VI. Suffering, Sin and Judgement

Karma

Both the degree of originality and the full significance of the Sadhu's teaching on Suffering, Sin and Judgment will escape us unless we see them in their relation, on the one hand to the conception of the Wrath of God, which still largely dominates traditional Christian teaching, and on the other to the Hindu doctrine of Karma.

The Sadhu believes firmly in retribution. But he regards this as being brought about by an internal necessity, an inevitable degeneration of the personality which brings its own punishment in that it completely incapacitates for the life of Heaven. He does not regard it as the expression of the Divine anger, for God to him is wholly seen in Christ, and, to recall a saying of his already quoted, "Jesus Christ is never annoyed with anybody. "

"As men have chosen sin, they must die in sin. God does not bring about this death. God sends no one to hell. The sinner himself brings this punishment down on himself. Let us look at the case of Judas Iscariot. When he betrayed the Lord, Pilate did not hang him, nor

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did the High Priest, nor did our loving Savior, nor did the Apostles. He hanged himself. He committed suicide. He died in his sin. This is the end of him who lives in sin. "

But the Love of God is always there, ready to intervene and to counteract the retributory process. But God does not effect this by an arbitrary and external " forgiveness, " a mere remission of penalty; He works by changing the heart and thereby curing the moral disease which is at the root of sin. Only man must repent.

The doctrine of Karma teaches that any sorrow, misfortune, degradation or disease from which the individual may now be suffering is an exact and just retribution for some sin committed by him or her in a previous incarnation. This comes about through an automatically working law of cause and consequence. And by the same law every sin we commit in this life will be paid for by an equivalent in suffering when we return to earth in our next reincarnation. Necessarily this doctrine can admit no remission of sin.

The Sadhu's insistence that retribution is automatic and is not to be ascribed to the Divine Wrath is inspired by his passionate apprehension of the Love of God. In support of it he appeals to certain passages in St. John s

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Gospel. But, though the doctrine is certainly predominant in this Gospel, it may be doubted whether the Sadhu would have found it there so easily had he not been already familiar with the doctrine of Karma. If this be so, it is one little instance of the way in which, as Westcott prophesied, India, if converted, will bring new light to the interpretation of St. John. Yet, even within the conception of an automatic retribution, there is still a subtle but important difference between the Sadhu 's doctrine and the idea of Karma. To the Sadhu retribution is the result of an internal change, organic to the personality. Karma represents it as dependent upon circumstances predominantly external.

But the same conviction of the love of Christ which makes the Sadhu adopt an almost Indian conception of retribution causes him emphatically to reject other aspects of the doctrine of Karma, in particular, its negation of the possibility of forgiveness and its conception of suffering as necessarily penal. Of the two it is the latter against which he more frequently protests, since, in spite of the book of Job and the teaching of our Lord, it is also potent in popular Christianity. Here again he can appeal to the authority of St. John, " Neither did this man sin nor his parents; but that the works of God should be made manifest in him." But his Philosophy of the Cross is also here involved. To endure slights, illusage or bodily pain is to share the cross of Christ. To endure them nobly and without resentment is to reproduce His character and therefore silently to proclaim His message and His power. Hence, to the Sadhu, suffering is not a penalty; it is sometimes a medicine, always an opportunity.

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Suffering

"God is Love, and therefore He will not punish. I do not agree with those who say that sickness and misfortune are punishments. They are what I should call 'the loving slap.' A doctor was telling me of an experience he had. Before a child is born it cannot breathe, but as soon as it is born it breathes. But it is necessary for the child to cry. If the child does not cry his lungs are contracted and he dies. One child was unable to breathe when he was born and within a few minutes would have died. So the nurse gave him a slap. The mother must have thought; 'She came to help me, but she is killing my son. It is only a few minutes since he was born and now she is giving him a slap. ' Through that slap she made the child cry. "When the child began to cry he began to breathe. Just so God sometimes gives iis a loving slap.

"Once while coming down a mountain I sat down in the porch of a house. A strong wind began to blow. A little bird came along helplessly driven by this wind. From another direction a hawk swooped down on the little bird to make a prey of it. The little bird, faced by danger from two directions, fell into my lap. This bird never likes to come to men and yet it sought refuge with me in the day of trouble. So the strong wind of suffering drives us into the lap of God.

