क्या ईश्वर है?

Question प्रश्न 68.

Does God Exist?

क्या ईश्वर है? 

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Answer : उत्तर --

Could This question be asked in another way as the following :

What is God?

Again we could restructure in the yet another way for the sake of clarity :

"Who" is "God"?

Or even in the following way :

Is (The) God an Objective Reality?

The simple and plain Truth is :

Ishwara (ईश्वर)  is never God. 

Gods are so many, while Ishwara is the  Unique Principle though neither one nor many. Moreover it's not Zero or absence as well! 

So God and Ishwara are different and distinct from one-another.

The word God as is Gott in German and in Gothic, is a derivative and a cognate of the Sanskrit word gotra. Historically and traditionally also the "gotra" are as many as are those ऋषि /  seers who approached the Divinity (देवता तत्व), like-wise those Divinities too are as  many.The question of the monotheism or polytheism is therefore just absurd.

Ishwara is "What Is".

The phenomenal existence is all whatever appears and subsequently disappears.

However at the same time, inevitably some support is there, undeniable for all this apparent phenomenon which neither appears nor disappears. 

That foundation of the phenomenal is the Timeless Existence / "What Is". This could not to be grasped through senses or the intellect (thought) but is to be seen as the तत्वदर्शिनः / sages / seers could see.

तद्विद्धि प्रणिपातेन परिप्रश्नेन सेवया।।

उपदेक्ष्यन्ति ते ज्ञानं ज्ञानिनः तत्वदर्शिनः।।

So who is an atheist?

Is an atheist one who doesn't believe whether Ishwara exists or not?

A monotheist believes that Ishwara is "One", a polytheist believes there are multiple Ishwara(s), while the atheist neither doubts nor believes if Ishwara exists or not, if Ishwara is one or many, a singular or a plural.

The origin of the word "Theo" in the Greek is in the Sanskrit word "धियो" / "धियो" as is there in the  गायत्री मन्त्र  / "gAyatrI mantra" :

ॐ भूर्भुवः स्वः तत्सवितुर्वरेण्यं भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि धियो यो नः प्रचोदयात्।।

धियो in the Sanskrit is a form of  "धियः" - plural of  "धी" - meaning thought or the intellect. This thought is singular or plural according to the situation.

धियः / धियो as in the gAyatrI mantra is in the plural Genetive case - meaning - of the intellect / thought / senses.

In comparison, Theo in the Greek is a cognate of the Sanskrit "धियः" / "धियो" which the plural, in the nominative case.

Again, the Sanskrit word "बुद्धिः" is a compound verb-root, a combination of the roots √बुध् and √धी . The first is used to indicate the illumination or the light, while the next in the sense of knowledge / memory.

Ishwara is to be known through the illumination only and not through the memory or knowledge. Knowledge or memory is experience. It is only the description of the Truth about Ishwara, and the description is never "What Is"; - the described.

The multiplicity and the singularity of intellect is described in the Gita in the following verse :

व्यवसायात्मिका बुद्धिरेकेह कुरुनन्दन।।

बहुशाखः ह्यनन्ताश्च बुद्धयोऽव्यवसायिनाम्।।

Those who dwell in the intellect have an intellect of the kind with infinite branches and none takes them to the Truth, while those who understand, and see in the light of understanding have a single and unique approach to the Truth. 

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