Less than half of passing IIT batch believes in God’s existence

[Capt.Popeye]

I'd agree with the part that the real education so to speak only begins with work life, though in any real sense we are always learning.

When I used the term silly, it was more to do with lack of maturity and depth, that can only come from experience no matter how talented one might be.

In the context here, its more to do with people not questioning what they are told and accepting things at face value. Not believing in God for a lot of young people is just fashion that they imitate from the west as are most other things they tend to do.

The greatest of teacher teach you how to think as much as that can be taught, not what to think. Unfortunately, there is a serious dearth of such people even in the best of the world's institutions. Thus, my point that most people who pass out even from the best of institution don't really think for themselves and question things as much they ought to. That they gain with time and experience, if they are lucky.

That was longer than I intended it to be.

No, not quite; your views are interesting.
I do not think that all young people follow blindly. That has a lot to do with the environment that they grow up in or are part of. I grew up in an environment where questioning was acceptable.... though all the important persons in that set -up did not like it. But so what.... we get inputs into our thought processes from various sources. For example, we may not have a Plato or an Adi Sankara or a Mao in our ever-day lives; but we can read all that we can find about each of them and then decide our own way forward. I have had even people who formed part of the Estt. who were open to questioning, my parents being among them. What needs to be understood on both sides is what can be questioned and yet must be complied with (simply for reasons of management) and what can be questioned and need not be complied with unquestioningly. That is the basis of the Ancient Indian Philosophy of Life and Living. Which actually speaking; is a Universal Way, if you consider it that way.

 

[Nicky G]

No, not quite; your views are interesting.
I do not think that all young people follow blindly. That has a lot to do with the environment that they grow up in or are part of. I grew up in an environment where questioning was acceptable.... though all the important persons in that set -up did not like it. But so what.... we get inputs into our thought processes from various sources. For example, we may not have a Plato or an Adi Sankara or a Mao in our ever-day lives; but we can read all that we can find about each of them and then decide our own way forward. I have had even people who formed part of the Estt. who were open to questioning, my parents being among them. What needs to be understood on both sides is what can be questioned and yet must be complied with (simply for reasons of management) and what can be questioned and need not be complied with unquestioningly. That is the basis of the Ancient Indian Philosophy of Life and Living. Which actually speaking; is a Universal Way, if you consider it that way.

Not all of them, sure, maybe not even a majority of them, though I'd argue otherwise, but certainly a significant number of them do, particularly when its about aping the west. Many just do it to be rebellious.

I have met and luckily am friends with a lot of people who have questioned the set-up and most basic of principles, but then I have met an overwhelming majority who are just followers. Maybe its because I have had friends who question that I feel the acute lack of this characteristic in others.

Sure, I am not calling for anarchy here, you need to follow some rules for any society to function. However, that does mean you don't question, it means you understand why you are complying after having questioned it.

Same principle must be applied to everything, be it science, government, society, religion or anything else. Most do not, not even the people who pass out from decent institutions whom you'd expect to.

In the context of science and engineering, most don't question the limitations or the basis for many things. Most don't investigate for themselves whether whatever they are being told pans out or not. Most don't question that if science is dismissing something as absurd, does it have a justification do to so, or is mere arrogance borne out of ignorance and limitation of human intellect. I could go on, but you get the point, I hope.

 

[utraash]

I used to be atheist in my school days to college days despite I come from a very religious family(Karamkandi & strong believer of god). But things started slowly changing until I reach at 28, Since then believe in god but refrain from appeasing acts to gods..... Even today I don't do Diya batti or worship morning n eve still a believer of god & karma .... I give more preference to my karma my inner expression than worshipping god in temple ....
Bhagwan is composition of Panchtatva or house of soul in all living species....
Bh-Bhumi
Ag- Aagni
Wa- Vaayu
A- Amber or Akash
N- Neer or paani
Without these above panchtatva no soul can exist in this world..... We may hold five days Devi Paath(देवी पाठ) in coming month of May at my home along with Satyanarayan Katha vachan(सत्यानारायन कथा)....

So for the OP, every human go thru inner n outer evolution phase so once they reach that stage of inner evolution they would certainly believe in god....

 

[SitaramVillas]

He will if correct evidence, like photos are shown. He cares because it will be a wonderful experience for him and he can learn new things. What he will (should) not care is someone saying there is an all knowing, all caring being(s) inside the rainforest that will kill him if he goes against it... about tatvamasi thing, it is similar to "aham brahmasmi" or i think therefore I am.... which is fine philosophically but not true in reality..

Sorry that is not the concept of God in Hinduism. No God is going to kill you if you go against God. Only qualifier is if there is too much imbalance created that life on Earth itself is threatened then perhaps God(s) intervene.

Tat Tvam Asi or Aham Brahmasmi is not a philosophical concept. It literally says you are God. To say that I am god is not equivalent to saying I think therefore I am.

