Pariprasna

Q & A with Srimat Swami Tapasyananda (1904 to 1991), Vice-President of the Ramakrishna Order.

- Swami Tapasyananda

QUESTION: Where should reasoning stop and give place to faith?

MAHARAJ: Reason and faith work in different fields, although up to a certain point they can go together. Reason, in the sense of logical inference, works on the basis of data provided by the senses. It works as deduction and induction. Deduction is based on a general proposition which is taken for granted. This general proposition in its turn is based upon induction, upon observation of sense data and verification through experiment. Thus sense data are the material which all logical processes deal with ultimately. The function of the logical process is to correlate these data, arrive at valid generalizations, draw implications in the light of the laws of thought, and thus help the intellectual understanding of perceived facts.

It will be seen that reason or logic in itself cannot give us any data. It can only process data obtained through perception. So logical reasoning can effectively function only where sense data are available, ie., within the limitation of our powers of observation with senses alone or senses aided by instruments. With regard to anything beyond, it can only work as an unreliable pointer to many possibilities, creating a sense of learned ignorance and uncertainty. Thus it cannot give us any conviction about the existence or nature of God, although it can point towards several possibilities in this respect.