And if the God created the world, the world does not show the qualities that God would have given to humanity: constant violence, constant war, jealousy, anger, ego, depression, anguish. Unless God created these things in you, they cannot be in you. Looking into man it is possible to believe that the devil created man, but not God. And moreover, what was God doing before he created the universe, for eternity? And what was the sudden motive to create the existence?

According to Christians, He created the existence only four thousand and four years before Jesus Christ; so six thousand years are nothing compared to eternity. What was he doing all this time? And why suddenly the motivation to create it? Has the motivation come from somewhere else? That will mean that existence was there before God created it. Otherwise, the motivation….

And finally, if existence needs to be created by God then the question is very relevant. Who created God Himself? And if you can accept the idea that God does not need any creator, then why unnecessarily bring in a useless hypothesis – then existence, can remain without any creator. Anyway, God has to remain without any creator. With existence we are acquainted – it is there, all around. God is only in the beliefs of people.

And the man wanted to know Gautam Buddha’s opinion…and Gautam Buddha said, “God? There is no God anywhere. Existence is self-sufficient; it does not need any creator. Existence itself is creativity.”

Now Ananda was getting more puzzled. But it was the routine…Buddha had told him, “Whatever questions arise in your mind, when I am going to sleep and all the visitors have gone, then you can ask. Don’t disturb my conversation with the visitors.”

And in the evening a third man came. He was neither a theist nor an atheist; he was just an innocent seeker. He said to Buddha, “I don’t know whether God exists or not. But there is a great urge in me to seek the truth. Can you be of any help?”

Rather than answering him, Buddha closed his eyes. There was utter silence…and Ananda was surprised. Seeing Buddha closing his eyes and sitting in silence, that man also closed his eyes and sat in silence. Almost an hour must have passed. Then the man opened his eyes, touched Gautam Buddha’s feet and said, “Your answer is so precious that I will keep it in my heart forever.”

Now it was too much, and as the man left, Ananda was furious. He said to Gautam Buddha, “What is going on? In one day you have contradicted yourself again and again and again. First you say there is only God and nothing else, and then you say there is no God – it is an absolutely useless hypothesis. And to this third man you don’t say anything. And that great fellow receives the answer and I was present, but I have not received any answer! He touched your feet in deep gratitude, with tears of joy in his eyes, and he has gone so fulfilled…”

Gautam Buddha said to Ananda, “First, those were not your questions, neither were the answers given to you. You are unnecessarily poking your nose into other people’s affairs.”