Got in mail. A nice one.

A man went to a barbershop to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed.

As the barber began to work, they began to have a good conversation.

They talked about so many things and various subjects. When they eventually touched on the subject of God, the barber said: "I don't believe that God exists."

"Why do you say that?"asked the customer.

"Well, you just have to go out in the street to realize that God doesn't exist. 

Tell me, if God exists,would there be so many sick people? Would there be abandoned children? If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain. I can't imagine loving a God who would allow all of these things."

The customer thought for a moment, but didn't respond because he didn't want to start an argument.

The barber finished his job and the customer left the shop. Just after he left the barbershop, he saw a man in the street with long, stringy, dirty hair and an untrimmed beard. He looked dirty and un-kept.

The customer turned back and entered the barber shop again and he said to the barber: "You know what? Barbers do not exist."

"How can you say that?"asked the surprised barber. "I am here, and I am a barber.And I just worked on you!"

"No!" the customer exclaimed. "Barbers don't exist because if they did, there would be no people with dirty long hair and untrimmed beards, like that man outside."

"Ah, but barbers DO exist! What happens is, people do not come to me."

"Exactly!"- affirmed the customer. "That's the point! God, too, DOES exist! What happens, is, people don't go to Him and do not look for Him. That's why there's so much pain and suffering in the world."

lame...please provide mathematical proof of existence

very lame...

KATHMANDU, Nepal (CNN) -- Authorities in a remote region of Nepal searched downstream up to 20 miles (30 km) for bodies Wednesday, one day after a suspension bridge collapsed, sending hundreds of Hindu festivalgoers into the water below.

So, those who are suffering and in pain are the ones who do not go to God, eh? What abt the three month old baby that dies of pneumonia? What about the 5 yr old run over by an ice-cream truck? Does that barber has some lame excuse for that too?

May be the three month old had to die to teach the parents a lesson, eh, who went to church every Sunday anyway!

btw, suckers like Mugabe don't seem to suffer... wonder why!

Tesko bajey ko ijaaar bhako poorano dharkey unnerpyan jasto hai! Ulta pulta duniya!

Abo ke mathematical proof khojnu.... circumstancial ta chhaina!

rajeshkc,

what do u think? u r the only one who knows mathematics? don't be so hypocritical and silly. there are 'virtually infinite' number of people who are mathematically smarter than you and still do believe in god.

can you prove 2+2=4?

To argue asking for proof of God is just like arguing that we can live without Oxygen. People who believein the Lord do not need any proof for His existence. Nor do they need to provide proof to anyone. It is a matter of faith. Some people who consider themselves over-genius or extra-smart might might want to prove their pointthat the God does not exist. But the Holy Gita states that God resides in all His creations and loves themequally them equally, but, who worship Him with true devotion and love, He will live in them and They willlive in him. We are not like the Mighty Hanuman that we can show the Lord's presence within our heart, so, it issimply a matter of belief and faith.

We r all free to have our own faith. I m cool with those who believe in god..and also cool with those who don't.

As far as my faith goes..I love god..and my love is unconditional. I don't ask anything from god, I don't demand anything.

I wake up everyday and thank him for giving me this wonderful life..for having given me everything that I have.

FULLSTOP.

I have not exactly found a rt answer of why god allows suffering. Most of the answers are interpreted in philosophical ways to convince the skeptics but comeon now..If God loves everyone, why do innocent children get killed, why do bad things happen to good people who are devoted, have belief and faith in God..

It does not matter whether HE exists or not, we have to respect HIM.

Teena,

I have answers to all of ur questions. But how about u change ur way of thinking about god ?

Who is god ? What is god ? Who is right ? Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Jews ?  Confused...

Have u ever loved anyone unconditionally. Have u ever loved anyone without expecting anything in return ? To understand god, we need to inculcate this feeling within us. Only then u can get the answers.

