Devatma Library
You can sign up for the Devatma Library in English or Hindi where you can read answers to every conceivable question related to almost every perspective. SIGNUP HERE
Devatma Library
You can sign up for the Devatma Library in English or Hindi where you can read answers to every conceivable question related to almost every perspective. SIGNUP HERE
Our esteemed guru ji Master Devatma at the very age of twenty three, 1873 came Lahore then he acquainted with Brahmo Samaj. Brahmo Samaj was the admirable revolution in removing the myths of religion and society. While Brahmo Samaj reformed religious congregations but their motive was to remove social evils. Genuinely they entangled religion with social reform in one contour. Hindu religion was against this reform. At that time religion was bound to congregational God or goddesses and social reform and social welfare was out of date. It was the quality of Brahmo Samaj that that it centered social welfare and reform in the sphere of religious pieties and worshipping as given second name. At that time Brahmo Samaj was the most progressive society among all societies. The programme of this social reform was the suitable for our guru ji’s love of goodness, that become him suitable for the social reform even in childhood. This emotion offered him the free outlet to his social reform. In the fine days of school time he read one of the book stating that to wear jewelry is injurious to children. There was a tradition in their family to wear jewellery for male also. At that time wearing jewellery for boys was the symptom of richness and prestige and this exercise was revered. He left wearing jewellery irrespective to their parents wish. Therefore, while living in Akbarpur he felt whether education is essential for lads it is essential for lasses also. The social atmosphere was narrow but he started educating his sister-in-law and niece. He did not educate his wife in Hindi but in Bangali also. He trained her in declamation and social reform. When he went to Roorki college for teaching there was untouchability in eating in their family. They can eat only from the same Brahmin clan. When he behold Hindu boys in college to eat together then he felt that untouchability in eating is inappropriate then he started eating together with other boys in the common kitchen. He felt that the discrimination of eating together of boys of Hindu and Muslim is a myth. He bought sweet and ate from the Muslim shopkeeper. These small incidents are the introductory part of truth that has deep insight that he has an emotional insight towards social goodness and vices on the basis of his love of goodness. In this stage his emotionality towards social goodness was on personal level. It was limited to the relation of behaviour towards one person to another. It was not the behaviour of one person towards the levels of institutions of society. For incidence if Raja Ram Mohan Rai had been stopped his sister-in-law(bhavaj) from being sati (self-immolation) it would have been the theory of social reformer related to relation between one person to another. But when he took an oath to eradicate totally sati tradition then his revolution from the person to social institutions was based on emotional outlook. In Brahmo society he adopted Hindu reformation programme and lifted it to the peak. He was a great speaker. While he was against social evils like child marriage, castism, untouchability, the tradition of forced widow, illiteracy of women thence thousands of narrow minded kept on hearing him. Two magazines viz ’Baradre Hind’ and ‘Hindu Bandhav’ published in his self expense and he wrote about it that the motive of these magazines was to awaken and create the emotion of social welfare. He produced tempest with his words and writings that helps to uprooting the traditional superstitions. The power of his voice and writings was powerful because it was motivated from his life. He did not only motivate widow remarriage but after the death of his first wife he married to a Bengali widow. At that time it was written in the Tribune newspaper that this marriage was historical in social reformation. When he established Dev Samaj in 1887 as a different society, at that time he was rewarded as a well known social reformer of Punjab. Nineteenth century was conscious for the tyranny and rule over women and they devoted themselves for the transformation of social structure for the rights of women. Our guru ji thought that there was only one track to save women from tyranny and to provide her rights i.e to educate them. If women might be educated then they themselves will surely achieve their rights. When he laid foundation of Dev Samaj in 1857, his target was to open Educational institutions for women. He was the first Hindu reformist who opened high school in Firozepur for girls in 1900 . One of the student of this school was the first M.B.B.S. and when country got freedom she was the first Indian principal of Lady Harding Medical College. One of a girl of this school passed B.A, B.T. This school is now established as a “mini university” complex, in this college one is arts college, one training college, one science college. Education Minister of Punjab said in Firozepur during graduate-convocation that government is grateful to Dev Samaj that by this institution they offered to Punjab fifty percent educated women teachers. One of the chief minister of Punjab said in his graduate-convocation that the moral education of this institution makes it unique. This time in spite to Firozepur in Ambala higher secondary school, one arts college participated in the education of women. In Chandigarh too Dev Samaj opened a training college and one arts college. The educational institutions of Dev Samaj as social reformer are working well in Punjab , Haryana and Delhi. In Punjab in the history of women education our guru ji’s lord Devatma and their disciples are of highest status.
In Dev Samaj there is positive response for the highest status of women. In the tradition of Dev Samaj there are complete circumstances for the growth of women.
There has been a revolution for rest of the evils of Hindu society in addition to women reformation. On April 1887, for the rejuvenated Dev Samaj’s members has a bet that he will marry inter cast breaking the rule of marriage in the same clan because there has not been any wideness of society, the promise of caste is removed, but by breaking caste and marriage has been an act of enthusiasm and continues. There has been an appraisal for inter caste and will remain. Therefore dowry has been considered as a social curse. There is no any curse whose renunciation is not motivated in Dev Samaj. The member of this clan is revered for the renunciation of any social curse. Dev Samaj on the very path of social reformer has always been progressive because it is not under the bond of any bygone or modern book. It has not made any book as good or inauspicious or the milestone of truth or myths. Its soul is forever evolutionary. It has always been fortunate for the future. There has never been a possibility of n this society.
Good promises and Invisible(universal) Pledges from darkness towards light
Our moral and immoral life is the creativity of our wills. Promise means a selection between various behaviours. In selection we think about the fruits of behaviours and see the right and wrong sides of it and take decision which of them literately that which behaviour is right. This decision that is the fruit of free thinking and the subject knows the good and bad side of object that is called a will. Our moral and immoral life is based on these attributes of free wills. moral and immoral will. If I have a question that I take bribe or not then I decide after thinking that I should not take bribe then it is my good behaviour. If I decide that I have to take bribe then my decision is inauspicious. When I choose a will of selfless life out of selfish life then my will is good and if I make a will of selfish life then my will is inauspicious.
When our moral or immoral life is bonded to our decision or choices or wills then moral philosophy has a problem that what is good will? Good will is is the will of good behaviour. The accurate behaviour of all relations takes the contour of responsibility in these relations. When we make a will to fulfil our duties in various relations then our will is moral or good. My will is moral or good if I obey my duties in relations of parents, brother, sister and partner, my neighbour and animal, nature and physical world. My will is immoral and inauspicious if I harm others. Our goodness is our good will. Patience, honesty, compassion, non violence, purity, understanding and charity, truthful debate, scientific research are the product of our honest or good will. In opposite to this the misuse of other existences or person’s economic, social and sexual misuse viz disgrace, mixing( to pollute things) less labor, bribery, multi marriage, prostitution, hardness, selfishness, hatred are faults. And these are because of immoral or inauspicious will.
To perform accurate behaviour there may be various reasons and foundations. I make will not to take bribe because I am afraid of the fruits of bribe. When I make accurate will because of fear then my behaviour is very minor from moral side. I make will not to take bribe because it is not an activity of a wisdom. To take bribe is to increase expenses repeatedly. The habits of spendthrift are the habits if not fulfilled cause harm. Finally it is not productive to take bride. Not taking bribe in the behavioural wisdom is better moral side of not taking bribe in fear.
It is possible that I do not deceive others because it is opposite to my feeling of compassion. My feeling of compassion does not want to seduce others. It shows me that when I deceive others or rover, then other gets hurt by this work. This compassionate insight is a foundation for not deceive others. This moral level is better than above two levels. My feeling of honesty is not the foundation of any advantage.
Compassion feeling is based on others advantage, not based on self advantage. Compassion feeling gets satisfy to erase the pain of others completely. Compassion feeling raises us from the self profit to others profit. This condition of compassion purifies us from the self centrality’s separation. There is a better level than condition. When we become honest because honesty is a relation of truthfulness, in this condition a person enters the world of truthfulness rather than the world of profit. In this condition a man raises high from the world of profit be it worldly or souls, be the profit of others admits it accurate to renounce all. For the sake of truthful behaviour he admits it right to renounce his soul and its destruction. Devatma in his book “Sublime life” part 1, chapter 10 writes:
“ but in this hard helplessness and solitude condition- all around surrounded black tempests, I have a feeling like light cries in me that I have no different solution than to steadfast on my truth and ruin silently…. Yup this time I have repeatedly a feeling that while leaving this minor body there would be no existence of mine ahead, so I should be destroyed even then I cannot defame my life from the path of life fast.” (page, 6).
The law of truth is better than positive feelings because the law of truth cannot bear the law of untruth. Altruistic or Positive feelings have the tendency of untruth and to quench this recognise untruth as appropriate and in various conditions use untruth.
Our moral will can get supreme foundation when their basis is truth. Philosopher Kant says about this truthful behaviour that it is completely valuable in itself. It is the diamond that shines in its own light. Philosopher Kant assumed this too that will based on truth and life is not the paradigm of complete idealistic life. The best will and life is that when our will is not moral but also universal(invisible power). Whether our will is based on truth even then there are feelings and tendencies against these will in us. I am honest because it is truthful in relations. But along with this I have a motivation that I might gain more than appropriate thing. Suppose it is true that I have full right on the motivation of disloyalty and I always perform the behaviour of honesty, but how can I deny this that I think sometimes that by speaking wrong I gain profit though I might not speak wrong. Henceforth I do pious behaviour because of truthful tendency but I have the tendency of sex. It is right that I hate this tendency. Hatred is the sole witness of this thing that I have this tendency. So there is huge difference between piousness and innocence. There is not only difference of attributes but caste(in species) differences also. If we measure the piousness of the world with the condition of innocence of a baby girl then the world of piousness is vague before this innocent baby. Piousness is moral will, but innocence is universal nature.
Moral will and universal will are the inheritance of different levels. In the level of morality there is a struggle between the tendencies of appropriateness and inappropriateness. There has been a struggle of benevolent person with selfishness. He knowingly and unknowingly does selfish behaviour. There is a tendency of selfishness in the contour of benevolence. Benevolent person is more or less benevolent and there is ego because he is the lover of ego however low or high it remains. On moral level what our mind needs? What heart yearns? There is contradiction. There is no unity of mind in this condition because there are appropriate and inappropriate motivations. And when we according to high motivation do will then inappropriate motivations do not ruin or disappear. These are in subconscious mind and take satisfaction when got chance. It is the reason that in the life of supreme characterful enunciator, seers happened inauspicious incidents those are completely opposite to their conscious character and life.
Universal will is this will for this there is no tendency of opposition in visibly or invisibly in the mind of creator.
Universal will is possible only when man is devoid of all lusts, desires, and the love of ego and who is devoid of all lower loves and lower hatreds and above the love of comforts and hatred of sorrows. Whenever our feelings are under comforts and sorrows then we cannot get rid of lower loves and lower hatreds because the love of ego and comfort is not the love of truth. An avaricious person cannot live without behaviour of injustice and hating renunciation. An egoist and the slave of his idea cannot survive without defame other’s personality and hatred for the suggestion of others. Our ego and worldly pleasures put us always in war with moral laws. It is the reason that the education of enunciation from ego and worldly pleasures is all pervasive. It is taught so that ego love and worldly pleasures’ love kept on separating us from good will.
It is the extreme appreciative success that he may not develop any lower heartedness to that person who has been hijacker and who has wounded or suffered him. The soul may be devoid of lower hatred that is above all lusts, excitements and love of ego. This sort of soul it is not only that it does not develop lower hate to the teaser but prays for his welfare also.
Devatma is the milestone for the ideal of the moral life so very near much eligible to our consideration and affection.
To what extent we are get rid of lusts, yearnings and ego love to this extent our good will is universal, because to this extent the opposition is lost in good will and inauspicious will. Devatma has no any personal experience of soul feebleness that how knowingly a person does wrong things or knowingly a thing as good he is unable to do it. The powers of love of truth and goodness are the driving forces of his thoughts and behaviours. Henceforth his good is more and more universal. We took one or two instances from his own autobiography, “Sublime life” that shows how in opposition to our humans his good will is universal. His soul had been completely liberated from the destructive feelings of man viz jealousy, heartedness, violence, and proud. He says about heartedness—- ‘this self life destructive lowest feeling did not produce in me from my birth because the birth of this was against of my birth nature. So and from opponents except many harms, when any of my known person hated me with excitement from this lowest self destructive feeling, and above to this being ingratitude tried to harm me, even then I only see his lowest harmful movements in hateful shape but did never hate him. Yes, in opposition whenever and to what extent I got mainly an opportunity of welfare of his soul, minor any other welfare I did, and hitherto and there me being derived by my goodness wished his goodness only. (part2)
Devatma writes about his behaviour : ‘ I have got no trace of self destructive excitement subject, hatredness, anger, violence and proud feeling from my childhood, so various lusts related whatever feelings and other feelings could never slave me, because I have enlightened and development with goodness related that unique love welfare unique love was so intense in itself from the initial point that he dominates all my lusts. Because of this intense love of goodness, to leave that I cannot give uppermost importance to any comfort be it comfortable. So in quarrel between the two my feeling of love of goodness defeated my every lust and benefit me.” (Part 4)
Finally with another instance we come to close this description
“ Love and renunciation go hand in hand. One produces the other. One heart will show infatuation to which thing and in opposition to this thing there is fault in it absolutely. One who loves opposition it is an essential for him to hate impurity. So when I have developed the loves of truth and welfare, then in opposition there are feeling like untruth and inauspiciousness related separation feelings also produced and I in opposition to those lacks and million people to whose soul these infatuations and curses were not present became a unique person. My various worries and activities got separated from them. I and they were not the members of the same department. They gazed me as a very different identity from them and me feel myself totally different from others.
The meaning of fixation and liberal soul
From the evolutionary point of view that condition is liberal or free when life force of a man or soul without interruption flows continuously in creative activities. Life force or motivation of life progresses towards its final condition continuously. As soon as in the stomach of lady chromosomes and ovum (dimb) correlate and become a living force, then their living force becomes creative to create parts of the body continuously. And this complete body when leaves the body of expectant mother to come in this world then this living force tries to provide this body a bold shape. Living force in its flow leaves the previous evolutionary condition to comes ahead. What it leaves behind its back it is again transformative and their step ahead is creative. If living force gets fixed in initial condition then he gets patient, impure, stale(slave). When living force progresses ahead continuously then it gets healthy, energetic, liberal and free. Let’s we study the life power’s fix and liberal stage originally. A baby hugely moves his legs. His this activity is close to the heart. This is the evolutionary condition of a baby. His moving of legs is helpful for his force of walking. Assume this baby is now two years old and he now only moves legs, then it is the symptom of danger. His previous condition has dominated over his creative motivation. His living force beside of a living structure is working like a lifeless watch. Moving legs is not in itself a complete condition, it is a source for walking. When living force ceases to its flow then it is like that motor whose wheels move in the sand, but it stands where it was previously. The condition of fixation to moving legs of a baby is like bodily and mentally is a condition of fixation. Baby by seeing this is filled with grief that his fellows are running and he is banded to a bed. He is feeling like bind because his living force is ceased to further evolution. Moving of legs of a baby was healthy condition in childhood. At that condition neither parents nor child feel fixation condition. Now with the stoppage of evolution parents and baby both feel the condition of moving legs as condition as disease and fixation. Let’s take language. Initially a baby speaks insignificant sounds. This is a healthy condition. We take these baby’s insignificant and inappropriate voices appropriate we repeat them themselves. Assume baby is now four five years old and then repeats meaningless sounds. He has no patience over his wording. He wishes to speak and cannot, baby assumes as if his throat is strangulated, he is devoid of the freedom of speaking. Helen Keller is American well known personality who was not able to speak even at the age of six. She writes in her autobiography titled True Story of My Life, ”as soon as I got mature—now I was six years old—then the yearning of talking in me expanded—some signs whom I use previously were not to the level of satisfaction for me and being unsuccessful to talk of I got filled with atomic furiousness. I assumed some invisible power is stopping me from conversation and me with full force and anger try myself to revolution to free myself. My revolution was vain but I have an intense feeling of victory to free myself against my limit. Simply I used to weep to endeavour this. If often my mother had been with me I go to their lap but I got deeply wounded that I was ignorant to the fact what was the reason of my mind’s tempest. The yearning of talking was so intense that I daily, yes every hour got furious and cry.”
Helen Keller’s life of furiousness, hatredness and weeping was the sign of his fixation condition’s disease; not the sign of freedom or sign of liberal condition. Fixation stage captures living force, when the way of its evolution ceases. Psychologist Freud has a supreme contribution that he has lighted the evolutionary way of living force. Living power has the tendency of being wet or fixation in its one or other condition or to back to its previous condition or the tendency of regression. When two years baby urinates on a bed it means he got fixed in childhood condition. Assume this two years baby does not urinate on a bed now there is a birth of his new brother or sister and mother gives all her affection and love to them once he got. This baby feels himself insulted and unconsciously to get love again returns or regresses to his/her childhood, and like a baby starts urinating on a bed. The fixation and regression of a living force has always dangers. And these dangers can enslave him. A child is patient in his/her mental level when he gets fixed in childhood in maturity and returns to the stage of childhood. A diseased condition is a condition of a servant. In this condition living force is entangled to a blocked pond. It has no condition of freedom or liberation like brook. Brook in its flow crosses new tracks. Its water like blocked pond does not fix and does not spread ugly smell. It is clear that the freedom of a person or liberal stage lies in his hard condition of continuous and unwired flow. We gain freedom, health, and liberal life when our body, intellect and feelings get supreme(perfect) condition. To understand again man’s liberal or free stage we will have to study the comprehensiveness of living force from the wide outlook of world. Living force got enlightened in the world in its flow in nature, animals and man species. Living force has developed some attributes in nature that are absent from the physical world existences. Plants have the capability to prepare food out of non living things. They have the capacity to regenerate their own caste. Every one plant with the shape of seeds or correlation (bond) survives its species. Henceforth living force in the shape of plants produced new eligibilities of nutrition and reproduction, to those our earth having no symptom but it does not cease to its own evolution it stepped forward. It developed animal world. Living force in animals developed the capacity to move from one place to another that is absent from natural world; or rare in few plants. This was the new structure of living force. An animal does not only eat food and not only regenerate his clan but has a capacity to move from one place to another. If my plant of rose stably stands in its place then it is its healthy condition. But when my dog is unable to move from one place to another then it is its unhealthy condition, the stage of sorrow, unhealthiness, helplessness and slavery. My dog has a living power that is different from plants, that my dog is not showing. Not showing somebody’s clan’s positive traits is the stage of disease, helplessness, underdevelopment and fixation. When my dog walks on its four legs then this is its healthy stage, but if my baby does not stand up from walking from hands and does not learn walking on two legs then it is a condition of harsh mercy, this is the diseased and fixed stage. It is clear that living energy flows healthy, free and liberal when this not only having the capacity of perfection but capacity of creative activities also. The supreme freedom or liberal stage of living power is in the business in creative activities continuously. The work of man’s living force is to struggle continuously above perfection with intensity for creative activities. The evidence of this argument is that the living force of man is more regenerative and most creative motivation than all animals. The energies of non- living parmanu(atom) are most regenerative. One paradigm of this is the motion of a machine. Its every motion is equal in complete, whose one motion and second motion has no difference. In the relation to physical things with their laws we can make predictions and to what extent they are believable, same certain prediction we cannot do in living existences. The reaction of plants shows difference like the motion of a machine. In animals’ previous and after behaviour and after show more difference than the reactions of a plants. Animal learns from experience. The behaviour of a pet dog and a street dog is very different. Pet dog learns many more things residing at home the street dog cannot learn. There is an enormous difference in the behaviours of man. The species of man show the difference in their behaviour with one another is absent from the existences of plants and animals.
It is clear from the behaviour of persons and animals that how a person’s living force has boundless capacity of creation. An animal or bird kept on repeating its species’ behaviour. All birds of the same species make approximately the same sort of nest. This caste has been making same nest generation to generation and will remain. There is little difference of this caste’s bird’s nests because these bird’s thinking and behaviour are fixed to their natural tendency. Their intellect is not free to make their nest. So their activity of making nest is castly regenerative, not personal creation. There is a history of man’s dwelling place. Ancient man lived in caves. With time he left caves and started to live in huts and now he lives at homes. In various centuries man had created different sorts of houses. There was a time when man created home due to decoration. Today he builds home for the insight of function. There is huge difference of today’s house craft and ancient house crafting. And in this art there will have been creative progress ahead. The houses of man are different from one generation to another generation and the houses of one social community is different from other community. Yes, one person’s house is different from other’s house. There is a comprehensive creation in man’s living and the places of his work that is absent from the animal world. Take the instance of walking. The species of animals learn walking early, but the way of walking of one caste of animals is approximately same but there is huge difference of man’s the craft of walking. There is a difference of walking of a soldier and a salesman. There is a difference of walking of a boy and a girl. There is a difference of walking of different aged man. The personal difference we observe in walking of man species are absent from any species of animals. In man species’ every person there has been personal difference in living, walking, conversation, understanding and eligibility of craft and occupations, thoughts and behaviour that clarifies that man’s nature is not linked to natural tendency but liberal to it. He can make liberal fly in life. There is no difference in man’s craft of walking. His living force, due to creativeness went ahead of this. He developed dance and dance not of one model, there are different dance models in different countries. There is diversity in the one country’s dance and is no end of this creativeness. There is uncommon capability of creativeness in man’s living force. His activities or his behaviour do not fix in one model. It establishes new to new patterns of creation. One model works as a raw material for the new. He makes old model’s few angles as his new model’s living part. The creativity of man is very comprehensive. So his capability of being free and liberal is also comprehensive. But as persons fix to one or other situation of evolution or regresses, similarly the community of a society or culture fixes in one or second stage of evolution or regresses. In this condition the community of society or culture gain impious and fixed situation. And in this deceased condition they repeat only bygone activities. When any science, philosophy, religion, literature, art, craft, social structure become regenerative then it writes its own warrant of death.
Let’s we clarify the relation of regeneration and creativity. There is no contradiction in both. It is the initial and after stage of one activity. regeneration becomes a source of creativity and helpful. The moving of legs of a boy becomes creative for his walking. And walking is for man’s working on the earth. The repetition of meaningless words is source and helpful for a child to speak. And the speaking of a person accompanies other fellow partner in his experience and to link it in his mutual relation and develop social life. The discovery of any science is not complete in itself. Modern science is only a source for the future science. The models of literature and art of today become future’s new literature and art, excitement and enthusiasm. Past is for the service of the future. Its work is not to occupy the place of the future. When past occupies future then it enslaves living energy. The work of the past in future creations by losing its separate existence becomes its partial part.
But it is true that creativeness is vague without regeneration. There is no any relevance of the dance when we have no perfect knowledge of the mechanism of body. There is no question of the various sounds of the song if we have no patience over the speaking parts repeatedly. The evolution of different crafts of literature and art is not possible whence we had not got supremacy over our hands and feet repeatedly. Regeneration is the creative stage of initiation. Next process of creation is not possible without initial stage. There is truth in creative processes and separation and so there is unbreakable linkage in free or liberal stage. Those moments of life having genuineness of life that is liberal stage. The moving of legs of a child is a creative activity because it is developed in that stage where child does not move legs. This activity has been creative till he loses his different existence to be a partial part of walking process.
Now we can define man’s fixed and liberal stage. When life is limited to only healthy activities and the activity of reproduction it is fixed stage because it is the stage of the development of the nature. To fix in this stage shows man’s deprivation of life and to stable in natural life. These activities are the stages of slavery because they have their different existences and did not be an essential partial part for the next creative stage. For the next stage is not an essential part. It is matter of pity that in some religions the imagination of animal instincts is described where man does less hard work can get the comforts of sex and eating. This is the strange award for our own life that man’s creative living power might impure in eternal power. An animal too assumes himself a slave when it has the opportunities of eating and reproduction but it might be devoid of walking and visiting. For man to fix in the physical comforts is a stage of limited fixation life. Because in animals it has fixed in the evolution of their living energy. In man’s creative life only there is his free or liberal condition because there is more and more creativeness developed in man’s living force only.
Henceforth when our knowledge experience fixed only to our sensual experiences then it is our fixed stage. There is no difference left in our knowledge and the knowledge of supreme classed animals. We are human if we are living on the level of animals then we are devoid of human life. This stage is a fixed stage. The stage of scientific truth is a stage of liberalism or freedom life because it in the light of man’s creative living force.
In childhood’s hatredness, jealously and violence’s fixation in extreme is a fixation stage. The hardness of aged man lies in that he might be above from these emotions. Henceforth the definition of the life of a man lies in the fact that man uses the activities like nurture and reproduction eligibility, the eligibility of walking, the eligibility of sensual experience, the eligibility to live in collaboration as in mutual and thoughtful activities and make those their part. The meaning of mutuality lies in supreme social meetings and service. It is only possible when we are devoid of the destructive feelings of jealousy, deception, heartedness and develop in positive feelings. This is the life of freedom or liberalism. The activity of a thinking in the sphere of world, society and self enlightens life by gaining scientific knowledge. Creative life means to do new researches with relation to goodness and truth. Great personalities who present the ideal of new structure of society or scientists research new realities, litterateurs who produce new literature, politician and economic personality who create the theories of new politics and economic structure, these all give glimpses of creativeness of man’s living power. The life force of man why not develops in eternal stage and creative activities? Why is it fixed or regressive? So why is it become diseased and slave? Freud in his starting creations adopted the reason of man’s living energy’s fixation and regressive in man’s right of comfort. When a baby loves his any activity with love then he is fixed in that activity and repeated it. So if he gets hurtled by any condition of evolution after this then he returns to the previous stage of comfort. Freud in his next creations created a theory that as man has the natural tendency to live as he has the similar natural tendency of death. Life wants to return to its initial stage. Life energy is developed from physical energy, and life energy has always been tendency to return to the non living force. At this time our question is not that which conclusion of Freud is appropriate or what is the relation between these two conclusions. The answer of this question or interpretation or language(speaking) will separate us from our subject. We take this insight that in the flow of eternity of man’s living energy and creativeness the law of comfort and tendency of death or destruction both take part. A person’s death or destructive tendency lights in jealousy, anger and non violence. These are the tendencies in man till his birth. Helen Keller told his autobiography that how she behaves to her little sister? Their behaviour is not a tale of her life but the tale of man’s childhood. She writes, “ for long times I recognized my little sister as a foe. I feel that I had not been my parents’ only daughter And this thought dissatisfied me deeply. Now my little sister sits in the lap of my mother the lap I sat before. It seems to me that my mother devotes all her time and concentration to my little sister. One day an incidence happened that I could not endure I seen that my little sister has slept on my doll’s cradle in peace. I got hyper furious to her courage and I turned her from the cradle. My sister had been died if my mother did not hold her.”
