"It is beyond my power to induce in you a belief in God. There are certain things which are self proved and certain which are not proved at all. The existence of God is like a geometrical axiom. It may be beyond our heart grasp. I shall not talk of an intellectual grasp. Intellectual attempts are more or less failures, as a rational explanation cannot give you the faith in a living God. For it is a thing beyond the grasp of reason. It transcends reason. There are numerous phenomena from which you can reason out the existence of God, but I shall not insult your intelligence by offering you a rational explanation of that type. I would have you brush aside all rational explanations and begin with a simple childlike faith in God. If I exist, God exists. With me it is a necessity of my being as it is with millions. They may not be able to talk about it, but from their life you can see that it is a part of their life. I am only asking you to restore the belief that has been undermined. In order to do so, you have to unlearn a lot of literature that dazzles your intelligence and throws you off your feet. Start with the faith which is also a token of humility and an admission that we know nothing, that we are less than atoms in this universe. We are less than atoms, I say, because the atom obeys the law of its being, whereas we in the insolence of our ignorance deny the law of nature. But I have no argument to address to those who have no faith."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Mahatma Ghandi, Young India (24 September 1931); also in Teachings Of Mahatma Gandhi (1945), edited by Jag Parvesh Chander, p. 458 archive.org
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Existence_of_God
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Existence of God
104 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Existence of God →
Related Quotes
"Reason alone cannot prove the existence of God. Faith is reason plus revelation, and the revelation part requires one…"
"The existence of God may be proved in five ways. The first and most manifest way is the argument from motion. ...What…"
"We clearly infer from this that God, who moves all things, must Himself be immovable. If He, being the first mover, w…"
"Even theologians — even the great theologians of the thirteenth century,— even Saint Thomas Aquinas himself — did not…"
"Simply believing in the existence of God is not exactly what I would call a commitment. After all, even the devil bel…"
"Infinite God, age after age, throughout all cycles, wills through His Infinite Mercy to effect His presence amidst ma…"
"Debates about the existence of God are interminable (...) In my view, though, the persistence of this debate is not s…"
"Many people today lack hope. They are perplexed by the questions that present themselves ever more urgently in a conf…"
"Truly says Cudworth that the greatest ignorance of which our modern wiseacres accuse the ancients is their belief in …"
"Ivan Karamazov ... does not absolutely deny the existence of God. He refutes Him in the name of a moral value. ... Go…"