| KRISHNA:
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| The secret countenance of Me, revealed by mystic spell, | 310 |
| Shining, and wonderful, and vast, majestic, manifold, | |
| Which none save thou in all the years had favor to behold: | |
| For not by Vedas cometh this, nor sacrifice, nor alms, | |
| Nor works well-done, nor penance long, nor prayers nor chaunted psalms, | |
| That mortal eyes should bear to view the Immortal Soul unclad, | 315 |
| Prince of the Kurus! This was kept for thee alone! Be glad! | |
| Let no more trouble shake thy heart because thine eyes have seen | |
| My terror with My glory. As I before have been | |
| So will I be again for thee; with lightened heart behold! | |
| Once more I am thy Krishna, the form thou knew’st of old! | 320 |
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SANJAYA:
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| Vâsudev, and straight did take | |
| Back again the semblance dear | |
| Of the well-loved charioteer; | |
| Peace and joy it did restore | 325 |
| When the Prince beheld once more | |
| Mighty BRAHMA’s form and face | |
| Clothed in Krishna’s gentle grace. | |
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ARKUNA:
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| This friendly human frame, my mind can think | 330 |
| Calm thoughts once more; my heart beats still again! | |
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KRISHNA:
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| To view me as thou didst, dear Prince! The gods | |
| Dread and desire continually to view! | |
| Yet not by Vedas, nor from sacrifice, | 335 |
| Nor penance, nor gift-giving, nor with prayer | |
| Shall any so behold, as thou hast seen! | |
| Only by fullest service, perfect faith, | |
| And uttermost surrender am I known | |
| And seen, and entered into, Indian Prince! | 340 |
| Who doeth all for Me; who findeth Me | |
| In all; adoreth always; loveth all | |
| Which I have made, and Me, for Love’s sole end, | |
| That man, Arjuna! unto Me doth wend. | |
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Here endeth Chapter XI. of the Bhagavad-Gîtâ,
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345 |
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entitled “Viswarupdarsanam,” or “The Book
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of the Manifesting of the One
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and Manifold”
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How do you know that God wrote the book? That is just what I shall not try to prove to you. I could if I pleased, demonstrate it, for there are arguments enough, there are reasons enough, did I care to occupy your time to-night in bringing them before you; but I shall do no such thing. I might tell you, if I pleased, that the grandeur of the style is above that of an mortal writing, and that all the poets who have ever existed could not, with all their works united, give us such sublime poetry and such mighty language as is to be found in the Scriptures. I might insist upon it, that the subjects of which it treats are beyond the human intellect; that man could never have invented the grand doctrines of a Trinity in the Godhead; man could not have told us anything of the creation of the universe; he could never have been the author of the majestic idea of Providence—that all things are ordered according to the will of one great Supreme Being, and work together for good. I might enlarge upon its honesty, since it tells the faults of its writers; its unity, since it never belies itself; its master simplicity, that he who runs may read it; and I might mention a hundred more things, which would all prove, to a demonstration, that the book is of God. But I come not here to prove it. I am a Christian minister, and you are Christians, or profess to be so; and there is never any necessity for Christian ministers to make a point of bringing forward infidel arguments in order to answer them. It is the greatest folly in the world. Infidels, poor creatures, do not know their own arguments till we tell them, and then they glean their blunted shafts to shoot them at the shield of truth again. It is follow to bring forward these firebrands of hell, even if we are well prepared t quench them. Let men of the world learn error of themselves; do not let us be propagators of their falsehoods. True, there are some preachers who are short of stock, and want to fill them up; but God’s own chosen men need not do that; they are taught of God, and God supplies them with matter, with language, with power. There may be some one here to-night who has come without faith, a man of reason, a freethinker. With him I have no argument at all. I profess not to stand here as a controversialist, but as a preacher of things that I know and feel. But I too, have been like him. There was an evil hour when I once shipped the anchor of my faith; I cut the cable of my belief; I no longer moored myself hard by the coasts of Revelation; I allowed my vessel to drift before the wind; I said to reason, “Be thou my captain;” I said to my own brain, “Be thou my rudder;” and I started on my mad voyage. Thank God, it is all over now; but I will tell you its brief history. It was one hurried sailing over the tempestuous ocean of free thought. I went on, and as I went, the skies began to darken; but to make up for that deficiency, the waters were brilliant with coruscations of brilliancy. I saw sparks flying upward that pleased me, and I thought, “If this be free thought, it is a happy thing.” My thoughts seemed gems, and I scattered stars with both my hands; but anon, instead of these coruscations of glory, I saw grim fiends, fierce and horrible, start up from the waters, and as I dashed on, they gnashed their teeth, and grinned upon me; they seized the prow of my ship and dragged me on, while I, in part, gloried at the rapidity of my motion, but yet shuddered at the terrific rate with which I passed the old landmarks of my faith. As I hurried forward, with an awful speed, I began to doubt my very existence; I doubted if there were a world, I doubted if there was such a thing as myself. I went to the very verge of the dreary realms of unbelief. I went to the very bottom of the sea of Infidelity. I doubted everything. But here the devil foiled himself: for the very extravagance of the doubt, proved its absurdity. Just when I saw the bottom of that sea, there came a voice which said, “And can this doubt be true?” At this very thought I awoke. I started from that deathdream, which, God knows might have damned my soul, and ruined this, my body, if I had not awoke. When I arose, faith took the helm; from that moment I doubted not. Faith steered me back; faith cried, “Away, away!” I cast my anchor on Calvary; I lifted my eye to God; and here I am, “alive, and out of hell.” Therefore, I speak what I do know. I have sailed that perilous voyage; I have come safe to land. Ask me again to be an infidel! No; I have tried it; it was sweet at first, but bitter afterwards. Now, lashed to God’s gospel more firmly than ever, standing as on a rock of adamant, I defy the arguments of hell to move me; for “I know in whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him.” But I shall neither plead nor argue this night. You profess to be Christian men, or else you would not be here. Your professions may be lies; what you say you are, may be the very contrary to what you really are; but still I suppose you all admit that this is the Word of God. A thought or two then upon it. “I have written to him the great things of my law.”
http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/0015.htm
By what deductive reasoning did you accept the hypothesis of evolutionary chance chemical juncture bringing about life and bringing us to this point in civilization? How much of your "reasoning" is nothing more than accepting the works and words of others? Or, is your personal experience sufficient for you to understand these things?
Literature is the result of emotion. There is always a desire to share our knowledge, particularly when we don't fully understand things. God created us in that mode.
In my belief, Adam was persuaded to eat of the fruit. That fruit came from the "tree of knowledge of good and evil". It has been popularized as an apple, but it may be something else. That is irrelevant. What counts, is that man has always sought to have ALL the knowledge in God possession. We can pretend, but we can't be God (even if there are some ARE fooled by an 1800's charlatan). God is a little larger than mortal man.
I have heard God's voice. It wasn't a shout, nor even a whisper. I know, I heard His voice! He called me "beloved", and promised me something that your "religion" cannot. He gave me hope. Science just tells me I'm a lump of elastic water.
God doesn't place many requirements on you. He makes life easy. He doesn't stifle intellect. He is calling you, and you can decide to listen... or not.