 

[Sneaker]

Sorry that is not the concept of God in Hinduism. No God is going to kill you if you go against God. Only qualifier is if there is too much imbalance created that life on Earth itself is threatened then perhaps God(s) intervene.

Tat Tvam Asi or Aham Brahmasmi is not a philosophical concept. It literally says you are God. To say that I am god is not equivalent to saying I think therefore I am.

I wasn't talking about any particular religion. Tatvamasi is not philosophical? So everyone is a god? Including mass murderers? What is the definition of god then?

 

[SitaramVillas]

I wasn't talking about any particular religion. Tatvamasi is not philosophical? So everyone is a god? Including mass murderers? What is the definition of god then?

Per the Advaita philosophy everything and everyone is god. You are taking your definition of the vengeful old man in the sky as god from the Abrahamic religions. Per Advaita mass murderers are god too. This is called Leela, ie roleplay. Each and every soul which is part of Brahman and within Brahman takes on a role, whether good, bad, or ugly. Because without bad, good has no meaning. The entire spectrum of behavior, emotions, feelings, events that goes on to make up life experience is the reason for existence. Otherwise, there is no such thing as good, bad, or ugly. All that exists is only God.

Tat Tvam Asi is part of Upanishad/Vedanta. It is Shruti which is revealed knowledge. Hence part of fundamental truth.

 

[Sneaker]

Per the Advaita philosophy everything and everyone is god. You are taking your definition of the vengeful old man in the sky as god from the Abrahamic religions. Per Advaita mass murderers are god too. This is called Leela, ie roleplay. Each and every soul which is part of Brahman and within Brahman takes on a role, whether good, bad, or ugly. Because without bad, good has no meaning. The entire spectrum of behavior, emotions, feelings, events that goes on to make up life experience is the reason for existence. Otherwise, there is no such thing as good, bad, or ugly. All that exists is only God.

Tat Tvam Asi is part of Upanishad/Vedanta. It is Shruti which is revealed knowledge. Hence part of fundamental truth.

So you wrote everything except the definition of god. if don't know that definition, why call anything god?

 

[UPer]

He will if correct evidence, like photos are shown. He cares because it will be a wonderful experience for him and he can learn new things.

Good, very good! So we agree that first he has to be convinced, then secondly he has to experience it. First he has to trust your account, then make an effort to travel the distances to actually see it. Then only the wonderful experience will be realized.
Now the question is, can he really trust you? And then be prepared to take thousands of miles of journey through unknown lands, spanning months or years, just to verify your account?

Now if I turn the tables and make the same proposition to you. I tell you about this wonderful experience, and a path to follow; will you?

What he will (should) not care is someone saying there is an all knowing, all caring being(s) inside the rainforest that will kill him if he goes against it... about tatvamasi thing, it is similar to "aham brahmasmi" or i think therefore I am.... which is fine philosophically but not true in reality..

Who said anything about that special being trying to kill you? I am sorry, you have to revisit tat-tvam-asi.

I used to be atheist in my school days to college days despite I come from a very religious family(Karamkandi & strong believer of god). But things started slowly changing until I reach at 28, Since then believe in god but refrain from appeasing acts to gods..... Even today I don't do Diya batti or worship morning n eve still a believer of god & karma .... I give more preference to my karma my inner expression than worshipping god in temple ....
Bhagwan is composition of Panchtatva or house of soul in all living species....
Bh-Bhumi
Ag- Aagni
Wa- Vaayu
A- Amber or Akash
N- Neer or paani
Without these above panchtatva no soul can exist in this world..... We may hold five days Devi Paath(देवी पाठ) in coming month of May at my home along with Satyanarayan Katha vachan(सत्यानारायन कथा)....

So for the OP, every human go thru inner n outer evolution phase so once they reach that stage of inner evolution they would certainly believe in god....

I followed a similar path. In my younger years, I never understood the stubbornness behind following rituals. Later in my life I was shown advait vedanta, and I thank certain people for that!

I highly recommend Raj Yoga by Swami Vivekananda to you.

 

[Sneaker]

Good, very good! So we agree that first he has to be convinced, then secondly he has to experience it. First he has to trust your account, then make an effort to travel the distances to actually see it. Then only the wonderful experience will be realized.
Now the question is, can he really trust you? And then be prepared to take thousands of miles of journey through unknown lands, spanning months or years, just to verify your account?

Now if I turn the tables and make the same proposition to you. I tell you about this wonderful experience, and a path to follow; will you?



Who said anything about that special being trying to kill you? I am sorry, you have to revisit tat-tvam-asi.



I followed a similar path. In my younger years, I never understood the stubbornness behind following rituals. Later in my life I was shown advait vedanta, and I thank certain people for that!

I highly recommend Raj Yoga by Swami Vivekananda to you.

Not until there is credible evidence of what you are telling is true. And no, I don't need to revisit it because it is useless in reality.....