What Makes Life Meaningful The Hallmark of Human Life A well-known Sanskrit verse lists four ways in which

human beings and animals are alike: they need food, they need sleep, they have fear, and they desire to reproduce. Is there something that distinguishes a human being from animals? Yes, says the verse and underlines dharma as the unique human trait. Dharma has different shades of meaning, the most important being morality, or righteousness. Only human beings can observe their thoughts and actions and make sure that they are morally acceptable. Dharma means the power of discrimination between the real and the unreal, good and bad, moral and immoral, and what leads to fulfillment and what leads to frustration. Need for an Ideal The average human life is lived prompted by circumstances, or by the behavior of others. Most people react to events rather than act in accordance with an ideal they have set for themselves. They are good to others because others are good to them and bad because others are bad. That certainly is not a life of freedom, but a captive life without a direction or purpose. That brings us to the need for an ideal. When we have an ideal in life and try to live up to it, we have something with which to evaluate our thoughts and actions. When we go wrong, we know it and try not to repeat our mistake. In the absence of an ideal, however, we have no reference point to guide us. We are not aware of our mistakes and keep repeating them. Such a life can only be a series of errors. That is why Swami Vivekananda says, If a man with an ideal makes a thousand mistakes, I am sure that the man without an ideal makes fifty thousand. Therefore, it is better to have an ideal. Living up to an Ideal When we decide to live according to an ideal, our higher mind,

or buddhi, helps us exercise discrimination, discipline the wayward mind, and march forward towards the ideal. Buddhi is the seat of willpower and decision-making. A person with an awakened buddhi has strong willpower, is more decisive and is endowed with discrimination. Our life becomes truly human to the extent this higher mind is awake in us. And that involves struggle with the lower mind, which habitually takes us for a ride. The lower mind does not like discipline and resists it. It is this struggle with the lower mind that makes human life meaningful. Man is man so long as he struggles against nature, says Swami Vivekananda. The Highest Ideal The highest ideal, according to Vedanta, is God-realization. The Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita point out that God is not someone who dwells above the clouds, but dwells right in our heart, as the core of our being. Says Sri Ramakrishna, If you seek God, then seek Him in man; He manifests Himself more in man than in any other being. Glorifying human birth, Swami Vivekananda says, Man is the highest, the Taj Mahal, of all temples. But most of us are not aware of this divinity in us, nor do we feel God as the very core of our being. God-realization, or Selfrealization, is the goal of human life, says Vedanta. In Sri Ramakrishnas words, Man should possess dignity and alertness. Only he whose spiritual consciousness is awakened possesses this dignity and alertness, and can be called a man. Futile is the human birth without the awakening of spiritual consciousness. True Devotion The Bhagavad Gita (7.16) describes four kinds of people who worship God: the afflicted, those desiring prosperity, the seekers of knowledge, and the knowers of God. The afflicted pray to God for relief from physical and mental problems. These could range from anxiety or stress to

complicated diseases of body and mind. Finding other means inadequate, such devotees pray to God, placing their trust in Him. Devotees of the second kind pray to God for worldly prosperity: wealth and enjoyment, name and fame, power and position, and so on. What is the meaning and purpose of human life? How are we to deal with evil? Does God exist? Is there a soul behind the body and the mind? What happens at death? These are questions that all of us encounter sometime or other, after we have had our share of pleasure and pain, success and failure, and praise and blame in the world. Most people brush aside these thoughts and continue with their humdrum life. There are some, however, who take them seriously. They turn to God for answers. They are seekers of knowledge, and belong to the third kind of devotees. And there is the fourth kindthose who have known God. Why do they worship God? He who knows the Supreme Brahman verily becomes Brahman, says the Mundaka Upanishad (3.2.9). Such devotees see God, the supreme Spirit, in others as well as in themselves. Their lives are a blessing to humanity, and everything they do is worship of God. Sri Krishna says that all four kinds of devotees are noblehearted, but He considers the knowers of God to be His very Self (Bhagavad Gita, 7.18). The first two kinds of devotees turn to God to realize their worldly ambitions, instead of merely relying on their ego to manipulate things. And, in due course, turning to God can become a habit with them, helping them to turn to Him for devotion and Knowledge. When they become seekers of devotion and Knowledge, they long to love God and know God alone. True religion, true devotion, begins at that stage. Swami Vivekanandas words are most appropriate here: One that wants to love God, to be a Bhakta, must discard all such

[worldly] prayers. He who wants to enter the realms of light must first give up this buying and selling, this shopkeeping religion, and then enter the gates. It is not that you do not get what you pray for; you get everything, but such praying is a beggar's religion. Foolish indeed is he who, living on the banks of the Ganga, digs a little well for water. A fool indeed is the man who, coming to a mine of diamonds, seeks for glass beads. This body will die some time, so what is the use of praying for its health again and again?...We are striving to come into the presence of the King of kings. We cannot get there in a beggar's dress....Shopkeepers never have admission there; buying and selling have no place there....Do not pray for little things. If you seek only bodily comforts, where is the difference between men and animals? Think yourselves a little higher than that. Stages of Devotion I am conscious of my body, I look upon you as the Master and myself as your servant; when I am conscious that I am an individual soul, I look upon you as the whole and myself as a part; when I am one with the Atman, I look upon myself as one with you. That was Hanumans attitude toward Sri Rama, the object of his worship. Our idea about God depends on our idea about ourselves. Almost all of us feel that we are limited individuals, bound by body, mind and senses. For people such as us, devotion to a personal God with form and attributes is the logical way to progress in spiritual life. But there are a very few people who are pure in mind and free from body-consciousness from their childhood, and they alone are able to derive spiritual benefit by worshiping God without form. Sri Krishna makes it clear in the Bhagavad Gita that the ideal of a formless God is hard to attain for those who are embodied, or those who are bound by their body and mind (12.5). For them there is the path of devotion. Assures Sri Krishna: But those who consecrate all their actions to Me, regarding Me as the Supreme Goal, and who
When

worship Me, meditating on Me with single-minded concentrationto them, whose minds are thus absorbed in Me, verily I become before long, O Partha, the Saviour from the death-fraught ocean of the world. (12.6-7) Then follows a graded course of devotion in decreasing order of difficulty. 1. Fixing the mind and buddhi on the Lord Sri Krishna teaches the first and foremost stage in devotion: Fix your mind on Me alone, rest your buddhi on Me alone, and in Me alone you will live hereafter. Of this there is no doubt. (12.8) The word used for mind is manas, which is the deliberative faculty in us. It comes into play when we examine the pros and cons of anything. Manas is characterized by restlessness, doubt, confusion, anxiety, emotions, and desires. It is usually outgoing, ever eager to attach itself to any of the five sense organs: the ears, the skin, the eyes, the tongue, and the nose. In turn, these organs are eager to be in contact with their corresponding sense objects. Fixing the mind on God involves the challenge of giving an inward turn to the outwarddirected mind by repetition of Gods name, prayer, discrimination, meditation, study of sacred texts, and such disciplines. In his commentary on the Katha Upanishad (2.1.1), Sri Shankara compares turning the mind inward to reversing the current of a river. The task is as difficult, but grows easier with steadfast spiritual discipline. Buddhi comes into play when we practice discrimination between the real and the unreal, good and bad, moral and immoral, and allow our thoughts and actions to be guided by the knowledge gained from such discrimination. Buddhi is also our determinative, or decision-making faculty, and the seat of our willpower and resolution. Buddhi awakens in proportion to the strength of our willpower. It remains dormant in those who are impulsive and indecisive, and indiscriminate in their thoughts and actions. Fixing the buddhi on God implies making a firm resolve to seek God alone as the supreme goal in life, says Sri Ramanuja.