Helen Keller’s behavior of jealousy, hatred and non violence is the behaviour of man’s childhood ladder of evolution’s step as baby’s urinate on the bed is the step of his physical evolution. As a baby’s urination and toilet on a bed is inappropriate like this in childhood hatred, anger, and non violence is inappropriate because it is man’s essential stage of evolution. But in old age not raising up to the emotion of hatreds, anger, and non violence is unhealthy stage as growing child urinate on a bed is unhealthy and immoral. We cannot leave these childhood hatreds, anger, non violence emotions even in young age and not raise above these emotions. In opposition to this these feeling are strong in time and they ruin the dearest blood relatives and supreme to supreme societies in service. When we know the internal conditions of these families and societies then we know how these jealousy, anger, hatred, become the source of their destruction. They completely and certainly clarify that how old we are slaves. We repeatedly satisfy our childhood feelings as if I person beside learning walking might be only moving legs on a bed. To be jealous, anger, non violent and hatred is like regeneration. Regeneration means like the fixation of the any first stage of the evolution. And to fix in any stage is the symptom of fixation. So being helpful in mutual relations to one other and participation’s first danger is not to raise above the destructive emotion of jealously, anger, hatred and non violence. The second danger of being helpful to others in mutual relations is the love for a comfort. Our hunger motivates us to eat various foods. Psychology has declared with experiences that first in childhood if lot of eatable things will be put before a child then baby selects those eatables those are the demand for his body. He behaves like the perfect knowledgeable and dutiful behaviour in the laws of food. But with the passage of the time some thing’s comfort dominate him. Every child when tastes salty things and becomes avaricious of the comfort to these tastes, does not like to drink milk, a healthy food, and there has been a problem for parents that how to feed him milk. Then baby is too fond of games that he does not want to leave games even for food. Baby mind likes and eats eatable things like toffee to much more than need, eats by snatching it to others., without asking and stopping then silently eats tasty things from the fridge and so behaves like anti social. Our all lower lusts and affection bond makes mismatch to our fellow persons. Our selfishness makes us enemy to our fellow mates. Our egoistic love kept us behave insulting fellow individuals lower and minor. It is clear as long as we are under the love of comforts of body and ego then we are under these lusts and selfishness that are the dangers for perfect supreme social meetings. The third danger in our life is the absence of life’s mutuality and perfection. We can be successful if we have positive traits like gratitude, appreciation of others’ attributes and selfless service. With the absence of these positive traits we can become enunciator but not a social human. Enunciator is he who regresses the frustration of the childhood’s social frustration. To be human is to establish the higher meeting of the mutual fellows.
If we want to know that when living force takes perfection and does creative activities then the life stories of eminent personalities can give us wisdom a little bit. If we wished to have obeisance of perfect intensity and completeness creativity’s ideal contour then the life study of Devatma we can gain this success.
Uniqueness of Sublime life
Devatma declared his sublime life as unique in evolution process. To understand the uniqueness of sublime life we have to understand the uniqueness of evolutionary process. Uniqueness means in word anthology —‘not comparable’, from this insight of meaning every existence is unique because any two existences are not same. Difference is the law of Nature. Not even one tree’s two leaves are same. So every leave is unique. In nature there is law of change, not any existence can live even for a moment in the same stage. So every existence has every moment a uniqueness. In this view the initiation of the caste of lion is unique as the birth of a man is unique.
It is clear that when we use the word unique we are not pinpointing only its difference from other existences along with that difference the meaning of value is also linked. it When we say that this painting is unique then it does not mean that this painting is different from other paintings but any other painting is not so beautiful. And from the outlook of value this painting is supreme. Uniqueness means uppermost value so valuable that from the overlook of values no any existence could stand before it. The uniqueness of any existence lies in its attributable value that are absent from others. Uniqueness related to values has two angles. One tradition is theoretical and another is evolutionary. From the traditional theoretical view the uniqueness of any existence lies in that should be liberated from the attributes lower existences may live for his attribute of me (mein)or to(ke). From this side the uniqueness of a person lies in liberating from his animal life and to live for his intellectual and soul eligibility. There are universal motivations in animal world. Animals eat and copulate. They take care of their children for some time. In higher class animals have motivation of lower class social company. These all motivations are animal motivations. From this traditional point of view the uniqueness of a person lies in the fact that he may separate himself from animal motivations. Western and our religions have an ideal that man should renounce his eating and clothing more and more. If it is possible he has to live on a bit of rice. He has to avoid lust and sex. If it is possible he should not marry. He should be away from social gatherings and go to jungles. He has to live the life of soul being seated at a stable place. In other words he has to renounce every motivation of animal world, eligibility and attributes and gain only his soul satisfaction.
This traditional outlook is due to the view of God or Brahma or this outlook has certained the attributes of God or Brahma. There is no body of God or Brahma because man and animal has body also. So there is an insult if there is a body of God or Brahma. Because God or Brahma has no body so he has no bodily activities like eating, sex and lust’s motivations and activities. God has a separate existence so he has no motivation of societal company. He is bodiless consciousness that is devoid of all changes, because change is the attribute of social things. This imaginary figure of the uniqueness of God or Brahma has been created and man tried his best to merge himself in it and suffered and insulted his body with meditational fasts and other hard exercises. Paramhans is that individual who has decreased his bodily life and merged like lifeless thing in the appreciation of God. Because of this traditional outlook common person cannot appreciate the uniqueness of Devatma. The appreciation of the uniqueness of the sublime life of Devatma is possible only if a person stands up from traditional outlook to develop evolutionary insight.
From the outlook of evolution the uniqueness of any existence lies in which aspect? There was a time when there was not an animal existence on this earth. There is a time when out of some lifeless existences the evolution of the attributes of life. At that time animal existences were unique existences of nature. Now the uniqueness of the animal lies in which aspect? The existence of an animal does not lie in the fact that he might be devoid of non living energy forces. The life devoid of forces of energy is not possible. The uniqueness of an animal is that he might plough energy forces in new structure and new work. There are two attributes in animals that are not in lifeless energetic existences. One animal makes organic element out of inorganic elements and makes it as use for fertilizer. Secondly one animal with himself or other person accompanied others to produce other animals. It is clear from evolutionary outlook that the uniqueness of any existence is not to throw the lower world but to provide it a new structure and work. Animal world existences do not throw world elements of masses made it eatable things and made them helpful to the new animal structure. This truth is verified through animal world. What is the uniqueness of animal world from natural world? The high classed animals of animal clan can traverse from one place to another place? They have the capacity of walking, running or flying. They have senses from them they can gain the initial knowledge of atmosphere for them. But it does not mean that they might be different from animal world in every aspect. Animal like nature existences create their body with eatable things. They produce their race. In animals there are attributes of natural world. It is not enough but in the bodies of animals there is energy forces like plants. Animal world assume the attributes of energy world and nature world both and makes it the foundation for is new qualities. It progresses it or links it in the activity of its new quality. If animal world renounces the special attributes of energy world and nature world as a minor then it will be ruined itself. Uniqueness does not mean to negation of the attributes of its lower worlds but to accompany it. Uniqueness means to work together of more and more attributes.
By seeing man’s uniqueness over animals one can more feel the knowledge of the meaning of uniqueness and grandeur. Man accompanies in his life the attributes of lower life in his life. He evolutes his body and progresses his creed by the attribute of natural life and eatable things. But man developed this in new outlooks. Man eats food by decorating it in plate(a utensil thali) this is absent in the natural and animal world. To eat food decoratively does not mean to complete the needs of body but to satisfy and develop the feeling of beauty. So he eats food with others and develops social feeling. Man while satisfying his sexual feelings creates various ethics. He has developed most aesthetic institution of marriage and linked along with it the feelings of loyalty of wife-husband, purity, friendship and mutual service. So man did not renounce the senses of animals. To renounce it is his death. If he did not use senses then he cannot recognise eatable and non eatable things; and can not live. But he linked his senses with new powers and gained scientific knowledge.
Therefore, the uniqueness of any existence is not that he throws out the attributes of lower existences. It is impossible and this ideal is a mythical ideal. In addition to this, this uniqueness is less valuable because it is not multi-coloured. Evolutionary uniqueness is multi-coloured uniqueness.
The uniqueness of Devatma ‘s sublime life is evolutionary. He did not renounce the attributes of the lower worlds from him, did not abrogate it. He accompanied each and every attribute of the lower worlds in his life and decorate it. It shows his uniqueness.
One greatest attribute of nature is the evolution of individual. Devatma did not renounce his living body, his needs comforts did not condemn it. To oppose this he completely accepted living body’s emotionality. He declared that in separation of living body there is no separate existence of a soul. He accompanied the fulfilment of needs of the body in his sublime life. He never tried that body might be lived on only a slice of a rice it is an insult. He did not ruin the investigation of his taste as enunciators do. And did not take it as opposition to take healthy food. So he got married and be father of the children. He made his married life as a part of his sublime life. He decorated this relation in higher attributes. Above this He developed the feeling of friendship with his wife that was based on highest sublime life. He did not accompanied with a view that wife might be transformed as a mother, this transformation is mythical and inappropriate from the insight of evolution. The second attribute of nature is the evolution of animals that animals who could themselves walk and could get wisdom of their atmosphere by senses. Devatma in his sublime life accepted these two attributes and used it. He never accepted to sit in one place having no movement. He worked to flourished and enhance his sublime mission in traversing various places. He did not assume his senses as a flaw for truth knowledge but helpful. In reality by accepting scientific method he gave more supreme place to senses for the investigation of knowledge.
The third supreme attribute of nature was the evolution of a man. The attribute of a man lies in his progressive intellectual powers, and its supreme knowledge and higher feelings. Devatma adopted the evolution of intellectual powers as a part of his sublime life. With these intellectual powers and logic methods accompanied them in part of his truthful knowledge. He did not assume truth knowledge as supreme to logic methods. So he developed the knowledge of beauty, structure, cleanliness, duty, rule, punctuality, loyalty, self respect, self confidence, self help. He made their evolution as a part of sublime life. So he developed the higher feelings of gratitude, altruism, compassion, justice and obeisance etc. He did not only adopted these intellectual developments, higher knowledge and positive feelings but lead them to highest level also. He made their basis truth and love of goodness so he liberated human attributes from its curses. The description of the limitations of human positive nature and curses and their salvation in sublime life. It is clear that the uniqueness of Devatma is evolutionary. It is the law of evolution that every supreme class uniqueness lays in that fact that he might accompany the attributes of existences of lower life in his attribute and with his attribute provide lower worlds new value and work. Devatma with his sublime life, provided eatables to animals and qualities of caste production the eligibility of walking of animals and senses knowledge and provided man intellectual powers, new shape to supreme knowledge and higher feelings, provided new beauty and new future.
In spiritual world the personality of Devatma is completely different, totally unique. The life which is beyond our understanding, ride on the wave of complete harmony. In the world of the religion there have been various sorts of religious avatar gurus, peers, prophets and saints. Their intellectual thoughts are related to transcendence or hyper natural. And their thoughts had accompanied their personality and behaviour in one compound. Their view is related to the thought that the soul of an individual is not the production of sensual world or natural world. He while wandering from unique world having body has visited this passenger hall of the world. His body is not indistinguishable part of his personality but unfortunate. Bodily pleasures are gallows for his soul and salvation from them is his motive. Man’s return out of this sensual world or nature and oneness with God or oneness with Brahma is unique welfare. These fragmental emotional beliefs decided life and behaviour of gurus, prophets and seers. According their faith this world’s comfort and social relation are bounds(prison) for self salvation. So they showed separation from worldly comforts and renounce themselves from their relatives like parents, sister, brother, wife , children and society. They made God as one consideration of life and subject of love. They achieved success and meaning of life in experiencing God’s mysteries They lost even their consciousness in this mystical experience and considered this situation supreme and gaining this repeatedly consider the completeness of their life. They declared their life’s definitive attribute in God yog or dharm yog. The eligibility of gurutav(to gain guru) is to lose in God.
For an argument, if there is God then we can’t deny that there are energetic things like air, water, fire and land. So there is the natural world of food, fruits and flowers. There is the world of animals and birds. There is the world of individual society accompanied parents, sister, brother, husband, wife and relatives, caste, countrymen and companion men. If we have the duty that we have to rise and develop the feeling of gratitude towards God, love, meditation then Is it not our duty that in individual society, animal world, natural world and energy world we should have to develop the emotion of appreciation, gratitude and service? We have got innumerable services from these four worlds. We cannot live without an air even few moments. Every breath reminds us that we are dependent on world of force. We are grateful to it. Every bite of positive food declares this that I am helpful for your body and soul both. We are dependent upon the air. I make your body healthy and energetic and escape your soul from sensuous life. Every draught of milk shows the introductory service of our animal world. Our knowledge of civilisation art science and literature, religion and philosophy are indebted to fellow men. To forget these numerous benevolent or get rid of these is not spiritualism? But God disciple, seers, prophets, saints and gurus showed disregard to feel and develop the feeling of service in the appreciation of these four worlds. They created songs with full enthusiasm, devotion, and devotional feelings towards God appreciation but did not create and sing songs in the gratitude of four worlds. There is no God disciple who accepted the service of these four worlds as a predominant part of their life as they made God the subject of devotion. Who is the God mentor who has created a positive bond among parents, sister, brother, married partner, caste, country, individual, animal and nature and physics. In their relation the duties, who has written this and accepted duties as essential and indistinguishable part and told their disciples to be one in positive sources and made it their religious source. God related guru in their Samadhi(meditation) do not take give any place to these four worlds. To oppose this they consider this as a difficulty of the thought of these four worlds. Their all life is melted in the love of God and out of this there is no positive relation and service, their personality is monolithic. This is not multi-coloured, one coloured only. They devoted their life with only one existence in their life, there is no place for the coloured world of various benevolent. They in their meditational condition remove their senses from the world. They cut their relation with their surrounding existences of four worlds from the world of mind and intellect. They balance their consideration on God experience only and might be limited
In Devatma there is initiation of new sort of life and personality. He has his intellectual view – that there are various sorts of existences in the world and these are genuine. Every existence has its different life also. Yes, a stone has its own life also and we have to realize its truth. If this stone is beautiful it is our duty to appreciate it. If this stone is a part of decoration of our courtyard then it is our duty to clean it and to protect it from harm is our religion. It is also true to all existences that various existences should be accepted and being their benevolence to them with gratitude their debts to be paid. Our revered guru ji in his Samadhi or meditation does not only meditate with the evolutionary part of nature to whom he was the production, of nature but they deepen their relation with the four worlds to whom they achieved service in one or second time and still getting. He in his meditation searched for these various existences more and more and new to new sources of service and used. He does prayer in his meditation for the existence of these four worlds and their protection and progress. He wished best blessings for his forefathers, parents, brother and social individual. He considers plants, animals and energy world as benevolent and wishes best for them. His Samadhi(meditation) stage was based on establishment and decoration of various attributable existences’ good sides, meditation and correlation and unity. He served these four worlds daily with his own hands. His life is not the legend of the tale of mystic experiences. His life is filled with those aesthetic heart touching incidents that how his life is related to the service of four worlds. These incidents in his life having neither are rare or minor but indistinguishable part of the spiritual life. It was the part of his spiritual life that they keep their things clean himself. He waters the plants himself ploughs it, cut it, serve their the birds himself. He exercises for the health of his body. He takes bath every day. He ate healthy food and wore beautiful clothes. He accompanied for the fulfilment of duties towards parents, brother, wife, children, caste, country, and humans in their spiritual life. Their relation towards four worlds was not of affection but positivity. He has the feeling of enthusiastic regard for minor to minor energetic thing, plants, animal and their heart embraces for their service. The theory of unity in diversity in him takes this contour that we get unity with the various existences of the world when we regard their existences and worried of their service and do continuously. When we consider God and God only is truth then we consider other existences minor or declared illusion.. The stage of Brahm gyan is the condition of nirgun emotion. This nirgun emotion condition is the stage of empty unity which has no place for multi existences and multi attributes. In meditational stage of our God related disciples or Brahmvadi guru or rishi, do not have the nectar and comprehensiveness, completeness, enhancement for the relation of multi existences’ positive attributes. Only that person can take delight of ‘unity in diversity’ who accepts and regards innumerable existences of the world or do service, and he got worried of help and reformation of disabled, helpless, feeble, victim existences. This personality is our Lord Devatma. It is clear that Devatma has completely a new sort of personality. He has a soul that has comprehensiveness and supreme relation that is in the development of earth is unique in itself.
In Devatma in the relation of the existences of four worlds the basis of the service of positive love is unique which we have described widely in chapter two. We have described it in a comprehensive way in chapter two. Our individual’s positivity may separate from truth and goodness. As it separates from lower infatuations. As the avaricious person lacks for his selfishness and an aspirant of freedom can make robbery in banks for the freedom of his country. We know various revolutionaries loot the riches so that they could buy weapons and could murder terrorists to free their country. Our positive thoughts are like our lower feelings under comfort so they are devoid from the tendency of truth and goodness. The path of comfort and goodness is not same. Comforts and goodness on various occasions take separate paths. So the positivity under comfort and goodness and positivity under truth are different in caste. The positivity under comforts is based on myths and inauspiciousness but positivity based on truth and goodness is devoid of this tendency completely. One positive man does not take hesitation to renounce truth for social goodness. He tries to make false ways right in his use to remove social evils. But Devatma does not have the tendency of renunciation of truthful sources at any rate for good to good works.
Devatma is the only eligible DEV for the individual creed. With his help we come across that soul who has created a link in the existences of these four worlds on the basis of truth and goodness and in whom the melody of goodness for these existences is in abundance and this is with evolutionary process is the condition of complete unity. By establishing a bond with them we got enthusiasm, light and power for establishing a relation with four worlds and service. When I clean my things by removing dust from them and protects them from harm then Devamta’s blessings rolls in my ears that when you keep things clean and worried of their harm, then your this process is the truthful side of your spiritual life. If I serve plants then I achieve enthusiasm that Devatma used to serve plants himself and consider it the part of his spiritual life. When I respect animal life and whoever animals is under me take care of them accurately, then for this the outlook of my guru ji is path giver. If I serve my parents then guru ji’s own life is the pinnacle of light for me. If I wished to be an ideal husband then Devatma’s own life is perfectly enthusiastic. If I wish to serve the individuals then he makes me supreme eligible serviceable. If I aspire ideal lord for love then the light of Devatma’s sublime beauty can fulfill the higher to higher aspiration of love.
In Bhagwan Devatma because of the dawn and development of magnificent powers of love of goodness and love of truth, (according to the evolutionary process of Nature) his soul structure become different and supreme than the soul structure of human. And there has been a difference between Him and the attributes of good behaviours of man. Every good behaviour has an internal aspect. This internal aspect colours good behaviour in its colour. If any person serves his parents with the intention that his parents might leave property for him then his good behaviour is replete with ugly colour of selfishness. But if a person serves his parents with the feeling of gratitude then his good behaviour is coloured with the colours of gratitude. But Devatma’s sublime behaviour is coloured with sublime feelings of love of goodness and love of truth. Man’s altruistic behaviour is symbolic of his positive structure’s less or more quantity. And Devatma’s good behaviour completely is coloured with sublime feelings. As we have know the comparison of man’s positive structure and Devatma’s sublime structure that in man and Devatma’s good behaviours there is difference of attributes. By this comparative method there is made an attempt to realize reader the structure of Devatma’s sublime feelings its view and appreciation.
We have described in the last articles that how love of goodness liberated Devatma’s structure of soul from man’s positive structure’s curses.
in supreme soul’s goodness and love. Bhagwan Devatma’s sublime feelings are situated in supreme love of soul. Devatma’s motivations of sublime behaviour are supreme soul goodness related highest feelings. Whereas man’s good behaviour carries the colour of altruistic feelings there Devatma’s good behaviour are coloured in supreme goodness of soul.
Behaviour is a wide word. Cooking food, eating food, and washing clothes and wearing too is not behaviour. Scientific research, thinking and studying is also a behaviour. One instance of a girl in this behaviour shows how many times there is a limited meaning of a word behaviour. Revered P.V. Kanal was the principal of the college and a room of his office was along with his home. This girl kept on watching his revered Revered P.V. Kanal has always been sitting on the chair. She said to his revered mother that Revered P.V. Kanal has been sitting on the chair and don’t do any work. For this girl the meaning of work or behaviour was to use physical labor. Writing scientific or literary book should also be considered in behaviour. Behaviour is this mental or physical process that is to be done with any purpose.
In this article we will discuss the attribute of Devatma’s process of absorption of knowledge.
Incidents and existences have two sides. Fact side and value side. To understand incidents and existences as they are is to know their factual side, for example to know about a chair that it has four legs, ken’s meeting(ken chair)colour is brown the length of its legs is five inch. This all is chair’s factual knowledge. Every realistic science is the name to know evidence’s and existences’ factual side. This knowledge is very hard knowledge. For this knowledge there is need of the use of essential methods. There was the span of thousand times to know and develop these methods. In seventeenth century there was the discovery of scientific methods and the door of knowledge of factual side of incidents and existences opened. Before these scientific methods the methods in use were devoid of incidents’ and existences’ factual side.
At an initial stage man analysed the factual side of incidences on the basis of his ego. Our processes are situated on our mind, these are because of mind. For example if we want to traverse anywhere we start the process of walking. This process of walking is due to mind. Henceforth we endeavour to harm others; it is due to the anger and dispute in mind. We do the process to help others. It is because of our mind’s compassion and love. Man has analyzed natural incidents on the basis of the paradigm of his process.. For example consider an example of rain. Man considered the reason of this is mind and the process Indardev. Henceforth the description of various natural incidents are linked to Goddesses and Gods. On the development of thinking in spite of these various Gods he considered one God as a reason of all incidents and provided him God’s glorious name.
The basis of this thinking level is this that individual has seen the incidents of nature through his spectacles. Science removed these glasses and tried to observe incidents as incidents with their sight.
Science did not only renounce the sight centered on mind but for this new insight discovered an instrument. Neutrally to know the factual side of incidents by scientific methods is called science.
Scientific tells clearly the factual side of the incidents of knowledge but incidents and existences do not have only factual side but value side also. Two persons may have same real knowledge for a chair viz the length of a chair, breadth, height color and contour but it is possible that they might not be agree about the beauty of the chair. One person considers this chair beautiful and other ugly. To understand the aesthetic side of chair it is essential to understand the knowledge of aestheticism and there is prejudices because of dissimilarity of the development of knowledge. It is inaccurate that there is no value side of the chair, only a factual side and value side is only in our mind and this is not the attribute of existence. As the various views about the factual side of existences are not the evidences that there is no attribute of existence, henceforth the difference of the factual side of existence is not the evidence of this thing that things have not the nature of aestheticism or ugliness.
Science has been against the value part of incidents and existences of the analysis side. He did not give it any place in the description of incidences and declared this that there is only factual side of incidents and existences and value side is only the creation of mind. So scientific knowledge is incomplete because it does not lay emphasis on the favor and unsavory of incidents and existences in the side of aestheticism and ugliness. Take Darwin’s evolutionism. Darwin did not analyze the incidents of evolution from the insight of goodness and inauspiciousness, but only on the basis of factual side. His theory is this that in the genes of species there has been a mutation chance and for result there is difference of the attributes of species. The species which have these attributes that are helpful for living these species proceed and those species having such attributes that are not helpful to live these species died. The dawn of new attributes and for the result the development of new species does not based on the ideals of value. The reasons behind the dawn of the attributes of utilization and non-utilization, but this reason is not ideal or valuable. The comprehensive workplace of evolution does not have any relation to values. Darwin considered his evolution only transformation. As energy things link in certain conditions and in some conditions separate at various conditions so this happens in the field of life also.
Psychology also analyzes factual side of processes of the mind. It does not describe mental processes in values.
There is no suspicion that the insult of incident’s and existences’ goodness and curse angles incomplete the knowledge of science. If we leave the value side of the evolution of species then there is not a satisfactory description of this thing that why the development of species continues in this way that is helpful for the development of man. When the change of species is without any purpose then various species’ in various times and their interest in one side how it can be described?
Sociology does not succeed in the insult of value side. They try to conceal the description of this part with new words. Psychologists lays emphasis on the health of mind, economics on the scientific distribution of finance on the basis of justice and injustice. Mental health is related to the favour and unsavoury of mind, and suitable distribution on the favour of justice.
There are two parts of incidents and existences. For this knowledge there should have been knowledge of mind and goodness. The possibility of complete knowledge of incidents and existences is due to these two mental levels. To understand the feeling of facts that gained development in modern science not suitable. It is essential also to understand the emotion of values. In any field the altruistic feeling of knowing true knowledge of facts is not suitable, there is need in this relation to know the values related to knowledge.
