The debate between a professor and devotee
An atheist professor of philosophy speaks to his class on the problem science has with Krishna. He asks one of his new students Hiten Raja to stand.
Professor: You are a Hare Krishna devotee, aren't you, son?
Hiten: Yes, sir.
Prof: So you believe in God?
Hiten: Absolutely, sir.
Prof: Is God good?
Hiten: Sure.
Prof: Is God all-powerful?
Hiten: Yes.
Prof: My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to Krishna to heal him. Most of us would
attempt to help others who are ill. But Krishna didn't. How is this Krishna good then? (Hiten
Raja is silent.)
Prof: You can't answer, can you? Let's start again, young fella. Is God good?
Hiten: Yes.
Prof: Is Satan good?
Hiten: No.
Prof: Where does Satan come from?
Hiten: From...God...
Prof: That's right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?
Hiten: Yes.
Prof: Evil is everywhere, isn't it? And God did make everything. Correct?
Hiten: Yes.
Prof: So who created evil?
(Hiten does not answer.)
Prof: Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the
world, don't they?
Hiten: Yes, sir.
Prof: So, who created them?
(Hiten has no answer.)
Prof: Tell me, son. Do you believe in Krishna?
Hiten: Yes, professor, I do.
Prof: Science says you have 5 senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Have
you ever seen Krishna?
Hiten: No, sir.
Prof: Tell us if you have ever heard your Krishna?
Hiten: Yes , sir.
Prof: Have you ever felt your Krishna, tasted your Krishna, smelt your Krishna? Have you ever
had any sensory perception o Krishna or God for that matter?
Hiten: No, sir. I'm afraid I haven't.
Prof: Yet you still believe in Him?
Hiten: Yes.
Prof: According to empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says our Krishna doesn't
exist. What do you say to that, son?
Hiten: Nothing. I only have my faith.
Prof: Yes. Faith. And that is the problem science has with Krishna.
Hiten: Professor, is there such a thing as heat?
Prof: Yes.
Hiten: And is there such a thing as cold?
Prof: Yes.
Hiten: No sir. There isn't.
(The lecture theatre becomes very quiet with this turn of events.)
Hiten: Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, mega heat, white heat, a little
heat or no heat. But we don't have anything called cold. We can hit 458 degrees below zero
which is no heat, but we can't go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold.
Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat is
energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.
(There is pin-drop silence in the lecture theatre.)
Hiten: What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?
Prof: Yes. What is night if there isn't darkness?
Hiten: You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of something. You can have low light,
normal light, bright light, flashing light.....But if you have no light constantly, you have nothing
and it's called darkness, isn't it? In reality, darkness isn't. If it were you would be
able to make darkness darker, wouldn't you?
Prof: So what is the point you are making, young man?
Hiten: Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.
Prof: Flawed? Can you explain how?
Hiten: Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there is life and then there is
death, a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite,
something we can measure. Sir, science can't even explain a thought. It uses electricity and
magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either on. To view death as the
opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is
not the opposite of life: just the absence of it. Now tell me, Professor. Do you teach your students
that they evolved from a monkey?
Prof: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes, of course, I do.
Hiten : Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?
(The Professor shakes his head with a smile, beginning to realize where the argument is going.)
Hiten : Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove
that this process is an on-going endeavour, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you not a
scientist but a preacher?
(The class is in uproar.)
Hiten : Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor's brain?
(The class breaks out into laughter.)
Hiten : Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor's brain, felt it, touched or smelt
it?.....No one appears to have done so. Therefore, according to the established rules of empirical,
stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, sir. With all due respect, sir,
how do we then trust your lectures, sir?
(The room is silent. The professor stares at the student, his face
unfathomable.)
Prof: I guess you'll have to take them on faith, son.
Hiten Raja: That is it sir.. The link between man & god is FAITH. That is all that keeps things moving & alive.
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