in Me alone will you live hereafter: The word hereafter is usually interpreted as after the death of the body. But Sri Ramanujas interpretation is as inspiring as it is logical: You will live in Me from the moment you fix your mind on Me with the firm conviction that I alone am the supreme goal to be attained. (To be continued) 2. The yoga of constant practice Sri Krishna suggests a less rigorous practice for those who cannot fix their mind and buddhi on God alone: If you are unable to fix your mind steadily on Me, O Dhananjaya, then seek to reach Me by the yoga of constant practice. (Bhagavad Gita, 12.9) An untrained mind is restless, always in a state of flux, wandering from one thing to another. It looks outward, and is ever eager to attach itself to sense objects. Long, steadfast practice is needed to discipline such a mind and give it an inward, Godward turn. Sri Krishna describes this practice in the Bhagavad Gita: Renouncing entirely all the desires born of the will, drawing back the senses from every direction by strength of mind, let a man little by little attain tranquillity with the help of the buddhi armed with fortitude. Once the mind is established in the Self, he should think of nothing else. Let him withdraw the fickle and unquiet mind from whatever causes it to wander away, and restore it to the control of the Self alone. (6.25-6) In other words, practice involves repeatedly bringing the mind back to the object of meditation in the heart. Arjunas power of concentration and skill in archery were legendary. He, too, found it difficult to tame his mind. He complains to Sri Krishna: This yoga, which You, O Madhusudana, have declared to be characterized by evenness I do not see how it can long endure, because of the restlessness of the mind. For the mind, O Krishna, is restless, turbulent, powerful, and obstinate. To control it is as hard, it

And

seems to me, as to control the wind. (6.33-4) Sri Krishna concedes that the mind is restless and hard to control, but says that it can be restrained by practice and by detachment. (6.35) Detachment involves staying away from anything that deflects us from the path to God-realization. When someone told Sri Ramakrishna that it was extremely difficult to proceed toward God while leading the life of a householder, the Great Master spoke encouragingly: What about the yoga of practice? At Kamarpukur I have seen the women of the carpenter families selling flattened rice. Let me tell you how alert they are while doing their business. The pestle of the husking-machine that flattens the paddy constantly falls into the hole of the mortar. The woman turns the paddy in the hole with one hand and with the other holds her baby on her lap as she nurses it. In the mean time customers arrive. The machine goes on pounding the paddy, and she carries on her bargains with the customers. She says to them, Pay the few pennies you owe me before you take anything more. You see, she has all these things to do at the same timenurse the baby, turn the paddy as the pestle pounds it, take the flattened rice out of the hole, and talk to the buyers. This is called the yoga of practice. Fifteen parts of her mind out of sixteen are fixed on the pestle of the huskingmachine, lest it should pound her hand. With only one part of her mind she nurses the baby and talks to the buyers. Likewise, he who leads the life of a householder should devote fifteen parts of his mind to God; otherwise he will face ruin and fall into the clutches of Death. He should perform the duties of the world with only one part of his mind. 3. Working for Gods sake Sri Krishna describes the third stage of devotion: If you are incapable of constant practice, then devote yourself to My service. For even by rendering service to Me you will attain perfection. (Bhagavad Gita, 12.10)

Commentaries on the above verse describe several methods of serving God: construction of temples, laying out temple gardens, cleaning the place of worship, lighting lamps in the temple, gathering flowers, preparing offerings, procuring articles of worship, performing the worship, chanting His names, singing His praises, prostrating before God, and circumambulating templesdoing all this out of love of God. Rasik, a sweeper at the Dakshineswar Temple garden, was of the lowest caste. He kept the temple premises clean, including the privies, but shied away from people because of his low status. One day, as Sri Ramakrishna was returning to his room from the pine grove, a disconsolate Rasik fell at his feet and earnestly implored him, Father, shall I not achieve anything in this life? Sri Ramakrishna told him, Of course you will, you will achieve everything. So many devotees visit this temple and you serve them by cleaning the temple garden. Sri Ramakrishna blessed him and said, You will see me at the time of death. And it happened that Rasik spent his last moments chanting the name of God. All of a sudden, his face beamed with joy. He cried out, Father, you have come! So you have not forgotten me. Thus he breathed his last. Rasik attained everything because of his great longing for God. Without this longing, worship becomes just another humdrum activity. Describing worldly peoples worship, Sri Ramakrishna says: Some people have their shrine rooms in their attics. The women arrange the offerings and flowers and make the sandal-paste. But, while doing so, they never say a word about God. The burden of the conversation is: What shall we cook today? I couldn't get good vegetables in the market. That curry was delicious yesterday. That boy is my cousin. Hello there! Have you that job still? Don't ask me how I am. My Hari is no more. Just fancy! They talk of such things in the shrine room at the time of worship! We need to learn to do our duties looking upon God as the

Master and ourselves as His servants, and accept that our capacity for doing work is His gift and that the results of our work really belong to Him. Work done in such a spirit amounts to doing Gods work. Sri Krishna describes the efficacy of doing work as worship: From whom all beings proceed and by whom the whole universe is pervadedby worshipping Him through the performance of his duty man attains perfection. (Gita, 18.46) God dwells in the hearts of all beings (Gita, 18.61). Serving others in a spirit of worship of the indwelling God is yet another way of working for God. Furthering the mission of a divine Incarnation also amounts to serving God. Many people today worship Sri Ramakrishna as a special manifestation of God. He realized the same ultimate Truth through all religions. He lived in God, knew nothing but God, and talked only about God. His one aim in life was to awaken people to the ideal of God-realization and to help them advance toward that goal. Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, the twin organizations founded in his name, have a twofold objective: Ones own freedom and the welfare of the world. Rendering service to these two organizations through any of their centers throughout the world is also rendering service to God. (To be continued)

4. Renouncing the fruit of all action For those who are unable to work for Gods sake, Sri Krishna describes the fourth stage of devotion: Resign yourself to Me, be self-disciplined and surrender the fruit of all action to Me. (Bhagavad Gita, 12.11) We need to remember that this stage of devotion is for the aspirant who cannot fix his mind and buddhi on God, take to

the yoga of constant practice, or do work for Gods sake. So he resigns himself to Gods saving power. Sri Krishna teaches Arjuna: One should pray, I take refuge in that Primal Being from whom has streamed forth this eternal activity, and seek that Goal from which they who have reached it never return. (Gita, 15.4) The first three stages of devotion enable the seeker, in various ways, to practice remembrance of God. Thinking about God makes it easy for the aspirant to develop self-control by giving an inward turn to his outward-directed mind. But in the fourth stage, self-control is not a result of practice but an integral part of practice. At this stage, it requires a great struggle for the aspirant to attain self-control. With an effort of the will he has to curb the outgoing tendencies of his mind and coax it to give up attachment to the fruit of action. As he repeatedly surrenders the fruit of action to God, the aspirant begins to feel more and more that God and not he is the real doer of action, and therefore the results of his actions belong to God. When we surrender the fruit of action to God, we grow in devotion and become more conscious about our actions, both physical and mental, for they are to be offered to God, to whom nothing but the very best can be offered. With our mind free from anxiety about the results of actions, we become calm and do our work better. All actions leave impressions in the mind, called samskaras. The sum total of these impressions, good and bad, is what Swami Vivekananda calls character. To be free from the grip of bad impressions, we cultivate good thoughts and actions, and strengthen our character. But being good is not the goal of life. There is a higher ideal, which is the desire for freedomthe desire to be free from the hold of good impressions too. Offering our actions and their results to God detaches the mind from the world and leads us to true surrender and freedom:

Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer in sacrifice, whatever you give away, and whatever you practice in the form of austeritiesdo it as an offering to Me. Thus you will become free from the bondage of the good and bad results of your actions. With your mind firmly set on renunciation, you will attain liberation and thereby come to Me. (Gita, 9.27-8) Divine Qualities Swami Vivekananda taught that true religion results in transformation of character. He said, Religion is the idea which is raising the brute unto man, and man unto God. Animality, humanity, and divinity coexist in our character. When we have no higher goal of life, our thoughts and actions are influenced by selfishness, and our divine nature remains veiled from us. All great teachers have taught that manifestation of divinity is the goal of life and the greatest challenge before us. The thirteenth and sixteenth chapters of the Bhagavad Gita describe divine qualities that spiritual aspirants need to cultivate on their journey to ultimate Truth. We shall examine some of these qualities. Fearlessness Fears are of different kinds, such as fear of solitude, fear of heights, fear of water, fear of the unknown, fear of undesirable outcome from work, which manifests as anxiety, and, above all, fear of death. Phobias are unreasonable fears and are usually harmless; but when they become excessive, they could leave a permanent scar in the mind. Fear originates from a sense of duality, says the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (1.4.2): I and the object of fear. In the words of the Taittiriya Upanishad, When a man finds fearless support in That which is invisible, formless, indefinable, and supportless, he has then attained fearlessness. If he makes the slightest differentiation in It,

there is fear for him. (2.7.1) Swami Vivekananda emphatically declares what fearlessness is: Those moments alone we live when our lives are in the universe, in others; and living this little life is death, simply death, and that is why the fear of death comes. The fear of death can only be conquered when man realizes that so long as there is one life in the universe, he is living. When he can say, I am in everything, in everybody; I am in all lives; I am the universe, then alone comes the state of fearlessness. In the Vairagya Shataka (A hundred Verses on Renunciation), Bhartrihari describes how fear is associated with everything in the world: In enjoyment there is the fear of disease; in social position, the fear of falling off; in wealth, the fear of hostile kings; in honor, the fear of humiliation; in power, the fear of enemies; in beauty, the fear of old age; in scholarship, the fear of opponents; in virtue, the fear of calumny; and in the body, the fear of death. Everything in this world is fraught with fear. Renunciation alone stands for fearlessness. (verse 31) Knowledge of the Atman, the divine Self, alone can give us fearlessness and the realization that we are of the nature of infinite Being, infinite Consciousness and infinite Bliss. After imparting the knowledge of Brahman to Janaka, Yajnavalkya said, Verily, Janaka, you have attained That which is free from fear. (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 4.2.4.)

Fearlessness (continued) We saw that fear is inevitable as long as there is a sense of duality and that true fearlessness is synonymous with Godrealization. According to Sri Ramanujas commentary on the Bhagavad Gita (16.1), We feel miserable when separated from objects of desire or associated with objects of aversion. Fear is a kind of

pain resulting from the awareness of the cause of such misery; the absence of this pain is fearlessness. The mind desires pleasure-producing stimuli and avoids contrary ones. While every little joy of life becomes an occasion for us to celebrate, any unpleasant event, even a little bad news or mild criticism, is enough to disturb our mind and drive us to a corner. Our mind is normally programmed to be elated with pleasure and depressed with pain. But to develop fearlessness, we need to write a new program with the help of buddhi, the discriminative faculty. This means strengthening our character by augmenting our stock of good impressions (samskaras) with the help of noble thoughts and actions. Only a strong character can help us remain unaffected by external circumstances. The Gita emphasizes equipoise in work, that is, having a mindset that prevents our swinging back and forth between elation and depression at every turn of events. When a despondent Arjuna was overcome with misplaced compassion for his enemies, Sri Krishna taught him to perform his dharma: Pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeatlooking upon all these alike, engage yourself in battle; you will incur no sin. (Gita, 2.38) Offering everythingboth pleasure and pain to God is a powerful spiritual discipline to cultivate equipoise. Says the devotee, Whatever I do, O Shiva, all that is worship of you. (Hymn of Mental Worship to Shiva, 4) Sri Krishna teaches us to offer everything to God: Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer in sacrifice, whatever you offer as gifts, whatever austerities you performdo it all as an offering to Me. (Gita, 9.27) Commenting on the Gita (16.1), Sant Jnaneshvar explains fearlessness: If we dont jump into a flooded river, we have no fear of being drowned. If we eat sensibly, we dont need to be concerned about falling ill. Even so, if we are not egotistic while doing work or not doing it, we need not fear life in the world. When our mind is filled with the notion of nondualism, we

know that the whole world is pervaded by Brahman and reject all fear. When a spiritual aspirant offers the fruit of his action to God, he grows in devotion, becomes less egotistic, and develops freedom from fear or anxiety about the outcome of work. The notion of nondualism implies a strong faith in the Atman, our divine Self. While doing any work, a devotee learns to look upon himself as a luminous spiritual entity different from the body and the restless mind. He strives to emulate the sattvic worker described in the Gita: He who is free from attachment and egotism, endowed with fortitude and zeal, and unaffected by success and failuresuch a person is said to be a sattvic worker. (Gita, 18.26)

The Message of Liberation The Ramakrishna Mission's motto is: "For one's own liberation and for the good of the world." Liberation of the soul is the promise of all religions and their central teaching. It is this promise that distinguishes religion from all other quests of life. Prophets and saints, mystics and philosophers, theologians and scriptures assure us of ultimate liberation from the pain and suffering of life. All seekers, whether Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, or Muslim, dualist, qualified nondualist, or non-dualist, strive for liberation. All believe that through liberation they will attain immortality. The desire for immortality is inherent in human nature. Desiring immortality, people beget children, create works of art, erect monuments, sacrifice their self-interest, and practice charity, contemplation, and prayer. What is the meaning of liberation? What really happens to one who becomes liberated? The Differing Views

The general consensus among the religions of the world is that liberation is eternal life in heaven and that such liberation, which is possible only after death, is the reward for the virtuous and the believers. The non-believers and the sinners go to hell to expiate their wrongful actions on earth. Enjoyment in heaven and suffering in hell are described in the scriptures of different traditions in vivid terms. But the religions vary in their views of the nature of liberation, how to attain it, and how to verify it. Some claim that liberation is reserved only for their own followers and ask for unquestioning faith in their dogma. Others claim that liberation is only for the elected and chosen onesand not universal. Immortality for some is physical, for others, spiritual. Some insist that liberation is dependent on effort, and to others it is solely a matter of faith. Again, some traditions declare that our life on earth is only for one term, and therefore there is only one opportunity to strive for liberation. Others speak of the law of rebirth and of many terms of life. Honest Doubt The questions that are often raised by the scientific-minded, and quite reasonably so, are the following: (1) If liberation is possible only after death, how can the reality of such liberation be verified? The conditions on the two sides of the grave are different. The dead do not come back to testify about the validity of heaven. Scriptural assurances are not enough to silence our doubt, since, having been written by human hands, they are subject to human error. Could it be that the ideas of heaven and liberation are merely the result of pious imagination? Such doubt persists. There is the story of a mountain climber who was trying to scale a 5,000 foot peak. At one point he lost his balance and began to fall uncontrollably. Desperately grabbing hold of the stump of a tree, he found himself hanging in mid-air. An avowed atheist, the man did not believe in any prayer or in the hereafter. But

facing this harrowing situation, he look toward heaven and called out, "Is there any one to save me?" To his utter surprise, he heard a deep voice resounding from the sky, saying, "My son, let go thy hold. I shall bear thee up." There was a pause, and then the man again looked toward heaven and asked, "Is there anyone else?" (2) Are the descriptions of the hereafter true? If so, why do the accounts differ? Immortality in heaven has been described as being of infinite duration, that is, not bound by time. But how can everlasting life be described in terms of time? What begins in time must end in time. Heavenly life has been described as enjoyment without suffering, youth without old age, pleasure without paina claim which is untenable from the point of view of reason. The subtle or spiritual body through which one experiences heavenly happiness cannot last for ever. How can an embodied person be immortal? Can it be that our individual desires create our ideas of heaven and that our definition of heaven changes with the change of our desires? So Swami Vivekananda says: "Everyone's idea of pleasure is different. I have seen a man who is not happy unless he swallows a lump of opium every day. He may dream of a heaven where the land is made of opium. That would be a very bad heaven for me. Again and again in Arabian poetry we read of a heaven with beautiful gardens through which rivers run. I have lived much of my life in a country where there is too much water; many villages are flooded and thousands of lives are sacrificed every year. So my heaven would not have gardens through which rivers flow; I would have a land where very little rain falls. Our pleasures are always changing."[i][i]

