CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VII
THE TEACHING OF JESUS ON FORGIVENESS
Tue Bishop of Dornakal, in whose Diocese thousands of Hindus join the Christian Church every year, says that one of the strong reasons which attract many of them towards the Gospel of Jesus
Christ is this.
As Hindus they believe that they have to work out the results of their deeds in various births, but the Gospel teaches them not this difficult and perilous way but the way of Divine forgiveness.
They do not have painfully to expiate in the course of many lives the consequences of their actions, for God out of the abundance of His love forgives them, completely wipes away the results of their harmful actions and places them on a new path of effort and progress.
For this reason they join the Church.
This experience of converts sheds fresh light on the doctrines of Karma and forgiveness, to a careful discussion of which we should turn in this chapter.
The Value of the Doctrine of "
Karma"
The earliest statement of the doctrine of Karma occurs in the Brihad-Aranyaka Upanishad, written about 500 B.c.
King Janaka, famous in India for his piety, offered a sacrifice at which many prizes were given.
There was a large gathering of Brahmans at the ceremony.
Janaka desired to know which of them was the most learned in Scripture.
He had a thousand cows enclosed and on the horns of each were bound ten pieces of gold.
He spoke to the Brahmans and said:
" Venerable Brahmans!
Let him of you who is the best Brahman drive away these cows."
All the Brahmans kept quiet except Yajnavalkya, who instructed his pupil to drive the cows away.
The other Brahmans were all angry at this and said:
" How can he regard himself as the best among us?" A long and hot contest took place between Yajnavalkya and the other Brahmans.
He was asked many questions by them which he answered with great insight.
In the course of the discussion Yajnavalkya said :
" As is a person's desire, such is his resolve; as is his resolve, such the action he performs; what action (Karma) he performs, that he procures for himself.
THE TEACHING OF JESUS ON FORGIVENESS
oe | On this point there is this verse:
Where one's mind is attached—the inner self Goes thereto with action, being attached to it alone.
Obtaining the end of his action, Whatever he does in this world, He comes again from that world To this world of action.
—So the man who desires.
Now the man who does not desire—he who is without desire, who is freed from desire, whose desire is satisfied, whose desire is the Soul—his breaths do not depart.
Being very Brahma, he goes to Brahma.
On this point there is this verse:
When are liberated all The desires that lodge in one's heart, Then a mortal becomes immortal!
Therein he reaches Brahma!
As the slough of a snake lies on an ant-hill, dead, cast off, even so lies this body."
Janaka was so pleased with Yajnavalkya's teaching that he exclaimed, "I will give you, noble sir, a thousand cows" and awarded him the much coveted prize.* The doctrine of Karma, the beginnings of which we see here, has become a most powerful doctrine in India.
There are many schools of thought among the Hindus and they differ widely on various important points but they are all entirely agreed in upholding the doctrine of Karma.
The doctrine found its way into Buddhism where also it holds an important place. Through Buddhism it has reached far beyond the borders of India and has penetrated into the greater part of Asia.
Without going into the innumerable developments of the doctrine we may say that to-day the working faith of the Hindus includes a belief in many lives.
Every soul passes through a cycle of births and deaths.
In innumerable lives it works out the results of its deeds.
The sins of one life are punished by suffering in the next; the good deeds of one birth are rewarded in the next.
If there is any accumulation of evil or good deeds still to be expiated, the soul reaches hell or heaven there to eat further the fruit of its actions.
Then it comes back again to the earth to go through a further process of purification.
There may 1 Brihad-Aranyaka Upanishad, III, i—IV, iv., R. E. Hume, The Thirteen Principal Upanishads, pp. 107-41.
THE GOSPEL AND INDIA'S HERITAGE
be many millions of births through which a soul may have to pass before it reaches the bliss of final emancipation.
Only after such prolonged purification, covering innumerable births, is a soul considered fit to experience the ultimate joy of union with God.
It will be noticed that a synthesis is made here of the doctrine of heaven and hell and of the doctrine of transmigration.
A word of explanation is needed in this connexion.
Before the doctrine of Karma came into existence, there was a belief among the Hindus in heaven and in hell.
Instead of the new theory taking the place of the old, the new theory was added on to the old.
This explains why even to-day the belief in heaven and hell survives in India along with the doctrine of many births.
In the course of its development the doctrine of Karma has received many fantastic expressions.
In the Pala Padam, a Tamil book on the Sazva religion prepared for the use of children, it is stated that a woman who is rude to her husband will have to endure eternal torment; she will have to lick for millions of years a red-hot iron in hell and then be born on earth as a mosquito." We need not take such accounts as serious any more than we do some of the lurid pictures of hell given in the old
Christian writings.
All these belong to a more primitive stage of religion which is passed as men progress in spiritual and intellectual culture.
