annotated table of contents

Reviews

Title Page

Copyright Information

Dedication

Contents

Preface

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1: The Age of Ignorance is Over

Give me your hand; let me take you there.

The time of ignorance about God is over. Now God and Destiny shall let everyone know him and shall reveal his true attributes and influence. In the process it will also show that whatever has to happen in the universe in the future, including whatever has to happen in anyone’s life in the future, is predestined and unchangeable. The task this book is intended to accomplish is not only to provide knowledge about God and destiny, to remove the blind faith about them, and to end the conflict and violence going on in the world in his name but to lead everyone to deep and lasting mental peace.

PART 2: THE FUTURE IS PREDESTINED AND UNCHANGEABLE

Chapter 2: The Reach of Destiny

Nothing happens beyond the script.

The author terms the statement ‘the future is predestined and unchangeable’ theorem of destiny. Explaining the meaning of the theorem, he gives the detailed statement of the theorem of destiny: Whatever has to happen in the universe in the future, whether it is related to living things or nonliving things, including phenomena such as thoughts, dreams, and feelings, is predestined and unchangeable.

Chapter 3: You Cannot Change Your Future

My destiny plays with me in such a way I feel I play with my destiny.

First, he explains how destiny comes true in anyone’s life through her own will. Then, through a psychological analysis of the decision-making process and two real-life examples, he shows that the decision a person makes in a particular situation is predetermined and invariable and so is the future to the extent it depends on that decision, that is, the freedom that one thinks she enjoys in decision making and thereby for changing her future are illusory.

Chapter 4: Nothing Will Ever Happen Beyond Destiny 1

How can anything else happen tomorrow?

He proceeds to show that what is true for decision making is true for every phenomenon that happens in the universe: Whatever happens—occurred in the past, is occurring at present, and will occur in the future—in the universe, including whatever occurs in the life of anyone or anything contained in it, is predestined as well as inevitable.

The above statement extends the theorem of destiny to the happenings of the past and present as well, and therefore he terms it general theorem of destiny. With its proof is also proved the statement of the theorem of destiny, which is inherent in it.

Chapter 5: Nothing Will Ever Happen Beyond Destiny 2

We all are characters in a movie.

The author proves the general theorem of destiny, and therefore along with it also the theorem of destiny, in two ways in this chapter, providing six examples, which are three more than there are in the previous chapter. Incorporating the concepts of definite instants and time spans, these proofs provide deeper insight into and understanding of the topic. They are relatively more advanced than the one presented in the last chapter, yet none of them needs any type of specialisation to be understood. Besides, here he also shows that to change the future is as impossible as it is to change the past.

Chapter 6: Prediction of the Future

No, please don’t kill my suspense; let me enjoy the illusory independence.

We can only peep into the future, that is, we can predict the future with limited completeness and accuracy—this is true for the prediction of the future of the whole universe, including that of our future lives. The reason of this limitation is explained in this chapter.

Chapter 7: Destiny and You

But now I watch, I flow, I fight, I accept unmoved.

Vivake explains why the fear that the knowledge of destiny may provoke many people to become idle and just to wait for all the predestined and inevitable things they have to get in the future is unfounded. Further, he answers how the knowledge that future is predestined and unchangeable will positively affect the mental peace of the people.

PART 3: IT IS THE TIME FOR YOU TO KNOW GOD

Chapter 8: At the Doorstep of the Kingdom of God

You need only to be human to know him; just open your eyes and come with me.

The reader has come to know about destiny, but God, the master of destiny, is still hidden from him. The author will let him know God precisely irrespective of his community, religion, gender, social status, occupation, and character without asking him to undergo any type of austerity or penance—in lieu of just his reading what he says with attentive and open mind.

Chapter 9: The Concept of God

Oh God! What is the meaning of God?

For preparing a good foundation and reference for the reader’s mission of realisation of God, the author requires her to have an understanding of the basic and universal concept of what the world has believed to be God. To accomplished this task, he presents the very piths of all that has been said and written about God in eight major theistic religions of the world—Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Sikhism, Taoism, and Zoroastrianism.

Chapter 10: God Had Never Been Known to Anyone

It was a long, dark, fearful, bloody night.

He shows that God had never been known to anyone and therefore whatever had been said and written about him is hypothetical. One of the reasons for proving this is to loosen the reader’s blind faith and to increase his receptivity before taking him to God.

Chapter 11: Preparing You to Know God

How long will you hide yourself?

Further, that God had never been known to anyone, proved in the previous chapter, gives rise to numerous questions, such as why and how did people ever start to imagine his existence? why did any person ever claim knowing him? and how were the epithets commonly believed to be describing him, such as ‘almighty’, ‘supreme being’, and ‘creator’, added to him? By answering these questions, Vivake gives the reader a brief detail of the birth and development of the idea of God, which finally prepares her to receive the knowledge of God.

Chapter 12: Identification

He ordered them all to tell me the way, and finally he showed himself up.