(3) One cannot imagine how a soul which has a beginning in time can be without end. The claim that the soul is created at the time of birth and that life is for only one term lacks a rational basis. Such an idea fails to explain the inequalities that exist between one person and another in the physical, mental, moral, and spiritual spheres. To say that such inequalities are all due to the environment and upbringing is not an adequate explanation. To attribute such inequalities to the will of God only makes God cruel and whimsical. Most people die as sinners and consequently if there is only one term of life, it must follow that most are destined to suffer eternally in hell. How is it possible that the soul, being an integral portion of God, can be punished forever? To believe in the eternal punishment of the soul for the mistakes of a few years on earth is absurd. (4) The assertion of some traditions that theirs is the only way raises very serious doubts about their validity. Such a claim is possible only in a non-moral universe created by an unjust God. Claims of exclusiveness have prompted some traditions to proselytize and at times persecute. Such claims have prompted these traditions to increase the number of the faithful by forcible conversion and to eliminate the unfaithful by means of extermination. In a recent article in The New York Times, the author Karen Armstrong writes: "Is acceptance of Jesus Christ necessary for salvation? That is the question threatening to split the Dutch Reformed Church in America, which has about 200,000 members. The Rev. Richard A. Rhem, pastor of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Mich., has said he no longer believes that Jesus is the only route to God. Through

their own religions, he argues, Jews, Muslims and Buddhists can be admitted to heaven. His stance shocked the regional Reformed Church authorities, who censured Mr. Rhem in July. But the pastor has been supported by his congregation as well as by some Christian churches in other denominations. Christians have been arguing about the salvation of unbelievers for at least 1,600 years. (Before that, the religion's struggle for survival overshadowed concerns about the fate of unbelievers.) But the debate has an urgency in the late 20th century because of our expanded understanding of other religions....Christians like Mr. Rhem find it difficult to believe that a just and merciful God would damn millions of well-meaning men and women merely because they have not found faith in Jesus. Others insist that the Christian faith is an indispensable requirement for eternal beatitude....In this century, the two tendencies have struggled against a backdrop of greater religious communication. Our new knowledge and new technology make the old isolation of the world's religions seem parochial and outdated. Christians are discovering that despite their obvious differences, the great world religions are in profound agreement about essential spiritual issues. People are now beginning to seek inspiration from more than one religion....In the 21st century, people of all faiths will have to decide whether to embrace the new globalization by expressing it in religious terms or to react

vehemently against it and denominational ghettos."[ii][ii]

retreat

into

Exclusiveness always creates suspicion. Spirituality is a universal phenomenon, not the exclusive possession of any particular faith. No religious tradition has a monopoly of Truth. Moral and ethical virtues of purity, compassion, truthfulness, and self-sacrificethe means to liberationare common to all traditions. All are children of one and the same God, to whom all return at the time of liberation. Prophets and saints of different religions are the messengers of that one God. Different religions are only the different paths to reach Him. Those who deny these facts deny God Himself. An individual brought up today with a scientific outlook insists on the rule of law. In the classroom and the workplace he is encouraged to raise honest doubt and make critical enquiry about everything, and thus he feels puzzled when he is asked to accept the teachings of a scripture or the tenets of a particular tradition as infallible. Two reasons are generally invoked in support of infallibility: Such teachings and tenets have been handed down from ancient times and our ancestors believed in them. Yet mere belief in liberation does not make it real for us. Until Galileo told us otherwise, the world used to believe that the sun moves around the earth. If the laws of science work everywhere and at all times, should not the same laws apply to religion? Science has thrown open a window on the cosmos, which is now regarded as infinite. Our sun is a speck on the edge of a vast galaxyone of innumerable galaxies, and our earth is a mere particle of dust circling that speck. The creation did not begin at a certain time on a particular day; it evolved through billions of years. The view of a universe with God at the top, the devil below, and the human world in between can be accepted by only the most naive. Science demands deduction from facts, not from dogmas. In religion too we must draw our conclusions from facts, and not

attempt to create facts based upon preconceived conclusions. Too often in religious matters reason has been used as a means of reinforcing our prejudices. The strict methods of science require us to accept a proposition only when we are in a position to prove it. Skeptics think that the notion of liberation is nothing but wishful thinking on the part of some visionaries who hope to fulfill their heart's desire for eternal life, in defiance of the laws of science. (to be continued) - Swami Adiswarananda The Vedanta View of Liberation Regarding liberation, Vedanta maintains the following: (1) Liberation is jivanmukti or freedom while living in the body. It is not going to another realm or attaining something new, but realizing our true nature. It not freedom from anything, but in the midst of everything. Liberation as eternal happiness in heaven is only a halfway house. Vedanta asserts that liberation in order to be believable must be attained before death. One who dies in bondage, bound will he remain after death. As the Upanishad says: "What is here, the same is there; and what is there the same is here. He goes from death to death who sees any difference here. (Katha Upanishad, II.1.10)"[iii][iii] If everything ends for one with liberation, then there would be none to teach and serve as an exemplar. (2) Vedanta's liberation is spiritual and depends upon SelfKnowledge. Immortality or eternal life in order to be real must be free from all forms of embodimentgross, subtle, or causal. Sankaracharya asserts: "Let people quote the scriptures and sacrifice

to the gods, let them perform rituals and worship the deities, but there is no liberation without the realization of one's identity with the Atman, no, not even in the lifetime of a hundred Brahmas put together [that is, an almost infinite length of time]."[iv][iv] This realization, known as Self-Knowledge, is neither an emotional thrill nor an intellectual conviction. It is not "put a penny in the slot and pull out a pardon."[v][v] Self-Knowledge is direct perception of one all-pervading Self dwelling as the individual self in all beings. Direct perception is not simply belief in the scriptures. Believing in the scriptures is believing in the belief of other persons. On the other hand, reason, which begins in doubt and also ends in doubt, cannot give the certainty of faith. Direct perception is experiencing the Self by being one with It. It is seeing the Self with eyes closed in meditation as well as with eyes open in action. Such direct perception carries its own credentials: it transforms our consciousness forever, silences all doubt, is not antagonistic to reason and common sense, and is conducive to the welfare of all beings. (3) Complete liberation is attained gradually through many births, and this process guarantees every creature, however wicked, many opportunities to rid himself of imperfections. Rebirth is governed by the law of karma. It is through a human body that liberation is generally attained. Vedanta speaks of three courses which departed souls may follow before they are reborn on earth in a human body: Those who have led a life of extreme wickedness are born as subhuman beings. Those again who have discharged their social and moral duties, cherished desires, and sought the results of action, repair after death to a heaven called the "plane of the moon," where they reap the fruit of their actions, before being reborn in a human body. But Brahmaloka, the highest heaven, is attained by those who have led an intense spiritual life on earth and

actively sought the reality of God. Some of the dwellers in Brahmaloka obtain liberation, and some return to earth. Such descriptions of the afterlife are not literal, but symbolic and poetic, and are intended to spur the human mind to make the spiritual quest. Life's bondage created while living, cannot be overcome by some readjustment after death. (4) Liberation is universal and is the inevitable destiny of all living creatures. Vedanta speaks of the three basic desires of all living beings: eternal life, limitless knowledge, and unbounded joy. We first seek to fulfill these through change of form and place. But nothing limited can give us the fulfillment of all three desires. At last we begin to change our thoughts and practice spiritual disciplines for self-purification. When our heart becomes purified, our true self, which is the Self of the universe, becomes revealed in the mirror of our pure heart and we discover our true identity. Liberation is returning home. In Biblical terms it is the return of the prodigal son to his all-loving father. Consciously or unconsciously, all beings are striving for liberation. When the striving is unconscious we call it evolution of nature, but when it is conscious we call it spiritual quest. What happens to a knower of the Self after death? Where does his soul go? The Upanishads say: "Of him who is without desires, who is free from desires, the objects of whose desires have been attained, and to whom all objects of desire are but the selfthe life-breath does not depart. Being Brahman, he merges in Brahman." (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, IV.iv.6)[vi][vi] "When all the desires that dwell in his heart are gone, then he, having been mortal, becomes immortal and attains Brahman in this very body." (Brihadaranyaka