"In Karachi I was bathing in the sea. I went far into the sea without knowing it. I saw a big wave sweeping toward me like a wall, and, full of fear, I prayed to God. What happened was that this wave took me safely ashore. I thought it would be impossible to return. I was afraid I would perish in the wave. And

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yet, without killing me, it brought me safely ashore. So does suffering for us.

"Once in the course of my travels I saw a shepherd. It was his habit to take his cattle across a river, let them graze till evening and then take them back across the river. That evening all the cattle went across except a cow and a calf which seemed unwilling to go over to the other side of the river. Afraid that if he let them stay there wild beasts might make short work of them in the course of the night, he lashed them and thus sought to make them go across the river. That was of no use. He then held before them some hay and tried to lure them across. That too proved futile. Then I suggested to him: ' Carry the calf across; the cow will then follow you easily.' He carried the calf and the cow followed him. In the same way, when we are unwilling to reach our Lord, He separates from us our dear ones and takes them away to Himself. We are thus led to desire the heavenly regions where our dear ones have gone and to fit ourselves for them."

May we not surmise that this last thought was suggested to the Sadhu by reflection on the death of his mother, of whom he speaks so often and so fondly, and its effect upon his own religious quest?

" Sorrow and misfortune draw us near to God and fit us for His service. Many regard misfortune as nothing but punishment for sin. And yet suffering and the way we suffer is a splendid way of serving God, an effective way of glorifying Him.

"Let us look at the case of poor Lazarus. He was full of sores. These sores are not said to have been the result of his sin. Or he would not have obtained the great privilege of being in Abraham's bosom. His sores

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and the way he endured them were the great sermon he preached to others. By this service which he rendered many were led to praise God.

" But, some one will say, " That is very fine. But does God afflict the innocent in order that He may be glorified?' Let us observe, however, the reward which God gave him after this brief period of trouble. He tells him, 'I bore the Cross and you also bore the Cross. Now I am reigning and you shall reign with me.'

" The Hindu doctrine of transmigration is an attempt to solve the problem of suffering, but it is not satisfactory. If one man is a Rajah, another a coolie in this life, it explains that this is because the Rajah was a good man, the coolie a bad one, in a previous life. A certain Rajah's criticism of the doctrine was this: 'If a finger is badly scratched the injury is obvious, but the bone may be broken and there is nothing to show. My life is one long round of anxieties and burdens, though I appear as living in state and luxury. The coolie has not a care to trouble him. I must have sinned in a previous life and the coolie have been the saint.

"We praise thee. Lord, for the joys and sufferings which thou hast sent us in the past and which thou sendest us now. By bearing Thy Cross will the bliss of Heaven become very sweet to us. For he who has not endured suffering cannot know the reality of joy."

Sin

" ' One day I was sitting on a rock. I saw below me a bird hopping along slowly. I stooped down and tried to see what was happening. What did I see! A snake was drawing the bird toward itself by its magnetic

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power. Drawn by the fascinating eye of the serpent, the bird unconsciously came very near the serpent. As soon as the serpent knew that the bird was its own and could not possibly escape, it caught the bird and devoured it. But the bird might have escaped the serpent at a distance. In the same manner, Satan endeavors to draw us to himself by his coaxing and pleasant ways. There is only one way of escaping him. Instead of turning our 'hearts towards him, we must attempt to fix our hearts on God.

"The saying 'whosoever is begotten of God sinneth not ' used to perplex me, but now I understand it. Sin is generally the result of a desire to obtain pleasure. But the man who loves God has such deep and unfailing springs of joy in himself that he is not drawn to any other kind of pleasure, and therefore does not sin; just as the man who owns a sovereign has no use for a defaced farthing.

" There was a girl in a village. Every day she dusted off the cobwebs in her room. Once while doing this she thought about herself and prayed, ' Lord, as I am cleaning my room, clean thou my heart of all sin." Then a voice was heard in the air, 'Daughter, what is the use of sweeping away only the cobwebs every day? It is better to destroy the spider that spins the cobwebs. If you kill the spider there won't be any more cobwebs.' Likewise it is not enough that our daily sins be forgiven, but, as the Apostle says, the old man in us should die.