It is not sufficient that there should be these two mental weapons but the depth should be same in them in same proportion. If it is not possible then there would be no balance in the facts and value related knowledge of existences and values. Our knowledge will bow either to factual side or value related knowledge.. These two leanings are problems in incidents’ and existences’ complete knowledge. There are two sorts of instruments in Bhagwan Devatma. He has the love for truth in complete ratio. So he adopted scientific neutrality and scientific method in full to know the factual side of soul. It is a believe related to soul that it is the creation of God or the part of Brahma. Bhagwan Devatma considered these faiths against biology. They considered these beliefs that they are not fit in scientific methods and renounced it. Man soul has been derived from animal world as a living force. He has seen its factual contour and presented it. But love of truth is not possible without love of goodness. In Bhagwan Devatma there has been love of goodness in complete shape. He did not only analyzed evolutionary processes of soul as psychologist on the basis of facts but on the basis of value also. He did not only presented the factual side of incidents of evolution but value insight also. He declared that the change in soul is due to goodness and inauspiciousness. Soul has an evolutionary side also as well as destructive side also. The true knowledge and consciousness of soul is track of its evolution. Selfishness of soul and ego related pleasurable feelings are the path of its destruction.
Henceforth by these loves related to truth and goodness Bhagwan Devatma gave the complete description of soul incidents of man. This knowledge is not possible for any person devoid of these feelings. The goal of man soul is altruistic feelings. We know altruistic feeling is not the love of the supremacy of the soul. The scientific knowledge of the factual side of soul is possible only when researcher has the complete love of the supreme goodness of soul. The sublime feelings of Bhagwan Devatma are situated in the supreme good love of soul. He has full ability for the evolution and destruction of the research law of soul. He has gained prestigious award to research the truth as a good behaviour in soul. We, individuals linking ourselves to him, in his light, to know truth by him can show good behaviour. As a researcher of goodness of soul, Bhagwan Devatma’s good behaviour is the good behaviour of a scientist and our behaviour is the good behaviour of a disciple to absorb the truths discovered by him.
We know how there is the part of bias and untruth in the altruistic behaviors of man. With an insight of appreciation of others’ attributes of higher feeling it has been described that how a person having positive attribute becomes follower of his devotional attribute.
(a) He praises one attribute in his devotion there in others he does not feel same appreciation while having the same attribute.
( b) how he becomes in favor of an attribute out of his devotional attributes
(c) how he imputes the structure of attributes
(d) how he appreciates one attribute in hyperbole or in minor. Because of these four biases man is carrying the part of untruth in his altruistic feelings. The lover of truth, Devatma’s sublime feelings are liberal from this part of untruth. Henceforth his truthful feeling is not only pure from the outlook of goodness, but pure from the outlook of truth.. Master Devatma’s love of truth in the book of positivity does this first transformation, this liberates him from mythical differences and angles.(d) how he appreciates one attribute in hyperbole or in minor. Because of these four biases man is carrying the part of untruth in his altruistic feelings. The lover of truth, Devatma’s sublime feelings are liberal from this part of untruth. Henceforth his truthful feeling is not only pure from the outlook of goodness, but pure from the outlook of truth.. Master Devatma’s love of truth in the book of positivity does this first transformation, this liberates him from mythical differences and angles.
(2)
In man’s truth related altruistic feelings like goodness related to his altruistic feelings there are some incompleteness. Every scientist to know any truth devotes his all powers, but does not feel any motivation to propagate that truth.
Any human published his theoretical or scientific truth but does not feel any motivation to propagate it. A common researcher having altruistic love in essential incidents related to truth along with it does not show supportive truthful motivations towards debate, perfect debate, truthful propaganda. In Master Devatma He seen which behavior he seen truth and sublime feeling related to truth are complete in all parts. He has seen which truth for them showed truthful debate, accurate declamation, truth absorption, truth propagation and motivations of support of truth.
(3)
There is one incompleteness in human’s truth related altruistic feelings. One scientist has in one and other field has the feeling of truthful knowledge research and absorption’s altruistic feeling. In its relation he devotes his all powers. Assume that he in the relation of this field has truthful debate, accurate debate, truth absorption, truth propagation and truth support even then there has been incompleteness in them. Where he shows behavior for special field in the same way he does not show motivations towards other fields. essential truth in one aspect does not motivations to the others. One scientist uses scientific method in his field, there he does not use that method towards his religious beliefs. He does not make enquiry of his traditions and ceremony etc with scientific method.
When Modern Eastern philosophy’s ethics’ founder René Descartes got to know that scientist Galilio has been suffered and Roman church on the basis of his astronomical scientific theory sent him in jail then he closed his book that was being published because in this book his beliefs related to astronomy were equal to Galilio. Philosopher David Hume wrote a book Dialogues on Natural Religion against the belief in God. At that time in England there was harsh protest against the faith of God, he and his companions assume that nobody will publish this book and if it got published nobody will leave him alive. With this fear this book could not be published in their life time. This book is most idealistic today on negation of God. Darwin has published his research on biology in the shape of a book but there was so huge protest and he did not take any part in its support. But Huxley hugely supported against this opposition. He by calling himself “bul dog” of Darwin supported Darwin against opponents. With this reason his life shows truthful behavior in one or two angles, but in rest of angles of life his behavior shows untruthful angle.
The love of truth of Devatma is the law of his whole life. It is the law of his every thought and behaviour. This law dominates his whole corner of life. So his whole life is enlightened with truth. Man’s altruistic life related to truth has not this right.
(4)
The ego love of human is the harsh difficulty of having the absorption of truth. The history of science is its evidence that individual is developed from animal kingdom, then common man is not ready to absorb it. There were various reasons of it. One reason was this that truth was against his religious beliefs to whom he was follower. The second reason was that this truth was the wound on his ego. Man has his proud that he is the part of sachidanand lord. Or his producer is all knower, unique and supreme powerful Lord. When science retorted that man is the son of animals then he assumed it his hyper insult and this feeling of inferiority was the difficulty of his absorption of truth. Similarly when science told that earth is not the center of a universe then it does not only hurt his faith but an attack on his ego also. Considering earth as the center of universe was very dear to man so for him truth against this belief was difficult. Henceforth, modern psychology has presented many those truths whose acceptance has been difficult for it, because it is an attack on his ego.
The evolution of science is the evidence of one thing that ego love may be the obstacle in absorption of knowledge. Initially the evolution of science was because of energy. The reason was this that scientist can freely study better in this field rather being more biased. He can accept these bitter truths in this field rather less difficulties. We do not bind in love in the sphere of field of energy, we love our ego more. So, in that relation the knowledge of truth and absorption of truth was not too hard, but in relation to oneself the search of truth and absorption is more difficult. After many years of evolution of energy science there was revolutionary evolution of life science. Darwin’s search was the wound on human’s ego. Hitherto considering evolutionary life force as the creation of God some satisfy their ego. When life science showed truths then individual stepped into psychology. Hitherto there are not spent hundred years of psychology when it takes itself as laboratory science. The history of science tells man has taken huge time to search truth for him in scientific method and introduce it because he was the lover of ego. Bhagwan Devatma being the lover of goodness. His love of truth made the knowledge of soul central point of his study.
(2)
In man’s truth related altruistic feelings like goodness related to his altruistic feelings there are some incompleteness. Every scientist to know any truth devotes his all powers, but does not feel any motivation to propagate that truth.
Any human published his theoretical or scientific truth but does not feel any motivation to propagate it. A common researcher having altruistic love in essential incidents related to truth along with it does not show supportive truthful motivations towards debate, perfect debate, truthful propaganda. In Master Devatma He seen which behavior he seen truth and sublime feeling related to truth are complete in all parts. He has seen which truth for them showed truthful debate, accurate declamation, truth absorption, truth propagation and motivations of support of truth.
(3)
There is one incompleteness in human’s truth related altruistic feelings. One scientist has in one and other field has the feeling of truthful knowledge research and absorption’s altruistic feeling. In its relation he devotes his all powers. Assume that he in the relation of this field has truthful debate, accurate debate, truth absorption, truth propagation and truth support even then there has been incompleteness in them. Where he shows behavior for special field in the same way he does not show motivations towards other fields. essential truth in one aspect does not motivations to the others. One scientist uses scientific method in his field, there he does not use that method towards his religious beliefs. He does not make enquiry of his traditions and ceremony etc with scientific method.
When Modern Eastern philosophy’s ethics’ founder René Descartes got to know that scientist Galilio has been suffered and Roman church on the basis of his astronomical scientific theory sent him in jail then he closed his book that was being published because in this book his beliefs related to astronomy were equal to Galilio. Philosopher David Hume wrote a book Dialogues on Natural Religion against the belief in God. At that time in England there was harsh protest against the faith of God, he and his companions assume that nobody will publish this book and if it got published nobody will leave him alive. With this fear this book could not be published in their life time. This book is most idealistic today on negation of God. Darwin has published his research on biology in the shape of a book but there was so huge protest and he did not take any part in its support. But Huxley hugely supported against this opposition. He by calling himself “bul dog” of Darwin supported Darwin against opponents. With this reason his life shows truthful behavior in one or two angles, but in rest of angles of life his behavior shows untruthful angle.
The love of truth of Devatma is the law of his whole life. It is the law of his every thought and behaviour. This law dominates his whole corner of life. So his whole life is enlightened with truth. Man’s altruistic life related to truth has not this right.
(4)
The ego love of human is the harsh difficulty of having the absorption of truth. The history of science is its evidence that individual is developed from animal kingdom, then common man is not ready to absorb it. There were various reasons of it. One reason was this that truth was against his religious beliefs to whom he was follower. The second reason was that this truth was the wound on his ego. Man has his proud that he is the part of sachidanand lord. Or his producer is all knower, unique and supreme powerful Lord. When science retorted that man is the son of animals then he assumed it his hyper insult and this feeling of inferiority was the difficulty of his absorption of truth. Similarly when science told that earth is not the center of a universe then it does not only hurt his faith but an attack on his ego also. Considering earth as the center of universe was very dear to man so for him truth against this belief was difficult. Henceforth, modern psychology has presented many those truths whose acceptance has been difficult for it, because it is an attack on his ego.
The evolution of science is the evidence of one thing that ego love may be the obstacle in absorption of knowledge. Initially the evolution of science was because of energy. The reason was this that scientist can freely study better in this field rather being more biased. He can accept these bitter truths in this field rather less difficulties. We do not bind in love in the sphere of field of energy, we love our ego more. So, in that relation the knowledge of truth and absorption of truth was not too hard, but in relation to oneself the search of truth and absorption is more difficult. After many years of evolution of energy science there was revolutionary evolution of life science. Darwin’s search was the wound on human’s ego. Hitherto considering evolutionary life force as the creation of God some satisfy their ego. When life science showed truths then individual stepped into psychology. Hitherto there are not spent hundred years of psychology when it takes itself as laboratory science. The history of science tells man has taken huge time to search truth for him in scientific method and introduce it because he was the lover of ego. Bhagwan Devatma being the lover of goodness. His love of truth made the knowledge of soul central point of his study.
How in Devatma’s love of goodness has elaborated man’s higher understanding pure and complete and other side links them to the new work this is described in the five part of this article. We observed that in man’s altruistic behaviours there is a part of impurity of low feelings. In his altruistic feelings there is incompleteness in calculation, comprehensiveness, depth and structure. This impurity and incompleteness is not even a bit in the sublime book of Devatma. There is no beauty and variety in man’s altruistic feelings. The feeling of love of goodness lead Devatma’s sublime book to the final supremacy of purity, beauty, variety and completeness.
The feeling of love of goodness of Devatma does not only provide man a positive book of purity, completeness, beauty and uniqueness but provides it new life and work. The process of Devatma’s sublime feelings is not any essential asset, but the supreme goodness of the soul. So their altruistic feelings by their satisfaction make availability soul’s supreme goodness in one or two angle. They do that new work that the altruistic feelings of man do not do. Above this all altruistic feelings are present in Devatma, whose are the part of four worlds creates their relation of goodness and provide them an atmosphere for enhancement of positive eligibility and make him the source of worshipping. This unique right of the mentor can not be gained by any positive life styled; only to the lover of goodness. We have to argue in this article that how Devatma’s love of truth makes a difference in his sublime structure from man’s positive structure.
(1)
There is a part of myth in human’s good behaviors. The reason is this that man’s altruistic feelings bear the curse of prejudice. Take an instance of the altruistic feeling of praise and appreciating the attributes of others. We see and feel any other attribute in our devotion from the insight of beauty only one attribute in beauty. This attribute touches our heart. But same attribute of other person does not touch our heart. We do not feel any motivation to appreciate him. There are many reasons for this. Due to our disparity with other person we have lower hatred for that person. Most of the people cannot see the beauty of attributes of Devatma because he renounced the believe in Almighty. People from one religious society do not feel appreciation for any attribute or hearing or motivation of any other mentor of religious society which they feel for the attribute of their spiritual master (ishat dev).
Most of the times due to the absence of lower hatred we behave so. This reason is the bias for our devotion. We do not feel an intensity to appreciate the feature of other great personality from pour tongue and voice and not feel power in our pen though both have the same qualities. When I behold only one attribute of appreciation to others and do not praise him similarly not feel motivation then in my altruistic feeling there is limitation of seeing truth. I have an eye to see that attribute, I see it in one person clear in others as a faint. Then the meaning of this is that my feeling of seeing positive attributes is mythical. From the insight of a truth any positive attribute in oneself where it resides should have to behold it in truthful contour. The insight of truth cannot accept individual, social and caste difference.. So the lover of truth, Devatma, in his altruistic feelings this mythical difference is not possible. He sees wherever any positive attribute appreciates it. There was not a dimness of individual, social, caste prejudices in between him and positive attributes. This is not a nature of individual’s altruistic feelings. It is not above from bias. Its foundation is not the love of truth.
(2)
Let’s see the second mythical difference of man’s altruistic feelings. There can be enormous positive attributes in our one devotion. Their contour is good and healthy. The method of walking and speaking is good. The way of his living is good. He is a scholar. He has a compassion for others. This mine emotion to see the qualities of others does not have eligibility to see every positive attribute. Only and only it has the capacity to see specific qualities. Assume I have an eligibility to appreciate physical attributes. In this condition I am attracted towards my devotion’s physical attributes but does not feel enthusiasm in heart by knowing his other attributes on intellectual plane. This mythical difference is the partial contour of our altruistic feelings. To see the others’ feeling shows one sort of attributes. It is not only this, this makes us compelled to be his side. So because of this it shows their reverence to what extent does not show others positive attributes in the same extent. Most of the persons have an insight to behold compassion and highly infatuated for this, and in this manner that they do not give them a place in heart by knowing other attributes on intellectual plane. We see that positive attribute become its follower do mythical difference. The demand of the love of truth is this that every virtue should be seen in the light of truth. For example soul related virtues lay upper most position than other positive attributes. But its meaning is not that other positive attributes should be disregarded. The basis of Master Devtama’s altruistic feelings is the love of truth. He does not disregard any of goodness out of all goodness. He evolved in himself all altruistic feelings of physical, mental, social and spiritual and provided its teaching.
(3)
The third mythical difference of altruistic feelings is related to structure. All positive attributes are not equal in value. Mental attributes are more valuable than physical attributes. In spiritual attributes altruistic feelings are more valuable that are linked to Devatma. The sublime qualities that bind us to Devatma are more important. Assume that altruistic feeling of seeing others’ attributes motivates us to appreciate many sorts of attributes. to see the qualities of others motivates us to appreciate other qualities. But it is not enough. From the truthful insight it is also important that this praise should be according to the quality. If our appreciation beholds less valuable attributes as great than more valuable attributes and feels then it is mythical.
(4)
In spite of mythical differences man’s altruistic feelings use myths also. When our paltruistic feeling sees any positive attribute then in its appreciation there is possibility of two sorts of curses. This attribute needs which appreciation he could not do or appreciates it in hyperbole that is not truth. Take an outlook of freedom. To achieve freedom revolution and sacrifice is the thing of appreciation. But the songs that are sung for freedom that are in abundance than its genuine quality. Henceforth when we describe our attributes of reverence then describe in hyperbole.
There is no such attribute in our altruistic feeling of appreciation that does not separate truth from the description of the attributes of others could bind us in truth. There should be no appreciation more or less than truth and does not let him allow to appreciate neither more than truth nor less than truth. In our altruistic feelings there is tendency of separation from truth. Most of us become superstitious in relations and most of the persons who do not trust others but do suspicion only. Most of us are blindly devotional and few are lacked of one’s attributes. Many are blindly grateful and many do not admit others’ benevolence. In our altruistic feeling’s behaviours there is tendency to voyage from one or second extreme and so our behaviour becomes untruthful.
Due to these four mythical parts in man’s altruistic feelings, he has lack of love of truth. The basis of Bhagwan Devatma’s sublime feelings is the love of truth and henceforth his sublime feelings are motivated by good behaviour are liberal from positive attributes. He sees where and in whom any positive attribute cannot help without praising it. He was not the follower of any attribute and cannot be bereft of any attribute. He has the eligibility to praise and evaluate the attributes according to the value. There is no question of saying in abundance and in minority in the appreciation of their positive attributes. His genuine insight by measuring attributes has evaluated it accurately.
If we assume that man is liberate himself from all sorts of low loves & low-hates and in him all higher feelings developed even then there will be a difference between the behaviour of human and Devatma’s good behaviours. The reason is this that love of goodness is not name of the completeness of altruistic loves. That is the ambivalent attribute of a new life.
We can clarify this fact with a difference. Assume a person has the altruistic feeling of the service of his parents and the altruistic feeling of patriotism also. If this country was encountered by another country then he will have two duties before him. His mother is in a miserable condition no one to serve her. This person’s altruistic feeling of service in relation to his mother demands that he should serve his mother, but in him for country’s service’s altruistic feeling demands that he might recruit himself in the army. Now there is a nervousness between his two higher feelings. He has to select the one out of two, how this selection is possible? What is the basis? Which parameters for measurement? Every altruistic feeling is the light for his special sort of goodness. He cannot enlighten on other goddesses and cannot be emotional equal for them. In this condition how can a person take decisions or can decide? This decision is taken on the land of intensity or predominance. If this person has the altruistic feeling of service for his mother then take decision of the service of his mother. If in him there is a supreme feeling to recruit himself in the army he will take this decision of recruitment. He will give examples. But instances show only that which altruistic feeling in him is intense and he sees which goodness more clearly. Beyond intensity there is no feeling in man on whose basis he could make decision in the opposition of altruistic feeling’s subjectivity. In above incident there was opposition in the subjects of altruistic feeling of service, the service of mother and the service of country. Many times, in spite of opposition of altruistic feeling’s two subjects there has been opposition of various sorts altruistic feeling. Assume that one person has the feeling of compassion and the feeling of justice too and he has to choose candidates for his department. The demand of justice is this he has to select the persons having education, training and experience. He has also the feeling of compassion that demands the help of needy scavengers, punished and refugees. Now how this selection is possible, on what basis? There is no great feeling beyond these altruistic feeling that might be the parameter of decision. I had heard that one officer in his office has eradicated the parameter of eligibility and selected wounded or refugees for the job because he thought that these will do work by getting minor training. Many other officers are those who consider eligibility of the candidate for the selection and they give no any importance to other conditions of candidates. The difference of behaviour of these two sorts of officers is the difference of intensity in his feeling of justice and compassion.
One altruistic feeling has many angles. Assume one committee members of the school are thinking to spend finance on various goodness of children from the motivation of love of goodness of children. There is a question to spend on the library of children, laboratories and sports. These councillors have different views about the distribution of money. One lays emphasis to spend more on library and second talks of spending more on the instruments of laboratory and third suggests of spending money on sports. It difference is because every councillor lays emphasis to his decision in the light of his supremacy of his predominate subjectivity of altruistic feelings. There is no rule left for him than the supremacy to which he could decide right or wrong.
Every altruistic feeling and every part of higher feeling has the capacity to see only its own value. In addition to this every altruistic feeling assumes its demand as a whole because in front of him there has not a plethora of altruistic feelings and no aim above feelings that could help him to prove the opposition of altruistic feelings or select them. Due to this limitation of man’s altruistic feelings according to philosopher Hegal human life is a tragedy.
The positive decisions of a man are based of self not subjectivity. These decisions are based on selfness as our tastes are selfness. Somebody cherishes salty thing and other likes sweet. Somebody likes rasgulla(white Bangali sweet made out of milk cheese) in sweets; and other gulabjamun(dark brown Indian sweet). This basis of this liking is not the attribute of the subject but the feature of the nature of experienced person.. This liking is not subjective but based on self.
The sublime feelings of Devatma do not lack this structure. His sublime feelings are the production of love of goodness. These are complete in calculation, intensity and depth. Above this their love of goodness in them produces the aesthetic attribute of neutrality. No any altruistic feeling considers itself complete, it is completely emotional for the truth of other feelings. Above this when there is disparity in the values of these altruistic feelings or opposition then Bhagwan Devatma’s love of truth becomes the law of their decision. Henceforth where there is curse of selfness in human’s altruistic behaviour there in the Bhagwan Devatma’s altruistic behaviour is replete with attribute of subjective completeness. Where we are in the grip of our feelings, and what is accurate from the point of view of subject we forget there as Bhagwan Devatma feeds altruistic feelings with the subject of correctness. Because human has no trait of love of truth so he has no basis for
decision except subjectivity in the opposition of the values of altruistic feelings. And he is separate from the behaviour. We hear people saying that he is more compassionate, means he is compassionate where he should not be compassionate, where he should not be from the insight of subjectivity. In the nature of Master Devatma no feeling shows more than excessive difference because he is under the feeling of love of truth, and complete subjective.
The difference between of Devatma’s good behaviour is this that the foundation of Devatma’s good behaviour is the love of goodness and man’s good to good behaviour is based on altruistic love. This is easy to prove this difference. The altruistic feelings of man are motivated from his and another’s special or essential goodness. For an example the altruistic feeling of justice may be devoid of the altruistic selfless service of others. An officer may be a good judge but he may be out of the goodness of others or bereft of. He may be selfish so does not completely ready for the service of others. He does not wish to spend his money or power in good work. The altruistic feeling of his justice is not able to see the beauty of benevolence’s aestheticism of goodness. A person having altruistic feeling of non violence can be devoid of the feeling of gratitude. There are persons who do not hunt birds and animals but do not serve their parents and do not take interest in their service. They do not have motivation for the work of service of others. Having one altruistic means the absence of other altruistic feeling. For the love of goodness the absence of any altruistic feeling is intolerable and immoral. Love of goodness is emotional to all spiritual goodness. Therefore it develops all the altruistic feeling in Devatma so that no goodness is left behind.
(2)
One altruistic feeling is not only devoid of other altruistic feelings but accompanies other sorts of inauspiciousness. So with altruistic feeling lower love and lower hatreds can live together. With the altruistic feeling of justice there is lower feeling of sex. Within the confinements of the altruistic feeling of the service of others can have the lower love of taste. A person may be the lover of sex while having the feeling of justice. A person having the feeling of compassion or the altruistic feeling of the service of others may be the slave of tastes. Because there are lower feelings along with higher feelings and continues, so in man’s good behaviours there has been the mixture of lower feelings.
But with love of goodness there is no possibility of lower love and lower hatreds. The reason is this the love of goodness is not devoid of any goodness. So it cannot bear any inauspiciousness. For example a judge can endure the impurity in himself because the motive of the feeling of justice is only the attraction of essential goodness and motivation. But the love of goodness is an attraction and love for all goodness. Henceforth it cannot let any inauspiciousness like impiousness and not having prevention any space. When with the love of goodness there cannot live any lower love and lower hatred, then in Devatma, the lover of truth, there cannot live any lower love and lower hatred. His every good behaviour is filled with complete piousness.
(3)
We can clarify with an instance the altruistic feeling of man of and the love of goodness of Devatma. The basis of the love of goodness is the supreme goodness of soul. The lover of goodness does the same behaviour that might be the source of the supremacy of his soul. He makes the supremacy of soul as an ideal. He measures the various behaviours in such parameter that to what extent is he helpful to perform services to others.
This attribute is not present in altruistic feeling. The parameter of their decision is only the essential and limited goodness, not the supreme goodness of soul. For an example if there is altruistic love in a person to free his slave country from the slavery then he will make the freedom of that country essential, though for this motive he will have to use untrue behaviours to whom there may be harm of his soul. A compassionate person does not imprint his behaviour of compassion on the milestone of the supreme goodness of his soul. He makes milestones to eradicate the pain of others. For an example Karl Marx observed that how capitalists misuse the labourer clan, for this reason the labourer clan is leading a life of poverty and painful unhealth. His compassionate feeling motivated them to change capitalistic society and motivate labour clan to free themselves from this painful condition, painful life. His altruistic feeling showed it central point the reformation in the painful life of labourers, and dipping in this feeling he said in his theory if to eradicate the capitalistic society we will have to use untrue and nonviolent behaviour it is suitable. Untruthful and non violent behaviour armful for health. But for altruistic feeling, soul benefit is not essential.
If the altruistic feeling of an individual had been established in the love of goodness then man should have been complete love for the goodness of soul. If man had been the love for the supremacy of his soul then he must have been the motivation towards the precaution of the doing untrue and inauspicious behaviour because untruthfulness and inauspicious behaviour are harmful to the soul.
In man there is no love for the supreme goodness of the soul; so any man who is lover of comfort, he himself cannot establish his altruistic feeling in the love of supremacy of soul nor can he enslave them.
(4)
There is no trait in man to understand the supreme goodness of soul in itself, so while having altruistic love he does not have scientific knowledge of his altruistic feelings. The scientific knowledge of any thing is to understand its nature and behaviour. Animals and illiterate persons know incidents and with the repletion of them consider them the same incidents. But the laws of those incidents on whom those incidents the incidents are based, they do not know, so they are unable to understand the positive contour of these incidents in the light of science. Henceforth man is unable to understand the same truth though he has altruistic love. The reason is this that in altruistic love the basis of its understanding is not the supreme goodness of soul. Only the supremacy of soul can appreciate altruistic feeling’s necessity, grandeur, appreciation of the beauty and can show it in soul’s supreme law. Along with this it can show it above that how altruistic feelings linking with Devatma can gain one’s soul’s supreme condition. And in this spiritual stage can have obeisance of sublime life(dev roop), that is beyond the reach of common altruistic feelings.