Upanishad, IV.iv.7)[vii][vii] As milk poured into milk becomes one with milk, as water poured into water becomes one with the water, as oil poured into oil becomes one with the oil, so the illumined soul absorbed in Brahman becomes one with Brahman. A free soul, however, out of compassion for mankind, may of his own free will again assume a human body and work for the welfare of mankind. (5) The Self-Knowledge of Vedanta liberates not only our soul but also our mind. Psychologically speaking, Self-Knowledge, by raising the blaze of spiritual consciousness, frees us from the bondage of highly-personalized life and separative existence. (6) Liberation through Self-Knowledge is not just cessation of sorrow and suffering but positive bliss. Cessation of sorrow is not in itself happiness; it requires something positive. Tasting the overpowering bliss of the Self, the liberated soul goes beyond all sorrow and suffering. As the Katha Upanishad says: "There is one Supreme Ruler, the inmost Self of all beings, who makes His one form manifold. Eternal happiness belongs to the wise, who perceive Him within themselves not to others. There is One who is the eternal Reality among non-eternal objects, the one [truly] conscious Entity among conscious objects, and who, though nondual, fulfils the desires of many. Eternal peace belongs to the wise who perceive Him within themselvesnot to others." (Katha Upanishad, II.ii.12 and 13)[viii][viii] (7) Liberation through Self-Knowledge requires cooperation between self-endeavor and divine grace. To make effort is necessary in order to know its limits. In the end we discover

that effort was possible because of grace. We strive for the Divine only when the Divine draws us toward It. (8) Self-Knowledge alone can confer true liberation. Swami Vivekananda beautifully describes this liberation through SelfKnowledge: "One day a drop of water fell into the vast ocean. When it found itself there, it began to weep and complain just as you are doing. The great ocean laughed at the drop of water. `Why do you weep?' it asked. `I do not understand. When you join me, you join all your brothers and sisters, the other drops of water of which I am made. You become the ocean itself. If you wish to leave me, you have only to rise up on a sunbeam into the clouds. From there you can descend again, a little drop of water, a blessing and a benediction to the thirsty earth.'"[ix][ix] (9) The liberated soul is called a free soul. Only a free soul demonstrates the reality of God, the validity of the sacred texts, the divinity of man, and the oneness of existence. He is also known as the Awakened One or the Illumined One. A free soul lives in a world of duality, yet he remains undisturbed by its pain and pleasure. He is free but not whimsical, spontaneous but not given to license, and he never sets a bad example to others. As a fish swimming in waters leaves no mark behind, or as a bird flying in the air leaves no footprints, so a free soul moves in the world unnoticed by others. A free soul does not traffic in miracles, nor does he publicize his holiness. The ineffable peace radiating from his personality bespeaks his holy nature. A free soul is aware of his identity with all beings. He is conscious that he feels through all hearts, walks with all feet,

eats through all mouths, and thinks with all minds. He regards the pain and pleasure of others as his own pain and pleasure. Physical death and birth have no meaning for him, a change of body being to him like a change of garments. About such a person it can truly be said that he exists, because he has become one with Existence; knows, because he has become one with Knowledge; and enjoys bliss, because he has become one with Bliss Absolute. A free soul, while living in the body, may experience disease, old age, or decay; may feel hunger, thirst, grief or fear; may be a victim of blindness, deafness, or other conditions. But having realized that these are no more than characteristics of the body, the mind, or the senses, he does not take them seriously and so is not overwhelmed by them. A person who sees a play on the stage does not consider it to be real, yet he enjoys it to his heart's content; likewise, a free soul living in the midst of the joys and sorrows of the world experiences them as the unfolding of a divine play. In modern times, Sri Ramakrishna's life is a perfect example in this context. In April 1885 Sri Ramakrishna felt a soreness in his throat. Prolonged conversation or absorption in Godconsciousness would aggravate the pain. As simple treatment brought him no relief, a specialist was called for, and the illness was diagnosed as cancer. Though the doctor cautioned him, he could neither control his ecstasy nor turn away any sincere spiritual seeker. In spite of his excruciating pain and emaciated physical condition, Sri Ramakrishna continued to minister to the spiritual needs of his disciples and devotees. Seeing his constant ecstasy, a leader of the Brahmo Samaj was moved to declare: "Good heavens! It is as if he were possessed by a ghost!"[x][x] As we read in The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna: " Pandit Shashadhar [a renowned religious leader of the time] one day suggested to Sri

Ramakrishna that the latter could remove the illness by concentrating his mind on the throat, the scriptures having declared that yogis had power to cure themselves in that way. The Master rebuked the pundit: "`For a scholar like you to make such a proposal!' he said. `How can I withdraw the mind from the Lotus Feet of God and turn it to this worthless cage of flesh and blood?' `For our sake at least,' begged Narendra and the other disciples. `But,' replied Sri Ramakrishna, `do you think I enjoy this suffering? I wish to recover, but that depends on the Mother.' Narendra: `Then please pray to Her. She must listen to you.' Master: `But I cannot pray for my body.' Narendra: `You must do it, for our sake at least.' Master: `Very well, I shall try.' A few hours later the Master said to Narendra: `I said to Her: "Mother, I cannot swallow food because of my pain. Make it possible for me to eat a little." She pointed you all out to me and said: "What? You are eating through all these mouths. Isn't that so?" I was ashamed and could not utter another word.'"[xi][xi] This is the liberation in life declared by Vedanta, and this is the primary goal to which the Ramakrishna Mission's works of service are directed.

HINDUISM by Swami Adiswarananda

From How Different Religions View Death and Afterlife, 1ST Edition by Christopher Johnson and Marsha McGee, Copyright 1991 by the Charles Press Publishers, Reprinted with permission. This chapter is based on the teachings of Vedanta as embodied in the major Hindu scriptures--the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, the Brahma Sutras, and others--and interpreted by Sankaracharya, the exponent of non-dualism. According to non-dualism, the Ultimate Reality of everything is Brahman, the non-dual pure consciousness, and It alone exists. The universe of beings and things is merely an appearance of Brahman in time and space. The individual soul and Brahman are absolutely nondifferent. The root cause of all bondage is the soul's ignorance of its true nature. Liberation is union with Brahman attained through Self-knowledge. The two other interpretations of Vedanta are qualified non-dualism and dualism. The chief exponent of qualified non-dualism is Ramanuja and of dualism, Madhva. Qualified non-dualism maintains that Brahman, though non-dual pure consciousness, transforms Itself into God, the universe, and the world of souls, and that the transformation is real. God is the whole and the individual soul is the part. The bondage of the individual soul is due to its alienation from God, and liberation is communion with God. Dualism believes that God is a personal being who creates the universe and the world of souls. The creation is real and the created beings and things are different from and dependent on God. The bondage of the soul is due to its forgetfulness of God, and liberation is communion with God. Background of the Faith Hinduism, considered the oldest religion of the world, is today practiced by over 500 million people in India and other countries. The word "Hindu" is a distorted form of "Sindhu," the Sanskrit word for Indus, the river that flows into the Arabian Sea. This mispronunciation is attributed to the Persians who invaded India at the end of the sixth century B.C. Later, during the Greek invasion of

