The Story of a young man who found God in our times

About a hundred years ago lived a young man called Naren. Ever since he was a little boy, he loved to listen to stories about God. When he was a bit older he began to realise that most of the stories about God were just made-up stories and could not be for real. This got him worried. Maybe God is not for real, he is just made-up,' he thought. The other thought that worried young Naren was, 'If God is really all-powerful and all-loving, why does He allow all the suffering see around us? Surely he can click his fingers and make sure that no one suffers even for a moment. So why doesn't He do that?

How can I be sure that God is real?' thought Naren. Surely someone must have seen Him.' He started visiting all the holy men and asking them, 'Have you seen God?' To his surprise none of the holy men confirmed that they had seen God. This got Naren even more worried. No one seems to have seen God, and yet everyone believes in Him. Naren changed his mind about God. He did not believe in God any more. His uncle told him to visit a holy man called Ramakrishna who would be able to give him a proper answer. Naren visited him and asked, 'Have you seen God?' Surprisingly Ramakrishna replied, 'Yes, I can see God even now as I see you, but he appears much clearer than you. I can show Him to you.' Naren had never met anyone who said that he could see God clearly all the time. Naren felt very happy, he decided to make the holy man his guru (teacher) so that he could see God. After spending many years with Ramakrishna, Naren was able to see God for himself. He could actually see that it was God who appeared as everything and everyone. This is one of the most exciting ways of experiencing God, all around us. Naren became very famous as Swami Vivekananda.

He taught that the best way to see God is to see Him in all living things and the best way to worship God is to serve mankind. He taught that the only way we can be sure about God is to experience God for ourselves.

Reference: Primary Hinduism by Seeta Lakhani (Ch.6, 'Can We See God?', p.73)