What we must do rather is to get at the heart of the doctrine and to try to find out what measure of truth there is in it to have made it so appealing to hosts of thinkers in India and the East generally for such long centuries.
We may say /that the attraction of the doctrine lies in the emphasis which it lays on the law of retribution, the sense of individual responsibility and the ample time it allows for the growth of the soul.
These points need to be explained at some length.
Men all over the world have accepted that virtue should be rewarded and vice punished.
'This principle is expressed emphatically by the doctrine of Karma.
Unless there is some such law, we cannot imagine how morality can find a place in the universe.
This conviction holds true in the present as it did in the past.
We may understand it to-day in a slightly different sense from how it was understood in past ages.
When we say that virtue should be rewarded we may not mean to-day that it should be rewarded by a prosperous life in the worldly sense.
That was the mistake which Job and his friends made.
They thought that because Job was a good man he must continue to * Sydney Cave, Hinduism or Christianity? p. 63.
THE TEACHING OF JESUS ON FORGIVENESS
be successful from the worldly point of view.
When misfortune after misfortune befell him, he failed to understand why such troubles should overtake one who was sincerely striving to lead a righteous life and one who, as far as he and others could see, was really doing his best.
Though a good man may not be _ successful and may not hold an important office or receive the homage of his fellow-men or own houses and lands, he has the peace and joy of a good life which no man can take away from him.
The opposite is true of a man with evil passions and habits.
He may be highly respected, exercise great authority over others and be surrounded with all the comforts which wealth can give and yet in his heart he may be a miserable and broken-down man.
We may also say that though it is true that virtue is always rewarded and vice punished, no man should follow virtue or avoid vice for this reason.
The pursuit of virtue for the sake of the reward which it brings is not at all a desirable motive.
We may say further that this law does not always work in short periods of time.
A man may prosper in his wickedness for several years and yet there may suddenly come a crisis in his life which will show him to be what he really is. Thus though we may like to qualify the general principle in many directions in virtue of the experience which men have acquired painfully in the course of time, we accept and believe fully that virtue must always be encouraged and wickedness prevented.
If there were no such law at work in the world there can only be spiritual chaos.
Orderly progress and' steady growth are possible only when there is a clear recognition that such a law is at work.
The doctrine of Karma is valuable, then, for it states, without a shadow of doubt, the excellent moral law that goodness thrives and evil suffers in the world.
The theory of Karma is also valuable as it embodies another important moral idea that every individual is responsible for the actions which he performs.
An excellent statement of this principle is found in St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians.
** For each man shall bear his own burden.
But let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
For he that soweth unto his own flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth unto the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap eternal life." *
*See the Book of Job in the Bible.
4 Galatians vi. 5-8.
THE GOSPEL AND INDIA'S HERITAGE
An Indian proverb puts the same truth in another way :
"Who plants mangoes, mangoes shall he eat ; Who plants thorn-bushes, thorns shall wound his feet.
9s 'Phe Garuda Purana says:
" Sorrow or joy none other gives to us; False is the thought that others give us these ;
Our own deeds bring us their own just fruit— Body of mine! repay by suffering! " ° Modern Psychology confirms this principle.
It shows us how every act that we do is registered in our nerve cells and fibres.
A man who yields once to the temptation to drink has already drawn a track in his nervous system; it will be much easier for him to drink the next time because he has drunk once.
If he drinks a number of times, the fateful habit of drink will have little or no difficulty in subduing him to its control, because deep down in his mind there has been established a pre-disposition to yield to the temptation of drink."
The fact that what a man thinks and says and does will surely bring forth a large harvest of consequences and that the individual must bear the full share of responsibility for what has been brought upon himself is clearly shown by modern psychology.
The individual's share in deciding his own future destiny is also clear from the doctrine of Karma.
There is no external judge imposing upon him penalties or apportioning to him bliss at the last day.
Each individual is determining every moment of his life the nature of his eternal destiny.
If he makes wrong choices he is heading for disaster and if he makes right decisions joy and peace are in store for him.
As Sir S. Radhakrishnan says: "The Hindu religion does not believe in a God who from His judgment seat weighs each case separately and decides on its merits.
He does not administer justice from without, enhancing or remitting punishment according to His sweet will. God is in man, and so the law of Karma is organic to man's nature.
Every moment man is on his trial, and every honest effort will do him good in his eternal endeavour.
The character that we build will continue into the future until we realize our oneness with God." ° * Sydney Cave, Hinduism or Christianity? p. 71.
* Quoted in Bhagavan Das, The Essential Unity of All Religions, p. 177.
"William James, Principles of Psychology, Vol. I, Chapter on " Habit."
* Quoted in G. K. Chettur, Altars of Silence, p. 293.
