Common Ground

If we look at the historical accounts of different peoples throughout the world, we can easily see that faith in God is a common characteristic of all humankind. Even uncivilized, animalistic nomads, whose occupation is hunting for animal flesh, still offer obeisances to the sun and moon, huge mountains, great rivers and even large trees, worshiping them as creators and controllers. Why is this? Because the belief in a Supreme Lord is a natural and essential function of human life, and thus even when a human being is heavily conditioned, as long as his consciousness is not completely covered, his belief in God will be manifested to a certain extent. However, after he attains some status of civilization and begins to study various kinds of material knowledge, his natural faith in God becomes more or less covered by false arguments, and direct atheism, or else the monistic idea that the ultimate truth is void, may take root in his mind. We should understand that such miserly attitudes simply indicate an unhealthy consciousness devoid of spiritual strength.

Whether he be totally uncivilized or well suited for developing faith in the Supreme Lord, a human being can have his progress suspended and his life made wretched by the three atheistic diseases of materialism, agnosticism, and voidism. Although not everyone is attacked by these diseases, some do fall prey to them and become attached to their own situations, thus remaining unqualified to reach any higher position in life. On the other hand, even uncultured forest dwellers, by virtue of becoming civilized and expert in morality and education, and then further adopting the social and spiritual organization of the Vedic varnasrama-dharma, can very quickly come to the platform of devotees qualified to engage in the service of the Supreme Lord. This is the natural course of a human being's spiritual growth. But if obstructions in the form of spiritual disease arise, one's way of life becomes perverted.