To get God revealed before the reader, Vivake takes him through a process of search or identification. In the previous chapter, he showed that the belief that God is almighty is the hub of or is indispensable to the concept of God. Using this belief as the identification of God in his search and using the theorem of destiny (whatever happens is predestined and unchangeable), which he proved in part 2, he takes the reader to God—unravels what God exactly and precisely is.

Chapter 13: Why Can Any Other Being Not Be God?

How can you be God then?

For the removal of even the last traces of doubt from the mind of the reader about what God is, the author holds a discussion on some of the significant definitions of God that were or that are given by certain groups of people, such as God is the universe, Jesus, or Ram, to show why none of them can be correct. These cases give adequate answer to why any being other than the one revealed in the previous chapter cannot be God.

Chapter 14: Attributes of God

In an immense white castle sleeps the only master known.

In chapter 9 (The Concept of God), from the pith of eight major theistic religions of the world, the author derived the epithets added to God by the majority of theists of the world as ‘almighty’, ‘omnipotent’, ‘supreme being’, ‘one who governs the nature’, ‘ruler of the universe’, ‘one who decides or determines the destiny’, ‘creator’, ‘eternal’, ‘incorporeal’, ‘first cause’, ‘limitless’, ‘omnipresent’, ‘omniscient’, ‘all-good’, ‘all-loving’, ‘kind’, and ‘just’. In this chapter, based on the definition of God revealed in chapter 12, he shows which of the above epithets describe God correctly and which are absurd to be added to him. Thus, he reveals the true attributes of God.

Chapter 15: God and Religion

There is fearful aloofness in the realm of God.

In the light of the knowledge of God, he checks the correctness of some nuclear religious beliefs about God. He answers whether anyone can be (was, is, or will be) God's representative, relative, or incarnation; whether anyone can see him, hear him, or talk to him; and whether any of our religious books contains his orders, words, will, or message.

He proceeds to show how correct or incorrect are the themes of what eight major theistic religions of the world say about God—especially in their key religious books: Bible, Geetha, Qur’an, Sri Guru Granth Sahib, and so on—seperately for each.

Further, he examines the truth of the belief that the paths of prayer, desirelessness, mental calmness, virtuous deeds, and so on leads to the realisation of God or please him and therefore bring about any change in one’s destiny. In the process, he shows that God is responsible for all virtue and sin, glory and disdain.

Finally, he says that even after being deprived of its central theme, God, religion will remain considerably relevant in reference to topics like morality and paranormal.

PART 4: SUMMARY

Chapter 16: God Is Almighty

What am I? Just a puppet in its hands.

Whatever happens (happened in the past, is happening at present, and will happen in the future) in the universe, including whatever happens in the life of anyone or anything contained in it, even including thoughts, dreams, feelings, achievements, failures, and so on, is (a) determined, directed, or governed by God and (b) predestined and inevitable—according to his will.

Appendices

PART A: THE SCIENTIFIC PROOF

Appendix A: Introduction

The auhtor gives the details of the contents of the appendices and modifies the statement of the theorem of destiny grammatically without changing its meaning to state it in a more concise and precise form: The future is predestined.

Appendix B: Scientific Proof of the Theorem of Destiny

The future is just a projection of the past.

Since the theorem of destiny (the future is predestined) is important not only in itself but also for the revelation of God, Vivake presents its scientific proof here. As its basis, this proof uses principle of experiment, which the author derives from the fundamental nature of experiments. In its course, the proof also introduces and utilizes new concepts of partino, identity, and transferable reference frame. It is scientific in the sense that the author has tried to make it flawless from the point of view of physics. To be understood, this appendix requires intermediate-level knowledge of physics.

Appendix C: Explanation Demanded on the Basis of the Principle of Indeterminacy

If you begin with probability, probability is what you end with.

Many physicists object to the concept of definiteness of the corporeal world and therefore to the concept of predeterminedness of the future on the basis of the principle of indeterminacy. In this appendix, Vivake proves the vainness of this objection by explaining the real meaning of the principle in reference to the corporeal world and by showing how it is being misinterpreted and misused. To facilitate this he uses the traditional microscope and diffraction examples and also introduces a new principle, principle of unavoidable errors. This appendix requires graduate-level knowledge of modern physics to be understood.

Appendix D: Prediction of The Future and the Principle of Unavoidable Errors

How far can I see through this translucent glass!

He shows how the principle of unavoidable errors, not the principle of indeterminacy, poses the ultimate limit to the accuracy with which the future can be predicted.

PART B: THE AUTHOR

Appendix E: How Did I Find God?

Every flower waved the same message; every little dewdrop showed the same image:

the message of beautiful order, the image of almighty God.

The author answers questions, can he say that he is the first to know God? how original his work is? and how did he realise God and the absolute predestinedness of the future? Since God is responsible for whatever happens, he finally credits God for all his deeds and actions.

Notes

Bibliography

Acknowledgements

Index

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