Cosmic Teapot

If you believe in God, it's up to you to prove his existence, said the British savant Bertrand Russell. The burden of proof is not incumbent on the opponent who's merely denying your claim.

He explained the concept with the analogy of the cosmic or celestial teapot: "If I were to claim that a teapot orbits the Sun somewhere between the space between the Earth and Mars, it would be nonsensical for me to expect others to believe me on the grounds that they cannot prove me wrong."

Russell's argument is palpably different from the sort of proof that the demonic king Hiranyakashipu demands from his god-fearing son Prahlada about the existence of God. Upon being told that Vishnu pervades everywhere, Hiranyakashipu kicks a pillar and asks if Prahlada's God is present inside.

Of course He is and He manifests himself in the form of the fierce man-lion, Narasimhavatara, who promptly lifts the demon onto his lap and tears him apart with razor-sharp claws.

Alas, in this Iron Age of Kali , the Lord does not manifest Himself physically. So, can we equate believing in the Unmanifest or Nirguna aspect of God with something as simple-minded as a non-existent teapot circling around the Sun? Opponents argue that God is too big and grand an idea to be reified or to be turned into a mere thing.

As the Bhagavadgita warns, the path to the Unmanifest is fraught with utmost trouble for those who are embodied. Devotion, thus, is the last resort of the perplexed. Subdue your self; abandon the fruit of all actions; merge into the Cosmic.