The existence of God (Krishna) through syllogisms

Syllogism is a definition or deductive reasoning in which a conclusion is derived from premises or basic statements.
The Vedic logic (Nyaya) knows up to 11 steps- or members syllogisms and always include at least one example. In this article we want to establish the existence of God (Krishna) through syllogism. We begin with a definition of the word God or Krishna.

      Definition of "God"
God means the Supreme Being and etymologically comes from the gothic or Germanic root Gheu, meaning: the One invoked or begged and the One scarified to.
One prays because one expects perfections from a Perfect Being, one performs a sacrifice out of duty to a Superior or out of love for a Beloved.
Krishna means the All-attractive, All-perfect, All-lovable and All-loving.
So, God is Krishna or Krishna is God.

        The dictionary defines God as: “ 1 The Supreme or Ultimate Reality as  2  the Supreme Being who is perfect in power, wisdom, beauty and goodness, and who is  3  the Creator and  4  Ruler of the universe. 5  The Supreme Judge. 6  The Heavenly Father”

1 The Supreme or Ultimate Reality

Motion
(1) Everything in the material world is in motion.
     The Planets move, The seasons change and clouds come and go.
     There Is growth
     Our heart beats. The digestion system functions.
     Time even moves the atoms.
(2) If something is in motion, then it must be caused to be in motion by something outside of itself.
(3) There can be no infinite chain of movers/movees; children ask "who is God's father". There must be a ground or basis.
(4) As a mouse can’t climb or walk upon a heap of corn.
(5) So there is a first, unmoved mover; He moves, but out of His own will.
(6) Therefore, the Supreme or Ultimate Reality exists.

Cause
(1) In the material world everything has a cause. One who cannot see the cause says “chance”.
(2) The effects must be caused by something outside of  itself.
(3) There can be no infinite cause/effect chains.
(4) As a person can’t walk on quicksand.
(5) So, there is a first, uncaused Cause.
(6) Therefore, the Supreme or Ultimate Reality exists.

1) Vayu or Indra can't move a boat or a cloud of dust or water while resting on/in it, they must be outside of it.
(2) There cannot be no infinite abode/sheltered chains.
(3) As when a series of railway wagons are pushed there is at the beginning a locomotive and a person conducting.
(4) The first unmoved mover, upholding and holding together the cluster of material universes and all the atoms, is not situated in the material dimension.
(5) He rests in His infinite spiritual energies.
(6) There is the spiritual world, the abode of God.
(7) Hence, God transcendental and the spiritual heaven exists.
 
Now, how we know there is a spiritual heaven:
(1) There is a soul in the body.
(2) As there is a material world for matter, there is a spiritual world for spirit.
(3) As a fish is at home in the water and not on the land.
(4) There is a spiritual world beyond the material world.

Everything in its place
(1) In our body we see all kinds of substances: chemicals, mind, intelligence,     consciousness soul and supersoul
(2) There is an outside material source or realm where we get the chemicals used in  our material body
(3) There is a realm where we get mind and intelligence
(4) There is a realm wherefrom comes consciousness, soul and supersoul
(5) Hence, the spiritual world and the soul and God  exists

Soul – Universal body
     The following syllogism, establishing this, is quite abstract but the one after that elaborates it.
 A (The idea of (1) to (4) is taken from a conversation with Srila Prabhupada 11-11-75. (5) and (6) are from a lecture 22-12-68.
(1) We are soul in the body.
(2) There is a Superior soul in the cosmic body.
(3) Both bodies have and produce bhumi – solid matter, apo – fluids, nalo – fiery or shining elements, vayu – gasses (Bg 7.4).
      a. bhumir: salt, hormones etc, in our bodies are comparable to sand, minerals   etc. in the cosmic body; our nails and  hairs with mountains and trees and plants.
      b. apo: blood-veins, urine, sweat, tears, semen are comparable with rivers, oceans and rains.
      c. nalo: the eyes and digestion with the sun, moon and fire.
      d. vayu: breathing and other winds and gasses in our body are comparable with winds and clouds.
(4) The human has:
     A) body, B) consciousness, C) soul, D) person (individuality).
(5) The Absolute Truth has the material world, impersonal Brahman, localized Supersoul, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
(6) The soul is at home in the spiritual world.
(7) God is also at home in the spiritual world.
(8) Hence, the spiritual world and the Supreme Being is proven.

This Supreme Being a Person: is the Supreme Personality of Godhead
1. Our experience tells us that personal beings can control other personal beings
2. Impersonal things don't control personal beings or anything else
3. All living beings in the universe are controlled
4. They must be controlled by a personal being.
5. There can be no infinite regress of controllers as a mouse can't climb a hill of fine sand ; there must be a base.
6. Hence the Supreme personal Being exists
 - we call Him God!
 