"Roman Catholics make a great deal of the forgiveness of sins in Absolution: but the disease, which is the root of the sin, is working all the same.

1 1 John V. 18.

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"Sin is not only a disease, but a contagious disease. But when the Sun of Righteousness shines the germs are killed."

"Do you think," we asked, "that penitent sinners should be continually thinking of their sin and renewing their contrition? "

"Don't trouble about God forgiving or not forgiving your sin. Salvation is not forgiveness of sin, but freedom from sin. There was a consumptive in Sikkim who became delirious. Some fruits and a knife were placed by the side of his bed. A friend called on him. Unwittingly he took the knife and cut the throat of his friend. For this he was to be hung at 5 p. m. on a certain day. His friends and relations went to the king and begged for his forgiveness as he was not responsible for his action. But when they returned they were told that he had already died — from consumption. His crime was the result of his disease. The crime was forgiven, but the disease itself, which was the root of the crime, was not healed. That is why the word of God says: " Ye shall die in your sins. ' God will not kill you. But the disease, which is the root of the sins, is working all the same.

"It is a healthy sign to feel that we are sinners. It is dangerous when we do not feel it. Once while bathing in the river Sutlej I sank deep into the water. Above my head were tons of water and yet I did not feel the burden at all. When I came back to the bank, I lifted a pot filled with water and found it very heavy. As long as I was in the water I did not feel the weight. Similarly a sinner does not feel that he is a sinner as long as he lives in sin.

" ' Coal is black — we cannot remove its blackness. You

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can use a hundred pounds of soap but you will not take away its blackness. But put it in the fire and its blackness goes, it becomes shining bright. So when we receive that baptism of fire by the Holy Spirit which comes into our lives when we give our hearts to Christ we sinners shine before the world. That is what Christ meant when He said, " Ye are the light of the world. '

"If we continue in sin our conscience, which is the eye of the soul, becomes blind:

"I once saw a Tibetan monk who had spent many years meditating in a dark cave. When he came out he could not see anything. His eyes were pale and yellow. On my way back to India from Japan I met a scientist. He had some blind fish in a jar. They were beautiful but had no eyes: only a superficial mark remaining to show that they once possessed them. Because they had lived in the dark and did not use their eyes, they lost them.

"Once in the Himalayas I ate a poisonous plant and for three days my tongue was numbed. I could not taste anything. Just so it is possible to lose one's taste for the Divine — that is, to lose one's conscience by tasting the poisonous fruit of sin.

"I once saw a sweeper carrying a pan of ordure in one hand, the stench of which made me almost vomit. But the sweeper was so used to it that with his spare hand he was holding food to his mouth and eating it. Just so, we are so habituated to the sin and evil of the world that we live in it quite unconcerned. But Christ would have felt in the midst of it as I felt when the sweeper passed me. Accordingly, it is a mistake to think of the suffering of Christ as being confined to the Crucifixion. Christ was thirty-three years upon the Cross."

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Repentance

"I was traveling with some others on the Himalayas. One of our party began to be very thirsty. When we reached a high spot we noticed that there was a little water in the midst of a morass. This young man wanted to go and drink that water. His brother who knew that spot well reiterated: 'It is impossible to go there and return. All who ever went there perished in the mud. If you will only wait for a little while there is a village five miles away and you can drink water there.' We too implored him in the same way. But he was determined to go and walked towards the water, saying: " There is no mud here. As it is morning the water is frozen here.' He got to the water and also drank it. But when he sought to return his feet began to sink into the mud. He went down as far as his knees. In trying to get out he sank still deeper and deeper, first as far as his waist and then as far as his neck. There was no means of getting him out. We had no rope long enough to help him. If any one had gone to rescue him it was certain that he also would perish. And he wailed at the thought of perishing thus, though he had known beforehand of the danger. But of what avail was that? He died. Many love the things of the world, though they know that they cannot satisfy their souls' thirst with them, and though they know that they will prove dangerous. Such will surely perish. Let us turn our hearts, not towards the world, but towards Him who is able to satisfy this thirst, and live.

