a. Can God be seen?

Seeing is believing. But seeing is not the only confirmation of existence. Time cannot be seen. Gravity cannot be seen. And yet, no one can deny the presence or effects of either time or gravity.

To see God, we have to go beyond ordinary perception. For Hindus, yes, God can be seen. All-seeing is the seeing of God.

When you dip a straw into water, it bends due to refraction. Is the straw really bent? No, of course not. But it appears bent. Its broken-ness is an illusion. For Hindus similarly, God himself has separated a part of Himself (not gendered) into the material world and the individual selves. The fact that we see the world and yet don’t see God, is the success of this magician’s illusion. Just like the straw that seems to bend inside water, God has obscured himself in this illusory world, and the Hindus refer to this magic act as Maya (“it is not there”). And just the way you can learn a magic trick with persistence and patience, you can see through this illusion and see God directly through the practices in the Hindu traditions of yoga (meditation and devotion).

Hinduism’s core principle is the recognition of the Brahman – the primary source of energy and creation, all-pervasive and eternal. We are a result and a part of this Brahman – often also referred to as the “Truth”. 

The premise of the question that there is a God, is not a valid interpretation of the “Truth” for Hindus. It is all energy (the Truth) and its creation (Maya).  The question, therefore, for Hindus is not, “Can God be seen?” Rather the question is, “How can I get closer to the Truth?”, and “How can I learn to get detached from Maya?”

But in simpler terms, this universe is a creation of the Brahman. Therefore, yes, it can be said that God is in everything that exists in this creation. God is everywhere.

Other reading material:

Relevant videos: Swami Nikhil Anand1, Swami Nikhil Anand2

Contributor: Rajeev Singh

Location of this post (1a): https://www.hinduspeakers.org/ufaqs/can-god-be-seen/