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Question: By what signs can we be aware of the existence of God? What is the proof? Is it by a sound, or a form, or some other sign?

Bawa Muhaiyaddeen: Everything is a sign from God. Everything tells His story. Anything man 'creates' does not move. But what is created by God does move.

We can only analyze things that have already been created. We are incapable of creating anything new, anything that has not already been created. For instance, we can take a sperm (which God has created) and join it with an ovum (which God also created) and thus 'create' an embryo. In so doing, we can create a pregnancy, but only by joining one already-existing seed with another. We can create electricity too, but only by extracting the current that already exists within water. We can also put the rays of the sun (which God also created) to various uses.

All created things tell His story. Everything is a sign of His power, a proof of His existence. If we want to understand this, we need the appropriate state of wisdom, a wisdom that is beyond intellect. It is with that wisdom that we need to reflect. But let us put this aside for the moment.

A sign or proof that God does exist is present right within us. Suppose you feel anger, or rancor, or doubt, or suspicion toward someone, and you hurt that person, maybe even strike him. And suppose that person goes away without retaliating in any way, saying to himself, "O God! You are aware of everything. The responsibility is Yours. You are the witness. It is You who has to inquire into this." Then, after he leaves, a warning voice arises from within you, the one who caused the hurt, saying, "What you did was wrong. You scolded him, but he did not scold you in return. You beat him, but he did not strike you in return. Wasn't what you did wrong? Was it not a transgression of justice? Reflect on this and you will see. Even though you scolded and beat him, he did not attack you in return, but bore it up patiently and went away. You did not think before you acted. Just because of your suspicion and anger, you hit him."

All created things tell His story. Everything is a sign of His power, a proof of His existence. If we want to understand this, we need the appropriate state of wisdom, a wisdom that is beyond intellect. It is with that wisdom that we need to reflect.

So, something speaks within you, telling you to reflect in this way and to ask that person for forgiveness. This something warns you and makes you realize what you have done. It explains the consequences. This thing within acts as a witness. That is God. The person you hurt handed over the responsibility to God and walked away. So God then comes from within you and admonishes you. Reflect on this. That witness is right within us. This is the first point.

Next, suppose we deny the existence of God. For instance, Stalin said there was no God and established communism. But later he developed a tumor, and when he was suffering, as death was approaching, he shouted, "My God!" From where did the impulse come to make him say this? Here was a man who denied the existence of God, but when he was suffering he shouted, "My God!" Yet he claimed he did not accept God. God was not a part of his thinking. So where did that word come from? From within him. It resides within as a Power, without body or form, without race or caste or religion, without differences of color, or the distinction between 'I' and 'you'. That Power looks on everyone as equal. It judges with compassion and love. When danger threatens, it is that Power that makes a person shout, "My God!" As soon as it creeps into our wisdom, it instructs us and makes us aware. That is the proof it lies right within us. Even though we do not see it on the outside, that cautioning emerges from within us, does it not? That is the proof.