"In Tibet there was a village where there was no water. The people of the village had to bring the water in from a fresh spring about two miles away. Some of

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them did not like this and so dug a tank. They thought that the tank would be filled with rain water which they would use and that it would be unnecessary to go to the trouble of bringing water from a spot two miles away. When the rain came the tank which they dug was filled with water. As usual some went to the clear and fresh spring two miles away and brought in the water. Others laughed at them and mocked them, calling them madmen. Without much trouble they drank the water in the tank, but all those who drank the water died, as there was poisonous matter in it. Though those who brought the water from the spring two miles away had worked hard, they lived. In the same way it is hard to love the Lord and hate the World, but it is the way of life.

"One day a hunter- went out hunting. All the stones he had with him were exhausted. He wanted to sling a stone at a bird on a tree. Seeing a vessel near-by full of beautiful stones, he took them and hurled them at the bird with his sling. They fell into the river. Only one stone was left. The hunter took it home to give it to his child as a plaything. On the way he met a diamond merchant who promised to give liim as much as a thousand rupees for the stone. He did not agree to it. Then said the diamond merchant to him: 'Take home with you as many rupees as you can carry within the next hour and a half, only give me the stone. ' The hunter agreed to this and took home a bag full of rupees and came back for the next bag. There were only a few more minutes left for him. He took another bag full of money and walked home, weeping and lamenting. 'You are very mad, ' said the people to him. ' Instead of thanking God for all this money which He has given you, you are weeping."I am indeed thankful to God,' wailed he,

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'but I was fool enough not to understand the value of this stone. I wasted several stones like this in the water. If I had only kept them I might have become a millionaire.' Every day of our lives is a precious stone. We have wasted many. This may be our last. So let us repent now.

"There was a poor man in Northern India. He had a large debt. He had nothing with which to pay off the debt. He was too lazy to earn the money. Those who lent him the money made up their minds to put him in prison. But there was a wealthy and generous man in that place. Hearing of this man's wretched condition he wanted to help him. As he did not want that any one else should know of this, he came after twelve o'clock in the night with aU kinds of food and five hundred rupees — his debt was not as large as this — to the house. He stood knocking at the door for an hour, but the man in the house was too lazy to open it. Then the rich man returned home disgusted and feeling that he was not fit to be helped. The next morning the poor man heard of what had happened and was filled with sorrow. But what was the use? Behold, the King of Kings is standing at our door ready to pay off all our debt of sin. He knocks at the door with divine food in his hand, food which will strengthen us and give us power to win victory over our spiritual enemies. Let us not be lazy and indifferent like that man, but open the door immediately. Then heavenly peace and joy will become ours. Our heart itself will become heaven.

"Satan frequently confuses with doubt even true Christians. But by the grace of God the saintly man escapes this. To illustrate this let me tell you an incident which actually happened. A certain Saint before

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his conversion had committed many crimes. But after his conversion he served the Lord with his whole mind and led a holy life. When he was on his death-bed Satan brought him a catalogue of his previous sins and said, "You have done all these things. You are not fit to enter heaven. Hell is your place.' Thus did Satan frighten him. But the Saint said, "My Savior will in no wise cast out him that cometh to Him. If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.' In spite of this, Satan continued to trouble him, but the Saint was not discouraged but continued steadily in prayer. Then a finger appeared and cancelled the catalogue of sins. The Saint, rejoicing at this, began praising God. But Satan said, 'Do not rejoice at this. You may reach Heaven, but your sin will always stand in the sight of all; so you will be ashamed before all.' The Saint prayed again. Then a drop of Christ's blood fell on the catalogue. Spreading all over it washed away all the letters and made the paper white. Seeing this the Saint was filled with a divine joy and peacefully entered God's presence.

"Let us look at the three crosses on Calvary. He who hung in the center died for sin. One of the thieves w£is penitent and anxiously pleaded with the Lord. He heard his prayer and promised him that he would be with him that day in Paradise. He went with Christ to Paradise, not after many days, but that very day. He died to sin and lived in Christ. The other thief sought to save his body without being penitent. " If you are the Son of God, save yourself and us, ' he said. He lived for his body and died in sin. Though near the Lord of Life, he died in sin without being saved.