THE TEACHING OF JESUS ON FORGIVENESS
Sir S. Radhakrishnan has behind him the authority of the Mahabharata and of Manu Smriti which declare:
"For fear of one another, some refrain From sin; others for fear of the king's rod;
Some, fearing Yama's judgment after death; But judge of judges is the inner self ; In whom this inner judge is satisfied, He hath no fear of any other judge." ® 3. 'The theory of Karma maintains that considerable time is necessary for the development of the soul.
This life is far too brief and fleeting for the eternal spirit to become full-fledged.
It cannot reach here all the wonderful possibilities which are hidden within it.
Some such reason seems to have led Dr.
J. M. E. McTaggart of Cambridge to make a powerful defence in Europe of the doctrine of rebirth.
He had no belief in God but felt that the doctrine of rebirth provided ample scope for acquiring the fullness of knowledge and experience which cannot be attained in this all too brief life.
He says:
'' Death is not a haven of rest.
It is a starting-point for fresh labours.
But if the trials are great, so is the recompense.
We miss much here by our folly, much by unfavourable circumstances.
Above all, we miss much because so many good things are incompatible.
. Would it not be worth much to be able to hope that what we missed in one life might come to us in another?
. Though the way is long, and perhaps endless, it can be no more wearisome than a single life.
But with death we leave behind us memory, and old age and fatigue.
And surely death acquires a new and deeper significance when we regard it no longer as a single and unexplained break in an unending life, but as part of the continually recurrent rhythm of progress—as inevitable, as natural, and as benevolent as sleep. We have only left youth behind us, as at noon we have left the sunrise.
They will come back, and they do not grow old." *° The Weakness of the Doctrine of " Karma"
It seems to me the excellent principles underlying the theory of Karma have led to its real weakness by being pushed too far.
Virtue must bear good fruit and vice must suffer.
But if the enjoyment or suffering is for actions of which we have no memory there cannot be any real moral value in such enjoyment
* Quoted in Bhagavan Das, The Essential Unity of All Religions, p. 182.
© Quoted in Sydney Cave, Hinduism or Christianity? p. 65.
THE GOSPEL AND INDIA'S HERITAGE
or suffering.
If a man is rewarded he must know what exactly he has done which is worth such recognition; if a penalty is given him he must know what he has done which deserves such a penalty.
It does not help a man morally if he is rewarded or punished without his knowing what exactly he has done worthy of such treatment.
The fact that there is a good deal of suffering in the world for which an explanation can be given only in terms of former births leads to a fatalistic attitude.
One who takes the doctrine of Karma to heart is inclined to say:
'"' Whatever comes let it come.
I have no idea of what I did in my previous births.
I have no idea of what is ahead of me.
Whether it is pleasant or hard I cannot help.
So my duty is to go through life patiently bearing whatever happens."
The Telugu poet, Thiagaraja, whose sweet lyrics are most popular in South India, often refers to the doctrine of Karma.
In one of his lyrics he says:
"O! my God!
I now understand the fruits of my Karma; for, despite my repeated worship, you continue to be what you
_were, leaving me severely alone." ** In another lyric he says:
"TI have a wavering mind; I have not known your steady mind; I have created my own difficulties; yet I complain.
You have ascertained the merits and demerits of people and go on protecting them, in your own pre-arranged way.
I composed and sang hundreds of lyrics in order that you might save my individual self alone, irrespective of others.
Have mercy on me and pardon me for such heavy and serious offences." "
Thiagaraja's meaning is that God has His own way of dealing with people based on their actions and it is useless to offer any prayers.
What happens to us depends on our Karmas and so prayer for this or that blessing is umnecessary, useless and even sin.
Radhakrishnan says:
" Whatever happens to us in this life, we have to submit in meek resignation, for it is the result of our past doings.
Yet the future is in our power, and we can work with hope and confidence.
Karma inspires hope for the future and resignation to the past." ** It is perfectly true that a devotee may by an exertion of his will begin a new series of actions which "M.S. Ramaswami Aiyar, Thidgardja, p. 74.
M.S. Ramaswami Aiyar, Thidgardja, p. 171, adapted.
* Quoted in Sydney Cave, Hinduism or Christianity? p. 69.
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will produce different results.
But there are various difficulties in the way even of this method.
The uncertainty and the ignorance about the past, with all its possible consequences in the future, makes it exceedingly hard for a man to take any new action.
What lies behind is so uncertain and dim that it is really hard for a devout person, who is sensitive to the implications of the theory, to shake himself thoroughly of the incubus of the past and to start afresh on a new line of endeavour.
And even if he has the courage and the stamina to make a new beginning, he may yet make mistakes from ignorance or frailty and their consequences will recoil on him with dread certainty.
So most Hindu devotees have been inclined to follow one of two lines.
Some of them have attempted to subdue all desire and all action.
Desire is dangerous, for it may lead to action and action is sure to involve future births.
The safest course, then, for the devotee is to avoid all desire and all action and to reach a state of complete quietism and inactivity.
Other devotees have sought to pursue the path of Nish Kama Karma.