Henceforth only the lover of goodness can understand the altruistic loves in scientific shape. Man sees his altruistic feelings only in the contour of an incidents and understand it. He does not see it in the shape of law and understanding. Only the lover of truth can write the scientific book of altruistic feelings.; can publish it in the laws of soul’s supreme goodness. In addition to the altruistic feelings there is sublime light in the sublime life of Devatma that is absent from man’s altruistic behaviours. The difference between his behaviour is the same as the difference between an engineer and a mechanic who works on machine. Mechanic works on the machine in appropriate way, but he does not know the basis of his correct behaviour. He does not know the real knowledge of the working rules of a machine. There is not a light of understanding in his behaviour. The work of engineer though looks like the work of a mechanic externally but internally there is a difference. His behaviour has a light of the understanding of laws to whom the behaviour of a mechanic is reduced to zero. Devatma sees altruistic feeling in the light of the supremacy of the soul so there is sublime light in his sublime behaviour to which the altruistic behaviour of man is zero.
(5)
The love of goodness taught Devatma that the life of a soul depends on having a relationship with the four worlds and this relation should be linked to the highest values of the soul. Bhagwan Devatma with his love of goodness created a relationship with the four worlds on the basis of the supremacy of the soul and only with the basis of the supremacy of the soul made the behavior of these worlds’ existences.
The difference between a person who has the knowledge of common positive emotion and the understanding of the need to know the relationship with the four worlds of Devatma is like the understanding of a common person and physician. The difference between a common person and Devatma who has emotionality among four worlds is the same as the difference between a common person and an artist. the links with the four worlds is the difference between a simple person and an artist.
Master Devatma created a relationship among four worlds on the basis of soul’s supremacy those truths he had seen their discretional order and prohibited works has been mentioned in Devshastra, volume four. and described it the prohibited works have been described in volume four of Devshastra. There is no possibility to write this book by common life styled person. It is only possible for the lover of goodness.
(6)
The life of the lover of truth, Devatma and his behaviour due to the establishment on soul’s supremacy has become real subject of worshipping and love. The lover of goodness, Bhagwan Devatma has the eligibility of all goodness so his life is the source of motivation and enthusiasm for all persons having positive eligibility. No any positive life styled person can be the fountain of goodness which attribute achieved Bhagwan Devatma because he has-
The difference between any existence’s emotional(sensible) attributes and aestheticism is this that we can show it by a sign of a finger; but cannot give instruction to that beauty. We can give a sign and tell a child about pencil that its colour is red. It is round in shape. Its length is six inch roundness and globosity or globularity is half an inch. But beauty like attributes cannot be pinpointed like signals. Beauty is not one attribute out of the attributes of any existences; it relates to all attributes of collaboration of the structure of an existence. This attribute gains light when any existences’ part are complete in numbering and these parts in itself should be in complete condition and should be balanced to one another in attribute and proposition. Take the observance of the human body. The body of any individual can be said as complete when its parts are complete. If any body is devoid of any part like ear, arms, legs, then this body can not be regarded beautiful. Henceforth whether a person has all body parts but not a solidarity or completeness then this body is not called beautiful. If a person is left pigmy , head is small, undergrowth of a child due to polio, no proper proportion of parts, then body again can not be called beautiful. In adolescence the parts of a body do not grow together not in a proper proportion. One parts is properly developed other is not properly developed or less developed. In this condition of adolescence the proposition of parts in the relation of one another is not balanced and body looks ugly. When this body is proper in proportion then the mutual proposition of his parts is accurate and he looks beautiful. It is clear that we evaluate the beauty of existence from out of these three milestones that Is the numbering of his the body parts is complete? Is there complete growth of every part? Is the mutual proposition of parts accurate? In beauty contests these are the parameters through which the decision of the beauty of a candidate is observed.
There is a disparity between the quality and beauty from one other insight also. Beauty is not bound to any one structural attributes. One body may be beautiful, one painting may be beautiful, one song may be beautiful, one contour may be beautiful, one fiction may be beautiful, yes one logical connotation may also be beautiful also. Euclid’s Euclidean geometry is considered an excellent logic.
It is proved from this description that beauty is a attribute of organic whole; whose parts are in completion, the growth of parts is accurate appropriate and mutual proper balanced proportion of parts.
It is proved from this description that we constitute these three milestones on good behaviours. Good behaviour and his motivated emotion create a whole. If we see the aestheticism of any good behaviour then we will have to accompany his feelings also. Assume that a land-owner(contractor) gives money in hospital for charity. His feeling may be to seek favour of those land-owners who can help him to give land debts. One other landowner provides the same favour like first land-owner but his feeling is gratitude. When he was a child his parents were paupers and he got service from this hospital. And he gives this charity by the motivation of the source of paying debt. Which is beautiful out of these two good behaviours? When we observe positive behaviour and its driving force as a correlative balance then it is clear that the behaviour related to selfishness is ugly; and the behaviour whose part is gratitude that good behaviour is beautiful. We have seen in the last articles that in individual’s good behaviours there is a mixture of lower feelings viz shapeup or invisible, visible and invisible lower emotions. When we see to accompany human’s good behaviours with its motivated feelings then we can feel clearly that they are left lower from the outlook of beauty.
We have got information in last article if there are no low feelings in human and only higher feelings are in man even then there will be a difference between the good behavior of an individual and Devatma. There are faults in man’s positive structure. His positive structure is not complete in numbering, in every higher feeling there is no complete comprehensiveness. It has no suitable depth, no suitable structure. When there are fallacies in the higher feeling then their completeness does not fulfil the parameters of beauty. We can show this by comparing any part of the body to any one of higher feeling. We take the higher feeling of gratitude. We observed that our feeling of gratitude is not emotional to all benevolent persons. If we give example with our body then we can say that there are lacks in our higher feelings as our fingers might be three in number. In our benevolent feeling there should have been depth in relation to our benevolent but there is not a depth. Our gratitude should have been in same proportion of gratitude towards various benevolent or only one benevolent’s various services but it does not happen. Our higher feelings are like our first hand having three fingers then the thickness(motai) needed is lost, and thirdly the finger that should be long it might be small, and vice versa then hand will be looking ugly. When we might be able to see our positive structure in a balanced whole then we will clearly experience that in it how much lacking of beauty. Now if we accompany positive feeling with good behaviour to examine this completeness then we got to know that how the beauty of good behaviour is left minor.
Assume that the higher feelings of an individual are complete in numbers, comprehensiveness, depth and structure even then in the structure of higher feelings there has been the tendency of untruth though it does not take the shape of behaviour bur it is present in the shape of thought and henceforth in the structure of higher feelings there is this minor ugliness. The structural foundation of Master Devatma’s highest feelings is love of truth and goodness, that’s why there is not room left in his highest emotional structure for ugliness views of untruth and inauspiciousness and evil. On his highest feelings’ sun there are no clouds of untruth and inauspiciousness and evil.
In man’s good behaviour’s motivational higher feelings if there is less mixture of low feelings and the numbering of higher feelings in great proposition, comprehensiveness, depth and structure, they continue to be aesthetic. lower powers in less degrees in a person he can obtain the emotions of higher feelings. But because for man there is an ideal limitation to get rid of lower feelings and to obtain all higher feelings’ complete structure so the positive behaviour of a person may be aesthetic in a less or more proportion. In his higher feelings there is no mixture of any shapeup and invisible lower love or the feeling of ego. His higher feelings are completely pure. In spite of this, in his structure there is no lack of higher feelings’ numbering. There is no any curse in his every higher feeling’s comprehensiveness, depth and structure. Master Devatma’s positive structure in numbering, comprehensiveness and depth and structure are so are aesthetic completely. His good behaviours are enlightening with the aesthetic structure of highest feelings. The proper match of his good behaviours and higher feelings makes very aesthetic structure. The good behaviours of Devatma are replete with compete beauty.
This difference can be understood from one other insight also. When any good behaviour is done with any one higher feeling then it is less valuable to higher feeling that might be done with two three higher feelings. Assume I work for the rights of the scavengers. I do this positive behaviour due to the motivation of good behaviour of justice. This good behaviour is valuable. But If I have the feeling of compassion for scavengers along with this the feeling of love for humanity, then in that good behaviour these three higher feelings will be motivated and will colour my valuable. But If I have the feeling of compassion for scavengers along with this the feeling of love for humanity, then in that good behaviour these three higher feelings will be motivated and will colour my good behaviour in its colours. My behaviour will be multicoloured and very valuable. Rainbow colours carry how many higher feelings in itself, that good behaviour will be more valuable to this extent. The numbering of man’s higher feeling is limited to one or two higher feelings only, therefore there is not the beauty in our good behaviours such like a rainbow. So, from external side there may be similarities in human and Devatma’s any good behaviour but from inside there is a huge difference like land and sky. There is a complete aestheticism like rainbow in the good behaviour of Devatma and good behaviour in its colours. My behaviour will be multicoloured and very valuable. Rainbow colours carry how many higher feelings in itself, that good behaviour will be more valuable to this extent. The numbering of man’s higher feeling is limited to one or two higher feelings only, therefore there is not the beauty in our good behaviours such like a rainbow. So, from external side there may be similarities in human and Devatma’s any good behaviour but from inside there is a huge difference like land and sky. There is a complete aestheticism like rainbow in the good behaviour of Devatma and human is lacked of this feature of good behaviour.
Let us try to understand the second difference of good behaviour of Devatma and individuals. Assume that individuals are free from all evil feelings then Will there be a disparity between humans’ and the internal difference of good behaviours of Devatma? To answer this, for us it is essential to understand the attributes of man’s higher altruistic feelings and nature.
(1)
Any human has positive of feelings in less number. In the life of great humans where there are many positive altruistic feelings in very aesthetic and bright condition, many other altruistic feelings are no more there or absent. When this fact is genuine in case of great men then it is more enforced in the life of common higher life of the individuals. In opposition to this Devatma has the complete garden house of the highest feelings. He described these sublime forces in his autobiography “Mujh me dev jeevan ka vikas” that was sprouted in him in the very age of sixteenth. He says that he has developed obedience, gratitude, help of needy, attraction towards others sublime activities, decorum, altruism, obeisance, charity, proper protection of things, attraction of flowers and birds, self help and respect. There was no altruistic feeling that He is lacking. In number He has complete higher feelings.
(2)
In any individual soul his positive feelings are not only limited in numbers, his every positive feeling is limited in comprehensiveness also. Assume one person has the feeling of gratitude, this feeling is not universal. It shows limited services in the relation of benevolent and motivates to pay the debts. Those persons who show their gratitude towards their parents it is not essential for them to show same gratitude towards sister-brother, wife husband, their servant, their friend, neighbour, country, caste, individuals, animals, nature, physical world. Most of the people feel and show the behaviour of gratitude towards them, forget the same towards their parents. The gratitude of Shravan Kumar was limited to his parents. In the relation of rest of the service givers there is no any utterance of their gratitude. Henceforth the area of the positive feelings of man or comprehensiveness is limited.
In Devatma’s higher feelings there is no lacking of this sort. For an instance his gratitude links him to other service givers and enlightens the ways of goodness. The gratitude of Bhagwan Devatma is emotional towards four worlds and in these worlds in him is emotional towards service givers. Our gratitude shows other service givers’ glorious contour and motivates ourselves to be serviceable to others but our gratitude is unable to show aesthetic contour of all benevolent. Other positive feelings are blind in several angles. We are not able to recognize the benevolence of many benevolent.
The knitting of our positive feelings is like the partially colour blind person who can behold few colors and few not. Some persons of them can see red and green colour but can not behold red and green color and vice versa.
So, few of us can observe the gratitude towards our parents but not towards our mentors, philosophers or scientists. Some persons feel positive love for their country but not for animal world or natural world or physical world..
(3)
Assume that our gratitude becomes eligible to see all benevolent and our sight is able to recognize all benevolent and we are certified serviceable for them. Even then there will be a difference between an individual and Devatma.
The one angle of feelings is depth. Two persons while grateful may be different from the insight of depth. One’s gratitude may be deep and others’ less deep. Not every son is Shravan Kumar, the reason behind this is that not every lad’s depth of gratitude is similar to Shravan Kumar.
When we observe the gratitude of all benevolent even then the level of the depth of gratitude is not same. The depth of our gratitude does not depend on quality and quantity of service. For an instance if any person helps us to get job or cure in disease then we kept on whispering the melodies on him but not our parents. But the service given by our parents is comparison less than these helps.
The gratitude of our Bhagwan Devatma is free of these curses. His gratitude is not showing even all benevolent but shows the depth of the service of gratitude of those benevolent. He feels gratitude towards his servant, gardener or goat. He was the well wisher of the four worlds’ benevolent with the feeling of gratitude for them in his routine prayer or meditation. The basis of his gratitude was his love of goodness. So the depth of his gratitude was in proper proposition in attribute and complete quantity of service. We attract very much towards many benevolent and even by calling other as benevolent we do not feel that happiness that should be.
(4)
There is one more curse in our positive feelings thought and we can clarify it too from the feeling of gratitude. We get several services from a benevolent person (benefactor). Our parents nourish us. It is a physical service for us by them. They teach us themselves or sent to a school. They tell us their experiences. These are their mental services for us. In addition to this they teach us good courtesy. They present before us the positive environment by their life’s positive attributes. It is their spiritual service for us. Now we should have been more grateful for our parents for their spiritual service, on second position their mental services, thirdly from them for us their physical services. It is the reason that spiritual services are most valuable, mental services are of second number or physical services are of third number. If our gratitude had been based on the love of goodness then we might be most grateful to our parents for their spiritual services. And from this structure we feel gratitude for the rest services but it does not happen. Physical services of our parents touch our heart, but not mental services by them. Knowing even their mental and spiritual services we do not feel the depth of gratitude towards them that should have been.
The definition of gratitude should be based on the quality of a service. There are several services we are not feel gratitude not emotional to get these services. Some person feel gratitude towards their father and forefather because they left enormous finance and prestige but not highest life and society. Most of the persons feel regard for a person who cures him in ailment but not feel gratitude for the same person for mental and spiritual services. Simply the gratitude of a grateful person has this forth curse.
The gratitude of Bhagwan devatma does not have a clear insight towards all services but according to their quality and attribute it has the depth of gratitude and structure for every service.
Whatever we have said from the insight of gratitude it is clear about the positive feelings. Take an example of attraction towards the appreciation of others attributes. We have this feeling even then we are not attracted towards the depth and quantity of all sorts of good attributes. For them the depth needed we do not feel or to which structure should have been the feeling of attraction we do not feel. For an instance a person having the attraction towards others external attributes appreciates others piousness but for him for the newness of thoughts feels no appreciation in his heart but in opposition those persons who feel appreciation for others for the newness of thoughts but do not feel appreciation for Brahamcharya. We, humans where having appreciation for positive attributes there because we are innocent to sublime attributes do not feel any appreciation or attraction in heart. Similarly to know some attributes of others we do not feel depth of attraction that should be. There was my disciple who was praising my college professor. He appreciated his physical health in spite of his mental health, wherefore he was a good scholar also. It seems so that this disciple was infatuated by this professor’s physical health rather than mental health. It is clear from this outlook too that to what extent this structure should have been given emphasis to the appreciation of attributes, that is too lacking in it.
(5)
We have found five incompleteness in the feeling of humans, the higher feelings of a human (a) incomplete in the sight of numbering; very brief in comprehensiveness; (b) lack in the quantity of depth (c) they do not feel gratitude in the area of attraction, belief, regard and gratitude, that is the structure of attributes, our higher feelings do not see these attributes in that structure and there for them in this structure there is no belief, appreciation, depth that should have been.
(6)
We had raised question when human has only higher feelings qualities and in them only there may be no evil feeling then in this condition there is any difference left between individuals and the feelings of Devatma? Then we can reply in an affirmative way. On the level of higher life there is a difference between the feelings of an individual and Devatma. There are above four vacuities in the higher feelings of a man, henceforth his good behaviours are incomplete because they are incomplete while they are representative of higher feelings. In opposition Bhagwan Devatma’s higher feelings are liberal from these four lacking. There comprehensiveness of their higher feelings is complete. The depth of their higher feelings is complete. There is wholeness of structure in their higher feelings. So there is an attribute of wholeness in their positive behaviour where our positive behaviours carry the curse of incompleteness.
In brief the initial disparity between the human and good behaviors of Devatma is the disparity of purity of feelings second disparity is the completeness of feelings.
Altruistic feelings are blessings for man. They free us from the exile of selfishness and ego and bless us with the relation with this world and any part of society. When we have the altruistic feeling to appreciate others then we are attracted towards existences having aesthetic attributes. We are participants of their life. We enhance our comprehensiveness and multiple attributes. One artist seen sunlight sprouting in one bundle of wheat. All people of village kept on seeing this light. But this artist has seen the beauty on wheat. He was too infatuated that he started to dance and ran unconsciously to take his colours and canvas so that he could paint this beauty of light He was too infatuated with the light of sun and moon sprouted on churches, earth sights, brooks and oceans, flower and fruits that he become special artist in the beauty of light’s painting in the world. He made hundreds of paintings in which showed aestheticism by the light of sun and moon. His soul become participant of wide beauty of light. We, common people are far away from beauty of light in the world, we become frustrated and live in darkness. To be far away from this side of beauty shrinks our life. Altruistic feelings are our eyes that makes us capable to obeisance of the beautiful attributes of world. Except these we live blocked in our dark narrow hut of ego and selfishness. If we could see our parents’ benevolences then we link to our parents with aesthetic feelings. Our life embraces them. We, by their service enlightens our life by multiple attributes. The positive love of mother-father and from children their positive service is an aesthetic heavenly view of social bonding. This paradise is possible only because of higher feelings. Every altruistic feeling opens for us truth, goodness, aestheticism’s supreme lovely view. Our altruistic feeling of attainment of truth knowledge or research enlightens our mind with any truth. We enter in light from darkness. When sense of beauty makes us capable to any earthly beauty then our mind enters in light. When our feeling of gratitude shows anyone’s services then we feel credit in our life. When we get human life from uncivilised life then our altruistic feelings enlighten our mind with truth, aestheticism and goodness. Without experience of truth, aestheticism and credit we are breathing body only, humans in darkness, equivalent to lifeless things. The difference of human from other animals is that he can gain knowledge more or less., can appreciate beauty more or less or can produce, can take knowledge and training of moral laws more or less. The evidence of this thing is that work of education is to provide truthful knowledge, appreciation and production of beauty and to develop it in courtesy and moral behavior. These eligibilities of human are in the shape of a seed and work of education is to awaken and develop it. As a seed sown in productive earth progress towards perfection while getting water and light and takes the shape of a beautiful tree, similarly while getting useful opportunity one altruistic feeling progresses towards its perfection. Assume one scientist has higher feeling of knowledge of truth. It has been his motivation that he should search new to new truthful researches in his field. When he researched more wide truth that accompanies previous truth also, then it has been more satisfaction and more perfection of his truthful knowledgeable positive feeling. As long as his level of truthful knowledge increases, then his truthful knowledge related positive feeling gets ideal perfection. This thing is true to rest of higher feelings. Take the altruistic feeling of appreciation of positive attributes. One of my pupil appreciated my fellow mentor more. I asked, “What attracted you in that mentor?” He said that heath of that mentor is very good, his way of walking is very good, his colour is fair and cheeks are red. We will say that the appreciation of this pupil to his mentor is of lower class and imperfect. Appreciation of the health of any person is good thing but if he has no any attribute in appropriate quantity, but this mentor was scholar in his subject. He was perfect in teaching. If my student’s positive emotion of appreciation had been more perfect then he would appreciate this teacher’s scholastic value and perfection in teaching then his positive emotion of appreciation would be more perfect. Take the feeling of gratitude. If I feel gratitude for the physical services of my mother and father, sings their attributes and serve them then feeling of my gratitude is of lower and imperfect. If I feel this also how they sent me in good college by spending less on their needs and himself taught me then the feeling of my gratitude is more perfect. If I feel gratitude for them too that they presented me honesty or knowledge of duty or purity or justice or altruism’s life then my gratitude will gain supreme perfection. Human caste is not motivated to gain his caste’s perfection, it has creative motivation to gain his caste’s attributes above its upper condition. Man has the motivation of super human. Higher feelings of man does not satisfy in achievement of perfection. They have creative motivation. They have drive to make new species. We know that human species from bygone ages with his devotion, gratitude, love and faith’s social attributes have been focused to past existences. The imagination of God is imagination of that existence who has complete attributes. But unfortunately human did not recognize God’s complete altruistic feeling’s completeness. God religions’ say that God is idol of love, ocean of compassion, protector of all, nurturer of all. But compassion, love, protection or nurture is higher feeling. God has not been imagined lover of truth and goodness. God is called all knower. Being all knower is not being lover of truth. Having truthful knowledge is not its love. One pupil may be bright in his education, though he has no knowledge for truthful knowledge. I know a pupil who got first class in mathematics. After result he has put all books of mathematics on the top of the roof closed in trunk as he has no relation to them now. Being very intelligent in mathematics knowledge he has no any love for knowledge. Almighty is called supreme but he is not called lover of goodness. We having good character can be innocent to its all values. High character person can be devoid of value of high character. Love of goodness is not only supreme what might be conscious for supremacy that there is no comfort more than soul goodness. It is clear that altruistic feelings of man are helpless to imagine himself as the imagination of past in the contour of imagination of ideal, though their search may be very simple, continuous and deep. The inner endeavor of human species’ higher feelings is that it will get supreme humanity, according to evolutionary process, though he has been separated from mythical imagination of Almighty. Evolutionary process has produced Devatma that man’s altruistic feelings might be the feelings of super humanity or new caste. There is capacity in their supreme contour that that they produce man’s altruistic feelings’ new caste that is called Devatma’s supreme sublime feelings. Take feeling of gratitude. Before Bhagwan Devatma man’s gratitude feeling was emotional towards four worlds’ s one or two benevolences and gets satisfaction in their service. Any person’s feeling of gratitude’s supreme perfection lies in that he might feel gratitude towards that positive benevolent who has awakened or develop the feeling of reverence or devotion or knowledge of duty or liberated from any desire or lower feeling or feeling of sex. Before Devatma man’s gratitude was emotional and serviceable towards positive advantages only. Inner endeavor of evolutionary process is that altruistic feelings should leave their bygone limitation and enter in new caste. This was possible only when there would be such initiation whose life will be above to positivity or the life of old and who could do that benevolent that would be above the feeling of positivity. And there should be initiation of that benevolent who with soul knowledge can enlighten it, can awaken and develop self knowledge. That benevolent is Devatma who has complete development of sublime powers of truth and goodness who has got enlightened, in their light he has researched the knowledge of truths related to soul structure, development of its progress and salvation from destruction. A person who centered his gratitude towards Devatma, feels that qualities of heritage, the light of intellect, feelings of beauty and development of higher feelings reached to its pride only when they are enlightened with sublime light and be helpful to sources of development. Gratitude centered to Devatma is the gratitude towards his sublime light and sublime power. Sublime light and power’s benevolence is not any positive benevolence who can do one positive person to another. This is not a benevolence and supreme in the row of benevolences, this benevolence does not come in any other row of benevolences. It is its own contoured itself only one unique benevolence. Its grandeur and pride is separate. It has no comparison to other benevolences. Sublime light is different from altruistic light. Sublime light is different from altruistic power. I, with the help of my feeling of gratitude can see the benevolences got from others. Assume my benevolent has produced knowledge of duty in me. I can see myself in him the benevolence because feeling of gratitude and knowledge of duty are both higher feelings. These are sub species of positive nature, but for the appreciation of benevolence of sublime light and sublime power needs sublime light. On my altruistic level I cannot see beauty and grandeur of sublime light because creeds of sublime light and altruistic light are different. These are no two values of one row. Their experience is different. The initiation of sublime light is sublime powers. The initiation of altruistic light is positive nature. So, in my altruistic light I cannot see benevolence of sublime light; I need sublime light that could show me super aestheticism and grandeur of the fruits of sublime light. Sublime light provides me eyes and light to which I can see its unique beauty as sun provides me eyes and light, so that I could see grandeur of its light. And in this way, my feeling of gratitude cannot lead to final stage as long as sublime light does not provide him eyes and light to see fruits of sublime light. I have feeling of gratitude for Devatma when it does not have new eye and new insight and does not have new caste. In this stage, I can feel gratitude towards Devatma that he has liberated me from one or other low-loves and low-hates or developed in me one or other altruistic feeling. On this level I can see Devatma as a altruistic person, not above this. When my feeling of gratitude gets enlightened from sublime light whom I feel that sublime light shows the beginning structure of soul, laws of nature and life-death and appropriate meaning of salvation and development and sublime power can only give me power to get salvation and development, only then my feeling of gratitude gets new creed. This thing is also true to higher feelings of devotion and faith. If I have devotion towards Devatma so that He spent his life in benevolence of the world then my gratitude sees him in the contour of great personality. But when my devotion gets enlightened from sublime light then it becomes eligible to appreciate Devatma’s sublime life’s supremely great grandeur and becomes new contoured devotion. Our truth belief’s positive feeling being centered to Devatma gets complete perfection. When our faith is related to any altruistic life styled person’s supreme character then it does not reach to its final stage which it could get complete satisfaction. Our belief’s positive subject is not liberal from uncertainty. Its reason is this that no any positive styled person is from destruction(decay) and ruin. Our motivation of lower nature can raise head ever and can ruin the earning of positive life. Our can be unsuccessful at the time of examination. On our psychology there is dominance of the law of pleasure. The law of pleasure is not the law of truthful way. In it there is not complete hatred for untruth and inauspicious. So it can separate our life from the way of truth. Consciously, though we had no any speechless lust but it can be unconsciously because law of pleasure can also work on unconscious plane. It is the evidence of literature and history that seers also got separate from moral laws in one or other way. Our belief’s altruistic feeling needs such personality whose behavior does not show any uncertainty, whose behavior like laws of nature eternal on truth. We can only believe on Devatma who has complete love for truth, for this reason cannot separate from truth. He has complete love for goodness and as a result they cannot separate from inauspiciousness. He has complete hatred for untruth and inauspiciousness so he has no tendency of untruth and inauspiciousness that will be problem and betray him for his behavior of truth and goodness. So our altruistic faith in him gets us feel complete success. There are four differences between higher feelings centered on Devatma and higher feelings centered in altruistic.soul.
