Some of the basic questions that
the human mind starts worrying about from the moment of his gaining
consciousness are the questions about his surroundings and about his existence.
The very first question of ‘what’ he perceives around him is answered by his
sensory organs, but the moment it is answered, it poses a number of many other
questions. These questions are the questions of ‘how’, ‘when’ and ‘why’ of the
existence of what that is perceived. The questions of how and when can be solved
through the various sciences, social, physical and life. The question of ‘when’
it came into existence was answered by the social sciences of geography,
history, geology, archaeology, anthropology and so on and the question of ‘how’
it did by the physical and the life sciences. Though even these questions have
not been answered completely or in full certainty for new theories have
continuously altered or even replaced or overruled the preceding ones, we can
safely assume that yes, they have at least some answer to them. But the
greatest question of all times has always been ‘why’ it came into existence. This
question of ‘why’ has deluded man for ages, from the prehistoric times to the
modern world. Why the universe was created and why life was created are the two
sides of the same coin, because there couldn’t be life without universe and
what purpose of having a universe when there is no life to perceive its
presence. So this is the question that religion sought to answer. Religion taught
us of an unseen power that is the creator, the sustainer and the destroyer. The
power, that is known as the God. So to understand the reason behind creation is
to know the mind of the Creator. But knowing the mind of God posed another
dilemma. How to understand the thoughts of that what cannot be perceived. For religion
taught us that God cannot be perceived by our senses. So is it just useless wanderings
of the human intellect. To seek the unknown is more than a herculean task. But then,
if there is a question, there must be an answer to it. But what exactly is the
answer? Physics has already shown that for changing the state of anything,
there must be external force acting on it. It also proved that left on its own,
an existing matter can only move towards chaos and never can order be created
out of chaos. For creating order, there must be an external force creating it. While
there are direct evidences of evolution, there has never been a perfect theory
explaining it and again the question comes forth, but why. While religion
answers this ‘why’, it comes at loggerheads with science. There are some who
try to create a compromise between the two, the majority tends to accept one
and reject the other, something that has led to many wars in the history of
mankind. And so, we can safely say that this question of ‘why’ has left the human
mind baffled since time immemorial and will continue to challenge him, till the
time he comes face to face with his creator, the power behind all that is
there. For nobody can explain the ‘why’ except the one who did it.