 2 The Supreme Being perfect in power, wisdom & goodness

(1) The soul with the Supersoul in this human body created this body and governs and maintains it.
(2) The Virata-purusa, the Supersoul, created the Virat-rupa - this material world, the cosmic body or form - governs and maintains it.
(3) The body is like a prison cell for the spirit soul.
(4) The material world is like a prison.
(5) A prison is a part of a kingdom. There is the free, more attractive life of the kingdom and the palace beyond the prison.
(6) The soul has its home in the spiritual world(sat-cit-ananda dhama). This home is the part of the kingdom of God outside the cosmic prison house, Durga.
(7) The king is the most attractive, the most powerful, the richest, the most beautiful and the wisest person (for example, in the ideal states of Rama or of Krishna's Dvaraka).
(8) The original form of the Virat-purusa (who is Krishna`s delegate as the creator of the prison house) is  in the spiritual world known as Krishna - the Supreme and most attractive of the Personalities of Godhead.
(9) Hence, the spiritual world exists and has the king of the kings of the kings, the Supreme Being perfect in power, wisdom, beauty and goodness.
    
 Cause is greater than effect
(1) In the chains of causes and effects the cause is or has more than the effect.
(2) As the sun has more light and heat than the sunrays.
(3) As a lecturer on the Veda has more knowledge than given in a lecture (and ideally he will increase in knowledge).
(4) So there is an Entity that has all properties or qualities to the maximum possible degree, and is increasing in properties.
(5) Hence the Perfect Being exists.

Properties That Come in Degrees
(1) Objects have properties to greater or lesser extents, properties as e.g. good, true, noble, warm
(2) There exists some other object that has the property to the maximum possible degree.
(3) Objects have greater or lesser of a quality if they are closer or further away from the maximum
(4) e.g. the hotter something is, the closer it is to that which is maximally hot
(5) The maximum in any category is the cause of everything else in that category e.g. fire must  be the cause of all heat
(6) There must be a cause of the existence goodness and all other perfections
      So there is an entity that has all properties to the maximum possible degree; is maximally true, good,     noble etc.
(7) Hence the Greatest Conceivable Being God exists.
 
Veda (This one is from the book ‘Nyayakusumanjali’ of Udayana (Nyaya. Ud)
(1) The knowledge in the Veda (the timeless books of Indian wisdom) is perfect.
(2) The Vedas must have an infallible cause or author.
(3) Ordinary mortals with their finite knowledge, authority and power cannot have created the Veda
(4) The perfect author of the Veda is God.
(5) Hence the Supreme Being perfect in power, wisdom and goodness exists.

The rule of duality
1.    We see everything has its opposite in some way.
    There is the rule of duality:
    heat     - cold
    light     - darkness
    power  - weakness
    hard     - soft etc.
2.    The qualities of matter are that it is completely ignorant, unconscious and has          no  power to make any decisions and carry it out
3.    Then there must exist something which has all knowledge, is all-knowing and          can make any decision and carry it out
4.    Such a thing or Being is the supremely powerful, all-knowing, omniscient                God.

   Similarly, we can also establish the existence of the spiritual world.
    1. There is the rule of duality.
    2. We see hellish suffering, ignorance, imperfection and temporary existence.
    3. So there is an eternal paradise full of pleasure, wisdom and perfection.
    4. Hence heaven exists.
   
 
    That than which no greater can be thought 
(1) God is by definition the greatest possible being.
(2) A being who fails to exist in the actual world (while existing in other possible worlds e.g. in our knowledge) is less perfect than a being who exists in all possible worlds.
(3) Hence, the Perfect Being, God, exists, necessarily.

    The negative ontological argument (from Nyaya.Ud)
(1) Words denote existences.
(2) Also the word God.
(3) The word God points to e.g. the Good, the Great or Greatest, G-O-D Generator – Operator – Destroyer, the Effulgent, the All-Attractive.
(4) Hence, the Supreme Being, God exists.
 
    The proof by negative demonstration (from SP Ph. D)
(1) Why there is anything?
(2) “Nothing” cannot be. There is no place to point out where there is no “thing”; at least there is akasha (ether or space) which is all pervading.
(3) Why it is as it is? Is this the best possible world?
(4) What is perfection? Not infinite homogenous substance. Perfection is sat-cit-ananda – eternity, knowledge and bliss and Krishna bhakti, love with perfect persons in paradise.
(5) The material world is anityam asukham lokam temporary and miserable. This material world is a prison house and the material body is a prison cell for the spirit soul.
(6) Outside of prisons we always find a better world. Therefore, “yes, there is perfection” but this perfection is not in matter. The cosmic prison is a necessary evil. Outside the material world is the world of Radha-Krishna.
(7) So, God is absolute necessity. It is impossible to conceive of not-God.
(8) Hence, God must exist.