This ideal is set forth in the Bhagavad Gita.
The author of the Gita realized the danger of avoiding all action, for that would really mean that the whole business of life in the world would cease.
So he urges that people should do their work without desiring to enjoy their fruit. A man must act in a particular way not because it is going to make him happy or bring him wealth or give him fame or in any way add to his selfish enjoyment.
The soldier must fight because he is born in the soldier caste and it is his duty to fight.
The farmer must plough, for he is bound to cultivate the land as a member of the farmer caste.
The priest must say his prayers, for that is the duty which has been assigned to him on account of his birth.
All these actions must be performed without an eye on the reward which is given for them.
2. The theory of Karma emphasizes the thought of individual responsibility so much that there is no room for helping others.
Every man must enjoy or suffer according to his deeds; what he does only matters; he cannot possibly get away from the effect of his own works.
For this reason it is useless to pray for others or to help them in any way to improve their position, for every person must inevitably suffer or enjoy according to his own works.
In another way the theory of Karma minimizes the strength of our bonds with others.
The history of the soul is viewed as a whole, including a terribly long series of births and deaths.
We speak of a man's relations or of his friends or of his countrymen.
THE GOSPEL AND INDIA'S. HERITAGE
But who are they really?
According to the doctrine of Karma they are only those likely to be connected with the soul in one phase of its existence.
In this birth he has certain relations, certain friends and certain countrymen; but the connexion with them lasts only for the short period of this life.
In successive births there will be other relations, friends and countrymen.
The soul's concern for others, with whom it is immediately related, is of a very transitory and impermanent character.
In view of the fleeting nature of such relationships during this life only, effective help for those connected with us is a matter of no enduring significance.
There was a big earthquake in Bihar in 1934 when millions of people were rendered homeless and destitute.
Some students from Bishop's College, Calcutta, who went to give relief reported that they met with opposition from the orthodox Hindus who said:
'" Why should we help these people?
They are suffering as a result of their Karma.'
Not only is social service not welcomed where the doctrine of Karma is strictly held ; orthodox people even think that they are only working in line with the system of Karma when they add to the troubles of such unfortunate people as widows or Harijans.
Their very state implies that their Karma demands such suffering.
If they are made to suffer a little more it is all to the good, for suffering and misfortune are their lot in accordance with the inexorable laws of Karma.
3. 'The idea that the soul needs ample time for its growth has led to extreme and unfortunate results.
The soul may have to pass through millions of births and deaths.
The forms of embodiment may vary through the whole range of life from plants or animals to the highest types of human or celestial existence.
There is no necessarily steady progress.
If the soul commits a dread sin, it may sink down very low and may have to work its way up slowly through many lives.
And so the progress of the soul is not one steady ascent but follows many ups and downs, through various forms of suffering and enjoyment in different bodies.
The result of this conception of the infinite life of the soul is most depressing.
No Hindu welcomes this prospect of future births and deaths. As Dr. Cave says:
" Rebirth to the Hindu is not something that is desired or sought for; it is something which has to be accepted as belonging to that order of Nature of which men are held to be a part." **- We may even go further
™ Sydney Cave, Hinduism or Christianity? p. 66.
THE TEACHING OF JESUS ON FORGIVENESS
and say that with many devout Hindus the thought of future births and deaths is a terrible burden too heavy to be borne.
The Tamil poet, Pattinattar, imagines the various births through which he has possibly passed or through which he may yet have to go.
"Mothers, how many, O how many mothers, must I have had!
Fathers, how many, O how many fathers, must I have had!
Then, how many, O how many wives, must I have had!
Children, how many, O how many children, must I have had!
How many, O how many former births, must I have had !
Thy foolish servant knows not.
How many, O how many more births?
What shall I do?
O Kachia kambané! " * Kabir feels keenly weariness at the endless cycle of births and deaths :
""T was in immobile and mobile creatures, in worms and in moths; I passed through many births of various kinds.
In this I occupied many bodies ; But when, O God, I assumed human birth, I was a fogi, a fati, a penitent, a Brahmachari ;
Sometimes a king, an emperor and sometimes a beggar, Saith Kabir, 'O God, have mercy on us; We have grown weary; make us now whole.
999 16 Tiru Mangai Alvar, the Tamil devotee, expresses with many illustrations his dread of the future existences which God might ordain for him.
He says he is like a tree on the bank of a river constantly in fear of flood, like sailors in the midst of a storm, like ants surrounded by fire and like jackals swept along by an impetuous flood.*"
The fear of future births and deaths is real with all devout Hindus and one of their main pursuits in the spiritual life is release from them.
They pray to God eagerly that He may save them from such dire consequences of their own actions.
It must be pointed out, however, that some Bhaktas have not actually prayed to be delivered from such a cycle but have besought that, however many lives they may be called upon to * Pattinattar, " Annai Ethanat."
