The Search After Reality: Thoughts on Hinduism, Buddhism, Muhammadanism and Christianity

i. Nirv&ni is the term used by Buddhists for Salvation. It means the extinction of all desire. Desire is the cause of all pain and suffering, and if all desire can only be removed from our hearts, then pain and suffering will disappear with it..

If they mean the destruction of evil desires only, then all lovers of truth will agree with them. But their meaning is that all desire, good as well as bad, is to be destroyed. In Ceylon I once met a Buddhist leader, who said in course of conversation, “ Even good desires are based on selfishness; for when we desire to do good to others, then, consciously or unconsciously, we have in view the reward that we shall merit. So it is only in the hope and desire of some benefit to himself that a man worships any god. As our experience of life extends, our desires, and along with them our anxieties and dissatisfaction, alsc increase, hence not pnly bad, but even gooc desires should be repressed; and this extinguishing of desires is Nirvana.” To this I replied, “ As living creatures cannot exist without feeling, so it is impossible for any living being to exist without desire. If they did so exist, they would be lifeless, and where there are feelings then desires will surely be - produced from them. To satisfy lawfully every physical and spiritual desire is a law of being, and if we kill the desires we utterly destroy the life in which the desires are. From this point of view, elimination of desire would be destruction of life and not Salvation.”

2. From experience we know that no desire is without an object, for He Who created desires, and beings endowed with desires, has provided the material for the satisfying of those desires according to their capacities. And here is the proof:

Every desire makes its own demand, and it is obvious that the material is available fully to satisfy that demand. If the material for satisfying those ‘ desires ’ does not exist (i.e. water for thirst), then perhaps we may come to the conclusion that * desire ’ has no object, and in that case should be extinguished. No one has * desire ’ for suffering, but rather seeks to avoid it (and even if he is t ready to suffer, he does it with the ‘ desire * for its rewards and good results). And no o r ne wishes for ill-health or for, spiritual pain; for * desire ’ of health is a law of life, without which security and vigour of life are not possible.

3. If perfect salvation is the extinction of,all desire, *<then the desire to kill desire is itself a desire.> It is like trying to extinguish fire with fire, or to dry up water with water. It is absolutely impossible and contrary to ithe law of nature.

4. The fact that the Creator has given us spiritual and physical perceptions proves our connection with the things, seen and unseen, of our environment. If it had been the Creator’s will that we should have no connection with this creation and environment, then He woul^L not have given us that intimate connection and perception with those spiritual and physical realities; but the very existence of that rhaterial, and our capacity for making use of it to meet our varied needs, shows not only the Creator’s noble plan, but also a special object and intention oti His part.

But I have said enough. When it is the desire of the Creator Himself that I should use rightly His created things, then why should I make myself a sinner through my not using those things, and by my utterly killing the desire to fulfil the desire?

y. The fact of any desire being born in us is proof of the presence of the material for satisfying that need, and proof that it will be fulfilled in its own proper time. As Emerson has said, “ The longing of the soul is the prophecy of its fulfilment.”

One word more. As we progress in life our desires, but not our restlessness, increase, because restlessness can only result if desire is not satisfied. But as in the providence of that Almighty God we ‘progress, so, according to His plan, He will satisfy our increasing desires, and however much we may progress, and to whatever extent our desires increase, that Infinite Being, which is Love, is sufficient and able fully to satisfy all our desires.

The founder of Muhammadanism was Muhammad, who was born in Arabia in a.d. 570; and the sacred books of this religion are the Qur’an and Hadis (Traditions); but the latter are not accepted by all Muhammadans. W e might divide the Qur’an into those ‘ revelations ’ which were given. at Mecca, and those given at Medina after the Flight or Hidjra. The subject-matter of the former deals largely with affairs relating to the political and social life of the growing Muhammadan community, while both in it and in the Medina portion is much teaching which had already appeared in the Bible, Talmud, and in some other books.

In Arabia, in Muhammad’s day 4 there were many Jewish and Christian communities; and several Christians are known to have existed among the relations of the Prophet, and to have exercised some influence upon him. Also, he lived on intimate terms with his wife Khadya’s brother, Warqa bin Nofal, who translated the Gospel into Arabic.

There is no need to write at length about this religion, for in it there is no originality of thought. It deals with subjects already treated of in the Jewish and Christian Scriptures.

It will be sufficient if we touch on two or three points only. Muhammad calls Christ “ the Word of God ” and “ the Spirit of God ”. We could not wish for a better name to prove the divinity of Christ than the name “ Ruh allah ”, or Spirit of God, which is used of Christ in the Qur’an. Because God is a Spirit, and God is one Spirit and only one, and Christ is the manifestation and incarnation of that Spirit, therefore there is no ground left for the objection that Christ is the Son of

God; for as body is born 'from body, so Spirit is born from Spirit — and God is Spirit — therefore, because Christ was conceived by the Spirit of God in M,ary, we can call Him Son of God and Spirit of God.