India (326 B.C.), the Greeks described the river Sindhu as "Indos," which was sometime afterward changed to "Indus." Since then, the country east of the river Indus has come to be known as India, its people as Indians, and their religion as Hinduism. The original name of Hinduism is Sanatana Dharma, which means "eternal religion." It was also known as Vaidika Dharma, or the "religion of the Vedas." The European traders and Christian missionaries who came to India at the beginning of the seventeenth century signified Hinduism as "Brahmanism." A federation of many systems of thought, Hinduism is based not on any fixed sets of creeds and dogmas but on certain eternal principles. It was not founded by any historical personality. Many prophets, saints, mystics, and philosophers, both ancient and modern, have contributed to its growth, development, and perpetuation. The great teachers of Hinduism are Sri Rama (of the Ramayana), Sri Krishna (of the Bhagavad Gita), Sri Sankaracharya (A.D. 788-820), Sri Ramanuja (A.D. 1017-1137), Sri Madhva (A.D. 1199-1276), Sri Chaitanya (A.D. 1485-1533), and in modern times, Sri Ramakrishna (A.D. 1836-1886), and Swami Vivekananda (A.D. 1863-1902). Their lives demonstrate the validity of the spiritual teachings of Hinduism. Hinduism derives its authority primarily from the four Vedas: the Rig-Veda, the Yajur-Veda, the Sama-Veda, and the Atharva-Veda. Each Veda consists of four parts: the mantras, or hymns in praise of Vedic deities; the brahmanas, or the section dealing with rituals and ceremonies; the aranyakas, or philosophical interpretation of the rituals; and the Upanishads, or the concluding portions of the Vedas (known as Vedanta), which describe the profound spiritual truths. Hinduism derives its authority secondarily from another group of scriptures-the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Bhagavad Gita, the Puranas, and others. Of the two groups of scriptures, the Vedas along with the Upanishads are known as srutis, while the others are called smritis. Sruti is revelation and smriti is tradition. The Ultimate Reality Hindu scriptures describe ultimate reality as Brahman. Brahman is non-dual pure consciousness, indivisible, incorporeal, infinite, and all-pervading like the sky. Brahman is of the nature of existence-knowledge-bliss-absolute-the ground of all existence, basis of all awareness, and source of all bliss. It is the reality of all realities, the soul of all souls, one without a second, the constant witness of the changing phenomena of the universe. From the absolute point of view, Brahman alone exists. Brahman has two aspects: transcendent and immanent. In Its transcendent aspect, Brahman is devoid of name and form, sex and attributes. But in Its immanent aspect, Brahman is endowed with them. The Upanishads designate the transcendent Brahman by the word "It" and the immanent Brahman by the word "He." Through Its inscrutable power called maya, the transcendent Brahman appears to be conditioned by time and space and to manifest itself as personal God, the creator, preserver, and destroyer of the universe. The Upanishads describe God as the supreme person: His hands and feet are everywhere; His eyes, heads, and faces are everywhere; His ears are everywhere; He exists compassing all.[ix][i] The heavens are His head; the sun and moon, His eyes; the quarters, His ears; the revealed Vedas, His speech; the wind is His breath; the universe, His heart. From His feet is produced the earth. He is, indeed, the inner Self of all beings.[ix][ii] The various Godheads of Hinduism, such as Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma, Kali, and Durga, are but different facets of Brahman. The supreme Brahman assumes various forms for the fulfillment of the individual spiritual seekers. All concepts and forms of God, according to Hinduism, are what we think of Him and not what He is to Himself. Again, various seekers of God, depending upon their

advancement, perceive God differently. For example, to the beginner God appears as an extra-cosmic creator; to the more advanced seeker as inner controller; and to the perfect knower of God, God is everywhere and in everything. Still another manifestation of the conditioned Brahman is the incarnation of God-God's taking human form. According to Hinduism, God incarnates Himself to fulfill the needs of the universe, whenever and wherever such a need arises. In the Bhagavad Gita Sri Krishna says: Whenever there is a decline of dharma (righteousness), O Bharata, and a rise of adharma (unrighteousness), I incarnate myself. For the protection of the good, for the destruction of the wicked, and for the establishment of dharma, I am born in every age.[ix][iii] Thus, according to Hinduism, the supreme Godhead is both formless and endowed with many forms. (to be continued)

HINDUISM by Swami Adiswarananda

From How Different Religions View Death and Afterlife, 1ST Edition by Christopher Johnson and Marsha McGee, Copyright 1991 by the Charles Press Publishers, Reprinted with permission. Part 2 (continued from previous month) The Universe Hinduism maintains that the universe is beginning less and endless. It subscribes to the theory of manifestation and non-manifestation of the universe, of evolution of cosmic energy into names and forms and its involution. The Vedas describe this process as the out-breathing and in-breathing of Brahman. The Upanishads say that just as the hair and nails grow on a living person, as the threads come out of a spider, as sparks fly from a blazing fire, as melodies issue from a flute, or as waves rise on the ocean, so also does the universe come forth from Brahman. Brahman is both the material and the efficient cause of the universe. This manifestation of Brahman as the manifold universe is not real but apparent. Through its inscrutable power of maya, Brahman appears as the world of matter and souls, and as endowed with the activities of creation, preservation, and dissolution. Maya veils the ultimate reality and in its place projects various appearances. Maya is change and relativity. It is neither real nor unreal nor both. If the world of maya were real, then it could never be changed. On the other hand, it cannot be unreal because the sufferings of life are felt tangibly. As long as it is not known, maya is delusive; but when known, maya is nothing but Brahman. Maya is comprised of the three gunas, or qualities: sattva, rajas, and tamas. Sattva is balance or equilibrium; rajas is restlessness or imbalance; tamas is inertia or darkness. The three gunas are present in varying degrees in all objects, gross or subtle, including the body-mind complex of an individual. For example, when sattva prevails in an individual, the light of knowledge begins to shine through his body and mind. When rajas prevails, he is stirred by unrest. And when tamas prevails, he is taken over by inertia. When the universe is in a period of non-manifestation, the three gunas remain in a state of non-differentiation, or equilibrium. Manifestation begins when the equilibrium of the gunas is disturbed. According to Hinduism, the process of manifestation and non-manifestation of the universe

follows a cyclical pattern. In each cycle there is a recurrence of the same material phenomena, and the same recurrences continue throughout eternity. No energy can be annihilated; it goes on changing until it returns to the source. Nature presents both movements-from the subtle to the gross and back from gross to subtle. Evolution presupposes involution. Only that which was involved before can be evolved afterwards. Evolution of the physical universe follows a graduated process. The first element to evolve at the beginning of a cycle is akasa, or the ether, in its subtle form. Then gradually evolve four other elements: air, fire, water, and earth. In the beginning, the five elements remain unmixed. Then, through their various combinations, the elements take their gross forms. From out of the basic gross and subtle elements are produced all objects, gross and subtle, including the body-mind complex of all living creatures. According to the Puranas, each world period is divided into four ages, or yugas: Satya, Treta, Dwapara, and Kali. The Satya yuga abounds in virtue, with vice being practically non-existent. But with each succeeding age, virtue gradually diminishes and vice increases, making the age of Kali the reverse of Satya. The approximate duration of each yuga has been described as: Satya yoga, 1,728,000 years; Treta, 1,296,000 years; Dwapara, 864,000 years; and Kali, 432,000 years. These four yugas, rotating a thousand times, make one day of Brahma, the creator, and an equal number of years, one night. Thirty such days and nights make one month of Brahma, and twelve months make one year. After living for a hundred such years, Brahma dies. Brahma, too, like all other entities of the phenomenal universe, has a limited life span, although this life span seems nearly endless from the viewpoint of human calculations. The Human Individual According to Hinduism, man is essentially a soul that uses its body and mind as instruments to gain experience. What is the nature of the soul? Hinduism maintains that the macrocosm and the microcosm are built on the same plan, and that Brahman is the soul of both. As the soul of man, Brahman is known as Paramatman. The Upanishads speak of the two souls of man dwelling, as it were, side by side, within him: the real soul (Paramatman) and the apparent soul (jivatman). The real soul is the witness consciousness, serene and detached. The apparent soul is the embodied soul, the experiencer of birth and death, and is ever in quest of freedom and eternal life. The apparent soul is the ego self--the reflection of the real soul. The real soul has been described as Self and the apparent soul as non-Self. Hinduism analyzes man in terms of three bodies, five sheaths, and three states. It says that a human individual has three bodies: physical body, subtle body, and causal body. The physical body is produced out of the gross forms of the five basic elements (ether, air, water, fire, and earth), and is subject to a sixfold change: birth, subsistence, growth, maturity, decay, and death. At death the physical body perishes and its five constituent elements are dissolved. The subtle body is made of the subtle forms of the five basic elements that produced the physical body. It is the receptacle of thoughts and memories and continues to exist after death, serving as the vehicle of transmigration. A human individual enters this world with a bundle of thoughts in the form of his mind, and he also exits with a bundle of thoughts, some old and some new. The causal body, characterized by ego sense only, is finer than the subtle body. All three bodies are for the fulfillment of desires, gross and subtle. The soul is different from these three bodies. Hindu scriptures further describe the body-mind complex of man as consisting of five sheaths, or layers: the physical sheath, the sheath of prana (the vital air), the sheath of mind, the sheath of intellect, and the sheath of bliss. These sheaths are located one inside the other like the segments of a collapsible telescope, with the sheath of the physical body being the outermost and the sheath of bliss being the innermost. The sheath of the physical body is dependent on food for its sustenance and lasts as long as it can absorb nourishment. The sheath of the vital air is the manifestation of the universal vital energy. It animates the gross body, making it inhale and exhale, move about, take in nourishment,

