It was early morning and The Sun was still not fully up. There was a man who was a great believer in GOD. He spent all his life spreading the word of God to everybody. Towards the last years of his life suddenly a doubt came to his mind, What if there is No God? If that is so, all my life efforts will go waste. I will become a fool in front of everybody. So he just went to Buddha to confirm whether there is God or not. He stood under the shadowy area of a tree (So that he doesn’t get recognized that he is the same person who has been a believer of GOD all his life) and asked this question to Buddha, ‘Is there God? Buddha looked at the person and said No, there is no God. Buddha’s disciples were surprised by this answer because whenever they asked Buddha about God, he never uttered a single word and remained quiet all these years but today he gave a straight emphatic No. The message of Joy spread across the town that there is No God. Everyone was happy because the enlightened one has declared there is No God. Now they don’t have to fear anybody because there is No one sitting up there in the sky keeping the record of their wrongdoings and they can do whatever they want. All through the day celebrations happened and the day passed in a very joyful mood for everyone.

As it was getting dark in the evening, There came another person to Buddha who was a great Non-Believer or an Atheist. He spent all his life spreading the message that there is no such thing called as God. But as the age was passing by, a little doubt came to his mind. What if there is a GOD? If there is, the God will surely send him to Hell where he will be tortured by the Demons. He was aware of all the stories which he had heard from the believers of God. He just wanted to confirm the same from Buddha. So he went up to him, he also stood under the shadowy area of the tree so that his face is not visible and asked this question, ‘Is there God’? Without giving a second thought Buddha said, Yes there is. Again the whole town went into the turmoil and the message got to spread that the enlightened one has declared that there is God.

The implication of the story:

Buddha was well aware of both of them who came to him to confirm their beliefs. The only thing Buddha wanted was to break their belief systems because belief never takes anyone closer to the truth. Buddha broke their beliefs because he wanted them to question their own beliefs and find out themselves whether they were right or not. Those people who believe in God, they have not seen a God, They have not experienced a God, They simply believe. Which means God is just an idea in their minds without any real living experience. Those people who do not believe in God, they fail to understand one thing that they are also believing something which they don’t know. Please give a sincere thought and see that Not believing in something is also a belief. So all the believers and Nonbelievers are actually sitting in the same boat pretending to be opposite. They believe something which they don’t know. Both the categories of people will never come one step closer to the truth.

One of the simplest and profound ways of getting closer to the ultimate truth is to Seek. Do not believe or disbelieve something just because your scripture says so. As a human being, nature has given you an active intelligence to question everything which you get exposed to. If you simply believe, that means you are fringing your own intelligence. The best way to know is to question even what is written in your religious scriptures and find out whether this is really true or not. Simply discarding or accepting something on the basis of a belief system is the worst thing a human being can do. The way of the seeking is the best way to know and experience the truth.

When someone asks me, What is your idea of God, I simply say I do not know as yet, if I find out, I will let you know. I think that is far more practical and logical than simply believing all the rubbish which we have been fed right from our childhood days by the so-called society. All beliefs are socially induced hallucinations. If you look at any religion of the world, seeking has always been discouraged because the way of seeking is to question, examine & verify properly before you accept anything. But questioning the authenticity of a Holy Book or a Scripture is almost a crime in the religious world. Look back in the history of time and see, All those people who questioned the testimony of a religious book or a religious philosophy, their heads were cut off their bodies. For centuries the authority has been accepted as the Ultimate Truth. It’s high time that we change it and accept the Truth to be the Ultimate Authority. That is the only way we will produce sensible human beings who will work towards a healthier, happier and sustainable world.

Love and Peace!