Pa As © Translated by Max Arthur Macauliffe.
Quoted by Eva Martin, in The Ring of Return, p. 104.
™ Tiru Mangai Alvar, Peria-Tiru-Molt, xi. 8.
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pass through, they may be steady and unflinching in their devotion to God.
In other words, they accept the setting of innumerable lives in which they have to live but are eager that through them all their love for God should continue.
In the enthusiasm of their Bhakti some have even said that they do not desire release from the wearisome cycle of births and deaths, provided they can maintain undisturbed, through all the changing circumstances of their innumerable lives, their devotion to the feet of God.
Such is the reality of their joy in God and of their communion with Him that the vast panorama of an infinite number of existences which opens out before them holds no terrors for them.
In the joy of their rapture in God during this life, they are willing to dare all and to pass through the most startling vicissitudes of existence if only they can be sure that God will continue to bestow on them such joy through them all.
Tukaram says:
"Hear, O God, my supplication — Do not grant me Liberation.
Tis what men so much desire, Yet how much this joy is higher!
Heavenly joy is not for me, For it passeth speedily ; 'But that name how strangely dear That in songs of praise we hear !
Ah, says Tuka, it is this Makes our lives so full of bliss." 28
Before leaving the matter of the weakness of the doctrine of Karma, we must note'that at present in India there are signs that this ancient doctrine, with its powerful hold on the thought and imagination of the people, is breaking down.
New factors in the political and social life of the country are at work threatening to disintegrate this old system of thought.
The desire for political independence has given the people an absolutely different outlook about the seventy millions of Harijans.
In former years they were considered to suffer various hardships because in some previous lives they had done evil
Karma. No one attempted to improve their position, for it was felt that they were only reaping the consequences of their actions
*N. Macnicol, Psalms of Maratha Saints, p. 83.
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12! in accordance with the well-ordered system of Karma.
But that theory is forgotten now in the keen desire for independence.
If India is to attain independence (and who does not wish for it? ) the social position of the Harijans must certainly be raised. They must learn to form clean habits, they must wear good clothes and live in decent homes, they must be educated, they must be free from the thraldom of fear and superstition and they must learn to use new and improved methods of work in the fields.
Only when this is done and they become like the rest of the population of India will freedom for the country dawn.
The Labour Movement and other movements like Socialism and Communism are also helping to break down the old system of Karma.
Leaders are beginning to say that if certain classes, suffer, it is simply due to man's selfish organization of society.
The rich and the educated have so ordered life that everything is comfortable and easy for them and hard and difficult for others.
They so manage that they get the larger share of the wealth that Nature produces abundantly everywhere.
There is no such thing as Karma which is responsible for the evils connected with poverty.
We do not need to blame Karma for what selfish men have actually done to further their own interests.
So the best thing is to reorganize Society in such a way that every one has enough to satisfy his needs and no one an abundance of things far greater than is actually necessary.
The spread of scientific education is also tending in the same direction.
The theory of Karma explains the genius of a child of five for music by saying that it is carrying on in this life a gift which it had developed in a previous existence.
Or it explains the inherent criminal tendency of another child, born apparently in a good home, by saying that it is carrying further an evil habit acquired in former lives.
'These and many other remarkable manifestations of surprisingly good or evil characteristics are now explained in terms of heredity.
In order to understand a child's nature we are now told by men of science that we must go back not one or two but several generations.
That genius for music or that criminal tendency which is so astonishing may really have come down from some distant ancestor of whom we know nothing. Many of the striking characteristics of people now explained in India in terms of Karma receive a more reasonable and scientific explanation as the results of heredity.
It is interesting to note that a Hindu Professor of Philosophy, Dr. Indra Sen of Delhi, educated in modern methods of scientific investigation, has been devoting considerable time to the collec-
THE GOSPEL AND INDIA'S. HERITAGE
tion of facts about those who claim to remember their previous births.
Dr. Sen has made a serious effort to get first-hand information about the persons who have made such claims, to cross-examine them thoroughly and to test carefully the truth and accuracy of what they have said. He has been placing before the annual meetings of the Indian Philosophical Congress the results of his investigation.
He has not yet come to any definite conclusions.
The fact that a modern Hindu scholar is beginning to collect carefully at first hand the relevant evidence and to sift it and to test it in many ways is quite significant.
There was once a time when such claims by those who spoke about their former births were accepted without any questioning.
The spread of scientific knowledge makes educated men to-day -in India investigate these facts far more carefully and try to understand with an open mind whatethey really imply.
" Karma" and Redemption The Christian doctrine of redemption embodies all the principles of value in the theory of Karma, while it does not give scope for their extreme developments.
'The moral law that the wages of sin is death is upheld by our Lord Jesus Christ.
His teaching is that whoever repents truly will be forgiven by God.
The story of the prodigal son sets forth clearly the readiness of God to forgive."
The father of the prodigal son was a loving man.
