IS THERE A GOD ?

As a mathematician, it is quite difficult for me to say yes or no without knowing what God means. If a person says that God is the creator of the universe, I will prefer to remain silent. Because, logically the word God must be first defined by some kind of description before it is used. So, for the sake of description, if someone says : God is our loving father. God is kind. God saves us from dangers and difficult situations of life. God lives in heaven, above the sky. Etc. Etc. Then I will raise objections one after another.

If God is a loving father, then why does he give some people plenty of food to eat and a very comfortable life, and gives no food or drinks to others ? Even little children are dying without food and do not have even water to drink ? Babies are born with life threatening birth defects. What sins did they commit ? They are being punished before they are being born !!!

If God is our savior, why during natural calamities places of worship were demolished, priests and pilgrims lost their precious lives, hundreds and thousands of devotees suffer endless miseries ? Why did God fail to protect them ? He should have saved them because he is all powerful.

Finally there is no evidence that there is a heaven above the sky and God is watching us from there. When I was a kid, following our local priest's sermons, I looked up the sky to find God till my eyes started burning and I gave up searching for God over the sky. I told my mom that it is a blatant lie.

There are too many such lies and contradictions causing confusions and delusions if we assume God lives above the sky and takes great care of us. And because of these delusions, for hundreds of years people fought wars after wars in the name of religion. Historians recorded these blood baths.

Then why do we believe in the existence of such a God ? Because we need such a God . Why? Because of the existence of two stark realities. " Death " and " Disease ". If these two do not happen in life, our dear God will die instantly.

So, as a mathematician, I should distant myself from such discussions. I will start my discussions on this topic applying the art of logic.

The Vedas are considered by the Hindus as the most treasured books of knowledge. There are four such books. At the end of these books there are several Upanishads expounding and delineating a more subtle aspect of the universe, which supersedes all forms of knowledge described in the Vedas. This is Vedanta philosophy. Vedanta claims that there exists a fundamental element whom Upanishads call " Brahman" who is the Cosmic Consciousness . This philosophy emphatically states that : Brahman is the Absolute, omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient, beyond knowledge and ignorance, beyond existence and nonexistence. Brahman is the Light of all Lights, yet forever unseen.

If we consider these as a set of assumptions, and as such purely philosophical hypotheses, then there is no objection. However, since Vedanta states emphatically that these are no assumptions or philosophical tenets and claims that Brahman is divine and he is omnipresent, so everything in the cosmos is divine. Pots and pans, rocks and rivers, good and evil are all divine. So, murderers and rapists are all divine. This causes mathematicians raise their eyebrows. Before a mathematician accepts this claim, Vedanta must be thoroughly and rigorously examined in the light of mathematics, which is the sole language of science.

Let us start with a discussion on Meditation. This is a science, not a superstition or a religious dogma or demagogue. Meditation alleviates stress. Electro encephalogram displays beta waves in the brain which are being recorded during regular stressful activities . They practically die down during meditation. So meditation is definitely a stress alleviation technique. As meditation continues beta waves are transformed into alpha waves, which become theta waves and then delta waves whose frequency is very very small and amplitudes are very very large. Finally to Samadhi. Brain waves die. Absolutely. Not even an infinitesimal amount of stress is present at that state.

Scientists have recorded them as follows:

The colorful parts on the left side are the beta waves. During meditation they practically vanish as can be noticed in the figure on the right side.

Let us study this phenomenon mathematically. So we must define what is meditation mathematically. We know mind processes information. In the language of mathematics mind operates on an information and changes it into another information. For instance, I see a nice car and I desire to have one like that. So mind changes a " car " into a " desire for a car " . Then that information may be changed into " borrowing money from a bank " or " looking for a better job " etc. etc.

An object of nature becomes a piece of information or simply an " Information " if and only if it is processed by mind. Since mind never stays vacant, an information cannot be a null information. Every information which mind processes causes an " Impact" on the mind. It could make mind happy or sad. Unfortunately, mind loves to process most stressful information. For instance, if one hundred people tell me one hundred times how nice I am, I may forget. But if only one person from far away tells me how bad I am, all day, may be for several days my mind will dwell upon that.

Mathematically, an Information is a set which must contain a non null element. If X1 = { My Mother }, X1 is an information. If M is mind, then we may get M(X1) = X2, where X2 = { Loves me most }. Thus M changes X1 into X2 , which means M changes the information " Mother " into " Mother's love " . If the impact of X1 is P1, then the impact of X2 is P2. On a scale of 1 to 10, if P1 is 7 then P2 could be 8 ( because my father may love me more than my mother) . This " Impact" depends upon our perception.

At the beginning of meditation, mind keeps on processing information one after the other. So, M(X1) = X2, M(X2) = X3 , M(X3) = X4, ... where, X1, X2, X3, X4... are all information that mind M keeps on generating and processing during the beginning of meditation. Their impacts on mind could be recorded by observing the brain waves in an electro encephalogram. As meditation continues and mind calms down as may be noticed in the above figure, mind processes less and less information and their impacts become less and less. Finally mind reaches a state , which is an information, whose impact is zero. If this ultimate information is A, then mathematically, the operator M could not change A resulting A = M(A). ( because A in unaltered ). Mathematically this is called the convergence of a Cauchy Sequence. The next question is : What is A ?

