The Touch of a Living Being

Now, some people consider themselves too rational to accept unseen laws of reincarnation or the existence of a Supreme Being. They express their objections by posing rhetorical questions like, "If God created everything, then who created God?" But even if we think that someone else created God, this still implies the existence of an ultimate cause. So actually no one objects to the idea of some ultimate cause-neither the proponents of the empiric school nor the students of spiritual science. Admitting an ultimate cause, therefore, we must ask this basic question of creation: was that original cause conscious or inert?

When I was small, I remember now, there was a game I would play for fun with friends. I would set up a line of dominoes, so long that it extended into the next room. Then when a friend would come in, I would push the first domino and watch my friend's surprised face as the line of dominoes fell, as if by magic, across the room. Because my friend could not see who moved them, he would be amazed by the feat. Similarly, we wonder at the workings of nature, who bears rich harvests year after year, as if by magic, and turns the color of leaves on the autumn trees with masterful discretion. We gape childlike at the vastness of space and its perfect order, self-sufficient planets and orchestral movements. On a human level, the beauty of a painting reflects the creativity of its painter, the harmonies of a piano concerto that of its author, and the qualities of a son those of his father. Throughout the history of the world, there has never been creation without the touch of a living being. That same principle holds true, according to the Vedas, on a universal scale.