He must have brought up his son with great tenderness and care. Any good son would have responded to such a father's love.
In the world, generally speaking, if a father loves his children dearly they love him dearly in return.
That is natural.
The prodigal son was unnatural.
He did not care for his own home or for his father's love.
He forgot all about the duties he owed to his father.
All he wanted was his father's money, with the many opportunities which it would give for enjoying himself.
So he got the money, left his home and indulged himself in the pleasures which money bought.
We are not told anything about the father's feelings at this time.
The son's strange request must have hurt him deeply.
That all the love which he had shown the boy should end in this must have made. his heart bleed.
He might need the boy's company; he might need his love; he might even feel that it would be good for the boy to continue to live in the house and to have the help and influence of the family.
But he was too *® Luke xv. 11-32.
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loving and tender to think of these things, and he made it possible for the son to go away as he pleased.
It is curious that even after the hardships through which the prodigal son passed he was only interested in the bread which he could get in his father's house.
He was afraid that his father would not take him into the family but may agree to treat him only like one of his hired servants.
We do not know whether he missed his father's love or whether he only missed his father's bread.
It looks as if he only missed his father's bread.
This was quite in keeping with his character.
He was an unnatural son.
No normal son would have left such a father's home or wanted to return to it merely for the sake of the food that he would get there.
The father's love was deep.
His joy at his lost son having returned knew no bounds.
He forgave the prodigal son completely and took him back into the family at once. So, Christ teaches, does God do to every repentant sinner."
In fact, God goes out in search of the sinner.
If a man hasa hundred sheep and one of them is lost, that man will not rest quiet until he finds the sheep that is lost and brings it home rejoicing.
So God does with us.** Jesus spoke another parable about a woman who had ten pieces of silver but lost one.
She sought diligently until she recovered it and then invited her friends to rejoice with her."* These three parables of the prodigal son, the lost sheep and the lost coin Jesus spoke to show God's abundant willingness to forgive and save repentant sinners. Once a saintly preacher said: "' If all the Bible were lost and only the fifteenth chapter of St. Luke preserved, I should be content for in it I would know all that I need to know about the length and the breadth and the height of God's love."
Jesus was taken to task for mingling freely with publicans and sinners; the religious leaders of His day were very critical about it.
They themselves kept away from sinners; they did not believe that any good could come from moving with them freely.
'The best way to teach them a lesson was to have nothing to do with them; only then would they realize the seriousness of their offence and turn back to God.
But Jesus did not do so.
He moved so freely with sinners that He earned the title " Friend of publicans and sinners."
He firmly believed that it was only by thus forgiving them and ignoring their past that He could
" Cf. a parallel Hindu story, quoted by Dr. Rudolf Otto in his India's Religion of Grace and Christianity, pp. 137, 138.
™ Luke xv. 4-7.
* Luke xv. 8-10.
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redeem them to a new life.
In fact, He held that the greater the sinfulness the greater the forgiveness would be, and that the greater the forgiveness the greater would be the love generated."*
The story of a woman taken in adultery sheds further light 'on this question of forgiveness.** Modern scholars hold that this incident is likely to be authentic.
The style is not like the rest of the Gospel of St. John, but is more in keeping with the style of St. Luke.
It may have originally belonged to St. Luke's Gospel but may somehow have become attached to the Fourth
Gospel.
This story is quite revealing in its account of the attitude of Jesus towards sinners.
We can imagine the complacency and self-righteousness with which the Scribes and the Pharisees, rigidly insisting on ethical laws, caught her and brought her before Jesus wondering what judgment He would pass on such a flagrant violation of morality.
But Jesus forgave her, without condemning her.
The object with which He forgave her is clear in His words to her: "Go and sin no more."
He knew that the best way to redeem her was to forgive her.
His method was very different from that of the self-righteous and critical hostility of the Scribes and Pharisees.
But He was sure that by forgiving her completely He would help that woman to take a new step in life and to become an entirely different person.
It may be asked whether the doctrine of forgiveness which is taught here by Jesus does not actually negate the moral law that the one who does evil Karma should be punished.
The suffering of Jesus, the incarnate God, throughout His life with the shameful and miserable death on the cross at its end shows us what suffering there had to be in God on account of sin.
As Isaiah says:
"He was despised, and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and as one from whom men hide their face he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." 2>
The Cross is the revelation of the tremendous cost which God has to pay for the redemption of men.
It is not as if without any effort on His part He forgives men whatever they may do. The suffering
He has borne for us is beyond our reckoning.
We cannot * Luke vii. 36—50.
* John viii. 3-11.
* Isaiah liii. 3-5.
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possibly understand all the intensity of the suffering of the Man of Sorrows.
The moral law is not set aside in any sense; where there is sin, there zs suffering.
The sin of men has brought about the suffering and death of Jesus on the Cross.