For deepening the relationship with Devatma is having love of his sublime life. There may be different levels of love with Devatma. We can love Devatma with the feeling of gratitude. My gratitude recognizes his benevolences(benefits) more it does not get tire to sing its songs of glory. He devotes all his money and powers to spread the grandeur of its benevolences. He reminds me to chant his benevolences. And I, on the level of gratitude, can feel and develop love for Devatma.
There is limitation of this level of love. This love is constituted on the benevolences of Devatma, it is dependent, bonded, partial, qualified and based to Devatma’s extrinsic value or utility. I love him for his benevolences. If I had no utility for them then I cannot love him, as a doctor who did not cure me, there is no chance for me of his gratitude. I feel gratefulness for a doctor in this condition when he might cure me. Before this there is no condition for me to feel gratitude. Gratitude feeling is dependence of others for me. So my feeling of gratitude for Devatma depends on his utility for me, it is bonded. And as a result it is not impartial but relative.
I can feel gratitude for a doctor even when he cures my daughter or wife. I recognize my family members as participants of my “I” and feel the feeling of gratitude for a doctor, sings its song. I respect and revere them. I can feel the gratitude towards that doctor who may cure my friend, who will cure my teacher. If I am serving the orphan children of any organization then can feel gratitude for this organization’s doctor who serves orphan children wholeheartedly under me. I can feel gratitude towards a doctor who cures my pet dog or a cat, my friend, my teacher, children helpless under me, or cure my plants from any disease. My “I” can accompany my family members, my friends, my mentor, helpless children under me, animals and plants dependent on me, yes energy matters. While the so comprehensiveness of my “I” the feeling of my gratitude is dependent on the utility of doctor. If there has been no utility of this doctor of this sort then I did not feel any gratitude for this. My gratitude is dependent on utility (conditional). This matter is also real in relation to Devatma, I do not feel gratitude for Devatma for his personal benevolences, I am grateful to him also, because was benevolent towards my family members, my one or other fellow or other dependent persons. Though I feel his benevolences on wider scales, on this feeling develop for him deep and eternal attraction, this is not impartial love.
I can love Devatma on the basis of reverence also. Then I understand and appreciate benevolences from Devatma, their driving forces and benevolent feelings situated in love of goodness, then my relation is on the level of reverence. If I see the feelings beyond the emotions of Devatma and I am resplendent with appreciation and for them developed attraction and love even then my love is not impartial. Whenever my reverence is based on the utility part of Devarma then my love for him is bonded to him in ‘I’. If I feel attraction towards Devatma’s sublime life because in his sublime life there is source and strength to free humans from low nature and evolution in higher nature and so in their sublime life there is welfare of humanity and rest of three worlds, then my love also is dependent on their utility part. If there is no development of reverence except his life’s utility part then my reverence and love is relative not impartial.
Impartial attraction and unconditional love only is the only supreme love. To understand this we will have to understand difference of existences or two sides of attributes. The value of various things is limited to its utility for us. There is no value of money in itself. Its utility is because of that we can purchase desirable things. So the price of things related to our need and comfort lies in their utility for us. They have not their own value. Theoretically the price of money and things is extrinsic value, not intrinsic value. The value of our motor, t.v. telephone is because that they are the source of our happiness and comforts. By falling Anu bomb(atom bomb) if there has been no human creed then motor and t.v and telephone having no price. But there are some existences who are valuable in expedient shape and feasible shape also. They have their extrinsic value and intrinsic value both. Their one side is such whose grandeur is linked to one another’s relation and second side is such whose grandeur is in itself. The grandeur of sun’s one side is of our relation. It is the basis of our life. It gives the power of behavior to lighten the dark world. The second part of sun is its beautification in itself that is free its relation to us. We take one more clear view that is suspicious. There are two sides of scientific knowledge. This knowledge is very essential. By this knowledge we travel in airplane except bullock cart. Cycle, train, bus, truck or car clarify scientific knowledge’s utility part. The era of machines is the product of scientific knowledge. The scientific knowledge of body and its diseases has eradicated many diseases like plague and chickenpox. Ayurveda has reached sources for freedom from many diseases. But scientific knowledge is valuable in itself. Man related to scientific field can tell us that we could not utilize scientific knowledge in any field. So its meaning is not that scientific knowledge is not valuable. Unani philosophers gave so much emphasis of truthful knowledge in itself that they considered applied knowledge as zero. Even today if a scientist who searches any department or searches angle’s truth knowledge, he is considered more supreme who researches experiments of truthful knowledge. If we love true knowledge because it is useful then our love is not neutral. Our love is prejudiced. We do not love truth for truthful knowledge, we do not appreciate it, as it is in itself, what is its value in our relation we appreciate only this, love it. When we give value to truth knowledge as truth knowledge feel attraction towards it, be its lover then our love impartial.
We clarify it with one clarification. Einstein was silent, solitude and live in loneliness personality. He was living to that place where his neighbours were unknown to his supreme intellect, physician intellect, supreme creativity in mathematical physicist. One neighboured school girl came to him to take his help in mathematics. He loves children. He accepts her request. Same girl used to come for mathematics to him. One day when he solved the sum and went to school then her teacher astonished that this girl has solved the sum in this way that nobody knows in the world of mathematics. Teacher asked her how to solve it. Then people come to know that one personality lives in their neighbourhood. Now the utility of Einstein for this girl was that he proved the simple and new method to solve the sum. This was the basis of her relation towards Einstein. Einstein cannot give this girl his understanding. Its meaning is not this that the value of Einstein ceases to the help of this girl. If I girl come to know truths invented by Einstein, even then she might not be. Einstein’s life has those attribute that will not be removed to know his truths. When Einstein has used so minor mathematics for his theory of relativity then that time it is said that in the whole world of science only six scientists can understand him.
Assume these six also could not understand their relativity and so there will be no utility of him in the sphere of relation then his uncommon understanding was not valuable in itself. Was not? Absolutely it was very valuable. Einstein has searched that truthful knowledge it was not based on its utility only but other innovative scientists found utilities, truths researched by them, that were also very useful for humanity. But still there was huge (like earth and sky) difference in understanding of value of Einstein and understanding of uses of these truths. It is clear from all this description that truth knowledge has both intrinsic value and extrinsic value. Its value is in intrinsic and extrinsic. Extrinsic value cannot take the space of intrinsic value. The utility of knowledge is minor to its intrinsic value. The value of knowledge is free from its utility value. It is not dependent on it. But experiment depends on value knowledge, it is not free from it. Highest love is for intrinsic value that is neutral, hyper bonded, is itself valuable.
This reality is also constituted with the love of Devatma. There are two sides of the life of Devatma. His one side is related to others. It is the side of utility. His sublime life’s utility for others is that they can give them salvation from lower feelings according to their eligibility and can develop higher altruistic feelings. He did not only liberate us from low-loves and low-hates but provide us purity also. He can give us true knowledge of human soul and true consciousness of human soul welfare. His this side is related to our relation. This is his utility for us. His one more side is also there which he cannot provide others. He is in itself the lover of truth and goodness and hates untruth and inauspiciousness. He is sublime contoured personality. He cannot give us this life. He cannot make us the lover of truth. Its meaning is not that his love of truth is not valuable in itself. When we love Devatma for his utility part of sublime life, then our love is not impartial it is relative. I become Devatma’s supreme lover disciple when I love his sublime contour (Dev-Rup) for the sake of sublime contour (Dev-Rup). In this tendency of love, I do not need anything from him, though it is related to desire related to my salvation; because my relation is not related to what can he do for me. But my relation, what is supremely magnificent in itself is with him. In this condition He blessed me fortune to live in his world or live near to him, yes, if he might present before me his sublime shape even then I, being bowing my head will pray not to provide this supreme right or advantage because I am afraid of that my unconditional love will be altered to conditional love because of his presence. In this love there will be satisfaction of ego. This love can be impartial if it is only be the lover of sublime contour’s emotionality, though the value of this obeisance will be my death, eternal death.
For Devatma’s sublime life and sublime beauty and love for sublime influences, above are blessings on any level. We will clarify it in the next chapter. But as long as the level of love gets higher as long the level of Devatma’s appreciation of life raises. And on this level man reaches the highest peak of Himalayan in this appreciation.
Hush! Hush! The sane workhouse of this virtuous personality will not fructify though he undergone innumerable afflictions and torments. Burning! Burning! His overloaded mishaps and miseries for the Mission led him to the shroud exactly but he carried the aspiration of truth, henceforth he has been abandoned long ago. He endured all this enthusiastically as a valiant and emerged with the earthen lamp of the genuine evolutionary process of Nature in his hand. Will this all be stale? Will it not attain triumph? He bore the repetitive boundless anguish, trauma, self sacrifice and living pain for perfect liberation and altruism. Will it go in downpour? His perfect life will illuminate the margin appropriate hearts? Will it? Should his paradigm be remain insignificant? Any genuine aesthetic soul will ever Infatuate individuality. Will ever? The multicolored glory of this rainbow mission will not shine resplendently ever. Will it? Will the masses remain as separate identities with disdain? His entire soliloquies and timely wailings cultivate no value. Are these valueless? His frustrations and tears will produce no shadowy buds on the very land of the soul. He has sown the seeds of sublime life in the hearts. Will these seeds remain live? Is there no person who could awake ever fuelling with the same self sacrificing heart to provide the perennial panacea to his wounded heart? In this crime threatened world no true lover and devoted praiser will ever traverse on this soil of truth? Will not? He has surrendered his all life for the sake of this Mission. Is there no sprouting energy with same affections and instances who could bear gloom and merge with him. Will there ever be a true merger of truth? Boundless persons should rise and awake from their elfin grots and sleepy eyes to devote themselves for the supreme and pious Mission to whom he has kissed martyrdom in the lap of perfect sacrifice. It is the magnificent bath of life in sane water. He has sacrificed his entire life for the generations. Should not generations abandon their myths and superstitions and adopt the valuable heritage of supreme life and its benevolent blessings? The firm foundation of this mission is the advancement of the reliving evolutionary law of Nature? Can this ever be discarded? Can this ever bade goodbye to flourish and enhance? It is my humble request to heaven and earth to speak at least a word; Oh heaven speak! Oh Earth! Open thy mouth!
Dear Sir
I would like to express my appreciation for the opportunity to meet with your local councillor when I was in Newham. When I visited the park where I learnt not only how to plant a tree and wondered if heaven can compare with it at all but also felt direct relation with the plant world. The relation to create appreciation of our relatedness to others and with the methods to sublimate by feeling of gratitude, affection service and reparation. I was dreaming of the plant world.
My dear plant world! Scientific theory of evolution tells us that it is not only that the whole mankind is one family, but also the whole Nature is one family. Life had its origin in the physic-chemical conditions of the inanimate world! Again, the neutral living units of existence in course of time bifurcated into vegetable cells and animal cells. We had our common identity through one time neutral living cell.
Dear Plant world! Ecology tells us how much I am in indebted to your contribution in every breath of my life. The root meaning of ‘soul’ is breath. Every breath of air is not breath of life. To breathe air full of pure cordon-dioxide is to invite death. What makes air the breath of life, or the life for the soul is that only plant world. How much we need for each other’s survival, to respect the life of each other!
We had common origin in the neutral living cell. We stand biologically inter-related. In fact we depend more for our survival on you than you do on us. You can exist even if human species disappear and you did exist before the emergency of human species. We human beings cannot exist if your world disappear.
Further, we do not depend on you for our biological survival only but for our culture survival also. It is you who has made possible for man to shift from the hunting stage to the stage of civilisation. It is true man had in him inherited capacity to build a civilised life of art, literature, philosophy and science. But he could not develop his capacities under nomadic conditions of the stage of hunting. The date of the civilisation is traced to the day he grew wheat plant. The cultivation of your species of grains, vegetables and fruits gave man a settled life. This settled life gave man the leisure to reflect on his life and the universe, to appreciate and create beauty and to build social life of respect for life, property and sex. You are indispensable condition both for human life and human civilisation. With the relentless destruction of your world, we risk both our life and civilisation.
My dear Plant world! It is inexhaustible delight to think of the intoxicating beauty of your forests, of the tiniest ferns that grow on hills and of the wild flowers. There is beauty of the music as wind passes through the leaves of your trees. There are beautiful birds that chirp in your trees. The beauty of your world has a unique quality of its own. It satisfies our total being. It is sensuality sublimated for it purifies both our body and mind at its best. It is this sublimity in your sensuous beauty which purges the mind of what is gross and dross in it. It releases us from the imprisonment of passions and possessiveness and negates all our ego and egotism in the moments of our appreciation of your world. Poets and artists have been instinctively drawn towards your festival of beauty and danced in joy of it. They have sung about it in poems and captured it on canvases and felt delivered in life.
My dear pPant world! Even the blind can enjoy the sweetness of the smell of flowers and woods and the soft ness of leaves as you have forms of beauty of various kinds. Even one who lacks smell can enjoy the beauty of the rustling of the leaves of your trees and small plants. You satisfy so many of our senses at the same time.
You have not only many utilities which provides the indispensable condition of our survival and civilisation but also you have the excellence of innocence.
It is said all life lives on other’s life. This is not true for your world except in the case of some of your negligible species, where as it is true of us all, humans and animals. You got your nutrition from inanimate earth, sun and air. This unique excellence is our ideal too. One day we may be able to get our diet needs satisfied by combination of chemical units or we may even be able to modify our digestive system akin to yours. All this appears as fantasy, but to make real what is fantastic is man’s gift of inventiveness.
You have another form of quintessence of disinterested service. You serve us and the animal world. Your service teaches us the lesson that disinterested service need be silent to free one from egotism. Whenever I feel important in doing some service I should seek your shelter for protection from this vice.
My dear Plant world! There is more to your woods than meets the eye. There is the spirit of creativity that is the halo of your atmosphere. There is holiness of beauty that has drawn saints and sages towards your woods, away from the din and noise of human habitation. They have found in your atmosphere inspiration for the high thought given to us in the immortal Upanishads. Prince Gautam left his palace of din and noise, of jealousy and passions, to seek truth of human suffering. Under Bodh-tree, Prince Gautam became Buddha, ‘The Enlightened One’. His enlightenment made him the first world philosopher of change and the first founder of empirical religion. His Four Noble Truths in their formal character constitute the faith of every medical and social scientist.
Dear Plant world! Your beauty, utility, innocence and creativity need no decoration. Your world and our world had common origin in neutral cells in the seas, i.e. we had common parenthood in neutral cell. Your world is an irremovable condition for our biological survival. It is indispensable condition for our cultivation of cultural values of knowledge, beauty and goodness. These un-adorned facts arouse our moral consciousness from its arrogant slumber to discover our moral obligation to your world. We must get rid of our contemptible arrogance fostered by religion and fuelled by power given by technology that the natural worlds of inanimate objects, plants and animals exist as fodder for human exploitation; and the natural world has no rights like one time slaves in human society. It exists to be exploited by man for his greed of consumerism and vandalism. I must shed this arrogance and live the truth that plant life, and animal life, and human life, in fact all life is sacred. So all life has rights. We have obligation to respect the rights rights of plants to life and decent treatment.
No plant life is to be wantonly destroyed. In our planning of habitation we must not ignore that trees have right to space for being planted and protected.
I must joins societies like friends of Trees and give them my support so that more and more trees are saved from being unthinkingly cut down.
Dear Plant world! We forget that the law of life is co-existence. We forget we cannot exist if forests do not exist. Population control is a measure for survival of forests and therefore for human survival. I must committedly participate in the persuasion of the illiterate poor of the cities and traditional rural population to take to birth control techniques so that enough space is spared for your forests.
I further realise that what destroys your world is our ugly consumerism too. We have developed the habit of eating too much, possessing too many articles of fashion and design, amassing of things for the sake of amassing them. i know that developed countries have controlled population growth. But they have destroyed its benefit for co-existence of the natural world by greed for consumerism. Whereas the under-developed countries suffer from malnutrition, the developed countries suffer from diseases of excessive nutrition. The old ideal of ‘simple living and high thinking, is replaced by a life of consumerism and earthly thinking. I must join international union for conservation of Nature as a token of love and help to your world.
I should join all those organisations that fight for forest cover for human survival. Selfishness does not necessarily conflict with others’ rights and interests. Wider vision shows the convergence to the point of mergence of rights and interest of an individual with the rights and interest of others. In respecting the rights of your forest trees to life, I provide condition for my own survival too.
Let me deepen this truth and in observing it I not only ensure my own survival, but I ennoble my character in respecting the life of the trees. It is the need of our selfishness and it is the right to life of the forest trees.
You share with us sensitivity to pleasure and pain. The Indian scientist J.C. Bose was able to show that plants have life and feelings of pleasure and pain. Experiments have gone further to show that plants appreciate music. It is found that plants grow faster under classical music. This being true, it shows how plants have near kinships with our psychology. This fact further affirms the claim of our moral consciousness that plants have right to decent treatment. I must develop the etiquette of kind treatment. I should prefer a flower to remain on the branch and appreciate its beauty rather than pluck it. If I must need some flowers for some special occasion, I must be very sparing in this exercise.
A plant needs care like a child. We should treat trees and plants in our neighbourhood as our own so that we have an atmosphere of beautiful trees purifying our air. It is my duty as member of the ecological world to serve it for it serves my survival.
I should develop the consciousness, that waste of paper is like waste of water, or electricity. The natural resources are limited. The demand is on the increase and hence it is in our interest and in the interest of trees that we plan economic use of paper as a part of our duty to respect the right of trees for life and kind treatment.
Dear Plant World! It is the custom of the Hindus and sikhs that they cremate their dear departed. Perhaps the economic reason was that our land was luxuriant with trees, whereas it was not the case in the land of jews and muslims. Today our jungles have shrunk in dimension due to mounting pressure of population and galloping demand for paper. So today this burden of use of wood for cremation has to be lifted from your tree world. We need to evolve other methods to dispose of the bodies of the dear ones to spare your trees from being cut down for this purpose. Fortunately we have today electric crematoria. We need to develop this technique of cremation on very large scale.
Dear Plant World! When I visit a flower show, I wonder if heaven can compare with it at all. As a token of Appreciation of what the Horticulturists have done, I may join garden clubs, which spread knowledge of how we can grow these plants in our compound.
I can do more service to you if i study literature on your species, know the laws of their laws of their life, growth and death. I can raise their health and bloom to high degree. the more I know the conditions govern the process of your life, the more enlightened will be my conduct to your species. My conduct rises from ordinary common sense level to the conduct of a person well-versed in knowledge and skills of gardening and agriculture.
Today i am to realize that my conduct to be stable and sustained and to be moral and spiritual in quality, must be constantly inspired by four fundamental feelings of gratitude, appreciation, love and disinterested service.
I have moral obligation to have enlightened conduct towards your species. Today, I am to realize that my conduct to be stable and sustained and to be moral and spiritual in quality, must be constantly inspired by four fundamental feelings of gratitude, appreciation, love and disinterested service.
I must cultivate the feeling of gratitude towards your world by bringing to my consciousness the immeasurable good that comes from your world. My eyes delight in the beauty of your flowers, fruits and fields of grains and thick forests. They offer pure aesthetic pleasure. Your world provides the conditions of our survival and civilisation. If I have feeling of gratitude for those benefits that I drive from you, I will feel concerned so that I do no harm to your species and let no harm come to you and be anxious to serve you. My conduct will pass beyond good routine to moral good.
I need to develop feeling of appreciation for you. I appreciate the beauty of your world but the poets lift us to new perception of your inner beauty.
They sensitise us to higher appreciation of the beauty of your world. We witness not only sensuous beauty, but encounter the soul of your manifest beauty.
The greater is our appreciation opens the possibility of communication with your world. There are persons who assert that they converse with species of your world. They share the feeling of separation and union with them.
We make for a better universe where there is appreciation for what is beautiful and useful in Nature. It makes a poor world of culture, where beauty and utility are taken as a matter-of-fact and ignored. V.I.P.s have beautiful gardens in their bid bungalows looked after by the Horticulture Department. It is a great pity that most of them hardly spend time with the blooming roses and other winter flowers. They give their garden the same perfunctory look as they do when they attend a small function. There is heart-to-heart company of one-another. Those who even build a garden themselves spend a fraction of their time in your company. Even when we visit a flower show, we spend more time in mutual gossip than in the company of flowers.
The feeling of appreciation flows into love for your world. We measure our love for something by the period of stay with the loved one.
I must confess that I am not comfortable to spend some hours sipping the beauty of your world. I wish I could learn from the Japanese tradition of flower appreciation. In Japan a group of friends sit around a beautiful rose sipping tea and appreciating the beauty of the flower. No one talks to another. The eyes of each are glued to the rose. This is the definition of love, in which everything else recess away and the object and the subject are in union with each other.
There is another dimension of love. To love an object is to consider it higher than all other interests of self and even sacrifice of life for it appears trivial sacrifice. In INDIA there were people called BISHNOI men and women. Once a king ordered clearance of a jungle. When the king’s men went with their axes to cut the trees, The BISHNOI men and women embraced the trees. The king’s men cut all the BISHNOI men and women while cutting the trees. These men felt their life was worth sacrifice for the trees.
It is when we develop BISHNOIS’ depth of love for your world, that our conduct of respect for your life and kind treatment will wear purple garb of holiness.
Your offer us a world of beauty, utility, innocence and creativity. We need to spontaneously respond to you with disinterested service. Disinterested service need not be based on any qualification of that which is served.
I hear a rebuke from you in the auditorium of my mind. “You eat us four times a day1 How do you respect our right to life!
Really We are so unfortunately situated that we cannot avoid the sin of destroying plant life. We stand compromised in our ethics of rights for all life. I must be above greed for food, above habit to waste food, above aggressiveness to satisfy my fancy in order to observe the right of life and kind treatment of your vegetable world.
As a reparation we should serve the Plant world with care, concern and love.
I pray that in the process of evolution more and more men of ability and love for ou may take to protect your right to life, kind treatment, optimum growth and evolution of new species of beauty and utility of the need to destroy you for our food.
I look forward to continuing this relationship and to future meetings with both you and your dedicated staff. Hopefully I will forward the literature of Devatma organisation on the Plant world ASAP. In the meantime, if I can be of any assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Sincerely,
Sukhdev
7465000000
Director
D.O
Dear Brother!
I have been urged by my heart to make you aware of the status of my emotions with you. Even Today is the third day also, according to the culture of devatma organisation, on brothers & sisters’ relationship .
I feel privileged today to say that unfortunately I could not get the time to live with your company; even though, in childhood I learnt a lot of things from you.
We quarrelled, we fought yet we were never happy to be alone. Our quarrels and fights did not leave scars or memories. We had no trace of them after an hour or ever earlier. May I recapture the spirit of sportsmanship in which we took our quarrels and conflicts in our childhood. I know if I cultivate this spirit in childhood in adult life, our relationship will remain ever sweet and satisfying. It is the effort of life to re-live the beauty of how we forget our quarrels and fights and played together as if nothing had happened and thus build attitude and understanding that cements our relationship for all days to come. This spirit of childhood is which we forget our quarrels as soon as they were over, is the cardinal virtue for all social relations. It is not possible to avoid quarrels in social life. If we do not bring the spirit to forgive and forget, our quarrels swell like snowball and lead to permanent breakdown in social relations.
For the time being I am busy in a mission. But after a few days I intend to limit myself to the cause of writings. I should write to you regularly so that we share common life. I should recall the services you have done to me and feel grateful to you. I must look on you as symbol of our dear parents. I must behave in relation to you as parents. I must behave in relation to you as parents would have done in relation to you. I must co-operate in any work of social welfare you are engaged in, or I should induce you to join in some work of social welfare.
Dear Brother, If I learn to value my relation with you above possessions, my possessiveness can get checkmated. May I develop appreciation for the great value of relationship with you. In Gita, arjuna tells shri Krishna that his fight for land is not worthwhile when it means the destruction of dear ones. What do we gain if we lose our dear ones! May I remember what arjuna said. I think, Had arjuna not been misled by shri Krishna, there would not have been the tragedy & devastation of Mahabharat. We know how arjuna & pandava brothers in spite of victory , took to the forests rather than occupy the throne, as a result of this ghastliness of the family tragedy.
I think, quarrels over property mean that I no more consider you one with me. Really brother, I do not lose anything so long I consider you or your blessings are with me. So I must realize that the voice of ego-love is voice of devil in me . It claims exclusive self assertion which is untruthful & wrong in a dispute.
I must heighten the value in which you stand to me, and develop love for you and learn to reduce the influence of self-opinionatedness in dealing with you to keep this precious relation intact. I should never allow my ego to stand in the way of removing your grievance against me.
Dear Brother! I should not take your service or sacrifice as a matter-of-fact. If you have helped me to foot my professional education, I should be ever grateful to you. I must keep your photo on my table to keep my gratitude ever-green.
I am thankful to my culture which has endeared you to me. The very word ‘brother’ or ‘sister’ arouses the tenderest feelings in me. Were I free from my low passions of possessiveness, self-assertion & ego-love. My tenderness would have gone from strength to strength .
I feel that one way to build relation of sweetness & understanding with you is to meditate upon such examples of brothers & sisters who are full of sweetness & sacrifice for one another. In Hinduism, I found the relation of Bharat with his brother Ramchandraji is really paradigm for all brother & sisters. Even if Ramayana may be regarded a fiction. Bharat was a step-brother, yet he had great love & respect for Ramchandraji. His love for his brother was dearer to him than anything in the world. I keep this example always before me, so that no worldly ambition spoils my relations with you.
In our society, Another source of poor relationship is our economic status. Our economic status do not happen to be the same & we begin to behave in terms of economic status. I must cure myself of this bad behaviour. I must understand that my unconscious jealousy makes me misinterpret your behaviour as condescending when, in fact it is not so. I must purge myself of jealousy if I wish to interpret your conduct in a true perspective.
