Reality and Religion: Meditations on God, Man and Nature

In this little book I have put down some of the ideas and illustrations which are the outcome of my meditation. I am neither a philosopher nor a theologian, but a humble servant of the Lord, whose delight it is to meditate on the love of God and on the great wonders of His creation. It is impossible to describe all that I know and feel about Reality through my internal senses in meditation and prayer. Words cannot express all the deep truths which the soul feels in these solemn moments. Such truths though unspoken are readily and easily understood by receptive minds. Words, in fact, may lead more to misunderstanding than to real understanding.

I am unable, I repeat, to express all my deep feelings and thoughts, but I shall try to write down at least some of them as well as I can. Should readers be helped even a little by this attempt, I shall try later to explain my other ideas and experiences which at present I hesitate, for various reasons, to place before the public.

I would like to acknowledge here the great help I have received from Dr. A. J. Appasamy, M.A. (Harvard) and D.Phil. (Oxon.), in translating this book from Urdu into English. My thanks are also due to Rev. R. W. Pelly, Bishop’s College, Calcutta, for reading through the manuscript and suggesting many valuable corrections.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.... All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made: “Jonni. 1,.3).

The Eternal Word (Logos) existed before all Time and before the creation of the Universe. Through Him all things, animate and inanimate, came into existence. It is impossible for lifeless things to come into being of themselves or to produce living beings, as life alone produces life, and the source of all life is God. By His creative power, God brought all inanimate things into existence. Into these He infused life, and into man, the highest among created beings, He ‘“‘ breathed the breath of life and he became a living soul.” ‘‘ God created man in His own image and likeness, and gave him dominion over all the earth.”

1. God’s purpose in creation is not to complete any lack in His Being, for He is perfect in Himself. But He creates because it is in His nature to create. He gives life, as the impartation of life is of the very essence of His life-giving power and activity. And to make men happy by His creation and to give them real joy by His life-giving presence is of the very essence of His love. The happiness we derive from creation has its limits. God alone can completely meet the needs of human hearts and satisfy them in perfection. If men are without this joy, it is the result of their ignorance or disobedience and rebellion against God.

2. Beings, in worlds seen and unseen, are numberless. Through these numberless species are revealed God’s numberless attributes. Each species, according to its own capacity, reflects some aspect of God’s nature. Even through sinners His Fatherly love is revealed, as He gives them an opportunity to repent and to have the eternal life of peace and joy in Him.

1. A cHILD may read the word “God” merely as a word, without thinking anything of the Truth behind it. But as his mind matures, he begins to think and understand something at least of the meaning of the word. Just so the beginner in the spiritual life, however learned he may be, may think of Christ, the Word incarnate, as a great man or even as a prophet, but he does not go further in his estimate of Him. But as he grows in spiritual experience and enjoys His presence, then he begins to realise the fact that Christ is God incarnate in whom ‘“ dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Col. ii. 9). “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men”’ (John 1. 4).

2. A man cannot give adequate expression to his personality through words, though sometimes he may even coin new words to express his ideas, nor through symbols and illustrations. The body also is unable to set forth all the qualities and powers of the soul which constitute personality. In other words, much in human personality lies hidden while man is in this world, only a part being revealed. A spiritual being can fully express itself only in a spiritual world, when all conditions, external as well as internal, meet his needs and help his progress.

If this is true of a human spirit, how impossible it is for the eternal Word to reveal His Godhead adequately through a body! He revealed Himself as much as it was possible and necessary for man’s salvation. But His real glory will be manifested in its fullness in heaven only.

3. The question may arise: How can we believe in Reality without seeing and know- ing it fully? A full knowledge of Reality,

I may point out here, is not necessary to make us believe in Reality. For instance, some organs of the body, on which our life depends so much, remain hidden from our eyes. No one has ever seen his own brain or heart, and yet no one ever denies that he has them. When we are thus unable to see our own brain and heart, on which our life ~ depends largely, how much more difficult must it be to see the Creator of our brain and heart, on whom all our life depends!

1. THERE are some plants whose leaves and flowers fold themselves when the Sun goes down, and unfold again when softly touched on the morrow by the Sun’s light. In this way do they absorb the warmth and life of the Sun, so necessary for their growth and existence. Just so in prayer our hearts are open to the Sun of Righteousness, and we are safe from the dangers and difficulties of darkness and grow into the fullness of the stature of Christ.

2. By prayer we cannot change God’s plans, as some people seem to think. But the man who prays is himself changed. ‘The capacities of the soul, which are imperfect in this imperfect life, are daily reaching towards perfection.