If God forgave without the Cross, He would be laying aside His own moral law which He has established among men.
This He could not well do.
If the moral law were thus abandoned, chaos only would prevail in the world.
So the experience of the Cross is absolutely necessary.
After the Cross no one can say that God forgives men because it is easy for Him or because He does not See to uphold the law that righteousness should prevail in the world.
The Karma doctrine of the Hindus proves to be very difficult as it places'the burden of the whole law on human shoulders.
Each man must bear his own punishment; no one else can do it for him.
But the teaching of Jesus is that God Himself bears the burden for us.
Tukaram's petition has been answered :
**T am a mass of sin; Thou art all purity; Yet thou must take me as I am And bear my load for me." *° The burden has thus been shifted from us to God.
Devout Hindus, who accept the doctrine of Karma with all its implications, feel terribly the burden because they are trying to carry it all by themselves.
They totter under the heavy load and are completely exhausted by its crushing weight.
The teaching of Jesus is that we transfer the weight from our feeble shoulders to God's, as He is willing to bear the greater share of the weight.
In His abundant love He has become one of us; He has passed through all our experiences; He knows all our difficulties and problems; He has drunk the cup of human sorrow to its bitter dregs.
If He forgives, He pays a tremendous price for it. The moral law, then, is not set aside but it is worked in a new way so that it may bring forth the best possible fruit.
That evil Karma produces suffering has been demonstrated beyond all doubt on the mount of Calvary, where Christ was crucified ; the evil Karma of men led to His untold suffering.
No longercan the supremacy of the spiritual law that sin brings forth a harvest of pain and misery be called into question.
When considering the operation of the law of Karma, we must remember that the purpose for which it is established is
*®N. Macnicol, Psalms of Maratha Saints, p. 65.
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to purify the soul and to make it ready and fitting for communion with God.
If this be so, the forgiveness of the penitent sinner achieves this purpose far more effectively than the inexorable grinding of the law of retribution.
The forgiven man is more apt to seek the Presence of God than the sinner who feels that he is being crushed, no doubt for his own sins, by a righteous and unbending machine.
If personal relationship is to be established between God and men, the more effective method would be the exercise of Divine forgiveness rather than the operation of » an inexorable:system of Karma.
The experience of fellowship with God is the highest attaimment open to man, and Divine forgiveness helps such an end far more effectively than the doctrine of Karma and rebirth.
The vital principle that each individual bears the responsibility for all that he does, which is embodied in the doctrine of Karma, is also found in the Christian idea of forgiveness.
The first condition of forgiveness is repentance. That was the message which Jesus constantly preached when He was on earth: "The kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe in the gospel." *'
The primary responsibility for the change of heart which asks for forgiveness is thus assigned to man.
While it is true that God takes the initiative and calls men to follow Him, He never forces them.
The principle on which He rules the hearts of men is that they themselves must open the door and invite Him in. He never breaks any door open.
For He treats us as men and women with freewill so that we can either accept or refuse His call.
If He simply forced us, we should be merely machines obeying Him whether we like it or not; we should not be persons with the infinite spiritual capacities we have, either for good or for evil.
The share of the individual in deciding his own future destiny is a favourite thought in the Gospel of St. John.
" Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into judgement, but hath passed out of death into life."
' And ye will not come to me, that ye may have life." 7* " And if any man hear my sayings, and keep them not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.
He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my sayings, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I spake, the same shall judge him in the last
Mark i. 15.
*% John v. 24, 40.
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+ 99 29 day.
There are many other verses in the Gospel of St. John which point in this direction.
By deciding to follow Christ, a man walks on the path to eternal life; by refusing to follow
Christ, he chooses to dwell in darkness.
The future destiny of a man is not decided by an outside God who sends a man to heaven or to hell according as He likes.
Man himself, by his choices in this life, determines the nature of his future existence.
By his attitude to Christ here and now he decides whether in the future the bliss of eternal life, lived in fellowship with God, is going to be his or not.
If he believes in Christ such bliss will be surely his, and if he does not believe in Christ he can only expect in the future life sorrow and darkness as he can have no fellowship with God.
The principle of the sense of individual responsibility is carried too far in the theory of Karma.
A man must bear his own burden; no one else can possibly help him.
This utter isolation of the individual soul fills it with fear and trembling.
On the other hand, in the Christian doctrine of forgiveness while a man has his clear and definite responsibility he can always be helped by others.
His friends and relatives can pray for him.
The Church can pray for him.
In the great passage in Galatians, where St. Paul enunciates the principle that whatever a man sows he shall reap, he also says " Bear ye one another's burdens." *°
A man is seriously ill.
He, of course, has to bear all the pain and suffering and yet others can do a great deal to help him.
They can bring in a good doctor and give medicine which may often shorten the course of the disease.
They can nurse him carefully and attend to all his needs.
They do not simply say:
'He must only suffer; we cannot do anything for him."