I must develop the positive feelings in relation to you and be ready and happy to sacrifice for your welfare. I know brothers and sisters who have remained unmarried to serve the progress of their brothers and sisters and sacrificed their lives without hesitation. When I read and re-call such examples of sacrifices in my daily-routine, I see the beauty of sacrifice and desire that I should not fail to sacrifice when occasion demands it. May it come to dominate my actions!
Dear brother, May I live a life of honesty, purity, integrity, responsibility and service of others. I should so live my good life that it is attractive to you. If I am able to do this service, it is the highest and the best service to our parents.
Dear Brother! As a Research Scholar of Ethics and Religion, I study the Ethics, ontology, epistemology, religion & psychology which are the branches of philosophy, I found life as a fact has no meaning. It has the meaning that we give to it. Some give no meaning to life. They drift on the sea of life without any rudder, or compass, simply float for a time to be ultimately lost in death. As we see the life of millions at the level of bare existence is just like bricks & cement which are never used to build a house.their life have no direction & no goals. They just eke out their bare existence . but brother, one thing is very clear to me, the true meaning of life is given by inspired men & women like you who dedicate their life in social reconstruction for a just harmonious society, in research of truth, or who create beauty through their arts.
I do not have more experience about life as you have, even then I believe we live meaningful life when
* we know how to control the evil motivations which threaten the very existence of our life & the life of others.
* we know out aptitude & abilities & engage ourselves in their development.
* we utilize our development aptitude abilities in the service of the family of man.
* we develop vision & love for such sublime personality who loves truth, beauty & goodness & hates untruth, evil & injustice.
Dear brother, really you are gifted personality. when I hear or see such activities what you do for others without expected anything from others, I feel so happy which is not possible to describe in words. That time I feel as I am over the moon. I am proud to be your brother.
Dear brother, Ethics tells us some things have instrumental/extrinsic values & intrinsic values –means what thing/person can do for us & what is the intrinsic beauty of the thing/person in itself. Education has both extrinsic & intrinsic value. if, for example, education had not any utility aspect even than education would be meaningful because of its intrinsic value or beauty . Same as I find my relation with you. Dear brother, if you could not do something for me even than you would be my one of the greatest benefactors because of your intrinsic value which has its own beauty. I want to build my relation with you on the based of altruistic feelings rather then based on selfishness. I also believe that If a person has higher feelings is spreading higher influences which make others better even if he does not do any activities.
Dear brother, when I think what you have done for us, whole film comes in my mind which is very difficult to describe in words but due to some extent it can be felt. Sociology tells us of some cases when human children have been taken away from parents by animals & reared by them. These children fail to develop human ways of life. They fail to walk on two legs. They walk on four. They do not learn to put on clothes. They tear them if later on clothes are put on them. They take raw food rather than cooked food. They speak no conventional language. They show no civilized behaviour. When I think of the fate of these children, I cannot withhold my gratitude for you.
Gratitude is a “must” for me in relation to you. But I know how difficult & superhuman a task it is to fulfill the demands of gratitude. Because psychology tells us the return for love should be love. for example, suppose you are my parent. I can make some return of the services you have done for me. I can provide you good accommodation. I can look after you in your old –age. I can nurse you in your illness. I can take you to places of interest to you. I can provide you some money for your expenses , etc.. Such return is practical. But you have given me love. The return for love is love. It is the demand of gratitude. I find it most difficult to develop love for you which can come anyway near to your love for me. Here I feel so helpless. My feeling of gratitude feels frustrated.
Dear Brother, in our family, if any one of our members can understand these your gifted qualities & your sacrifices or your great contribution or not, I do not know. But one thing is very clear to me – Your excellences do not become less of excellences because of not realizing your inner beauty due to soul blindness & perversion of soul-vision.
As a human being, it is very difficult for me to show you proper respect from my poor heart but even I will try my best. consciously or unconsciously if I have done something wrong or talked ill of you to others, I am extremely sorry for that.
Dear brother I should search my mind for the hurts to you. I should do reparation for such bad conduct by feeling pained at your hurt & by soothing your heart.
I wish I can build relation with you based on gratitude, compassion, respect, etc rather than selfishness, egotism, vanity ,self-assertion. Etc.
Dear brother, I am very lucky because I found such philosophy which is not only scientific but unique in itself too. If I am able to convince to thinkers that a new system of philosophy was born in contemporary Indian thought which offers ontology, epistemology, ethics & religion esp. scientific philosophy of human soul which challenge in its truth, the ancient Indian schools and that in this system, Indian thought has sought new horizons, my purpose will be fulfilled. Such a conviction will create an intellectual climate in which the hunter of transcendental philosophies can fall from the neck of indian thought & the indian philosophy can work for new vistas of truth.
May I recall beautiful anecdotes of your life. Memory is our gift by which we make the dead to live with us.
How I wish! May Higher values become spontaneous with your character where “NOTHING FOR SELF , EVERYTHING FOR OTHERS” & Also let the PHILOSOPHY LIVE THROUGH YOU. Because I think – life lived for others is a life indeed, Life lived for self is a life barren waste.
MAY YOU CAN GIVE THE HIGHEST MEANING TO YOUR LIFE!
Nature is protecting us by every means possible. Hope for the same in future also.
Regards
Your Brother
Sukhu
knowing every brother of his and every sister of his to be part of his father or mother or both, he should realize his very intimate relation with him or her.
He should fully realize the necessity of making and keeping himself free from every evil thought and action and of awakening and developing every higher-conduct-inspiring feeling in relation to every brother and every sister of his.
He should show proper respect towards every brother and every sister of his, in his behaviour, actions, social intercourse, manners, conversation and correspondence etc.,
III. Feeling of Affection
He should make -efforts- to awaken and develop the feeling of affection in his heart in relation to every brother and every sister of his, through useful talk and correspondence whenever opportune.
He should make efforts to awaken and- develop the feeling of affection in his heart for every brother and every sister of his, by joining, whenever opportune, in their innocent eating and drinking.
He should make efforts to awaken and develop the feeling of affection in his heart for every brother and every sister of his by joining, whenever opportune,in their innocent play, exercise, walk or any other good activity.
He should make efforts to awaken and develop the feeling of affection in his heart towards every brother and every sister of his by making proper presents to them, from time to time, to the limit of his capacity.He should make efforts to awaken and develop the feeling of affection in his heart towards every brother and every sister of his, by joining in and giving presents on the occasion of their family ceremonies or other happy occasions.
One should endeavour to awaken and develop the feeling of gratitude in his heart towards every brother or sister of his, by repeatedly recalling the favours received from them and to express it through his various actions.
One should fully safeguard the proper rights of every brother and every sister of his.
On getting parental property, he should, in distributing it between every brother and every sister of his, fully respect the law of the land.
As far as it is possible and to the limit of his capacity, he should be a party to and a helper in any good work of every brother and every sister of his.
To the limit of his capacity and within the limitation of his rights, he should make efforts to restrain every brother and every sister of his from every criminal or sinful activity.
One should help, to the limit of his capacity, everybrother and every sister of his in getting all kinds of higher education in accordancewith their requirements.
One should give proper help, to the limit of hiscapacity, to every brother and every sister of his in the evolution of higherlife, in accordance with their requirements.
To the limit of his capacity and as far as it is possible,he should help and serve in proper degree, every brother and every sister of hiswhen the latter are in a state of distress or disease.
One should, as far as possible, give adequateprotection and proper help to a brother or a sister, in the grip of trouble orhelplessness.
If possible and practicable one should give proper protection to the helpless wife of a brother of his and helpless children of a brother or sister of his and should be helpful in proper degree in every good of theirs.
VII. Reparation
On getting consciousness of some wrong or sin committed in relation to any brother or sister, he should purify his relation with him or her, by doing adequate reparation.
VIII. Good Wishes
One should offer good wishes (mangal kamna) for the good of every brother and every sister of his.
A rose is a rose but will be a rose.
Everyone enjoys the beauty of the beautiful things according to his level. It may be a beautiful and fragrant flower, a beautiful house, a beautiful bridge as well as of beautiful dawn, a beautiful sunset, a beautiful landscape. Every beautiful object is so called because it serves some rational end, whether the security or the gratification of man.
However, beauty is not limited to physical things. It extends to music, dance and drama. It goes further. It characterises some systems of reasoning like the Euclidean geometry or Spinoza’s Ethics. Thus beauty can be sensuous, intellectual, emotional and spiritual.
Socrates appears to have attached little importance to the immediate gratification which a beautiful object affords to perception and contemplation, but to have emphasized rather its power of furthering the more necessary ends of life. The really valuable point in his doctrine is the relativity of beauty.
Question is–When is a thing beautiful? What gives beauty to a thing?
Beauty is not a thing-material or psychical. It characterises the arrangement, structure or form of something. Therefore the beauty does not refer to the parts of a thing but the arrangement which pervades the whole. It is a formal character of the whole.
It is not colours that makes a thing beautiful. A colourful thing can be ugly too. What makes a colourful thing beautiful is the arrangement of the colours or the form in which colours harmonize with each other. It is how the elements mix that determines the beauty or ugliness of things. If the mix is proportionate, the thing is beautiful, otherwise not.
What makes a body beautiful is that it has complete number of organs in complete growth, existing in proportionate relationship to one another.
What makes music beautiful is not sound. Songs sung can be disharmonious. Means that the sounds are not related to each other in right relationship. there is mathematical relationship between sounds in music.
A dance is not just movements of a body. It is movements of a body in right proportion and in right relation to each other and to the whole.
We speak of a beautiful play. If what appeals to us in a drama is that it has a moral lesson, we have missed the play. If what we like in a song is its spiritual quality, we have missed the music of it. Most of the religious hymns in spite of their high international quality are poor as poetry. Classical music is pure music for it is an exclusive enjoyment of the relation of sounds to each other where no element of meaning enters to distract the attention.
To a scientist, Nature is beautiful in the orderliness of events in it. He discovers the orderliness of events and calls them laws of Nature.
We can understand that beauty is not specific to a particular subject matter but is the principle of the organization of the parts of any subject matter whatsoever.
Since beauty is the principle of structure, or organization of things or thoughts, it can exists in the humblest of materials, as it can be absent in the best of materials. A hut may be beautiful, and a palace may be ugly, even though it is made of the best of marbles. A poem may be beautiful though it just describes sublime divinity.
Thus beauty is something other than subject matter. Beauty is the principle of structure of things and thoughts.
Our Life is like a fragile dew-drop and the whole universe appears as an infinite storm of beautiful ocean. Therefore to be good is to respect other existence. We have the most intimate relationship in which we stand to each other. Our existence is every moment linked with the whole universe. Let us see the Importance of the Physical World. Let us realize that anything against the physical/inanimate world is against ourself. Every breath that we take declares that our existence is not possible without the physical world. We exist because of a certain mixture of gases. If the balance of these gases is disturbed or destroyed, it endangers our very being. This is the truth we must, the indispensable, inseparable and the invaluable integration of the physical world with us. We are nothing without this kingdom.
The theory of evolution makes us witness to the truth that the physical world is the mother of the three worlds of human beings, animals and plants. Let us meditate on you my dear physical world, if you were to withdraw your provision for just a day, all the three worlds die before the day is out. We have life-and-death relation with you. We are as much under your physical laws like gravitation, as under the laws of psychology.
Dear beautiful physical world! I feel ecstatic joy in the beauty of rising or setting sun, the fast flowing rivers, the surging waves of the sea, the sky scrapping mountains. How beautiful are the sun rise rays as they fall on the Himalayan ranges! What bright look they give to them. Contrast it with the play of light at sunset. The hard granite mountains wear the softness of velvet. The aesthetic delights offers enriches my emotional life. The universe would have been poorer without the beauty of your world. You are the soul nurturer in aesthetic values. Some of the greatest artists have found in your objects beauty and sublimity worthy to be immortalised in paintings, poems, music and dance.
Dear physical world! Your law-bound character helps me to discipline my-self. I know that there is no escape from harm to me if I do not observe your laws. If I live in the truth that physical laws cannot be violated under any possible conditions by any prayers and supplications before a supernatural power, It can help me to be law-bound in conduct. How I wish my heart may develop as much capacity to love you as you deserve and realise that my biological, aesthetic, moral and spiritual life is linked with you. You are not only immeasurably vast but dynamic source of creativity and community of life . At no stage can life grow independent of you as children grow independent of parents. You are both created and preserver of all life.
Dear physical world! Even with body I cannot communicate without your help. How can a scientist express his discovery? It is through words, spoken and written. But the spoken words depend on visual waves to be read. Therefore, no social life is possible without you. There can be no culture of knowledge, skills and art without your co-operation.
Dear beautiful world! A large number of virtues are linked with you. Honesty is primarily transaction in money matters. But money is something physical. To be generous is to share good things with others or to forego to take back things lent by me. Punctuality has no meaning without the reality of time. Temperance is a virtue which relates to the body. It is the sublimation of physical appetites of food and sex. Non-violence is a virtue, for it is to respect the body and limbs of others. There can be no such thing as murder if there is no death of the body involved. Since most of our dealings with others are through the medium of body, physical things and physical expressions, most of the virtues are not possible without you. If we were without body, we would be without the possibility of the most of the moral virtues.
My dear Physical world! you are security for all mankind. When a government is run over by a foreign power, all currency notes lose their value. It is gold alone which has which has validity exchange value in times of political chaos.
There was a time when there were sunsets, but there was no life on earth. The beauty was there, though there was none to notice it or to enjoy it. There are so many valuable things of the physical universe, its illimitable things of the law-bound character, its infinite phenomena of the beauties of its objects like the stars, the moon, the clouds, the rivers, the seas, which rightly have their value in themselves. Their existence is worth-while even if nothing else were to exist.
Do you use cosmetics, perfumes, aerosols, buy unnecessary items of leather and animal hair and skin, wear pearls and silk? If yes then you are the most wanton destroyers of life because the luxury trade that exploits and degrades the world around us is geared to them.
Here is what you do every time you sit down at the dressing table:
7. The Silk moth pupa concooned in a soft security blanket is thrown into boiling water and cooked till the tread comes off and is made into silk. 20,000 silk moths are boiled alive to make just one kilo silk. Every silk sari you wear has caused the death of at least fifty thousands fellow creatures.
The question is as to what do we mean by “A conversion brings trouble” which is under question. Is conversion the adoption of a set of beliefs identified with one particular religious denomination to the exclusion of others? Would ‘religious conversion’ describe the abandoning of adherence to one denomination and affiliating with another? Do we mean to be converted you have to destroy your past, destroy your history and you have to stamp on it, you have to say ‘my ancestral culture does not exist?
Do we mean what International law defines specially the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights i.e., “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief….” (Article 18)?
Or Do we have any religious background that each of us hasa vision of good and of evil and we have to encourage people to move towards what they think is Good?
We are not going to define the history and psychology of theistic religions where people convert to a different religion for various reasons, including: active conversion by free choice due to a change in beliefs secondary conversion, deathbed conversion, conversion for convenience and marital conversion, and forced conversion such as conversion by violence or charity.
Here “Conversion” means the conversion of lower Values into Higher values; The conversion of vices into virtues brings trouble.
Let us understand the psychology of Human nature.
Love of Low Pleasure in Man is Root Cause of this Most Deplorable condition.
Having various low pleasures and his deep attachment to or love for them do not allow the conversion from lower feelings to higher feelings. This love of low pleasures in man is most harmful to him. He is
inevitably led by this love of pleasures not only to desert goodness on several occasions but also to prove unfaithful or inimical to it and throttle it and join hands with evil. It is also inevitable for every such lover of pleasures to harm not only his soul but also the constitution of his body.
Now, every living person in spite of his love for pleasures, has a strong biological urge to live and a strong repulsion for death and so led by this strong urge of self-preservation, he naturally wishes to prolong his existence and avoid death, yet he feels no uneasiness in living in ignorance about the
most necessary laws of life and death of his being. Being in such mental state, he is found not only unconcerned about and blind to the laws of life and death relating to his soul but even indifferent to the knowledge relating to the well-being and degeneration of his body.
It has been my experience that Human beings accounted for very low number of good feelings.
In brief, the abnormalities in the human behaviour are: (a) Incomplete in the evaluation, (b) Limited in expansion, (c) lack of appropriate depth, (d) lack of direction and depth in the expression of pure feeling towards the respective good qualities.
Therefore, every action is executed by some feelings. And actions do not have only external side but also internal side.The internal side of actions is influenced by his feelings.
Only Feeling which guides the action is the basis of evaluation of the action. The same behavior can show whether the person is of high moral values or ordinary values or low values.
If we accept the fact that feelings mainly evaluate a person’s life,then it is important to understand the nature and working of feelings.
The nature of feelings is such that they a person wants to satisfy them.These are powerful and a person wants them to be satisfied directly or indirectly. The psychology also proves that a person satisfies his feelings consciously or unconsciously.
Besides, different feelings are found in the sub-conscious mind of a person and he tries to gratify them with his behavior and actions. One noble act gratifies many feelings, eg. when we serve others then the feeling of serving others is satisfied. While serving others, one tries to save money, thus the feeling of miserliness is satisfied. When we help a girl then the feeling of not only serving others but also the pleasure of the company of opposite sex is also fulfilled. In administration, the feeling of discipline as well as the feeling of ruling others is gratified. If we hit children,the feeling of welfare and feeling of cruelty are satisfied.
We, the human beings have both virtues and vices. Men have virtues like gratitude, respect, service for others and charity etc.They also have feeling of justice, compassion, sense of duty, regularity, discipline etc. Beside these virtues, they have vices which incite them to indulge in activities harmful to other human beings or animals. Some accept bribe out of greed, some grab others property and some indulge in adulteration and cheat the customers. Some men are unfaithful to their life-partner and outrage the modesty of other women or young girls. There are others who try to justify the wrong actions of their family and indulge in undesirable social behavior. We try to gratify our low feelings of ego, selfishness, false pride, hatred, jealousy, false beliefs. In context of Devatma these evil traits are low-hates and low-loves and do not allow a person to adopt the path of Truth and Beauty.
Thus, it is clear that human-beings have not only good feelings but also low-hates and low-loves.These low-hates and low-loves adversely affect the good feelings and do not allow the conversion from lower feelings to higher feeling which brings trouble.
Suffering is only to be thought a positive experience in the case of achieving a higher meaning of life. Suffering and pleasure are respectively the negative and positive affects, or hedonic tones, or valences that psychologists often identify as basic in our emotional lives.
Despite its initial disrupting nature, suffering contributes to the organization of meaning in an individual’s world and psyche. In turn, meaning determines how individuals or societies experience and deal with suffering.
Life without anguish or pain, and happiness without grief exist only in the imagination. But the reality is a mixture of the two (happiness and loneliness).
Concerning suffering there are mainly two fundamental questions. The first is, what is the origin of suffering and from where does it emerge? The other is whether agony and pain are concordant with the justice and law of mercy in Nature.
All the religious people of the world should answer these two questions. If God is the Lone Creator of the world and the Manifestation of goodness, then where have all these miseries come from? Can the God of Goodness be the agent of misery and just as He creates, can also destroy? Acknowledgment of the fact that the One God is the sole origin of all creations—even those events that are seemingly evil—was enigmatic for many.
The reader should know that the life and teaching of Devatma is completely scientific. In science, there is no evidence God does exist, so belief is justified and valid that Devatma’s sufferings are not because of God. Therefore the questions are meaningless in our chapter—
“why is there suffering in the world if God is all powerful and loving. Why doesn’t He stop it? Can He or is He weaker than we think?” May be because of certain reasons such as
Free will
God cannot stop evil and suffering because He is powerless.
How much evil should be stopped?
Prevention of further evil.
For the greater plan.
For discipline and instruction.
To serve as a warning
It is the result of sin.
To make a point.
To serve as a means to bring the Son. so and so on.
So the first question-what is the origin of His suffering and from where does it emerge? Either because of His complete love of truth and Goodness or sth else.
“Says devatma, “where is to found that painful record of all those long series of continuos hurts to my heart and the injury caused to physique, through bitter oppsosition of my mission at the hands of deep dyed lovers of evil, through traiters to my mission and the ungreateful, vindictive and willfully malicious persons and even by loyalists through their dirty and low-feelings.”
It is beyond the pen of man to describe the intensity of the suffering of devatma to portray is whether real or imaginative sympathy, the spirit that we want to represent. But the uniqueness of the devatma separated him from all human minds, and therefore the human mind is unable to reach this state of sympathy, even in imagination.
Even devatma handicapped by human language-which can describe experiences of human souls because language is the product of human efforts to express his thoughts, emotions, and feelings–expresses his inability to describe the intensity of his sufferings.
Devatma says,” strike a stone upon a mound of sand, it would not produce any whirlings; but fling that into a pond of water, the whirlinf and circles that it would make, would go on extending further and further, wideningin to larger and larger circumference. Similarly, the vibrations of pain caused by wrong acts are felt in more or less degree according to the sensitiveness of one’s heart…..I feel the sinful behaviour of others most deeply , it causes me so great an agony of mind or heart that i cannot describe it.”
Various forms of persecutions and prosecutions against devatma, just for example
Says devatma, “almost all the accumulated funds of the infant samaj, which were quite meagre, were spent. The samaj press had to be stopped and sold away. The staff of the press had to be dismissed. Most of the office furniture such as tables, chairs and almirahs had to be sold away. A large portion of the headquarter’s buildings (including devatma’s residentials rooms) were given on rent.”
“Chanda singh’s manner and bearing is insufferable while in court. Throughout the case, his manner has been most offensive to the accused….. As Chanda singh is a blind man, i have shown great forbearance with him than i would with any other person but he has now gone beyond all bounds.”
This feeling gathered strength and culminated in actual attack on Devatma when a state ruler found an opportunity to vent his ill-feeling by abusing and firing at him five or six shots. Fortunately he missed his aim and most precious life was saved.
Writes devatma, “…..Bitter persecutions had already seriously affected my health butthese my kind friends seemed determination to blot out my very existence byevery means they could devise and employ under the British Raj.”
Says Devatma, “During this long time, this degraded land has failed to give me a single soul whom in such critical and trying moment of my life, i could count upon as a perfectly trusworthy and unfailing friend and a true well-wisher.”
“….sometimes their selfish, sel-sufficient and egoistic heart sun relieved by the presence of higher feelings, lead them to such actions assorely and deeply wound my heart and cause me pain and anxiety that is symply indescribable. Several times their behaviour becomes so exremely shocking to my highly sensitive higher feelings that this agony becomes ubearable for me and on such occasions sometimes i have wished that it would be better if death may relieve me of this awful mental and heart torture and release me from such sufferings.”
Again Devatma writes hismemorable article “Vilap”
“Alas! How painful is my condition! Oh! How paiful is my life and deserving of great sympathy and solace! But in this wide world, is there a single soul, who can prove a balm to my bleeding heart and give relief to my suffering soul? Apparently none. For other apart, even those who come in my contact, are not able to feel and realize the full measure of my tribulations. And when they cannot adequately realize my painful position, their sympathy even if they possess any, cannot be of any use to me. I am born to endure all alone these extraordinary agonies and certainly i alone will have to bear them. Alas! How solitary do i feel myself on account of these peculiar troubles! Alas! There is none in this world, whom i can call my own in this respect!After a long day’s hard work even the most simple labourer, does at night, rest in the soothing arms of sleep which recoups his exhausted energies and refreshes and revives him for the next day’s work. But often i am deprived of even this gift of Nature which is accessible even to the lowest sentiment creature that crawls upon the earth.”
This terrible suffering had been continuous for years and their hurts had shattered not only Devatma’s heart but body too, even then Devatma had immutable faith, the mission is in accordance with the laws of Nature, therefore cannot but progress and spread.
But the story of the persecution by the outside world and hurts from inside ranks daunted him not, deterred him not, but determined him more and more to work for his mission of doing highest spiritual good even to the persecuted humanity. In the grip of great agony, the light house on the shore of this see of troubles was still shining bright. Even in the state of great predicament, the light of sublime knowledge burnt bright in Devatma, showing him the path.
There was a special mission of Devatma’s manifestation and a special life-vow whose fulfilment is imperativen ot only for the uplift of the country but the spiritual welfare of the mankind. This mission and life-vow cannot reach fulfilment carrying the burden of all these pains and tortures.
Taking science to the masses and popularisation of scientific temperOne of the things that sustain theistic religions is the belief in miracles. If miracles are exposed as hoax or exploitation of simple scientific truth, belief in God suffers decline and disbelief. What science asserts is that there can be no violation of laws of Nature. If laws of Nature cannot be violated there can be no power superior to the laws of Nature. For several years we have been after miracle exposure. Thanks to Devatma, the founder of Dev Samaj, who organised the scientific religion which is full of highest values and scientific temper. The objective of science Jatha is to train teachers to expose the miracles of Godmen and thus develop faith in the inevitability of the laws of Nature. We jumped at this opportunity and deputed some teachers to get the training. We invited some persons from the science Jatha to demonstrate the tricks of Godmen to our students.Inspired by the report of Science Yatra of the Atheist Centre, we added in the science exhibition at the Registered office in london, a section which explained how simple scientific knowledge is exploited by Godmen and dishonestly called miracles. We hope to strengthen this section in both countries (U.K and India) so that our students can develop scientific temper to reject miracles and supernaturalism.
Thus truth speaking is a different virtues from sincerity. A sincere man can be careless, prejudiced and ignorant. But truth-speaking, since it involves truth findng, must avoid carelessness, prejudice and ignorance.
Thus truth-speaking is a virtue with a person who has the habit of a patient and unprejudiced ascertainment of facts according to logical principles and scientific procedures and who has the habit of expressing the ascertained facts in transparent language which mirrors truth.
However, truth speaking which is correct communication of facts is a virtue if it satisfies other conditions. A man who thinks and talks of real weakness of another may be a back-bitter. Back-bitting is not a virtue. The fact that what he observes and reports is true, does not make his action virtuous. In fact the more pleasure he takes in thinking and talking ill of others even when true) the more wicked he becomes. So truth-reporting must be controlled by good. It is virtuous to explore true faults of another only when it is to the good of the speaker, to the subject of criticism and to social good.
In the same way gossip may be correct reporting. Even then it is not a virtue. The correct reporting in gossip is not a virtue for it serves no good purpose.