A bird sits brooding over her eggs. At first, in the eggs, there is only a kind of liquid without form or shape. But as the mother continues to sit on them, the unformed matter in the eggs becomes changed into the form of the mother. The change is not in the mother but in the eggs. So, when we pray, God is not changed but we are changed into His glorious image and likeness.

3. Vapour rises from the earth generated by the Sun’s heat. Defying, as it were, the law of gravity, it goes up into the air and then comes down as rain and makes the earth fruitful. Our real prayers likewise, kindled by the fire of the Holy Ghost, rise up to God, overcoming sin and evil, and come back to the earth filled with His blessings.

4. Ctenophores or sea gooseberries are so extremely delicate that the splash of a wave would tear them into shreds. Whenever there is even a hint of an approaching storm, they sink deep into the sea, beyond the reach of the storm and away from the waves. Just so, when the man of prayer anticipates Satan’s attacks and the storm of sin and suffering in the world, at once he dives down into the ocean of God’s love where there is eternal peace and calm.

5. A philosopher went to see a mystic. They were sitting together in silence for some time. Then said the mystic to the philosopher as he was about to go away, “1 feel all you think.” And the philosopher said, “I cannot even think all that you feel.” It is clear that earthly wisdom is unable to feel and understand Reality. Only those who commune with God in prayer can really know Reality.

6. The wonderful peace which the man of prayer feels while praying is not the result of his own imagination or thought, but is the outcome of the presence of God in the soul. The vapour rising from a pond cannot become large clouds and come down as rain. It is only from the mighty ocean that such large clouds, filled with the rain that quenches the thirsty earth and makes it fertile, can take their rise. It is not from our subconscious minds but from the illimitable ocean of God’s love, with which we are in contact in prayer, that the peace comes. 7. The Sun burns perpetual noon. The change of day and night and the movement of the seasons are not due to the Sun but to the rotation of the earth. Just so the Sun of Righteousness is “the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever” (Heb. xiii. 8). If we are exalted with joy or sunk in gloom, it is Owing to our position towards Him. When we open our hearts to Him in meditation and prayer, the rays of the Sun of Rightegusness will heal the wounds of our sins and give us perfect health (Mal. iv. 2). 8. The laws of nature are the appointed means by which God works in man and other creatures for their progress and benefit. Miracles are not against the laws of nature. There are higher laws of nature which we do not ordinarily know. Miracles are in accordance with those higher laws. In prayer we come to know gradually these higher laws.

The highest miracle is the filling of our souls with peace and joy. We may think that such peace is impossible in a world of sin and suffering. But the impossible becomes possible. Apples do not grow in hot countries nor mangoes in snowy lands. If they did, we might speak of such occurrence as a miracle. ‘Tropical plants do, however, grow in cold countries if the conditions are prepared for them.

g. If all men had the receptive spirit and the ready ear and could hear the voice of God speaking to them, it would not be necessary for Evangelists and Prophets to go about proclaiming the will of God. But all men are not so receptive. Hence the necessity for preachers of the Word. But sometimes more good can be done by praying than by preaching. A man praying intently in a cave can help men considerably by his prayer. Influences issue from him and spread all round effectively, though silently, just as wireless messages are communicated by invisible means, and just as the words we speak are conveyed by mysterious vibrations to others.

10. Sometimes green and fruitful trees are found standing on dry land, where there is not much rain. On careful examination, it has been found that these trees are fresh and green, bearing fruit, because their hidden roots touch hidden streams of water running through the earth. We may be surprised when we see men of prayer, full of peace, radiant with joy and leading fruitful lives amidst the misery and sin of this world. It is because by prayer the hidden roots of their faith reach down to the Source of Living Water and draw from it energy and life and bring forth fruits unto life eternal (Psalm i. 2, 3).

11. The tips of the roots of trees are so sensitive that, almost as if by instinct, they turn away from spots where there is no nourishment and spread themselves in places where they can gather sap and life. Men of prayer have also this power of discernment. By unerring intuition, they turn away from fraud and illusion and find the Reality on which all life depends.

12. Men who do not hold converse with God in prayer are not worthy to be called men. They are like trained animals who can do certain things in certain ways at certain times. Sometimes they are even worse than animals, because they do not realise their nothingness in themselves, their relation to God and their duties to God and man. But men of prayer attain the right to become sons of God and are moulded by Him after His own image and likeness.

