Ask the Jainas, they say Vedas have nothing in them. Ask a Buddhist, he will say Vedas are meaningless. Ask the Vedantist and he proclaims that everything besides the Vedas is useless and trivial and leads a person astray. Ask the Hindu and he says: Buddhists and Jainas are atheists. If a single word from them enters your ears, you are lost. The Hindu says the Vedas are the oldest scriptures and hence worthy of our trust. Ask a Mohammedan and he says: the Koran is the latest scripture and therefore the most authentic, because when a new order comes from above, all old orders are automatically superseded.
The Hindu says that once only did God send down the Vedas. There is no need for any new scripture since God is not a human being who errs or needs to improve upon his work. He is the ultimate knowledge, the Vedas are his only true words, and therefore all else is false. God, having once made his order known, all else that follows is merely a device of man. The Christians and the Mohammedans however say that the universe undergoes perpetual change; since man changes, God must change too. Orders change because situations change. Therefore believe in what is new, not in what is old and outdated.
Whom will you heed? Whom will you believe? You are ultimately left with your own understanding. You stand with legs trembling in the midst of this vast entanglement.
Man has turned to atheism because it is becoming infinitely harder to have faith in something. Some way has to be found by which a simple, innocent human being can believe, can again become a theist. While the greatest of philosophers have failed to decide on the choices, what is a simple human being to do? He has neither the means nor the time nor the armor of reasoning and logic. Which path is he to choose and how?
Nanak’s suggestion is priceless: It is futile to wander in these infinite paths. I know of only one solution and that is:
Whatever pleases You, O Lord, is best for me.
Therefore I leave myself entirely to your pleasure. I cannot choose for myself for I am ignorant and stand in darkness; I am blind. I have nothing on the strength of which I can set out to seek. I have no means to test the authenticity of my path. What shall I do? I surrender myself at thy feet – thy will be done.
Thy will be done: I sit at your command, I stand at your command; whatever I do is your command. I do not bring myself into it at all. If you make me wander I shall wander; if you make me reach the destination, it is your will. I shall not complain if I wander, nor shall I pride myself if I arrive, because all is your will. I shall not be the decider. This is exactly what Krishna means when he says to Arjuna in the Gita: “Leave all religious duties aside and surrender unto me.” These are words spoken on behalf of God.
What Nanak says are the words of the devotee: “What pleases you is best for me. The path you choose is the path for me. In your will lies my salvation. I shall not care to choose, lead me where you please. If it is your will that I should wander, then that is the path for me. If it is your will to leave me in darkness then I shall take it to be the light for me. If you make the day into night, I shall accept it as night. Thy way, not mine, O Lord!”