Again, truth reporting may be done to hurt a person, to give him pain, motivated by vindictiveness. One may report certain facts to a person just to hurt him, knowing that he could do nothing about them. Again, reporting may be done in a sarcasting way to pin-prick the person. It is always wrong to express facts in a manner which unnecessarily hurts the other person. The truth speaking never gives the moral right to be brutish, arrogant or sarcastic in one’s expression.
So truth speaking to be a virtue must be inspired by pure motive with consideration for the good of the subject of the criticism and in language which does not unnecessarily hurt. It is these considerations that give us the moral right to refuse him information. Refusing to tell him is to keep truth to myself. But this is justified because such truth-revealing produces evil all around.
Again, it is virtuous to indulge in imaginative satisfaction through art activities of creation and appreciation. Imaginative satisfaction is not satisfaction of observed facts. But such satisfaction is ethically justified because it is related to our aesthetic good.
Truth-speaking is bound up with good. But let us be clear about the good by which it is conditioned. Many things are good. A kothi, a car, and bank balance are good. So are knowledge and virtue or spiritual excellence good. To which of the goods in truth speaking bound? It is bound to the highest good of spiritual excellence. Truth-speaking is respected as a moral virtue because of its relation to spiritual good. Given the social life we have, truth-speaking does not pay us in economic and social advantages. On the contrary it so often lands us in positive disadvantage in business, profession and personal dignity. Truth-speaking shows regard for spiritual excellence over material, social and personal advantages. It is when truth speaking indexes or affirms this regard that a person arises so high in ethical excellence.
Though truth-speaking thus defined as a great excellence, it is not that sublime virtue that prophets have proclaimed and poets have sung about.
Truth as a virtue rises in excellence in terms of the object of observation and discovery. The greater the excellence of the object of discovery, the greater is the mind that discovers or revels in it. We have differences in the excellences of the scientists. The scientists that discover the truth of universal implications, stand higher than those who discover truth of limited application. For example, Darwin’s concept and not theory of evolution, had implications for every science. He gave a new understanding under which the observed facts were to be re-observed. This concept gave continuity link between different sciences so that humanity basked in the new light of truth about the universe and human life. Einstein’s Theory of Relativity has revolutionised our thinking about the physical universe and has taken us beyond Newton’s thought. This new truth illumines our understanding and we eel delivered.
It is philosopher scientists who occupy higher place than just scientists. A scientist is limited to his field. A philosopher scientist discovers truth that are true for all fields. A philosopher is a scientist philosopher when his function throughout the ages has been to see through the truth that transcends the truth of particular sciences and suggests corrections and reorientation of the studies. No wonder philosopher has occupied the highest place for his truth discoveries.
We can take a parallel from literature to illustrate our points. It is common place to say that in literature a great work of art must have great subject for its theme –it may be a great character or a great crisis or a great idea. The greatest peace of literature must have a sublime object for its theme. The artist, who like the scientist, sees beneath the superficial experiences of life and appreciates or discovers a great idea or conceives a great character and whose powers of expression are matched to the gigantic structure of his idea or character, creates a great work of art. Such an artist is a man of rare calibre because his object of perception and delineation is great. We rise in spirit by association with great truths.
It has been an early realisation of mankind, phrased in different idioms, that the universe is a moral order, and it is the discovery of the spiritual character of the universe that can finally illumine the lesser truths of physical and social sciences. It is this illumination that is the true salvation of man. Humanity has shown its soundness of judgement when it has shown highest aspect for those who have been adventurers for the sublime truths of the spiritual principle of the universe and man.
The spiritual principle is implicit in the universe. It has become explicit through the evolution of higher and higher levels of existences. From single cell organism to man from man to Devatma is a story of the gradual explicitness of the spiritual principle. Hence the single cell organism cannot reveal the grandeur of the spiritual principle as does a higher organism like man. In the study of man, there is a greater appreciation of the spiritual principle of the universe than in the study of the single cell organism. The social studies open still wider and deeper understanding of the spiritual principle.
In view of the spiritual principle in the universe, man’s knowledge of it has been regarded as the highest knowledge through the ages. ‘know thyself’ is not limited to knowledge of one’s points of spiritual weaknesses and virtues. This is just a clergyman’s interpretation. The true significance is to know the self as expression of the spiritual principle in the universe, and be delivered by it. Such truth experience, wherever it exists, transforms the whole personality and gives it world-transforming power.
Aristotle named the highest principle of the universe as God (it is not God religion). He thought of this principle as thought thinking itself. In theology also God is thought to be object to itself and that constitutes highest knowledge.
These are perceptions of the truth that the highest is knowlege of spiritual principle, even though here the spiritual principle is not truly conceived.
The spiritual principle is best manifested in the sublime life (Dev Jiwan) and Dev Roop of Devatma. Hence his observation has the sublimest object for reporting, i.e. Himself. In knowing Himself. He knows the spiritual principle in its full explicitness. His truth experience has quality all its own. Its knowledge by Devatma is His Own in the way in which it cannot belong to others. Hence he is heir to truth of highest sublimity unapproachable by human genius. Here is this dimension to His knowledge which makes truth as virtue in Him at its best.
His truth experience is the ideal for all who wish to develop virtue of truth in them. By faith and love for Him men bask the light of the spiritual principle made explicit in Him at its best.
When we can observe the spiritual principle in Him and express it truly, we observe and speak that is noblest.
Dev Jyoti is the (sublime) light in the field of values. It helps a person to see what is good or bad, right or wrong in one’s conduct and character. In this light one’s see what is harmful and thus hateful in one’s conduct and character. The sublime light is the bridge to the universe where one is able to see what is harmful and thus hateful in certain habits like smoking, drinking, and excessive indulgence in food, sex, rest and gossips etc. It enables one to see how evil it is to do harm to others, like unnecessary injury to the form or qualities of things, cruelty to animals, meat-eating, stealing and cheating etc. This light also shows the ugliness of character. One is able to see in this light the ugliness and hateful of greed for money which leeds one to deprive others of their rights and treats them as things. It makes one beholder to the evils of over attachments and under-attachments.
Besides providing a condition for seeing what is evil and undesirable in its true hatefulness in conduct and character, it provides a condition for seeing the beauty of what is good and right in conduct and character. It opens the world of altruistic feelings in all its beauty and grandeur. In this light one perceives his his parents in beautiful colours for their unconditional love and service and sees one’s obligation to do something for them in return. The feeling of gratitude is perceived in its intrinsic worth. one’s vision on his benefactors extends from parents, to brothers and sisters, partner in life, social institutions, like schools and colleges, good customs and laws, municipal services, to the creators of art and literature; science and philosophy, to the animal world, to the plant world and the inanimate world. The whole universe is perceived to have benefactors which together contribute to the protection and progress of his life.
One sees the obligation to dedicate oneself to serve one’s innumerable benefactors. What is true of the feeling of gratitude is true for all altruistic feelings. In this light one awakens to the exalted excellences of great souls and one dances in appreciation of their great virtues. One is beholden to the harvest of great philosophers, scientists, artists, and men of letters, social reformers, social idealists. The feelings of reverence are the eyes to see in Dev -Jyoti, the world of excellence and to reshape one’s life in the service of one or another excellence. the feeling of compassion sees in this light the beauty of service of the unfortunate, the diseased, the poor. the feeling of justice sees the urgency to change socio-economic conditions which perpetuate the misery of the masses.
Man is a being who is lover of pleasure and hater of pain and because of these two feelings of love and hate he becomes a lover of various kinds of falsehoods and evils in relation to his own being and beings in the world around him.
So long as man is man and continues to be man, he does all his actions (including his thinking) entirely under the motives of his love for different kinds of pleasures and hatred for different kinds of pains. Therefore, man wants to do and actually does all such actions, whether in relation to himself or to others, which afford him pleasure and which are not painful to him. But he does not want to do and hence does not do any such action which does not give him some pleasure or instead give him some pain, howsoever beneficial or good that action may be for him or for others.
Man has descended from the animal kingdom and so lie has inherited consciousnesses of various kinds of pleasures and pains from it. With time, these consciousnesses have gradually increased in number in him i.e., the number and variety of those completely new consciousnesses of pleasure and pain which have grown in different people of the human kingdom are nonexistent in species of the animal kingdom and could not in the nature of things be evolved in them at all.
I don’t mean become a beggar, and I don’t mean renounce the world. I mean be in the world, but don’t be of the world. Don’t develop low-feelings. Possessiveness is the problem, not life itself. The more you possess, the more you are afraid to lose. If you don’t possess anything, if your purity, if your spirit is uncontaminated by anything, if you are simply there alone, you can disappear any moment; whenever death knocks on the door it will find you ready. You are not losing anything. By going with death you are not a loser. You may be moving into a new experience.
And when I say don’t accumulate, I mean it as an absolute imperative. There are people, particularly in the East, who teach renunciation. They say, “Don’t accumulate anything in this world because it will be taken away from you when death comes.” These people seem to be basically more greedy than the ordinary worldly people. Their logic is: don’t accumulate in this world because death will take it away, so accumulate something that death cannot take away from you. The point is very clear that all the higher values such as simplicity, humility, resignation, austerity, celibacy, seriousness and self-devaluation, gratitude, compassion, reverence or respect–all having the intrinsic beauty. Even death can never ever touch the beauty of these values. I mean death cannot take away from you.
It is not given to man to escape some great sorrow or some great misfortune or some great lacks in life. Such misfortunes in life constitute our disturbed hours of life. Though it is not given to man to avoid raw deals in life, yet it is given to him to develop character, which will meet the tragedies of life which stoic calm and courage. The wisdom which, if developed, can help us to live with confidence on a raft when our ship of life is wrecked in the stormy sea of life is well-expressed in these words; “Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
We need mental strength to meet the challenge of the unchangeable, which is to harness the inevitable to our higher good. When we meet tragedy or misfortune with success, we radiate light and inspiration for others. Sometimes we may chalk out responses to our tragedy, which are directly a blessing for society.
Many of our misfortunes are remediable. the limitation of our knowledge and skill makes many things unchangeable, which could be changed. Today, poverty appears inevitable. Man’s struggle to find out new means of production and equitable distribution is determination to change what appears unchangeable.
Life calls the tune, we dance. But we live at different levels and hence in tune to the different levels of life, we exhibit different kinds of behaviour.
There is the impulsive level of the child life. he does not think out the consequences of his action in his future life. he just acts. The animal life is lived at impulsive level.
Benevolence is different from piety. Piety is an impulse. When this impulse of piety institutionalises itself, it becomes benevolence, though both may lead to the same action.
There is the distinction of ends and means. It is those great men who live at this level that can be true guides for mankind. It is such men that spiritual sensibility is the highest and noblest. These men cannot be corrupted to compromise in the sphere of means. So long man does not rise to this level of life, he can be corrupted by good ideals no less than by low ideals of life.
Guidelines for happy household and family life
respect.
III. Feeling of Affection
family.
VII. Reparation
VIII. Good Wishes
PROHIBITIONS
they are in ill-health, trouble or distress.
12 Every wife that without the consent of her husband she should not give away any article of the house.
14 Every wife that she should not maintain relation with any such person by whose company there is possibility of weakening of her relation with her husband or his parents and brothers and sisters or by
which her relation with any of them is actually being harmed.
Let me wish one of the most inspirational icons of the Indian freedom struggle, our nation’s super hero Bhagat Singh. This is to inform not only all Proud Indians but others citizens too – who may or may not be aware – that 28th September is the birth date of Shaheed Bhagat singh ji. Bhagat Singh was born in the Khatkar Kalan village near Banga in the Lyallpur district of Punjab. Let us salute him for his love to country and get the strength.
My dear country! let me realize, how much I owe to you. From birth onward, even earlier, i have been nurtured by your rituals, customs and conventions and religious ethos. I see things as you have directed me to see. I act the way you have taught me to act. i think as you educated me to think. Bereft of your ethos, intellectual, moral , spiritual, aesthetic, I draw blank as an individual. let me deepen my intimacy and gratitude for the national status, culture and education provided by you. for what I am today.
My dear country! I feel deeply in my first thought of you that even if you give me space enough to stand, I am beholden to you for all my life. There is no inch of space on this vast earth for me except in your political geography. No other country is prepared to accept me except under certain very strict conditions of condescension. Each country is closing its frontiers to outsiders. So how many intimately I must feel close to you.
My dear country! Even when People get permanent visa to stay in another country, They remain in it as a second class citizen, however eminent they may become in that country. They are socially outsiders. The local people refuse to accept them intimate social relationships. In my country, I am an equal to any other citizens as citizen. How great is this emotional prestige and satisfaction to me!
My dear country! When I stay in another country, I still think of you My dear country. I miss my roots, my relations, my culture, my festivals, my day to day life with earlier friends. I feel I am cut off from social links and cultural context that I enjoyed when I was with you. I become a split personality in a foreign country. I belong to two worlds neither of which owns me now as “BELONGING” to it.
My dear country! In addition to the natural world and the world of music, dance and painting, I must visit the great monuments of my country. Ours is one of the most ancient civilisations in art and sculpture and architecture. Excavations show how our ancestors achieved high level of civilizations in art and sculpture and architecture. Excavations speak to my soul the un-written biography of your great men. They inspire us, lift us, goad us to build higher our achievements.
My dear country! The beautiful mountains, rivers, forests, fine arts of music and dance and great monuments capture my soul with their ravishing beauty and creativity. They spontaneously arouse my artistic sensibilities to praise their beauty. It is sad story that today our Himalayan ranges are full of garbage of the climbers. Our rivers are polluted by industrial waste. Our Natural beautiful scenes are made dirty by industrial waste. Our monuments are decaying due to neglect. Our dance and music are being vulgarised. Each one of us has duty of love to see that we do not leave garbage when we come down from our climb. We do not spoil our rivers with industrial waste. We do not disfigure our monuments. We must see that we we leave the place of our visit as neat and clean or even better than I found it. We must see that our art, music and dance maintain their character for spirituality.
My dear country! It is not enough that each one of us develops the habit to keep the natural beauty unspoiled by our sense of cleanliness. We must be committed to add beauty to the natural world. We must develop beauty of our natural spots. The plant world offers unimaginable potentialities for culture of new species of beauty and utility. The domestic animal world can be raised to higher level of health, strength and beauty. We should, my dear country, develop the potentialities od the natural world as a matter of our love for them rather than for their utility for us. Utility perspective is ego-centres whereas beauty perspective is negation of ego pollution.
My dear country! In addition to the natural world and the world of music, dance and painting, I must visit the great monuments of my country. Ours is one of the most ancient civilisations in art and sculpture and architecture. Excavations show how our ancestors achieved high level of civilizations in art and sculpture and architecture. Excavations speak to my soul the un-written biography of your great men. They inspire us, lift us, goad us to build higher our achievements.
My dear country! The beautiful mountains, rivers, forests, fine arts of music and dance and great monuments capture my soul with their ravishing beauty and creativity. They spontaneously arouse my artistic sensibilities to praise their beauty. It is sad story that today our Himalayan ranges are full of garbage of the climbers. Our rivers are polluted by industrial waste. Our Natural beautiful scenes are made dirty by industrial waste. Our monuments are decaying due to neglect. Our dance and music are being vulgarised. Each one of us has duty of love to see that we do not leave garbage when we come down from our climb. We do not spoil our rivers with industrial waste. We do not disfigure our monuments. We must see that we we leave the place of our visit as neat and clean or even better than I found it. We must see that our art, music and dance maintain their character for spirituality.
My dear country! It is not enough that each one of us develops the habit to keep the natural beauty unspoiled by our sense of cleanliness. We must be committed to add beauty to the natural world. We must develop beauty of our natural spots. The plant world offers unimaginable potentialities for culture of new species of beauty and utility. The domestic animal world can be raised to higher level of health, strength and beauty. We should, my dear country, develop the potentialities od the natural world as a matter of our love for them rather than for their utility for us. Utility perspective is ego-centres whereas beauty perspective is negation of ego pollution.
Though I love you, I do not satisfy all the demands of love. Love demands that I should not harm you. i harm you when I have some weaknesses of character.
Let me remind myself that I must strive earnestly to reduce or remove the hold of weakness in my character. I can do this partly by recalling to myself how much you mean to me, how loveable you are to me, how much I will feel unhappy if you develop any of my weaknesses. I must remember how weaknesses are infectious to children. Let me live the vision of your innocence and meditate how many weaknesses can disfigure this innocence. Nothing can be better corrective of my weaknesses than the vision of your innocence. Let your innocence put my evils to shame and expose their ugliness to repugnance.
let me gain strength from my love for you to reduce or remove my weaknesses which may mar your life like smallpox. It is my prayer at this hour that I must give up one or another weakness to reduce my doing harm to you.
My love and gratitude show me that I must not only reduce or remove my weaknesses which can cause harm to you but develop certain feelings which provide positive environment of growth for you.
If your innocence urges my love to work for my moksha from weaknesses and vikas of sattvic feelings, you prove one of my deliverers in life.
For you sake I must learn to live a life of love and understanding, of gratitude and respect and service for my partner in life. This is my first and foremost duty. Words borrow power from life. We teach with our life, not words. let me take a leaf from your life.
Nobody is independent. Life is not INTERDEPENDENCE so far, whatever the higher values developed. We are dependent on our loves. These love of attraction dominate to us. Then the idea arises that in the world you can never be independent. Escape from the world. You can escape, but independent you can never be: you can only be deceived. Even in the Himalayas you are not independent; you are still dependent on the sun. If the sun does not rise, you will be dead immediately. You will be dependent on the oxygen and air: if the oxygen disappears, you will be dead. You will be dependent on water; you will be dependent on a thousand and one things.
Man has lived in dependence so far, and man has desired and fought for independence, but nobody looks into the reality. What is the reality?
“ATTRACTION OR LOVE FOR VARIOUS KINDS OF PLEASURES AND AVERSION OR HATRED FOR VARIOUS KINDS OF PAINS IN MAN CONSTITUTE THE ONLY TWO MOTIVE FORCES FOR ALL KINDS OF HIS INNER THOUGHTS AND OVERT ACTIONS”
(Man is primarily led by his one or other love of pleasure and hatred for pain in doing any of his actions.)
Man has descended from the animal kingdom and so lie has inherited consciousnesses of various kinds of pleasures and pains from it. With time, these consciousnesses have gradually increased in number in him i.e., the number and variety of those completely new consciousnesses of pleasure and pain which have grown in different people of the human kingdom are nonexistent in species of the animal kingdom and could not in the nature of things be evolved in them at all.
Man, having got in heritage the above different kinds of consciounesses of pleasure and pain, has evolved, on the one hand, attraction for various pleasures, nay, love for several of them, and on the other hand, repulsion or worse than that, deep hatred for pain. Hence all his such feelings of attraction or love for pleasure and repulsion or hatred for pain have become the dominant motive forces of his life and, therefore, every person motivated by these feelings of love for pleasures and hatred for pains thinks all kinds of thoughts and does all kinds of actions.
In short, all the actions whether good or bad which are done by human beings all over the world viz. all kinds of deliberate falsehoods practised in mutual dealings or behaviour; all kinds of fabricated false religious beliefs; all kinds of acts based on injustice or cruelty like cheating, treachery, breach of trust, stealing, deceit, bribe-taking, robbery, suppression of deposits, torture; all acts of intemperance dacoit temperance in eating and drinking; use of various intoxicants; all acts of sexual abuse such as adultery, sexual excesses, masterbation &c. all acts of brutality and slaughter of millions of animals for the purpose of diet, trade, hunting and sacrifice &c. and various kinds of evil and social customs and rites—are mainly due to their various loves of pleasure and hatred of pain.
Question may be — what is the future.
So long as man is man and continues to be man, he does all his actions (including his thinking) entirely under the motives of his love for different kinds of pleasures and hatred for different kinds of pains.
Therefore, man wants to do and actually does all such actions, whether in relation to himself or to others, which afford him pleasure and which are not painful to him. But he does not want to do and hence does not do any such action which does not give him some pleasure orIII instead give him some pain, howsoever beneficial or good that action may be for him or for others.
What about solution?
Of-course! After millions of years of the evolutionary process of Nature, this planet has been blessed with the emergence of the truly worshipful Devatma who is endowed with the consciousnesses and complete love of truth and goodness.
“THE EMERGENCE OF DEVATMA HAS THE PURPOSE OF RIDDING MANKIND OF ALL THOSE VARIOUS KINDS OF COMPLETELY FALSE AND MOST HARMFUL TEACHINGS ABOUT SOUL, PROPAGATED IN THE NAME OF RELIGION AND BASED ON THE IDEAL OF PLEASURE AND PAIN “
Therefore, man is a being who is lover of pleasure and hater of pain and because of these two feelings of love and hate he becomes a lover of various kinds of falsehoods and evils in relation to his own being and beings in the world around him. So independent you can never be!!!
Actions do not have only external side but also internal side.The internal side of actions is influenced by his passions. Every action is executed by some feelings.A farmer works in the fields to get a good crop.The doctor treats his patients with one or the other feeling.
One good action can be undertaken with different feelings. Dr. Albert Schutser left his developed and civilized country and lived in the forests of Africa to treat the patients with compassion. He did it because he felt concerned about those patients. However,all doctors are not motivated by such high ideals. Some doctors undertake this profession for earning their livelihood. Some doctors undertake the profession to amass wealth or to spread the religion. Similarly, some workers work to please their boss or to get the promotion. However, there are some who consider it to be their duty or they have an interest in their work.
Though external aspect of an action is the same but it is executed by different internal feelings.Though, operation done by Dr.Schutser and other doctors may be the same but the internal feelings are different.
Feeling which guides the action is the basis of evaluation of the action. The same behavior can show whether the person is of high moral values or ordinary values or low values.For example, the surgeon who treats the patient with compassion and service is a virtuous person.One who treats the patients for livelihood is an ordinary person. One who treats the patients to satisfy his lust for money is a low character person.Similarly, a trader may carry on the trade to remove poverty from the country, he is virtuous.Trade carried for livelihood is an ordinary act but it makes the person of low values if he does trade with all unscruplous activities for greed
of money.
If we accept the fact that feelings mainly evaluate a person’s life,then it is important to understand the nature and woking of feelings.
The nature of feelings is such that they a person wants to satisfy them.These are powerful and a person wants them to be satisfied directly or indirectly. The psychology also proves that a person satisfies his feelings consciously or unconsciously.
Besides,different feelings are found in the sub-conscious mind of a person and he tries to gratify them with his behavior and actions.
One noble act gratifies many feelings,eg.when we serve others then the feeling of serving others is satisfied. While serving others,one tries to save money, thus the feeling of miserliness is satisfied.When we help a girl then the feeling of not only serving others but also the pleasure of the company of opposite sex is also fulfilled. In administration,the feeling of discipline as well as the feeling of ruling others is gratified.If we hit children,the feeling of welfare and feeling of cruelty are satisfied.
If we can realize that our different kind of feeings influence each other and can be gratified by one action,we can understand the difference in the internal aspect of behavior of an ordinary man and the noble behavior of DEVATMA.
We, the human beings have both virtues and vices. Men have virtues like gratitude, respect, service for others and charity etc.They also love justice, are logical,dutiful and disciplined. Beside these virues, they have vices which incite them to indulge in activities harmful to other human beings or animals. Some accept bribe out of greed, some grab others property and some indulge in adulteration and cheat the customers. Some men are unfaithful to their life-partner and outrage the modesty of other women or young girls. There are others who try to justify the wrong actions of their family and indulge in undesirable social behavior.We try to gratify our low feelings of ego, selfishness, false pride, hatred, jealousy, false beliefs. In context of Dev Dharam these evil traits are low-hates and low-loves and do not allow a person to adopt the path of Truth and Beauty.
Thus, it is clear that human-beings have not only good feelings but also low-hates and low-loves.These low-hates and low-loves adversely affect the good feelings. The feeling of ego is stronger than other feelings of low-loves and low-hates.
BHAGWAN DEAVATMA is free from low-loves and low-hates.He has been absolutely free of evil feelings of jealousy, cruelty andego.Besides his personality was such that these evils could not take birth in him.
Thus, it is clear that there is a psychological difference in the feeling s of Devatma and mankind. The external aspect of behavior of Devatma and mankind may be the same but there is a basic difference. Man’s good behavior may be guided by low-loves and low-hates.In contrast to this Bhagwan Devatma’s smallest activity is also absolutely full of pious feelings!
The various constituents’ of the love of truth that evolved in Devatma are as under:
Q. What is meant by Man?
A. An individual comprising of two specially organised existences— body and soul is called man.
Q. How did man come into existence on this planet?
A. After the evolution of the animal kingdom on this planet, human being appeared in the evolutionary course of one of the various kinds of subsections of the mammalian branch of the animal kingdom.
Though it has evolved from the animal world, yet certain powers of man separate it from the rest of the animal which is devoid of the same powers.
Q. What is human soul?
A. The organized life-force, comprising of different kinds of powers, occupying the living human body, is called the human soul.
Q. How is the human soul born?
A. We know that, as per the natural laws, a man and woman meet together in their physicality, sperms and ovum get fused on the basis of survival of the fittest with the result of a life force. . It is only such a process that this new life-force organizes itself into a living human body. This very body-building life-power is a new tiny soul in the womb. By and by, it constructs for itself an organized living body of the human type in its natural niche.
Q. How does the human soul construct for itself an organized human body?
A. A brief and cursory summary of what the various able embryologists have come to know in this respect is given below:
When a new soul comes into being in this united cell (zygote) of man and woman, it, at first, utilises the material already present in that cell for body building and develops into a very tiny worm-like embryo of three layers. Then this embryo establishes somewhere in the thin membrane of the womb by attaching itself to it and prepares from this membrane a soft sponge-like substance known as placenta connecting
it to that membrane. Three blood vessels, coiled in the form of a rope, branch off from this placenta and connect the embryo with the blood vessels of the pregnant woman. This coiled up rope-like substance is
called the cord. One of these three blood vessels carries the pure blood of the pregnant woman to the embryo and the soul utilizes it for developing this new embryo. Then the impure blood which remains behind, finds its exit through the remaining two vessels which are connected with the veins of the pregnant woman and thus it reaches her heart and lungs to be purified.