   Proof of history
(1) Now  is this the best possible world?
(2) History has proven that the best political system is theocracy. See the Srimad Bhagavatam and the reign of Sri Ramacandra, Maharaja Yudhisthira, Maharaja Prthu.
(3) The theocracy is a reflection of the structure of the Infinity; the material world is like the prison house and the spiritual world is the free world
(4) The theocracy has one or more saintly rulers. Similarly, God rules the world.

 We don’t have to assume more than one Lord.
(1) All the work of the Lord - the oneness , harmony, artistry, coordination, variegated ness, opulence sand complexity of the creation - can be done by One.
(2) The living body is dependent on and ruled by a single intelligent principle.
(3) The same is for virat-rupa of the universe.
(4) I.O.W. as there is one soul there is one God. He has many expansions, His original form is in the spiritual world.
(5) God exists.
 
He is the creator of everything and therefore the Richest, the Almighty, the All-knowing, the most Beautiful and perfect in everything (see syll.’qualities that come in degrees’).
When Krishna was here on this planet He had all these qualities; He is God.
We can read about His life in the Mahabharata (the biggest book of the literature in this world) and the Srimad Bhagavatam.
And Krsna showed that the material universes are in Him and expanded from Him. This is described in Bhagavad-gita chapter 11 "Krsna showed His Universal form", and  Srimad Bhagavatam canto 10.8.
Krishna is God. 

3 The creator:
 
(1) This material world is produced by a conscious agent:
(2) This material world means 35 million cosmic eggs (brahmandas) or universes. 
      Our universe (one of these 35 million) has 10^22 (100 billion x 100 billion) stars,  planets and moons and other flying balls.
      Our universe has 1.4x10^79 subatomic particles; quarks and leptons.)
(3) Since it is a thing which is produced; particles need a designer and maker to become forms. 
(4) Like a pot or a computer is men’s handiwork.
(5) Hence the Creator of the world exists.

Now, where does the Creator get the ingredients for the Creation.
In the human society prisons are made from the baser quality material in the state.
Similarly, the prison house of the material world is made from an eternal 
base quality of energy called matter within the spiritual Causal Ocean.
It is like a dimmed light; of an inferior type.

4 The Ruler of the universe:

Subjected
(1) Can there be subjects without a king?
(2)This worls is like a gigantic kingdom.
     a. In this world every soul is subjected to manifold miseries: birth, death, old age and disease; time, karma, guna’s (the three modes or ropes of nature), the three klesa’s (miseries due to mind, body and living entities).
     b. We are maintained with food, water, light and heat, air.
(3) Beyond the prison or the houses of the subjects or citizens is the palace of the king.
(4) Hence, heaven and the Supreme Ruler exist.
 
Another reasoning is the following
 
Deity (This one is from the Philosophy Discussions with Srila Prabhupada (from now on shortened as SP Ph.D.)
(1) You are controlled. You have a boss. You have a deity.
(2) For a bird a cat is a deity;
      for a man a demigod is a deity.
(3) There can be no infinite succession of the controlled and controller and worshipped and worshipper.
(4) As one can’t climb a hill of fine sand.
(5) Even the big bosses of the material world are subjected to disease, death, karma etc. and are dependent for their maintenance (see the previous syllogism, step 2); they have a boss.
(6) The hierarchies of the universes end with the Supreme Ruler of the Universe.
(7) Hence, there is a first Supreme Deity and Lord, the Ruler of the universe. 
 
 5  The heavenly father (and mother):

(1) You have a father (and mother).
(2) They have a father and mother (your grandfather and –mother).
(3) They also have a father and mother (your great-grandfather and – mother).
(4) There can be no infinite chain of child and father/mother relationship.
(5) As there can be no flying or swimming unless the air or sea were to offer resistance.
(6) Nor do we have an example of fathers and mothers coming from donkeys, microbes or oceans of chemicals.
(7) Hence, the heavenly father and mother, God and His Goddess exist.

Similarly
 
Mother nature (SP PhD)
(1) Humans, animals and plants appeared from material nature.
(2) So material nature is the mother.
(3) There is a mother nature or mother earth and her children
(4)There must be a father, supplying the spirit souls.
(5) So God, the heavenly father exists.

6 The supreme judge:
 
Karma
(1) Morality, duty, piety or doing good must give happiness to be rationally justified and hold an influence over human action.
(2) God must be postulated as the being who rewards piety, and punishes evil actions.
(3) Therefore the supreme judge exists.
 
Now where is God?
Does He live in His material creation or outside?        
As we saw before, the material world is like a prison.
The King or head of the state lives outside of the prison.
Similarly, God in His original form is in the spiritual world.