Life sometimes hurls at us overwhelming obstacles that we feel utterly unequipped to deal with. If we have a materialistic vision of life, we feel agonizingly alone in a vast uncaring world. That’s why amid crises, even materialistic people sometimes pray to some higher power.

Does such a power really exist? It’s existence can be inferred by simple metaphysical reasoning. Here’s how. Our very existence depends on so many factors beyond our control. To do something as seemingly routine as read this article, we need air to breathe, a body healthy enough to read, a climate congenial enough for survival. Such things that we can’t do much to control, align favorably for most of our life. How? These things point to the existence of some benevolent supreme being.

We may object to this inference, “But this favorable alignment eventually falls apart for everyone because we ultimately die and frequently suffer immensely before death – so is that higher being really benevolent?

To appreciate divine benevolence, we need to see the world’s design in the light of its purpose. Gita wisdom explains that the point of this world is to point beyond the world. The favorable alignment of factors necessary for our existence is meant to facilitate not our worldly gratification but our spiritual evolution – the expansion of our consciousness to perceive our spirituality and the supreme spiritual reality, Krishna. When things seem to be falling apart, that situation serves as a forceful impetus for accelerating our spiritual evolution. Amid difficulties, if we strive to connect with Krishna by absorbing our consciousness in him, we will experience calmness and clarity streaming into us from some ineffable source. Such experiences will convince us that whatever the obstacle facing us, Krishna’s grace is always there to empower us to rise above that obstacle (Bhagavad-gita 18.58).

Think it over:

  • How can we infer the existence of a benevolent higher being?
  • Amid the prevalence of death and distress in this world, how can we appreciate divine benevolence?
  • When faced with obstacles, how can we experience divine grace?

 

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