Baruch Spinoza – Questions to Religious Leaders
The following is based on the teachings of Baruch Spinoza, a scholar of religion who closely examined the Bible and presented his conclusions about its teachings. He expressed these views before Jewish and Christian religious leaders and was cast out of society for making the following statements:
“You do not worship God. You worship a man-made idol created by men who want to control other men. This idol who you call God has convenient characteristics for you.”
In essence, Baruch Spinoza stated that the Abrahamic God was made in the image of man, supporting his view with passages from the Bible itself. Sanatan-Dharma welcomes people like Baruch Spinoza, a free thinker and humanist. He has asked important and intelligent questions. The response based on Sanatan-Dharma scriptures is detailed in the table below.
| No. | Baruch Spinoza’s Statements / Theorems | Response Based on Sanatan-Dharma Scriptures |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | If God is infinite, how can He be separate from His creation? | “O Brahmā, whatever appears to be of any value, if it is without relation to Me, has no reality.” (Lord Krishna, Shrimad-Bhagavatam 2.9.34)
This verse explains that seeing anything as separate from the Supreme is illusion (māyā). Lord Krishna’s Relationship to creation: Lord Krishna is not separate from His creation; everything exists as His energy. “The space is the energy of Lord Krishna, but He is situated differently.” Time and matter are two of Lord Krishna’s energies. These energies are eternal because Lord Krishna Himself is eternal. “Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego – all together these eight constitute My separated material energies.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-Gita 7.4) “Material nature and the living entities should be understood to be beginningless. Their transformations and the modes of matter are products of material nature.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-Gita 13.20) Living entities means souls. There is a soul in all humans, animals, and plant bodies. |
| 02 | If God is perfect, why would He need to be worshipped?
If God is truly perfect, he cannot desire anything because desire implies lack, and perfection cannot have lack. |
Lord Krishna does ask to be worshipped, but He never says those who don’t are hell bound. Lord Krishna clearly states everyone is a part of Him. We are all sparks of God.
Purpose of worshipping Lord Krishna: The purpose of worshipping Him is not to make people bow down to Him. Rather, it is to help all souls return to the spiritual manifestation and live eternally in complete bliss. This is achieved by developing higher consciousness. Spiritual manifestation: The spiritual universe contains billions of spiritual planets. The souls there are free from hatred, material designations, self-centeredness, and jealousy. When a person develops this consciousness during human life, they become qualified to enter the spiritual manifestation immediately at death, without waiting for a day of judgement. “Always think of Me, become My devotee, worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. Thus, you will come to Me without fail. I promise you this because you are My very dear friend.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-Gita 18.65) “The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-Gita 15.7) |
| 03 | If God is loving, why did He create hell? | Lord Krishna and the destiny of the soul: Lord Krishna is love because He regards all souls as His own parts. Ultimately, all souls return to His spiritual manifestation and live eternally in complete bliss; there is no hellfire or eternal punishment.
Two eternal manifestations: Lord Krishna has two eternal manifestations: spiritual and material.
Souls move from one planet to another and from one body to another according to their desires and what they deserve. This transmigration of the soul is governed by the natural universal law of cause and effect (Karma), under which every action brings a corresponding reaction and justice. No soul suffers eternally and that’s why Lord Krishna is love and mercy; in the end, all souls return to the spiritual manifestation and live in complete bliss. “That which the Vedāntists describe as unmanifest and infallible, that which is known as the supreme destination, that place from which, having attained it, one never returns – that is My supreme abode.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-Gita 8.21) |
| 04 | If God is omniscient, thus knowing everything that will happen, why does he get angry when things happen exactly as he expected them? | Lord Krishna’s human-like actions: On the battlefield of Kurukshetra, Lord Krishna served as Arjuna’s chariot driver, a non-combat role. At one point, He became angry and lifted a wheel to throw at Bhisma, but Arjuna stopped Him. When Lord Krishna appears, He acts like a human being and not as God. Most people did not recognize Him as God in His original form; only a few understood His true identity. Just as a pious person steps in when faced with wrongdoing, Lord Krishna acted to protect Arjuna and oppose injustice.