Certainly not every meditator could reach this state. However, even if one does reach this state A , mathematically it is meaningful. A is called the point of attraction of M by mathematicians.

If A is an information connected with the dual universe which is the cosmos, containing more than one information, then certainly mind should have the capability to change it. Because mind changes one information into another information. But mind cannot do this to A ( because all brain activities practically die at this state according to readings from the electro encephalogram. ) Thus A is nondual. Hence it must be the state of the Absolute, or transcendental , beyond nature. If someone claims that conducting meditation or some other means he has attained at the state B where mind got stuck in B , so M(B) = B, and B is different from A, then both A and B become the Absolute. That is mathematically impossible. Why ? Because, if A and B both exist, then dualism comes in. Hence they ought to exist in nature and mind can change them. Hence they cannot be the Absolute. Logically one and only one information could be the Absolute.

Is this the state of death ? No. Because mind is stuck with an information and the brain is not dead.

Can anyone describe what is A ? No. Because then mind must change A into another information which is " a description of A ". But mind cannot. Furthermore, if mind can, then A will not be the Absolute. Also, whatever can never ever be described, can never ever be uttered. So can we define A ? No. Then is A undefined. That's also not correct. Because A can be experienced. Definition or non- definition , these words are applicable only to information emanating from nature. A is transcendental. From a more practical point of view, mind loses all its functions arriving at the point A. It becomes inactive.

Does A exist ? If we say X exists, then immediately questions like : Where, When, How ? must arise. So Nature comes in. These are not applicable to A. Thus we cannot say even that A exists.

Can we say: A does not exist ? No. Because, mind can reach that state.

Is A a piece of knowledge ? No. Because all forms of knowledge should be described ( like in the Vedas ) . A cannot be described. So A is beyond the Vedas . Thus A is at the end of all knowledge. This is Vedanta. ( Anto means End ). Vedanta begins where Vedas end.

Then A must be a state of ignorance. No. Because mind can reach that state and become infinitely peaceful and profoundly silent.

A person who attains the state of " A " hurts none in words or deeds. Loves all and prays for all unconditionally. Hates none. Ready to suffer all tortures of nature smilingly and blames none. How ? Because he has discovered an abode of eternal peace and tranquility in himself.

Such souls are the Realized Souls. Realized Souls call A : The State of Divinity.

Surprisingly without experiencing ourselves, most of us almost spontaneously accept this.Why ? The more we suffer the more we want to go to places of worship, or visit saints and monks. We have a feeling that these people who have truly renounced all worldly desires which caused pains to us at the end, must have experienced the supreme and the sublime state where there is no pain, no suffering, no stress, no anxiety, no disturbance. We notice that they ask for nothing because they are detached from worldly objects.

Only an Information from nature can cause stress and pain. Because of the inherent presence of the merciless law of entropy. Thus bounded by nature , we become victims of our own desires and we keep on processing most stressful information and suffer and suffer till we die in endless suffering.

When body and mind are stilled during deep meditation and kinetic energy is not generated, entropy is zero. So no pain, no suffering, no stress. Forever blissful and peaceful. Then, this must be the state of divinity or simply the state of heaven as we most spontaneously imagine.

When a person naively says that heaven is above the head, it truly means, it is beyond the capacity of our brain to comprehend. But it exists.

"The brain is set up in such a way as to have spiritual experiences and religious experiences," said Andrew Newberg, a Philadelphia scientist who authored the book "Why God Won't Go Away." "Unless there is a fundamental change in the brain, religion and spirituality will be here for a very long time. The brain is predisposed to having those experiences and that is why so many people believe in God." Newberg found that certain areas of the brain were altered during deep meditation. Predictably, these included areas in the front of the brain that are involved in concentration. But Newberg also found decreased activity in the parietal lobe, one of the parts of the brain that helps orient a person in three-dimensional space. "When people have spiritual experiences they feel they become one with the universe and lose their sense of self," he said. "We think that may be because of what is happening in that area if you block that area you lose that boundary between the self and the rest of the world. In doing so you ultimately wind up in a universal state."

This universal state is the state of universal love and compassion. This reminds us of Buddha and Christ and Swami Vivekananda. They are some of the well known Realized Souls.

Why it is all " Inner "? Because if mind travels in the outer universe it keeps on staying restless being associated with wanton waves of desires. It can't meditate. So the feeling of divinity must be generated by a deeper inner feeling achieved through meditation.

Since every person is entitled to experience this through meditation, this inner sublime feeling must be present in all. So all men are potentially divine. And we may say that " A " is the SUPREME DIVINE PERSONALITY whose other simple name is GOD. His holy presence may be experienced , but cannot be expressed. The only outward expression after experiencing this sublime state is: Love for all and hatred for none.

In more details I have discussed these topics in my book :

VEDANTA : THE SCIENCE OF CONSCIOUSNESS AND DIVINITYPublished by the ROERICH Society of Lithuania.

I have cited several scientific references on this topic where I have mentioned works of many physicists, researchers on Information Theory and neuroscientists who have made outstanding contributions in this area.

Suhrit Dey, Professor Emeritus, Dept. of Mathematics & Computer ScienceEastern Illinois University, Charleston, Illinois.U. S. A