With all due respect and humility

Prabhat

Teena,That is a good point. Even I used to have similar questions every now and then until I found answers to these questions. Gita explains, as does Swami Vivekananda, along with many Holy Hindu Scriptures, that people suffer, even the good ones, people filled with virtue, the righetous ones, the noble ones, because of "karma" from the previouslives or the present lives. People might have comitted some bad Karma in their previous lives, the fruitsof which they have to bear in the present lives. Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, and our King Birendra suffered when they died--Mahatma Gandi and King Birendrawere shot and Mother Teresa had natural causes---they all were noble. Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresawere devoted to truth and well being of others and were modern day saints. Likewise, King Birendra wasextreme gentle and no doubt a very nice human being. Back to the original point, they all suffered to a certain point when they died--WHY??? As explained by Hindu scriptures, even some  good peoplemay suffer when they die because they must have comitted some bad Karma in their previous lives or in theirpresent lives. This suffering is the fruit of their very little Bad Karma they might have comittedin their past or present lives. We all know that Soul is neither created nor destroyed. The soul just enters or leaves a body, just like we change clothes; therefore, the soul cannot (never) escape the fruits of the deeds it comitted. The gooddoes not to have to get re-birth and come to the world and get into the cycles of sufferings and are thusrewarded, according to the Hindu scriptires. So, it is all our Karma that we follow. It is also said, however, in the Hindu scriptures, thateven though we did a lot of Bad Karma in the previous life (which, obviously, we do not remember) and thusmight be suffering in the present life, if we worship God with true devotion and love, all the sufferings andpain will go away because, as we know, the Supreme Being is all-beneficient, most-merciful, and most-rewardingwho loves his devotees more than parents love their children and more than we love Him.God Bless Us All.

Happy face

I beg to differ from you Sir. I have different views. But I respect your's anyway.

I don't depend upon what scriptures and what holy books like Gita, Bible or Quran say about god. That's not how I understand god. My understanding of god comes from within my heart and within my conscience.

Again, with highest respect to u I beg to differ.

OcRam,
What about the ones who go to God and still get screwed over in life? At least when you go to the barber, the worst you can expect is a bad hair cut!

The barber and God analogy is weak because there are not free barbers. Isn't your God supposed to be omnipresent, omnipotent being, capable of cutting everyone's hair with a single clap? If not, then what is the point in believing in Him?


May the Force be with you!

Hey,

Teena thats due to Karma in the past. So our objective for this life is to do the best so that you can become one with Krishna after death, so called liberation. Then question arises how am I to  cleanse my bad deeds in this life???
The answer is GOD forgives, if you chant his name Rama or Krishna before you die. Is this possible then at the time of dying you recall his name NO. So you have to practice chanting his name all the time, so when you die you become ONE with GOD. Chanting should be pure meaning no duality or evil thoughts. That means everyday- Love all , Serve all , SEE NO EVIL HEAR NO EVIL and chant GODS name.

I don't wanna be millionaire this life. I just don't want a rebirth in the next life that is my GOAL to be one with GOD.

Believe me guys, I started this thread as a joke. I never was/ NOT and will never be THAT serious about God. But I like the discussion. I will try to answer JediMaster from home with my view. Hehe

duplicate post

Someone said "It is a matter of faith." That says it all.

How is soul defined? Who possesses souls? Do all animal possess souls? How about microscopic organisms? How about an ant? A cocroach, a bee, a flea, a worm? If only humans possess soul how do you explain the population growth? Lot of times religion is only a way to pacify the mind that there is a reason for all this and not just some meaningless chance. A meaningless chance when two people met because one decided to wait for the next bus or something of that sort. They make love on different days, if the union had been on tuesday, the child would have been someone else. If the sexual union was on some other day then the child would be someone else.
Nobody wants to believe that they are not part of a grand design supervised by the great one himself. I mean why would they, they grow up in a social cocoon. Their vision gets marred by manmade institutions of marriage, love, and meaningful existence. Step back few hundred thousand years ago when the first homo sapiens existed. They were only animals needing food and shelter. The sun the all powerful entity was their god because it was inexplicable. They developed language and some smart ones decided to rule over the less smart ones by pretending to have knowledge of the bigger meaning in life. These were the first priests that ruled the homo sapiens.

Prabhat K dude,

you do not have to "beg" to differ just because you think that we differ. First of, I dont think we differ even a bit. We might have different ways of approacing, but the destination is the same. You might realize God differently than I do and that is all. The main point is we both realize God, so, we do not differ. Also, first faith and trust has to come into somebody and then only the person can further strengthen belief in God through different means including by going through scriptures, stories, Gita, and so on. I get answers to different questions and realize many forgotten things by going through these Holy scriptures. You might have a different opinion. Even though we were different, it is our birth right to freedom and to think and decide to whatever we believe as long as it does not harm others. Religion is also freedom and the path to happiness and end of suffering, if followed properly and realized accuratetly. By going through the Ramayana and the deeds of Lord Sri Ram, I have firm belief that true religion is more like a democracy where all the rights of people are well protected and there is freedom to every thing as long as it does not harm others, but sad that it has been twisted by some people for their personal benefit.