excrete, and reproduce. The sheath of the mind is the seedbed of all desires. It is changeful, characterized by pain and pleasure, and has a beginning and an end. The sheath of the intellect is the seat of I-consciousness. Though material and insentient by nature, it appears intelligent because it reflects the light of the Self. It is the cause of embodiment. Finer than the sheath of the intellect is the sheath of bliss, the main features of which are pleasure and rest. It, too, is material and subject to change. The five sheaths are the five layers of embodiment and they veil the light of the Self. The Upanishads mention that man experiences three states of existence-waking, dream, and deep sleep-and his Self within, the experiencer of the three states, is different from them. Analysis of all three states reveals the true nature of the Self. In the waking state man remains identified with his physical body, in the dream state with his subtle body, and in deep sleep with his causal body. The Atman, or Self, is the monitoring consciousness of all three states and is the basis of their unity. Hinduism contends that conclusions based only on an analysis of the waking state are incomplete and cannot reveal the real nature of man. In this sense, Hinduism considers the conclusions of physical science as inadequate although not incorrect.

HINDUISM by Swami Adiswarananda

Part 3 (continued from previous month) The Problem of Suffering Why is a soul born on earth, and why does it suffer? What happens to it after death, and what is its destiny? Why are there inequalities between one person and another? According to Hinduism, the idea of complete annihilation of the soul after death is inconsistent with the concept of a moral order in the universe. If everything ends with death, then there is no meaning to life. Nor is the view that the soul is created at birth and then becomes eternal at death reasonable, for anything that has a beginning will also have an end. Further, this view does not explain the obvious inequalities among people. Clearly, all are not born equal. Some are born with good tendencies, some with bad; some strong, and some weak; some fortunate, and some unfortunate. Moreover, all too often the virtuous suffer and the vicious prosper. One cannot attribute these injustices to the will of God or to some inscrutable providence, because such a concept belies any belief in God's love for His beings. These glaring differences cannot be considered the mere results of chance happening; for if such were the case, there would be no incentive for moral or material improvement. Then, heredity and environment, although they explain the physical and mental characteristics of an individual partially, do not explain inequalities satisfactorily. Nor does the doctrine of eternal happiness in heaven, or eternal suffering in hell, answer this question. Everlasting life in terms of time is self-contradictory. The dwellers in heaven, endowed with subtle or spiritual bodies, are still subject to embodiment and therefore cannot be immortal. The idea of eternal damnation for the mistakes of man's brief earthly career contradicts justice and reason. The inequalities and sufferings of life cannot be set right by readjustments after death, because what happens after death cannot be verified. The conditions on the two sides of the grave are different, and the dead never come back to testify to their afterlife conditions. Rebirth and the Law of Karma Hinduism contends that the cause of suffering and inequalities must be sought not in what happens after death, but in the conditions before birth, and puts forward the doctrine of rebirth. Rebirth is the

necessary corollary to the idea of the soul's immortality. Death is a break in the series of continuing events known as life. Through death the individual soul changes its body: "Even as the embodied Self passes, in this body, through the stages of childhood, youth, and old age, so does It pass into another body." A knower of the Self can witness the passing of a soul from one body to another at the time of death: "The deluded do not perceive him when he departs from the body or dwells in it, when he experiences objects or is united with the gunas; but they who have the eye of wisdom perceive him." Rebirth, Hinduism maintains, is governed by the law of karma. According to this law, man is the architect of his own fate and maker of his own destiny. Karma signifies the way of life, that is, what we think, say, and do and it brings conditioning of the mind, the root cause of embodiment. It is the mind that produces bodies, gross or subtle. Remaining identified with the body-mind complex, the soul, though ever-free, follows its destiny and, as it were, experiences all pairs of opposites, such as birth and death, good and evil, pain and pleasure. Patanjali (the teacher of the Yoga system), in one of his aphorisms, describes the causes of suffering as five: ignorance, ego-sense, attachment, aversion, and clinging to life. Reality is neither good nor evil. There is nothing in the universe which is absolutely good or absolutely evil, that is to say, good or evil for all time. Good and evil are value judgments made by the individual mind in keeping with its inner disposition caused by past karma. If one asks, why does God permit evil, then the question will come, why does God permit good? According to the Hindu view, good is that which takes us near to our real Self, and evil is that which creates a distance between us and our real Self. The law of karma is the law of automatic justice. It tells us that no action goes without producing its result. The circumstances of our present life, our pains and pleasures, are all the results of our past actions in this existence and in countless previous existences. As one sows, so shall one reap. This is the inexorable law of karma. Karma produces three kinds of results: (a) results of past actions which have produced the present, body, mind, and circumstances; (b) results which have accumulated but are yet to fructify; and (c) results that are being accumulated now. Over the first category of results no one has any control; these are to be overcome by patiently bearing with them. The second and third kinds, which are still in the stage of thoughts and tendencies, can be countered by education and self-control. Essentially, the law of karma says that while our will is free, we are conditioned to act in certain set ways. We suffer or enjoy because of this conditioning of our mind. And conditioning of mind, accumulated through self-indulgence, cannot be overcome vicariously. A Hindu is called upon to act in the living present, to change his fate by changing his way of life, his thoughts and his actions. Our past determines our present, and our present will determine our future. He is taught that no change will ever be effected by brooding over past mistakes or failures or by cursing others and blaming the world or by hoping for the future. To the contention that the law of karma does not leave any scope for the operation of divine grace, Hinduism's answer is that the grace of God is ever flowing equally toward all. It is not felt until one feels the need for it. The joys and suffering of a human individual are of his own making. Good and evil are mind-made and not God-created. The law of karma exhorts a Hindu to right actions, giving him the assurance that, just as a saint had a past so also a sinner has a future. Through the doctrine of rebirth and the law of karma, Hinduism seeks an ethical interpretation of life. The theory of the evolution of species describes the process of how life evolves. But the purpose of this evolution can be explained only by the doctrine of rebirth and the law of karma. The destiny of the soul is immortality through Self-realization. Existence-knowledge bliss-absolute being its real nature, nothing limited can give it abiding satisfaction. Through its repeated births and deaths it is seeking that supreme fulfillment of life.

