Question: If a man rejects the existence of a Deity, what will be his fate?

Sri Chinmoy: Well, if someone consciously and deliberately rejects the existence of a Deity, if he wants to remain in ignorance, then for him ignorance is bliss. Let him be happy in his belief or disbelief. However, if he feels that he is not getting any energising Light, Joy, Bliss or Power from his feeling, then he must leave the realm of ignorance.

Now, about the Deity. According to our traditional Hindu philosophy, there is a Supreme Deity and also many cosmic gods and goddesses. If one has faith in the highest Deity, whom we call Brahman, that is more than enough. One has not to go through all the hundreds of Indian gods and goddesses, demi-gods and so forth. If one has faith in the Supreme Reality, the Supreme Deity, that is more than enough. But, if somebody says that he does not have faith in the Deity, assuming that he means God, then what happens? He is not going to be condemned. God has given all of us, each individual, some limited freedom. It is up to us to utilise this freedom, to exercise this freedom divinely or undivinely. Again, there is something called God’s Hour. From the spiritual point of view, you know that each human being has an hour. God has chosen an hour. God does not want anybody to remain unrealised on earth. Why? God’s only Message is fulfilment. He wants Himself to be fulfilled, and He wants us to be fulfilled. This is freedom. So, if someone consciously or deliberately ignores his divine potentiality, if he has no faith in God or in the Deity, if he is still in the world of sleep, then God says, “Sleep, baby, sleep.”

But a time comes when the mother, for example, sees that the son is not getting up. It is very late. It is high time for him to go to school. Then, the mother comes and knocks at his door. Here, the mother knows the actual hour when the son has to go to school. If the son is good, obedient, intelligent and has a sense of responsibility, he will not wait for his mother to knock at the door. He himself will be up in time to go to school. So, in the spiritual life also, those who are sincere, earnest in their spiritual pursuits, have the conscious inner longing for the fruit, for the Light, Peace and Bliss. When we say God-realisation, what do we actually mean? We mean our conscious, inseparable Oneness with God. We are all in God, but few, very few of us are consciously aware of God’s Existence. A spiritual man has free access to God’s Consciousness. He feels and knows that he has established his conscious Union with God. This is the difference between an ordinary man and a spiritual man. A spiritual man wants to establish a conscious Union with God, and an unspiritual man does not even want to achieve this state of consciousness.

To come back to your question: again I wish to say that if somebody denies the existence of the Deity, the Supreme Reality, let him deny it. Let him continue to deny it for one year, four years or twenty years; indefinitely. But a time will dawn for the poor fellow because God Himself will never allow anybody to remain unrealised. God does not want to live unfulfilled. Neither will He allow this particular man to remain unfulfilled. So, at God’s Hour, God consciously arouses him, awakens his consciousness, so that he can launch into the life of spirituality. But he who, on his own, already has a deep inner urge, feels the necessity to run towards the Light, towards the Destined Goal. Naturally he is expediting his journey with God’s Grace and with his personal efforts. When God’s Infinite Grace and man’s sincere efforts go together, then the Goal cannot remain a far cry.

From:Sri Chinmoy,Earth’s cry meets Heaven’s smile, part 2, Aum Press, Puerto Rico, 1974
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