1. Tue brain is a very subtle and sensitive instrument, furnished with many fine senses which, in meditation, receive messages from the unseen world and stimulate ideas far above normal human thought. The brain does not produce these ideas, but receives them from the spiritual, invisible world above and interprets them in terms of the conditions and circumstances familiar to men. Some people receive such messages in dreams; others in visions; and yet others during waking hours in meditation. Prayer enables us to distinguish between the useful and the useless among messages thus received, because in real prayer, light streams out from

God and illumines the innermost, sensitive part of the soul, which is the conscience or the moral sense. Rich colours, fine music, and other wonderful sights and sounds from the invisible world are reflected in the inner part of the brain. Poets and painters, often without understanding their real source, try to interpret in their poems and paintings these invisible realities impinging upon them. But the man of meditation touches the heart, as it were, of such realities and enjoys their bliss, as his soul and the spiritual world, from which they come, are closely akin.

2. Sometimes when visiting new places we feel as if we have been already there or as if we have some unknown connection with them. For this, three explanations may be offered. First, some one else who had visited the places may have thought about them and, without our knowledge, communicated his ideas to us in a mysterious way. Secondly, we may have seen other places like them, and the memory of the similarity may have appeared to our minds in a new form. Or thirdly, a reflection of the unseen world may have fallen on our minds, because our souls are connected with that world, and often, without our knowledge, we are being influenced by impressions from that world. This world is a copy of the invisible world—in other words, the manifestation of the spiritual world in a material form. Our thoughts are being constantly affected by the resemblance between the two worlds. When we spend enough time in meditation, this connection between the two worlds becomes more and more distinct and clear.

3. In meditation the real condition of the soul is revealed. While engaged thus, we are, in a sense, giving an opportunity to God to speak to us and to bless us with His richest blessings.

Whatever we suppose, no thought, word, or deed is ever wiped out. But it is imprinted on our soul—in other words, recorded in “the book of Life.” Meditation enables us to do everything in the fear and love of

God and to keep clean the entries in the book of Life upon which our future bliss or pain depends.

4. God is infinite and we are finite. We cannot indeed fully understand the infinite God, but He has created in us a sense which enables us to enjoy Him. The ocean is vast and we cannot see all its immense expanse and know all about its great treasures. But with the mere tip of our tongue, we can feel at once that the ocean is salt. We have not come to know all that there is to know about the ocean, but we have found out, by our sense of taste, a most important fact about the nature of its water.

5. In fear, anger or madness, men do extraordinary things, breaking even iron chains. ‘This strength is apparently inherent in man but finds expression only when the whole of his energy is directed towards one end. Likewise in meditation man’s strength, reinforced by divine power, can break the bondage of sin and do great and useful work. At the same time, this God-given power, if used in wrong ways, may prove dangerous. Bombs, machine-guns, cannon—how mighty they are, and yet how destructive and dangerous!

6. When absorbed in thought we do not, even though we are fully conscious, notice the fragrance of flowers, the charm of music or the beauty of nature. They seem to have no existence for us. Just so, to people absorbed in worldly things, spiritual realities do not seem to exist. Seeing they see not, hearing they hear not (Matt. xi. 13).

7. One day I saw a flower and began to think about its fragrance and its beauty. As I thought more deeply, I saw the Creator behind His creation, though hidden from my gaze. This filled me with joy. But my joy was greater still when I found Him working in my own soul. I was led to exclaim: “Oh! How wonderful Thou art! Separate from Thy creation and yet ever filling it with Thy glorious Presence.”

8. Christ did not write anything. Nor did He ask His apostles to write down His teaching. This is because, in the first place, His words are spirit and life. He knows that life can be infused only into life, not into the pages of a book. In the second place, other Teachers left behind books, because they were going away from their disciples and they wanted to help them in times of need through their books, which took the place of their living voice. Our Lord, on the other hand, has never left His followers. He is with us always and His living Voice and Presence ever give us counsel. After His Ascension, the same indwelling Spirit inspired the disciples to write the Gospels.

g. If we repeat over and over again the same thought, word or deed, that becomes habit and habit makes character. Therefore, whatever we think or say or do, we must consider carefully what their consequences, good or bad, will be. We must not be indifferent about doing good, otherwise we shall be in danger of losing the capacity to do good. To doa thing well is difficult; to undo a wrong thing and to put it right is still more difficult; but to spoil a thing is altogether easy. It takes much time and trouble to grow a tree, but it is so easy to cut it down. When it is dry and dead, it is impossible to bring it to life again.