HINDUISM by Swami Adiswarananda

Part 4 (continued from previous month) The Ideas of Heaven and Hell According to the Hindu Puranas, there are fourteen worlds in the universe - the seven upper and the seven lower. The seven upper worlds are Bhuh, Bhavah, Swah, Mahah, Janah. Tapah, and Satyam; and the seven nether worlds are Atala, Vitala, Sutala, Rasatala, Talatala, Mahatala, and Patala. The region known as Bhuh is the earth where we dwell, while Swah is the celestial world to which people repair after death to enjoy the reward of their righteous actions on earth. Bhuvah is the region between the two. Janah, Tapah, and Satyam constitute Brahmaloka, or the highest heaven, where fortunate souls repair after death and enjoy spiritual communion with the personal God, and at the end of the cycle attain liberation, though a few return to earth again. The world of Mahah is located between Brahmaloka and Bhuh, Bhuuah, and Swah. Patala, the lowest of the seven nether worlds, is the realm where wicked souls sojourn after death and reap the results of their unrighteous actions on earth. Thus, from the viewpoint of Hinduism, heaven and hell are merely different worlds, bound by time, space, and causality. According to Hinduism, desires are responsible for a person's embodiment. Some of these desires can best be fulfilled in a human body, and some in an animal or a celestial body. Accordingly, a soul assumes a body determined by its unfulfilled desires and the results of its past actions. An animal or a celestial body is for reaping the results of past karma, not for performing actions to acquire a new body. Performance of karma to effect any change of life is possible only in a human body, because only human beings do good or evil consciously. Human birth is therefore a great privilege, for in a human body alone can one attain the supreme goal of life. Thus, in search of eternal happiness and immortality, the apparent soul is born again and again in different bodies, only to discover in the end that immortality can never be attained through fulfillment of desires. The soul then practices discrimination between the real and the unreal, attains desirelessness, and finally realizes its immortal nature. Affirming this fact, the Katha Upanishad says: "When all the desires that dwell in the heart fall away, then the mortal becomes immortal and here attains Brahman." Death and Life Beyond Death Death, according to Hinduism, is a series of changes through which an individual passes. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad describes thus the passing of a soul: When the soul departs from the body, the life-breath follows: when the life-breath departs, all the organs follow. Then the soul becomes endowed with particularized consciousness and goes to the body which is related to that consciousness. It is followed by its knowledge, works, and past experience. Just as a leech supported on a straw goes to the end of it, takes hold of another support, and contracts itself, so does the self throw this body away and make it unconscious, take hold of another support, and contract itself. Just as a goldsmith takes a small quantity of gold and fashions another - a newer and better - form, so does the soul throw this body away, or make it unconscious, and make another - a new and better - form suited to the Manes, or the celestial minstrels, or the gods, or Virat, or Hiranyagarbha, or other beings. . As it does and acts, so it becomes; by doing good it becomes good, and by doing evil it becomes evil - it becomes virtuous through good acts and vicious through evil acts. Hinduism speaks of the four courses that men follow after death. The first, called devayana, way of the gods, is followed by spiritually advanced souls who lead an extremely pure life, devoting themselves to wholehearted meditation on Brahman, but who have not succeeded in attaining complete Self-knowledge before death. They repair to Brahmaloka, the highest heaven, and from there in due course attain liberation. The description of this path in the Chhandogya Upanishad is as follows: Now, such a one-whether his after-death rites are performed or not-goes to light, from light to day, from day to the bright half of the month, from the bright half of the month to the six months

during which the sun rises northward, from the months to the year, from the year to the sun, from the sun to the moon, from the moon to the lightning. There he meets a person who is not a human being. This person carries the soul to Brahman. This is the divine path, the path of Brahman. Those proceeding by this path do not return to the whirl of humanity. The second course, known as pitriyana, way of the fathers, is followed by ritualists and philanthropists who have cherished a desire for the results of their charity, austerity, vows, and worship. Following this path, they repair to Chandraloka, the lunar sphere, and after enjoying immense happiness there as a reward for their good actions, they return again to earth since they still have earthly desires. The third course, which leads to hell, is followed by those who led an impure life, performing actions forbidden by the scriptures. They are born in sub-human species. After expiating their evil actions, they are again reborn on earth in human bodies. The fourth course is for those who are extremely vile in their thoughts and actions. They are reborn again and again as insignificant creatures such as mosquitoes and fleas. Eventually, after the expiation of their evil actions, they too return to human bodies on earth. When a soul assumes a human body, it takes up the thread of spiritual evolution of its previous human birth and continues to evolve toward Self-knowledge. According to Hinduism, all souls will ultimately attain Self-knowledge. The four courses do not apply to those souls who attain Self-knowledge before or at the time of death. For these souls there is no going to any realm. Upon their death, their souls become absorbed in Brahman, and the elements of their body-mind complex return to their original source. From the point of view of Hinduism, dying may be compared to falling asleep and after-death experiences to dreams. The thoughts and actions of the waking state determine the nature of our dreams. Similarly, after death the soul experiences the results of the thoughts it entertained and the actions it performed during its life on earth. After-death experiences are real to the soul, just as a dream is real to the dreamer, and may continue for ages. Then, when the soul wakes up after this sleep, it finds itself reborn as a human being. According to the Hindu scriptures, some souls after death also may be born as human beings without going through the experiences of heaven or hell. There is no real break in the spiritual evolution of the soul toward Self-knowledge. Even the soul's lapse into sub-human birth from human life is a mere detour. A dying man's next life is determined by his last thought in the present life. The Bhagavad Gita says: "For whatever objects a man thinks of at the final moment, when he leaves the body - that alone does he attain, O son of Kunti, being ever absorbed in the thought thereof." And the last thought of the dying person inevitably reflects his inmost desire. These different courses after death have been described to warn people against neglecting the path of Self-knowledge, which alone can confer immortality and eternal peace and happiness.

HINDUISM by Swami Adiswarananda

Part 5 (continued from previous month) The supreme goal of life, according to Hinduism, is moksha, or liberation. Liberation is the realization of the soul's identity with Brahman, the absolute reality. It is not merely the cessation of suffering; it is the positive experience of great bliss. Hindu scriptures designate this realization as Self-knowledge. Hinduism holds that Self-knowledge alone can conquer death. The Katha Upanishad says:

What is here the same is there; and what is there, the same is here. He goes from death to death who sees any difference here. Having realized Atman, which is soundless, intangible, formless, undecaying, and likewise tasteless, eternal, and odorless; having realized That which is without beginning and end, beyond the Great, and unchanging-one is freed from the jaws of deaths. Self-knowledge and immortality are synonymous, says the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: Whosoever in this world, O Gargi, without knowing this Imperishable, offers oblations, performs sacrifices, and practices austerities, even for many thousands of years, finds all such acts but perishable. Whosoever, O Gargi, departs from this world without knowing this Imperishable is miserable. But he, O Gargi, who departs from this world after knowing the Imperishable is a knower of Brahman. Immortality is not the result of any spiritual discipline. It is a revelation. Spiritual disciplines purify the heart, and in the mirror of the pure heart the immortal Self is reflected. Self-knowledge is not miraculous, nor can it be achieved vicariously. It is a burning realization that totally transforms the person. The knower of Brahman becomes Brahman. Hinduism speaks of three things that, taken together, can verify Self-knowledge: sruti, or faith in the scriptures; yukti, or reason; and anubhuti, or personal experience. Scriptures, according to Hinduism, are only compendiums of the direct experiences of past sages and saints. Blind belief in them makes a person dogmatic. Then reason, Hinduism contends, begins with doubt and ends in doubt, and it cannot prove or disprove Self-knowledge. A person who depends solely on reason always remains a doubter and may even turn into a cynic. Personal experience can be deceptive and delusive, and therefore it cannot give decisive proof of Self-knowledge. Self-knowledge, in order to be authentic, must be negatively corroborated by reason, testified to by the scriptures, and also felt as a deep experience of life. According to Hinduism, there are three further tests of Self-knowledge: First, it is avadita-an experience of enlightenment that is not contradicted by any other subsequent experience. Second, it is aviruddha-an experience that does not come into conflict with our everyday experience of the world of reality, just as our adulthood experiences do not negate those of our childhood. Third, it is sarve bhute hiteratah-always conducive to the welfare of all beings. Self-knowledge, the Upanishads point out, must be attained in this very life. One who dies in bondage, will remain bound after death. Immortality, in order to be real, must be experienced before death. The Katha Upanishad says: "If a man is able to realize Brahman here, before the falling asunder of his body, then he is liberated; if not, he is embodied again in the created worlds." Self-knowledge is the consummation of all desires. According to the Hindu scriptures, one should give up individual self-interest for the sake of the family, the family for the sake of the country, the country for the sake of the world, and everything for the sake of Self-knowledge. The liberated soul is the free soul, who through his life and actions demonstrates the reality of God. Free from all desires and egotism, and ever-established in the knowledge of the immortal nature of his soul, he regards the pain and pleasure of all others as his own pain and pleasure. Though living in the world of diversity he is never deluded by it. He never makes a false step or sets a bad example. Virtues such as humility, unselfishness, purity, and kindness, which he practiced for

self-purification, now adorn him like so many jewels. He does not seek them; they cling to him. A free soul wears no outward mark of holiness. As a fish swimming in water leaves no mark behind, as a bird flying in the sky leaves no footprint, so a free soul moves about in this world. While living in the body, he may experience disease, old age, and decay, but having recognized them as belonging to the body, he remains undisturbed and even-minded. For him, the world is a stage and his own life is a play. He enjoys the play and the stage, knowing them to be so. (to be continued)