A common
question raised by skeptics is that everything in the world has a cause, so if
God is the cause of the world, then who or what is the cause of God? Here we
come to the specific definition of God: the One Who is the supreme cause of all
causes, while He himself has no cause. As He declares:
ahaṁ sarvasya
prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate
iti matvā bhajante māṁ
budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ
(Bhagavad-gītā, 10.8;
Govinda-bhāṣya, 2.3.14)
“I am the source of all spiritual
and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who perfectly know
this engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts.”
Here the word ‘sarvam’
(everything) is significant, for that includes whatever might exist in the
material and spiritual worlds, that means, anything or anyone other than
Himself. Thus, nothing can be the cause of God, for there is nothing that
exists that was not manifested by Him, and it would be illogical to consider a
created being to be the cause of its cause. Moreover, the imposition that God
must have a cause would lead to regressus ad infinitum, which would contradict
the very definition of God. This is described in Sāṅkhya in these words:
mūle mūlābhāvād amūlaṁ
mūlam
(Sāṅkhya-sūtra, 1.67)
"This is so because the root cause of
everything is not caused by another root cause."
The śruti confirms:
tam īśvarāṇāṁ paramaṁ
maheśvaraṁ taṁ devatānāṁ paramaṁ ca daivatam
patiṁ patīnāṁ paramaṁ
parastād vidāma devaṁ bhuvaneśam īḍyam
na tasya kaścit patir
asti loke na ceśitā naiva ca tasya liṅgam
sa kāraṇaṁ karaṇādhipādhipo
na cāsya kaścij janitā na cādhipaḥ
(Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad,
6.7;9; Govinda-bhāṣya, 1.1.1)
“May we know the Great Lord, the
supreme of all lords, the Supreme Deity of the demigods, the Supreme Master
above all masters, the Supreme God, the worshipable Master of the world. No one
in this world is His master or king. He has no material characteristics. He is
the ultimate cause, the ruler of those who rule over the senses. No one is His
father or controller.”
The smṛti says:
īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ
anādir ādir govindaḥ
sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam
(Brahmā-saṁhitā, 5.1)
“Kṛṣṇa, Who is known as Govinda,
is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the
origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes.”
The conclusion is that everything
other than God has an origin, thus by the indirect process if we find someone
who has no cause, He is God.