But they do their best for him.
Likewise in the spiritual realm while the individual bears the primary responsibility, others can help him by their prayer, by their sympathy and by their co-operation.
3. The idea that the soul needs all eternity for its full growth has never found favour with the majority of Christian theologians.
In the early Church Origen says that departed saints first live on the earth in a place called Paradise where they receive spiritual teaching.
If worthy they quickly ascend through the air and reach the Kingdom of God, through different stations or halting places on the journey.
For this he finds the main Scriptural authority in the saying of Jesus recorded in the Fourth
* John xii. 47, 48.
® Galatians vi. 2.
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Gospel.
'In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you." ** Origen takes the term "mansion" to refer to the different stages in the progress of the soul to God.
Clement of Alexandria understands this verse in a similar sense.
He thinks also that the thirtyfold, sixtyfold and hundredfold harvests which are brought forth by good seed hint at the different mansions where the saints dwell according to their various merits.
He holds consistently that there are different degrees of glory in the heavenly world.
But modern scholars do not accept that the term "mansions" means the different stages of a journey.
They rather think that. God's house is spoken of as a hospitable palace with many chambers."
The idea that the soul passes through different stages of growth after the death of the body may play an important part in the Christian thinking of India.
The doctrine of many births and deaths, extending over an infinitely long period, makes the Indian mind naturally inclined to accept it.
It is difficult to understand how a soul can reach its final character in the course of its brief life here on earth and then remain all through eternity without any change or progress.
Is it not much more likely that eternity will provide endless opportunities for bringing out the infinite possibilities hidden within the soul ?
This doctrine of spiritual development after death has never been popular in the Christian Church for fear that men will put off to the next life their decision for God.
Christian teachers have felt that if people realize that all eternity is before them for the growth of their soul, they may delay indefinitely their conversion.
'They may say to themselves that there will be plenty of time after their death to look after their soul.
But this fear of delay need not be considered seriously.
Recently a writer has shown that even the most terrible teaching about hell and the torments there for sinners has not made many men to repent.
Through the ages people have been led to God not by the fear of what they might have to suffer in hell as by the joy of realizing His love.** 'This being the case, we may say that emphasis upon the possibilities of growth through eternity by itself will not make any one delay his decision.
Men with a feeling for religion will decide for God immediately.
If the = John xiv. 2.
"J. H. Bernard, A Commentary on the Gospel According to St. Fohn, Vol. IT, pp. 531-33.
* See Clement F. Rogers, The Fear of Hell.
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possibility of growing in the future life is likely to make them postpone their decision, it simply means that in any case they would not have made that choice immediately.
The really spiritual man, on the other hand, knows that the sooner he starts, the better it will be for him.
If he begins his journey to God here and now, at the time of his death he will have made some progress and this progress will be all to the good.
He will have completed the first stage of the journey and to that extent will be nearer his goal.
So he will welcome this opportunity of commencing immediately the long and arduous journey to God so as to be sure that he accomplishes as much as possible even in this short life.
The thought of infinite growth through eternity is apt to provide a most effective incentive for spiritual effort.
Let us suppose there are two boys in school.
One of them thinks only of his present work; he does his lessons regularly and has no thought of anything beyond completing his education in the school.
The other boy is full of ambition.
He thinks of completing his school and then of going on to college and then of doing still more advanced work.
The second boy is likely to work far harder and to take his work far more seriously than the first.
In the same way, the man who fully believes that eternity will provide unlimited chances for spiritual advance will probably exert himself far more here and now. » Our job is no doubt with the present.
We must get on with our immediate tasks and duties.
Our vision of future possibilities should not cripple our present activities in any way.
The outlook upon the future is only valuable as it provides a strong incentive to put our best into the work on hand.
By all means let us make the most of the present life.
Let us cram into it as much as we possibly can but do not let us forget that the spiritual journey which we commence in this life stretches on through eternity and that there are vistas of glory all along the way.
This realization of the infinite character of the spiritual life gives us at once a new insight into God.
God's love and power are so great that we cannot hope to fathom them in our brief life here on earth.
The more we understand about God the more there will be to understand.
The goodness of God cannot be exhausted within the brief span of our human life.
It is only as we live in His Presence all through eternity that little by little
He will reveal Himself to us and show us by degrees the wonderful riches of His grace.
This Christian doctrine of growth through eternity is free K
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from some of the difficulties attached to the Hindu theory of transmigration.
There is no thought here of various forms of embodied existence which range all the way from the lowliest types of plant life to the highest forms of heavenly existence.
Also there are no rapid falls in spiritual grace and no sudden descents into misfortune.
The Hindu doctrine of transmigration becomes a source of dread because of all these possibilities of different forms of existence and of rapid falls and sudden descents.
The Christian doctrine avoids these difficulties while making it perfectly clear that the infinite possibilities of the soul can only be realized through eternity.