Piles of Oranges – A logical proof of God
Imagine you are walking through a beautiful quiet garden with no one around. As you walk, you see a pile of oranges neatly arranged under an orange tree. What is the first thing you think? Your first thought may be: “I wonder WHO piled these oranges under the tree?” Oranges do not order themselves into neat piles on the ground. Do they? No. So when you see an orderly pile of oranges stacked up on the grass, you know that a person must have been there and deliberately piled them up. Even if no one can be seen there now. Point here is this: When you observe orderliness, you know (infer) a person must have been involved (Called ‘Vyapti Jnana’ in Indian Logic). That is why you instinctively asked: “WHO did this?” It is very important to note here that when you say a “person” must have been involved, a person = conscious, intelligent being. Not an inert thing, like a stone. Could a stone arrange the oranges in that pile? Of course not, a stone is not a living conscious thing with the ability to think, plan, deliberate, and move things. So when we observe orderliness (e.g. an ordered pile of oranges), we know (infer) a conscious/intelligent being must have been involved in implementing that order. This is the key point to be proven by this ‘orange pile’ example.
Ok. Let’s extend this example to the universe: Observe the world around you – planets orbit the sun, the seasons come and go due to the tilt of the earth on its axis, nature provides exactly what is needed to for all of us to live (e.g. trees breathe out oxygen which we breathe in, we breathe out CO2 which trees breathe in – a natural harmony/order), laws of Karma govern everyone’s actions equally without fail. So we can observe certain laws of nature which clearly operate and govern the whole world. These Laws are in the form of the laws of physics, laws of psychology, laws of biology, laws of economics, laws of medicine, laws of chemistry, laws of attraction, law of Karma, Law of free will, Law of Chaos (Even disorder is within an orderly law!), etc. Law = Order. Right. So….Just like when you see the oranges, the 1st thing you thought was: WHO did this? So to, you can observe this entire amazing world with so many natural laws that make it work. So it is perfectly logical to ask…WHO did this? WHO made this? Where did it all come from? Could it just have come to be like this on its own? The question “who” implies there must have been a conscious/living/intelligent being involved in making these laws. Just like the oranges must have been ordered by an intelligent being. Right? Think carefully here. Hence, by observing the world, we know an intelligent conscious ‘person’ (Purusha) must have been involved in its creation (Srishti). Who could have that level of intelligence, power, skill to do this? Vedanta gives a clear answer: Isvara. Bhagavan.
The above orange example (Drshtantha) is taught by Kanchi Paramacharya, the great Shankaracharya from Tamil Nadu who attained Samadhi a few years ago. An incredibly pious saint and humble scholar. The corresponding logic of orderliness implying a conscious being – is used by Adi Shanakaracharya in his commentaries (bhashya) as a Logic based proof for the existence of Bhagavan. Shankaracharya explains it a lot more easily than I! This is one of many beautiful examples/logical proofs employed within Vedanta to firmly establish the existence of Bhagavan.
Om Tat Sat.
