I happened to meet a friend of mine who is deeply interested in self realization. He asked me this question. Whether God exists in a dead body? Since you say that God exists everywhere, whether God exists in a table or in a chair? Let us find an answer for this question. It is true that God exists everywhere. We have no doubt on that. A living being requires prana for its existence. What are the living beings? Man is the highest form of creation followed by animals, birds, fish, insects, ants followed by trees and plants. Only plants and trees are not movable and all other living beings are movable. All the living beings have two components. One is atma and another jiva. Atma is God and He exists everywhere and therefore God is universal. Each living being has its own jiva. For example a neem next door has its own jiva. Your pet has its own jiva. You have your own jiva. So the jiva is individualized. Your jiva is different from mine. No two jivas are identical. At this point we are clear that jiva and atma are different. Atma is universal and jiva is individualized.

We have already discussed about prakasha and vimarsha. Prakasha is self illuminating and is not involved in any activity. It is called static energy. Vimarsha is created by prakasha and is involved with all the activities like birth, sustenance and death; the three gunas satvic, tamo and rajas; it is the kinetic energy. Vimarsha is the cause for desire and destruction. In spite of vimarsha being so powerful and controls whole universe, the existence of vimarsha could not have been possible without it being created by prakasha. Prakasha does not act on its own. It is a witness to the activities of vimarsha. If we read the above two paragraphs together, we can get the answer to the questions raised. Let us take the first question – whether God exists in a dead body. Yes He does exist. What is a dead body? The body of a living being where jiva has departed is called a dead body. Since God exists everywhere, He also exists in the dead body. The body which had both jiva and atma earlier now has only atma and not jiva as jiva has left the body. The kinetic energy has become a static energy, therefore it is called dead. Therefore anything only with static energy is not considered as a living being. For example take a tree. Tree is static and does not move.

Can we call a tree as dead? No, because tree grows and growth is kinetic energy. So when both prakasha and vimarsha in other words atma and jiva co exist there is life. This answers the first question. With regard to the second question - whether God exists in table and chair, the answer is the same yes, as God exists everywhere. In a table and chair there is no jiva. Hence table and chair do not have kinetic energy and cannot move on their own. The wood used in making this chair and table once had had jiva. When the tree was cut, jiva leaves the tree. Once jiva leaves the tree, atma alone remains and therefore it becomes static. It is to be understood that atma is God himself and not a representative of God. When atma and jiva are together life exists. When jiva leaves leaving atma alone, no life exists. This answers the above two questions.