"Friend, what is your condition? Are you dead in sin or have you died to sin? "

Judgment

This section must be supplemented by the more esoteric teaching expressed in the Visions recorded in the previous chapter, if we wish to obtain a complete idea of the Sadhu's views on Judgment. As we have already indicated, in his public addresses he strongly emphasizes the certainty of retribution, but never even hints at his hope of an ultimate salvation, though of a lower degree, for all or almost all men.

"Many comfort themselves by saying, "God is Love. In some way or another He will save and redeem us in the end. ' In the end those will be disillusioned.

" ' In the Himalayas there is a native Prince, forgiving and generous-hearted. One evening, while out for a drive, a man who had stolen some things from a clothes store and run away was caught and brought before him. The Raja warned him and said: 'This time I forgive you because I am not in my court. But you must not do this again." But the man did not give up his habits as a thief. Another day when the Raja was out driving they brought the man to him again. This time also he forgave him. Gaining boldness he went from bad to worse until he killed a man and was charged with murder. They brought him to the court. He came into the court with great fear, but as soon as he saw the face of the judge he became bold and happy. ' This is the generous Raja who forgave me twice. This time also he will forgive me,' he thought. When the Raja saw him he was sorry for him and said, 'Friend, you ought to have given up your evil ways long ago. I forgave you

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several times. This time also I wish to forgive you. But what can I do? Here not I, but this law book is the judge, and by it you are condemned to be hanged. ' The same will happen on that Great Day too. God is Love, but listen to what the Savior says: 'And if any man hear my words, and believe 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 words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day' (John xii. 47-48).

"Once I lifted a big stone. Under it were countless insects. As soon as they saw the light they were terrified and ran to and fro in trepidation. I put the stone back in its place and they became quiet. When the Sun of Righteousness appears on that day this scene will be reproduced. Those who live in darkness and lead sinful lives will see the sins which they committed in the dark revealed. For 'there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known' Matt. X. 26). In His light the sins hidden in their hearts and lives will be made plain. They will be filled with terror and trepidation.

"Observe the cobra, however often it may slough its skin, it remains a cobra. In the same way, a sinner, even though he leaves his body, will remain a sinner in the next world. Character does not change with death.

"A sinner is a traitor against God. A man who is a traitor against one country can escape by taking refuge in another. But is there any kingdom where one may take refuge after being a traitor to God's kingdom? Sin will catch him who runs away from God on account of sin. Death will overtake him who runs away from God to escape death. In Tibet a man killed another man.

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The Government decreed that the murderer should be hanged. By making an opening in the mud wall of the prison with a nail he escaped into the forest. But unable to bear the extreme cold he died there. Death caught him who sought to escape death.

"Prayer and Meditation avail to wash away sin: " In the south of Bhutan there is a dense jungle where men hunt tigers and other big game. There was a lodge where they could take shelter in case of danger; the hunters carried with them the key of this lodge. One day a hunter started out, gun in hand. Suddenly he saw a tiger coming after him, and thinking that he could get into the lodge, threw his gun aside and ran toward it. He reached the door and looked for the key. But he had left it behind. Instantly the tiger leapt upon him and killed him. Between where he stood and the inside of the lodge was but an inch, but the thickness of the door. And yet he had to lose his life because he had been careless about his key. He would have died if he had been ten miles away from the lodge. He died none the less when he was very near to it. Though near the Kingdom of God, many Christians are careless about its key. What is that key? It is repentance and continued prayer.

"While travelling on the Himalayas with some others I saw a man who had come from a hot country. We warned him and said: 'Wrap up your hands and feet well or they will be destroyed with the cold. " I can believe that they will be destroyed by heat. But it is foolish to think that cold will hurt them,' said he, and neglected our warning. After a few days I met him again. His whole hand had been destroyed by frost. And he cried bitterly that the snow should have done

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him such damage. But of what avail his sorrow now? "One day a man was standing under the shadow of a tree. Speaking to the shadow he said, '0 Shadow! You know for certain that you will come here thus once in every twenty-four hours, but I am not certain that / shall return here. And yet I have nothing ready to offer God in the next world.'... Yes, there is a certainty that many things will come back, but there is no certainty that the opportunity for repentance will come again. "