I. Contrary to the principles of Islam and of the Qur’an, a considerable number of Muhammadans profess a pantheistic and mystical form of creed. Among the Hindus there are Vedantists, the catchword of whose belief is aharn Brahma (I am Brahma), so among the Muhammadans the Sufis use as their catchword ana' l haqq (I am truth); and some of them are so far from a real comprehension of the truth, that they mock at Reality and strangle all understanding and discernment. As Sheikh Ibrahim in Irsh£- dat has written:

“ A certain fakir entered the cloister of Junayid wrapped in a black blanket. Junayid asked him the reason for his mourning. He said, ‘ My God is dead.’ Junayid peremptorily ordered the fakir to be turned out. This was done three times. On the fourth occasion the fakir was asked to explain himself. He said, ‘ Not knowing that my carnal self (najs) was a manifestation of God, I have killed it, and therefore I am in mourning for it.’ ”

2. The Vedanta teaches that Salvation (tnoksa) means absorption into Brahma through knowledge that clears away illusion; and Buddhism maintains that Salvation is extinction of desire — that is Nirvana — so also the Sufis claim that Salvation is the Jana fi ’ llah, or annihilation in God.

But to destroy selfishness, and all sins and evil desires that spring from it and injure one’s own soul and the souls of others, is the real Jana Ji 'llah, and not annihilation of self as the Sufis believe. To kill one’s own selfish desires and motives rather than to cause loss to others, to do the will of God rather than to consider the good and benefit of others, and to live for the glory and praise of God,* is to fulfil in our lives the intention of the Creator. To die to sin and to the ■world, and s<5 to enter into life, and to live in God for ever is life in God (baqa f, \ llak) instead of annihilation in God (Jana fi 'll ah), and is Reality.

Christianity is Christ Himself, Who said, “ I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life ” (John xiv. 6). This cannot be said about any other religion. They are based on ceremonies and teachings, but Christianity is based on the living Christ Himself, Who is with us for ever. Christ gave His followers no word written by His own hand, for the reason that He Himself was always to be with them, nay, in tl\pm, and to carry on His work through them. No human prophet or apostle could dare to say, “ I am with you even to the end of the world.” God alone can say and do this. And we know that down to the present time He has been with

His people, and through them has worked, is working, and will continue to work, “ that *God may be all in all ”

i. The Lord Christ became man for the Salvation of the world over 1900 years ago, but before the creation of the world He existed from all eternity (John i. 1-10, viii. 58, xvii. 5), and His coming was foretold in different ages and to different men. It is no mere chance — as some critics think — that all these prophecies were literally fulfilled in Christ. It is the work of that One Eternal Spirit, Who, in sundry times and in divers manners, foretold the coming of a Saviour, in order that they might prepare for Him.

But ‘ chance ’ is a word used to explain any phenomenon when we are ignorant of the causes which brought it into being; but in reality nothing happens in the world which has no cause. For example, the falling of a ripe fruit by itself is no mere chance. It was for months silently being prepare^! for a special object. When the fruit was ripe, the tree, which could not eat its own fruit, gave it* up for the.pleasure and enjoyment of others. So Jesus said, “ These are the words which I spake unto you... that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning me” (Luke xxiv. 44); and, in the fulness of time, He gave to the world the fruit of Salvation.

2. Before His incarnation the prophets made it known to the Hebrews that Christ was to come; and when the Jews had been dispersed among the nations of the world, they too spread the news of the coming of a Deliverer; and those nations again told about the Coming One to their own peoples; so in many countries people were waiting for His coming. Then, after the ascension of Christ, the Christians, who were scattered, gave out the good news of His having come, and of that Salvation that had been made available through Him (Acts viii. 4); and through the labours and sacrifices of His servants, the news of His Salvation has reached to the farthest parts of the world.

1. Jesus was not only six hours, but was His whole life on the Cross. If a cleanliving man cannot bear filth and dirt, and a good man cannot endure evil association for even a few minutes, though he has been born amid dirt and filth, then how great must have been the distress of a sinless and holy being to have to spend thirty-three years among sinners! It is impossible for a sinful man to estimate and understand the bitterness of that suffering. If we could comprehend the mystery of that Cross, then it would be easy to understand His wonderful and immeasurable love, and how He js the incarnation of love, and how for our Salvation He left the Glory of the world above, and came down to this world of sin.

2. Christ’s suffering was in a special way

God’s suffering for man’s salivation.. There is only one source of all life, and from Him all living creatures have received life, and we live in Jlim by means of that relationship and connection. But through that living connection which He has with His creation, does God not feel pain when His living creatures suffer? Has He not also a feeling for pain Who has created a feeling for pain? And if this is so, then why is it not possible that He should suffer in Christ?

Christ came especially to reveal the true and limitless fatherly love which had been hidden from eternity, and that, by giving His own life, He might save the souls, not of the good but of sinners. He came, too, that by dying and rising again He might prove that that death, which the world counts’ death, is not death tyit is a fountain of life, and that mere separation from God because of disobedience and sin is itself suffering and death.

3. Both worlds were represented at the time of the crucifixion of Christ. As people of all provinces and districts had gathered together at the Passover season, so, as if the whole creation together gave witness to the atonement for sin, beings of the Spiritual world, with the Angels, were also present (Matthew xxvii. 51-54). ( Because Christ gave His life as a ransom, therefore full authority and power were given Him on earth to forgive sins, and to save sinners; and He was once again given that full power, in heaven and in earth, which He had left when He became man (Matthew ix. 2, xxviii. 18).