Generally, according to Buddha philosophy, there is no soul, no God. But they have to obey Lord Buddha. So there is also God because Lord Buddha is accepted by the Vedic literature. Just in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam there is a great list of incarnations, and Buddha, Lord Buddha, is accepted as one of the incarnations who would appear. It is in future tense. Kīkaṭeṣu bhaviṣyati. Buddho nāmnā añjana-sutaḥ kīkaṭeṣu bhaviṣyati. Now bhaviṣyati means "He will appear in future." Because Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam was compiled by Vyāsadeva five thousand years ago, and Lord Buddha appeared about two-thousand-six-hundred years ago. Therefore before the appearance of Lord Buddha the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam was written. This is called śāstra. Because there is accurate date and accurate calculation. Everything is there. Buddho nāmnā añjana-sutaḥ kīkaṭeṣu bhaviṣyati. The mother's name also given there, añjana-suta. And kīkaṭeṣu means Gayāpradesh. In India there is a province called Bihar. In that province there is a district Gayā. In that district Lord Buddha appeared. Lord appeared in Bihar province. He was kṣatriya, He was Hindu, and He propagated this religion of nonviolence, Buddhism.
His specific propaganda was to stop animal killing. So animal killing is recommended in the Vedic literature. Therefore people wanted to give him Vedic evidences that "In the Vedic literature animal sacrifice is recommended under certain condition. So how do you preach? You are Hindu and you are followers of Vedas. Why you are preaching nonviolence?" Therefore he had to give up Hindu religion. He said that "I do not care for your Vedas. It is my propaganda to stop animal killing. So if you follow me, then you must stop animal killing." Ahiṁsā paramo dharmaḥ. So later on, of course, Lord Buddha was patronized by a great emperor, Aśoka, and therefore practically all Indian population turned to be Buddhist, with few exceptions.
Then Śaṅkarācārya came and he preached this almost Buddhism. The Buddha, Lord Buddha preached that there is no God, there is no soul. This body is combination of matter and if we dissolve this material combination then there is no more perception of misery or happiness. That is nirvāṇa. That is his philosophy. But later on, Lord, I mean to say, Ācārya Śaṅkara, he appeared and he preached that brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā. This bodily combination is temporary, or mithyā. He said flatly that it is false. False means... Of course, Vaiṣṇava philosophy, they say temporary. Temporary or false you can take on the same category. But Śaṅkarācārya said that brahma satyam. That spirit soul, Brahman, that is reality, and this external feature of the Brahman, or the body, that is false.
So anyway, here the point is that in any religion there is a conception of worshiping God or symbol of God. Even in Jain philosophy they also worship Mahāvīra. In Buddha philosophy they worship Lord Buddha. In India there is Jainism. That is almost like Buddhism. They have got also exactly the same process of worship. Temples they have got. Big, nice, costly temples they have got. And they come to see, visit the temple, offer their worshipful offerings, flowers, fruits, everything. Same thing.
Similarly, in the temple of Guru-dvāras, Sikhs... (break) ...like the Hindus. And they also offer flower, fruits, and sweetmeat, but they read their Granthasahib. As we are reading Bhagavad-gītā they read Granthasahib enunciated by Guru Nanak. So this temple worship or accepting some authority, either you accept Kṛṣṇa or you accept Lord Jesus Christ or Jehovah or Lord Buddha or Guru Nanak, that is a different, I mean to say, kinds of faith, but this acceptance of authority is there in everywhere. Now who is the highest authority, that we have to see by understanding Vedic literature, by our arguments, by our sense, by our understanding. But this acceptance of authority is there.
So dharmasya glāniḥ means when we defy authority. That is called discrepancy in the discharge of religiosity or occupational duty. Even in your office, even in the government, if you do not accept authority there is chaos, there is revolution. So this sort of mentality is very dangerous. When one does not accept any authority, that is his chaotic condition. So Lord Kṛṣṇa says that dharmasya... yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati (BG 4.7).