Lord Krishna’s omniscience: Lord Krishna demonstrated His omniscience by showing Arjuna all the soldiers on both sides being killed in the war, before the war started. Even so, when He appears in His original form as Krishna or in incarnations such as Lord Ram or Lord Buddha, He behaves in a human-like way so that loving exchange and personal association remain possible. If He always displayed His full divine power, people would all day bow down to Him and the natural relationship would be lost. His human-like conduct allows genuine interaction, participation, and companionship. …“O Arjuna, whatever you wish to see, behold at once in this body of Mine! This universal form can show you whatever you now desire to see and whatever you may want to see in the future. Everything – moving and nonmoving – is here completely, in one place.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-Gita 11.7) “O Arjuna, as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, I know everything that has happened in the past, all that is happening in the present, and all things that are yet to come. I also know all living entities; but Me no one knows.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-Gita 7.26) Purpose of His appearance: Lord Krishna and His incarnations appear in the material world to enjoy loving relationships with His devotees and to reciprocate with them personally. And to destroy the demonic and reestablish the principles of true religion by speaking the Bhagavad-Gita. “You come to this earth and imitate material life just to expand the varieties of ecstatic enjoyment for Your surrendered devotees…” (Shrimad-Bhagavatam 10.14.37) “To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I Myself appear, millennium after millennium.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-Gita 4.8) Meaning of “millennium” in this context: In this verse, “millennium” refers to a kalpa, or 8.64 billion years. Lord Krishna appears in His original form on Earth once in every such period. The Earth is physically a different planet each time. |
| 05 | If God is truly infinite, omnipresent, and eternal, then he cannot be somewhere, he must be everywhere. | “I am everywhere…” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-Gita 9.5) |
| 06 | If God is truly eternal, he cannot change his mind, because change implies time and eternity is beyond time. | Lord Krishna’s consistency: Lord Krishna does not change His mind. Rather, He presents different paths according to each situation and each person’s capacity.
Contrast with the Bible and the Quran:
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| 07 | Theorem 1: God and nature are the same, there is no separation. | “I exist within everything, and I am therefore the essence of the atomic constituents of material elements…” (Lord Krishna, Shrimad-Bhagavatam 11.15.12) |
| 08 | Theorem 2: Everything that exists is a modification of God, including you. | The Bhagavad-Gita teaches that we (the living entity) are the soul and not the body. And every soul is a part of God. The matter is one of the energies of God. So, everything is a modification of God’s energies.
References: Bhagavad-Gita 2.12-13, 7.4, 13.20, 15.7. |
| 09 | Theorem 3: Your mind is literally part of God’s infinite mind. | Every soul is part and parcel of Lord Krishna. Thus, every soul is divine, eternal, omniscient, full of knowledge, and full of bliss.
We don’t go to school to get knowledge; we go to school to uncover the knowledge which is already within us. “The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-Gita 15.7) |
| 10 | Theorem 4: Free will is an illusion created by ignorance of the causes that determine our actions. | Based on Shrimad-Bhagavatam, material existence, although experienced, is ultimately temporary and illusory.
“A learned, thoughtful person must realize that material existence is illusion…” (Shrimad-Bhagavatam 7.13.44) Material existence is real, but it is also temporary and illusory. For example, a married couple will often say to each other, “I love you” but after divorce they will say, “I hate you”. The marriage was real, but the love was just an illusion. Family life and spiritual qualification: One who lives a peaceful family life marked by love and service to others becomes qualified to enter the spiritual manifestation. Lord Krishna also showed by His own example that marriage is sanctioned, but the couple must religiously honor the marriage vows, which are witnessed by Lord Krishna and the demigods. |
| 11 | Theorem 5: Good and evil are human perspectives, not cosmetic categories. | What is good and evil is based on our own perspectives, and not the doing of God. We are in our current situation, due to our own actions.
“The life and death of an embodied soul and his destination in the next life are all caused by himself through his own activity. Therefore, O King, no other agent is actually responsible for creating one’s happiness and distress.” (Shrimad-Bhagavatam 12.6.25) “The results of whatever a living entity does in this life are enjoyed in the next life.” (Shrimad-Bhagavatam 4.29.58) “Nature is said to be the cause of all material causes and effects, whereas the living entity is the cause of the various sufferings and enjoyments in this world.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-Gita 13.21) “In proportion to the extent of one’s religious or irreligious actions in this life, one must enjoy or suffer the corresponding reactions of his karma in the next.” (Shrimad-Bhagavatam 6.1.45) |
| 12 | Theorem 6: Death is a merely a transformation, not an extinction. | We (the soul) are eternal. When soul leaves a body, that is called death for the body. The soul then enters another body in the womb of a mother, exactly based on its desires and deserves (Karma).
“Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be. As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A sober person is not bewildered by such a change.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-Gita 2.12-13) |
| 13 | Theorem 7: True happiness comes from understanding your own eternal nature. | Nature of the soul: We are the soul, not the body. Every soul is eternal and full of knowledge and bliss.
Material existence is temporary: When the soul resides in a material body, this is called material existence. Although we pass through millions of lifetimes in different bodies and circumstances, this material phase is very brief when viewed in relation to eternal time. God is All Loving and All Merciful: We are currently situated in the spiritual world, and we are in a dream state of separation from the spiritual world. After millions of lifetimes in the material world, that dream ends and the soul awakens again in the spiritual world. Billions of years in the material world amount to only a few minutes in the spiritual world. For example, a father will say to his son “Don’t touch the fire” and will allow the son to touch it, to satisfy the son’s own desires and learn a lesson. In a similar way, God allows souls to enter material existence briefly due to its own desires. From God’s perspectives, He allowed the souls to suffer only for a few minutes. That’s why God is all loving and all merciful. Although realizing the above is very difficult, if one truly understands it, they can become free from misery in the material world. |