Mira and Mahavir or Belief in God

Author(s): N V thadani
Publisher: Hindu College Delhi

Page 7

PREFACE
I do not know if I need to apologize for writing this discourse on Belief in God in the form of a dialogue, -it can hardly be called a play. I thought it would be simpler to bring out the principal points of the argument in this way.
It would seem presumptuous on my part to attempt to "prove" the existence of God in the light of reason, as distinguished from faith. Many have tried it before, but no one appears to have succeeded ; and I do not know if I can hope for a better fate. But my only excuse is that my little study of the sacred books of the ancient Hindus has taught me that if there is anything in which they succeeded in their systems of Philosophy and Religion, it was in proving the existence of God in the light of Pratyaksha Pramana or evidence which we can accept according to our reason, common sense, or normal experience; and all that I have done is to put together in a connected form their different points of view as simply as I could.
Religion has always occupied a large place in the life of man, though its form, appeal, and point of view have differed from time to time. Like all human institutions, it has passed through many vicissitudes; and during the last century the march of Science has shaken