Christian apologist Vishal Mangalwadi posted the following in one of his Facebook posts;
A CONVERSATION WITH A SINCERE HINDU
. . . (Australia Tour # 2) . . .
Pandit Bal Krishna was training to become a swami to preach a version of Hinduism called Adwaita or non-dualism. He believed that the Creator and the creation are one. You are God, not a sinner. His aim in life was to become one with Brahma (God) by merging his individual soul into the impersonal, Universal Consciousness.
BK: Well, science teaches us that life has evolved out of matter, and matter is indeed energy. Now physicists like Erwin Schrodinger and great biologists like Waddington are telling us that energy really is consciousness. The whole creation has evolved out of consciousness. This universal consciousness is the ultimate reality, or Brahman that is everything.
VM: Is this Universal Consciousness personal or impersonal?
BK: It is infinite, therefore, impersonal.
VM: Is personality higher than impersonality?
BK: Of course!
VM: Then why do you want to become lower and merge into impersonal consciousness?
BK: Well, no. Personality is actually lower than impersonality.
VM: Why do you then use the term evolution? Shouldn’t you say that we have devolved out of the impersonal? If so, shouldn’t you respect this grass on which we are sitting? Being impersonal, the dirt is higher than us. Why do you walk on it?
BK: This is confusing. Let's begin again.
VM: Okay. My question is, where has this whole creation come from?
BK: There is no creation. It is maya — a dream, an illusion, a game that we call Lila.
VM: If the cosmos is an illusion or whimsical Lila without “laws”, how is science possible?
BK: Science is pursued by the ignorant who think that the material universe is real. Our gurus sought spiritual Enlightenment. Not a single Hindu Ashram ever studied science or built up a university. Science depends on human intellect. God-realization comes from meditation that silences the mind and transcends reason into mysticism.
VM: So! What have we been talking about all this time?
BK: About nothing! We shouldn't have been talking. There is nothing to talk about. We ought to silence our minds through meditation.
VM: Why then do you want to become a preacher and go all over the world to declare that the world does not exist? Wouldn't your activity contradict your message?
BK: No, because Vedanta teaches that so far as I am living in ignorance, I have to behave as though this world is real.
VM: Well, then shouldn’t you first get rid of your ignorance and attain “realization.” After you have personally realized that the world is an illusion, then, perhaps you can ask others to attain liberation. But maybe when you realize that the world is an illusion, you would not go around the world. Anyway, why do you think that your experience as an individual person distinct from others, is an illusion?
BK: Because I have no basis for saying that I am personal or that finite individuality is real.
VM: Of course, if the Ultimate Reality (Brahma) is impersonal then personality cannot come out of impersonality. It must be an illusion. But what if the Ultimate Reality is an infinite-personal God? Then your experience of being an individual person could be an experience of reality. What if a personal Being created you to be like him — a person with an individual identity, a mind, and a will of your own?
BK: But how can anyone believe in a personal God who is infinite? Isn't personality a limitation? An infinite being must have everything in itself, e.g., good and evil, love and hatred, personality, and impersonality.
VM: Not necessarily. In geometry, we talk about an infinite straight line. That doesn't mean that everything that exists is included in this straight line. It is infinite in what it is. Likewise, God can have a definite character and be infinite in his character. That is, he can be good in contrast to being evil, and be infinite in his goodness, or infinitely powerful in contrast to being weak. His character does limit him. He is good, not evil. But he is infinite in who he is.
BK That's interesting. But how can you believe in a personal God who is omnipresent? If God is present in this stone, in its every subatomic particle, then how is God different from the stone itself?
VM: The omnipresence of God means that divinity is immediately accessible from every point of space, and every point of space is immediately accessible to God. It does not mean that God is everything. Moreover, if God is Spirit then it is perfectly conceivable that both God and stone are present here because Spirit doesn't really occupy space.
BK: Hmmm… that sounds reasonable.
VM: If God is an infinite-personal Spirit, we have a basis for believing that our experience of being distinct individuals is real. We are personal beings created in God's image. Then, our problem is not that we are ignorant of our true nature, but that we are alienated from God due to our sin.
BK: What is sin?
Well, if you begin with the assumption that God is "impersonal-everything" good as well as evil, then sin and morality make no sense. But if you begin with the assumption that God is personal and has a definite character, then everything against his character is sin, because his character is the Law of his universe.
BK: But how can we know God's character, even if he has one?
VM: By ourselves, we can only speculate, not truly know. But if God reveals the truth about himself to us then we can know. What is ‘conscience’ - the inner voice that tells us that we did something wrong? Could it be an aspect of God’s image and likeness within every one of us? God’s commandments — for example, the Ten Commandments — reveal objectively what is confirmed in our conscience subjectively. Reading God's Word helps us know what God is like and what we ought to be. We sin when we do not conform to God's character and word.
Sin separates us from each other as well as from ourselves. Our heart condemns us and we experience helplessness when we do things that we know ought not to be done. Likewise, sin separates us from God because He is holy. He cannot have personal fellowship with sinners. Yet the personal God wants to have a loving relationship with us.
BK: How then can sinners have a relationship with a Holy God?
VM: That is the Gospel or the good news. Just as darkness and light do not mix, so are God and sinners separated. Separation from God is the punishment for sin. In the temporal realm, separation from God brings suffering, sickness, and death. In eternity it brings permanent separation from God or hell.
But God is love. He created us to love Him and each other. That is why God came to save us from our sins. Jesus Christ’s resurrection or triumph over death demonstrated that He was God incarnate. He took our sin and its punishment upon himself on the cross. He died in our place. Therefore, if we repent of our sins and ask Jesus to forgive us for our sins, he forgives us and makes us God’s children. He gives us God’s Holy Spirit so that we can live in a personal relationship with him forever. This is eternal life. This is salvation in which a person does not lose their identity but enters into a joyous relationship with God and with his people.
BK: This is so different from the impression of Christianity that I was given. After I finish my course here, I would like to live with some Christians for a time and learn more about the Christian life and faith.
Vishal Mangalwadi
PS. Ruth and I are scheduled to be in Sydney, Australia from August 18-28. To prepare the audience for that trip, I am posting a series for posts