At first, this embryo in the uterus of the women is just like a pin, i.e. at the upper end it has a small head-like sign which tapers down like a tail. It is connected by this tail with the placenta through the cord.
For the protection and further development of this embryo, the soul covers it up with a membranous sac which is filled up with an aqueous substance and the embryo floats in that closed sac.
III
In the first month the weight of this embryo, is about 1.25 to 1.5 grams only. In a month and a half, very small grooves indicating eyes, ears and face appear on it and the head and the trunk are seen distinctively. At this time, its weight increases to about 1.75 grams. In two months, the embryo becomes about one inch in length and weighs about four grams, and the organs of head and heart are formed and the development of hands and feet begins. After three months, its length increases to about 3.5 inches and the weight to about an ounce. At this time, the fingers of the hands and the feet appear, and the bones begin to be formed and the placenta is completed. After four months, the length of this embryo rises to about five inches and the weight to about a quarter of a pound. At this time, the openings of mouth and anus appear and the sex organs also become distinguishable. In five months the length increases to about seven or eight inches and the weight to about 5/8th of a pound. At this time, the hair begin to grow. After six months, its length grows to about twelve inches, the weight becomes apound and a half. At this time the eye-lids are formed but the eyes are closed. On completion of the seventh month, its length becomes about fifteen inches and the weight about two and a half pounds. After eight months, its length reaches about sixteen inches and the weight comes to about five pounds. After nine months, its length is about eighteen or twenty inches and the weight about six to seven pounds. Thus, in about forty weeks, this embryo develops into a complete child and under favourable circumstances leaves its mother’s uterus in accordance with the natural process. On its coming out in the external world, the upbringing of both its soul and body begins by another process in accordance with the law of Nature.
Q. By what process of Nature, the nourishment and further development of the child’s body is carried on after its coming out of the womb in a complete form?
A. When the body of the child comes out of the womb of its mother, in the normal and living form after it has constructed all the necessary organs there, it begins to breathe in the air. The various under mentioned senses then appear in it through the working of its nervous system for its physical well-being and further growth :
(i) Sense of hunger; (ii) Sense of thirst; (iii) Sense of defecation; (iv) Sense of urinating; (v) Sense of sleep; (vi) Sense of rest; (vii) Sense of pain; and (viii) Sense of comfort.
The process of Nature, by which the nourishment and growth of the child’s body, goes on after the appearance of these senses is as follows:
The preparation of blood for the nourishment of the body There is a very long canal in the human body commencing from the mouth, passing on to the stomach and then from the stomach to small and large intestines. This canal throughout its length i.e., in the mouth, in the stomach and further on in the intestines has attached a great number of large and small glands. These glands secrete and give different kinds of juices for it. When the child feels hungry and takes milk or in due course of time, some other kind of food, these glands send their various kinds of specific juices in order to digest and bring required chemical changes in that food. When this food changes by their chemical action, enters the small intestines, the part of it which can be converted into blood is sucked up by the blood vessels and the remaining portion passes on into the large intestines as faeces.
The work of blood circulation in the body
The food essence which the small intestines convert into blood is taken by the blood vessels to a vital organ called the heart. The heart sends the blood through its vessels to the lungs. Again, the lungs, which breathe air day and night, purify the blue venous blood into red arterial blood by means of the oxygen inhaled and return it back to the heart through other vessels. Again, the heart, sends the blood to all the organs of the body through the arteries. When the blood in the course of its circulation passes by different organs, each of them takes up sufficient nourishment out of it and passes on its waste matter to the blood, thus converting it into blue venous blood. The venous blood comes back again, through the veins to the heart and then to the lungs to be purified. It again comes back to the heart and then goes through the arteries to the various organs of the body for their nourishment. In this manner, the circulation of blood goes on throughout the body, day and night and by means of this vital organ i.e., heart, the circulation of
blood is carried on in the whole body.
Again, the blood vessels, come out of the heart for the circulation of blood in the whole body. There are also at several places several other kinds of small glands which pour their different sorts of juices into the
blood stream. One of such glands (thyroid) lies on both sides of the wind-pipe in the throat and two more small glands lie a little below it.
Similarly, pituitary gland lies in the fossa of the sphenoid bone at the base of the skull and two supra-renal glands just on the top of both the kidneys. There are some glands in the pancreas which lie behind the stomach three or four inches above the navel.
Until now it is thought, that these glands play great part in the growth, metabolism and health of the body and the development of its different organs; and if any of these glands fail to work properly, for some
reason or another, the body becomes very weak, exhausted and a prey to many diseases.
The system for removal of several kinds of
poisonous and harmful matter from the body
That portion of the food which cannot be converted into blood, passes on from the small intestines to the large one. This is called faecal matter. This faecal matter passes out through the large intestine which ends with the anus. Besides this, many other minute, unnecessary and in some cases, poisonous particles of food get mixed up with the blood.
If they do not get a chance to collect in some muscle of the body, they remain circulating in the blood vessels and thus when the), pass by the kidneys, they are absorbed by them along with the dirty water of the blood. This dirty water is passed through the urethra to a small bag known as bladder. This dirty water goes on collecting in this bladder and is called urine. The urine passes out of the bladder through the Uthera from the opening in the head of the penis.
Again, while the blood is circulating and traversing the whole body, much of its waste and poisonous element finds its exit through millionsIII of very minute holes or pores in the skin. It is this very poisonous and waste matter which is known in ordinary language as perspiration.
Similarly, when the lungs take in atmospheric air and redden the blood by its oxygen, the carbon of the blood corpuscles mixes up with this oxygen and produces a poisonous gas called “carbonic acid gas”, It is
this combustion of carbon by oxygen which produces the necessary heat and keeps the body warm and alive. This poisonous carbon acid gas is expired out by the lungs. By this process, these four kinds of organs viz., intestines, kidneys, skin pores and lungs throw out of the body, various kinds of waste and harmful matter.
The work of directing the various organs and evolution of several kinds of consciousnesses
Starting from the most important organ i.e., the head, passing through the spinal cord, there spreads to all the organs and sub-organs of the body, a very vast and most precious network for its protection and maintenance. This network is called the nervous system. It comprises of lakhs of living threads inter-linked with one another. It is only through this nervous system that human soul can move one or other organ of his body. It is through this system that he feels the sensation of any pain or distress, pleasure or comfort, heat or cold, weight or pressure & c. in any organ of his body. It is again, through this nervous
system that the working of various digestive organs goes on and food is changed in one or other form and conveyed to one or other organ. It is due to this that lungs inhale and exhale air, that heart works continuously and various kinds of poisonous matters are driven out of the body. Through this very nervous system all the other organs i.e., hands, feet, head, neck, tongue, etc., are moved and all the organs of the body are directed and several kinds of sense consciousnesses are obtained.
The framework of the human body in which all these organs are arranged is roughly described as under:
From head to both the feet, this framework is made up of a bony structure. These bones are of various shapes and forms, e.g., some long, some cylindrical, some flat and some of other forms. There are about
250 bones in the whole human skeleton. Except the exposed parts of the nails and the teeth, the whole of this Skelton is covered with muscles which in ordinary parlance are called flesh. These muscles are made up of thread-like tissues of flesh. Some of these muscles are long, others flat or some of other shapes. There are in all about 500 such muscles in the whole human body. There is a good deal of elasticity in them, therefore, they can expand and contract when in motion. Many of these muscles are voluntary i.e., they are under human volition and the others are involuntary i.e., they work by themselves without the aid of human will.
There is a layer of fat over these muscles for their protection and then the whole is covered by the skin. There are two parts of the skin, which are called the inner and the outer epidermis. One can see the outer
epidermis distinctly in the cover of a blister when it rises on any part of the body. The outer epidermis is very thin but the inner one is much thicker than the outer. Under the outer epidermis, there are millions of
white, black, yellow or red coloured cells, due to which some people appear white, some black, some yellow or red skinned. The hair that appear on the outer skin have their roots in the inner skin. The hair are of many colours e.g., golden, silvery, black, brown etc. There are hundreds of small glands in the inner skin, which secrete a kind of oil for the protection of hair. Besides these, there are hundreds of other
small glands in the skin, which draw the impurities of the body. They are then excreted in the form of perspiration through millions of small pores which open on the outer epidermis.
The human skeleton is like the case of a watch. As there are component parts and sub-parts in a watch, so there are many organs in the human body like brain, heart, lungs, stomach, liver, intestines, kidneys, etc., which work for the maintenance of the body.
The nervous system in human body has its roots in the head. The head or brain of man is the most important organ of his body. The brain is well protected by several membranes within the cranium and is a kind of whitish grey matter. The whole of the nervous system is made up of similar matter, and issuing forth from the head spreads in the whole body in the shape of threadlike ducts sheathed in a cover.
In the front part of the head are situated the eyes, the ears, the nose, the mouth &c. The human nervous system has two kinds of nerves i.e., motor nerves and sensory nerves. By means of motor nerves, man can
move the various muscles etc., of his body according to his will. The sensory nerves enable him to receive various kinds of sensations. Both these kinds of nerves are absolutely essential for his good. If the nerves
of the first kind be cut off, the muscles which are controlled by them will fail to move; for instance, if the motor nerves which control the eyes be cut off, man will not be able to close his eyes at his will, and
his eyes shall always remain open. In the same way, if the sensory nerves that reach the eyes be cut off, man shall not be able to see the form of anything inspite of the eyes. Same is the case with every other organ.
Q. What is meant by man’s physical development ?
A. The different organs of the human body which the soul constructs in the mother’s womb gradually grow and develop by the nourishment it receives and thus the body of small structure grows into a big one. The body gains in weight and grows in strength. At first the digestive organs which are not able to digest any solid food except very light and liquid diet, gradually grow in strength and are able to take solid food and digest it. In the beginning the child is not able to sit up by himself owing to the want of strength in his muscles, but gradually the muscles grow so strong that he is able to sit up by himself. Even on becoming able to sit up, he is too weak to stand up, and to walk even a few steps by himself. After some time as his muscles gain more strength, he is able to stand and walk and by and by even to run. At first he is not able to lift anything with his hands but as the hands grow stronger, he gradually gains the power at first of lifting light things, and then comparatively heavier ones. All such changes for the better mean the development of his human body.
Q. How can the bodily constitution of man be kept free from disease and
in a state of health ?
A. In order to keep human body free from disease and in a state of health,
and still more to keep it alive, it is necessary that :
(1) All the digestive organs in it whose function is to transform food into blood should, on the one hand, be complete in their structure and on the other hand perform their allotted work properly.
(2) All the organs in it whose function is to purify and circulate blood should, on the one hand, have proper structure and on the other hand, do their function properly.
(3) All the above organs and besides them all of the bones and muscles in the body should have the power to absorb and assimilate the necessary nutrition from the blood stream which passes by them by the working of the above mentioned two systems.
(4) All its organs should have the capacity to completely eliminate all the refuse and other harmful and poisonous matters which remain there after all the organs have assimilated for their maintenance and proper nutrition from the blood stream.
Then again, the four kinds of organs which have developed in the human body for eliminating the unnecessary and harmful matters from the system should have the vitality to perform their functions properly and do so successfully. These organs are (1) the intestines, (2) the kidneys, (3) the lungs, and (4)
millions of pores in the skin.
Now, if any one of all these physical organs is defective in its structure or it fails to perform its function properly due to its weakness, or the body fails to receive, in proper condition and sufficient quantity, the necessary materials for its nutrition from outside, as well as the other special things such as water, air, light and heat &c., which are essential for its life, the body would not remain in proper health. In other words there will appear one or other kind of disease or diseases and also weakness etc., which follow in the wake of such diseases; and thus its health will deteriorate. And if its health continues to deteriorate body will cease to live and it shall completely die. In this way the immutable laws of Nature about the life, degeneration disease and death or destruction in the case of every living being shall inevitably operate.
The organism of human soul is also subject to similar immutable laws of Nature.
Q. What are the laws for the proper maintenance and protection of the
human body ?
A. Nature alone is responsible for man to have living organised body having various organs, and it is Nature alone which has ordained beneficial laws for its maintenance and protection. Therefore, it is
absolutely necessary for man to know these laws and be able to follow them faithfully.
But alas! man has turned a deaf ear to these laws on account of the fact that moved by the instincts of hunger, thirst, taste, lust and sloth etc., lie has become habituated exclusively to the pleasures obtained through their satisfactions. Being a lover of happiness, he certainly does not like pain and, therefore, he hates all such diseases that cause him any kind of pain. But inspite of this instinctive response, millions of men do not know and have no desire to know even as to what their bodily organism is, and what are those organs in it, specially the vital organs—by means of which the work of its living is carried on. Neither do they feel the need of having the true knowledge of the things which exist in Nature and which are helpful in the maintenance of their bodily organism in proper health. Generally people of all sorts wish to get pleasure by satisfying their various pleasure-giving desires which have developed in them, and nothing more. Thus during thousands of years of life human species have formed habits and love for various kinds of bodily pleasures and have thus reached such a degraded stage that they fall prey to various kinds of diseases which the beings of the animal kingdom are not heir to. By such diseases man harms his bodily constitution in a manner which animals do not do, because the animals have not developed so much the love of physical pleasures as man has done. Man does not follow the laws of Nature as much as animals do by following their natural instincts. Hence the latter enjoy physical health to an extent which human beings do not do.
Q. What are the useful laws of Nature conducive to health which man violates under the sway of his love for various pleasures ‘?
A. Besides going against other laws of Nature, man violates those major laws which specially relate to the following matters :
(1) About diet.
(2) About breathing fresh air.
(3) About the use of light and heat of the sun in the required
quantity.
(4) About the proper and sufficient exercise of the various
physical organs.
I. On becoming slave and habituated to the pleasures of palate, man takes several things which Nature has not made to be beneficial for his living organism but which are distinctly harmful to him.
Under the dominance of the love for delicious things, he takes edibles out of all proportion to his needs and at improper times and thus further harms his health.
2. Millions of men do not breath in open and fresh air by which they could take sufficient amount of oxygen so as to keep their blood in a healthy tone as the deer, the antelope, the wild cow and various kinds of birds &c. of the jungle do, nor do they build their houses in such a way that free and sufficient air may have access to them.
3. Lakhs of people do not make proper use of the light of the sun. Especially the ‘civilized’ men keep their body over-dressed in all seasons and at all times and thus their skin which is full of thousands of pores, does not get sufficient rays of the sun and contact with cold air in a proper way, by which it may get sufficient power to enable it to perform its allotted functions properly and thus be able to eliminate
different kinds of waste and poisonous matters from the body. TheI work of the skin is hampered, in this way, and therefore, physical health suffers.
Then, again, lakhs of people do not want to know much less do they like to practise the exercises necessary for the preservation of their health and the methods by which and the extent to which the various organs should be exercised, so that the muscles can maintain their elasticity and the blood can circulate properly.
Therefore, the amount of work which millions of the beings of the animal kingdom, motivated by their various instinctive necessities, put in and the quantity of activity which they thereby produce in their organisms is not done by millions of men. By remaining in such an indolent condition they become so dull that they do not do even desire to go through the trouble of taking sufficient exercise of any kind.
Therefore, being a lover of pleasure and acting against the beneficial laws of Nature in these respects, man falls a prey to such diseases— sometimes to such incurable and fatal diseases and suffers various kinds of such excruciating pains and aches of various kinds that sometimes he is even obliged to commit suicide when such pains become unbearable. All such diseases, all such terrible pains and unbearable tortures are neither suffered by the animal world, nor are suicides committed by them.
Q. What scheme of diet has Nature ordained for the proper maintenance of the human body and the preservation of its health?
A. In accordance with the laws of Nature, man can take such articles of diet of the animal kingdom procured by proper methods such as milk and milk products, like butter, clarified butter (ghee), curd, buttermilk etc., and nothing besides them from the animal kingdom. Besides these, it is desirable and necessary to take such things of the vegetable kingdom which each man by personal experience has found to be useful to him, such as all kinds of dry and fresh fruits, green leaves, roots and flowers of various plants, and grains. Again, considering things of the vegetable kingdom, the skin of wheat should not be
discarded, but the whole wheat grain should be grounded and wholeIII meal (unsieved) bread be taken because the skin contains ingredients which are useful for the building of muscles and therefore removal whereof makes the food deficient. In the same way, Nature has developed various kinds of salts etc. in the vegetables which are necessary for the maintenance and protection of the human body, therefore, as far as possible, they should not be cooked, but be cleaned properly and taken raw. In case it is necessary to cook any one of them, it should be cooked by steam in such a way that the necessary salts etc., contained in them are not lost. In short, according to the laws of Nature, the preservation of the human body and its health requires milk and milk products, dry and fresh fruit, vegetables and grains of the vegetable kingdom as its proper food and nothing else. By the proper and systematic use of these things, human body can be preserved in health and fitness. There is no other way to secure health.
Q. What other functions the human soul discharges in relation to its organised body besides that of building it?
A. The human soul not only builds its organized living body according to the laws of Nature, but it also lives in that body and maintains and protects it. It further utilizes it in various ways for the fulfilment of its one or other purpose. It is able to keep it alive subject to the laws of Nature and keeps itself alive by remaining united with it.
How can it be proved that the body of man is built by its life-force or soul and that the soul is not an expression or a phase of the body.
Q. How can it be verified that the body of every human being is built by
its soul?
A. It is the organized constructive life-power that builds the body, not only of every human being but also of all the sub-human living beings, viz., the body of every big and small animal and of every big and small plant. This very constructive life-power of human being is called soul. This fact can be truly and irrefutably verified by the actual experimental tests.
Q. What is that true experimental test?
A. If a woman prefers to abortion of her four- five months’ pregnancy by assimilating the necessary elements from her blood, the foetus would cease to operate with the consequences that it would never have its body completed. No so-called God or his deity would be able to assist the foetus to develop inot the body of the baby for its existence.
Q. Can this truth be verified by any other method?
A. Yes, it can be proved. If you put some living grains of wheat into boiling water, after some time the heat of the water will destroy their life-powers i.e the power to grow into new plants. These grains would power to sprout and grow into plants. The reason being the destruction of the body-constructing life-powers which existed in these grains but got destroyed by boiling. But, according to a Believer the omnipotent creator of the universe, God, present in these grains finds himself powerless to assist grow the boiled grains. The existence of omniscient God is a myth and, therefore, it cannot grow a living plant out of these dead grains. Now it is simple to understand that a feat like this is impossible as per the mutation laws of Nature. And whatever is impossible in Nature can’t be made possible even by a true living existence.
For the Animal kingdom, a boiled egg would never hatch I into a chicken by any method whatsoever it may be. No natural, nor any artificial method reason out for constructing life-power of this egg to develop into a chicken out of its same material but boiled. No God is powerful to revert the process. Only the body-constructing life-power alone which has been destroyed could do so in favourable conditions for hatching.
Q. Materialists hold that the human soul has no fundamental and distinct existence of its own but that it is an expression of the organized material living body of man and that the soul dies with the death of the
body. How far is this view true?
A. This is false. Every soul in fact, is the builder of its living body. It is the very soul of man
that is the architect of its skeleton, flesh, circulatory system, and the nervous system. It is, again, the human soul that is the builder of all its various organs. It is the soul of man which preserves and keeps alive the body that it builds. If this life-force of man were non-existent, existence of human was not possible on the surface of this earth. Hence it is only the human soul which is builder of the body to niche in. So, the belief expressed by the materialists that human soul has no existence, distinct from body but it is a sort of expression or manipulation of the organized living body is absolutely against the fundamental laws of Nature. .
In fact, it is the soul which is the fundamental and most primary thing in the being of man. It is a great privilege of man to be capable of acquiring knowledge about its life and activities. But the misfortune of man is to remain ignorant about it.
“Love of low pleasures in man is the root cause of his most deplorable ignorance about his own soul”
In religious vistas, the term SOUL is known with the same fervour with which BODY wrt flesh is known for. But only Body is tended to for the sheer sightlessness of the soul. This prevalence is due to Man’s deep attachment to worldly pleasures, or let us low loves, to better understand the real thing of love for us. This makes the composite for our sufferings. Resultant effect is seen in deserting goodness, and occasionally, proving unfaithful to the situations of goodness, and may sometimes, our hands clasp together like the tongs of a machine to throttle the very essence of our being. With it both the Body, and the Soul suffer; simply because of such attachments which could have been avoided. Accordingly, this love leaves us in the vicious circle of intoxicants, sex, intemperance, and sloth leading to the excesses caused terribly to the surroundings, set by Nature to coexist with. Such an overindulgence is not seen in the lower animals, and yes, Man in the capacity of the most developed creature, has violated the natural laws to their optimum value. In other words, he has lowered himself than the animals for they observe their limits everywhere. Therefore, an animal is less diseased, and free from self-imposed pains which the Man has invited itself in the constitution of it. The ‘best’ clientele of the professional doctors and hakims, and of their paraphernalia is man, and not animals.
However, it is true that a respiring person, in spite of his love for pleasures, has an urge to live longer, and simultaneously, develops a strong repulsion for death. His uneasiness in living is for his overlooking of the laws governing his life and death. With such a mental state, man is even indifferent to the knowledge relating to his well-being, and degeneration of his body happens to be inevitable.
Yet the worse follows.
Even after exploring the things reasoning to affect his entity, he feels on several occasions helpless and feels strong compulsion to harm his being and thus become his own enemy.
Should we not Learn from the Lower Animals how to COEXIST within the Natural Limits to live harmoniously in the proportionate SPACE with the realisation of the objective of our life, instead of Taming them ( the animals) to live with us in utter chaos that we have procured to them
“The most deplorable ignorance of man about his own being”
Man has been endowed with certain special mental faculty in the evolutionary course of Nature. Excluding him, the animal kingdom is bereft of this. With such a gradual growth of mental faculty while exercising his powers, this super being has succeeded in discerning and obtaining first hand knowledge of the surroundings at micro level. The lower animals are not cognizant of this. For want of this mental ability, they ‘benefit’ in automation that they have little desires that humans suffers with.
Since no other knowledge is equal to the knowledge on oneself for a human mind, relating it to the knowledge of others happens to be his prime concern.
Again, with respect to his personal assets of knowledge, the study of his soul erects strait for this study before knowing anything else pertaining to his body.
But alas! We humans find ourselves at the elementary stage regarding our concerns with Nature. Stimuli and responses of the very body that we possess are not cared for properly, and the resultant disease is not understood in the right perspective. The harmful effects of those diseases remain unidentified, and this unprotected behaviour blocks a symmetrical, beautiful and strong bodily development.
Rather, it is so enslaved by worldly pleasures that Man happens to be lower than the lower animals losing its evolutionary superiority over them.
Therefore millions upon millions ‘of men neither possess beautiful bodies, nor they can enjoy such freedom from different kinds of diseases.
Surprisingly, undomesticated birds like pigeon, parrot, and mammals and rodents enjoy good physique that they have acquired in the process of evolution.
Why is it so? Perhaps, because of being in contravention to the beneficial laws of Nature. Man has lowered itself to love the things unworthy of making love, of which animals are free forever. Ego further demarcates between human and animals in its own way. One is replete with it, the other knows not the very spells of it, and enjoys itself the fun and frolic of what it has evolved into. No comparison, just befitting itself into the channels of the evolutionary laws.
For finding the means of gratification of little pleasures, thought possesses them, and goads into action relating thereto, and they are in their most deplorable state of unconcern about their being, forgetting the prime source of all activities of their life.
They remain totally unconscious (‘be-sudh’), insensible (‘aboddhi’) and ignorant (agnani), about it. Again, the persons who in the name of religion cherish one or the other kind of faith for soul and also preach, propagate and do religious exercises in conformity therewith, remain totally blind to the true knowledge concerning the soul and its life as all their fundamental beliefs are against the true laws and facts of Nature. Consequence is the darkness, and blindness about soul-life all over the world.
`aatmik aboddhita’
`aatmik aboddhita’ or ignorance means that man ,on the one hand, does not desire to have knowledge of its soul and, on the other hand, seeks various pleasure via low-loves that produce intense inner-darkness. On account of being enveloped in such a deep soul-darkness, man is incapable of perceiving the highly-essential truths about the nature and organism of the soul. Its disease, degradation, dissolution and evolution rest at the same level of ignorance of man.
It is the absence of all such cognition in a man, and it is what we call ignorance about soul (‘aatma-abodhitita’) in man.
In the evolutionary process of sublime life, Devatma had to suffer from acute funds scarcity. His opposing forces crossed all limits to render the Society a minuscule and to make it meander into nothingness just for want of money. The financial losses, thus caused to the Samaj, are comprehensible from the following points:
1. The existing funds in the account of Dev Samaj were almost exhausted .
2. The press of Dev Smaj running for the last seven years was closed. Furniture was sold and its employees were dispensed with.
3. The major items of office furniture was also sold.
4. Dev-Jeevan, the spine of the mission for being a soul-lifting paper was summed up.
5. A big portion of Dev-Ashram used as residence of the workers of the Samaj, and Devatama himself had to be vacated for renting it to mete out more urgent expenses.
6. Even the maintenance allowance of the workers had to be freezed.
7. Some of the workers were allowed to seek after alternate sources of maintenance on their individual requests.
8. One worker of Dev Smaj had to send his family to relations.
9. Devatma had to sell many articles of his personal furniture.
10. Chances of higher education to one of Devatma’s sons zeroed for scarcity of funds. Otherwise, he was a high calibre student proving his worth by passing 9th and 10th standards in first division in one year only.
11. Devatma, by no means, had any idea of leaving Lahore. But he had to compromise with the situation, and the family shifted to its native place. Yet, to leave behind some of his dears was unbearable for him.
12. His native place environs would not suit him. Again, the family had to shift to Montgomery from Akbarpur. Here firstly it was the rented house to live in, and then a mud-house was the residence.
13. Given the circumstances, expenses up to kitchen were curtailed by Devatma. So to say, even nutritious food got compromised by the sublime life he evolved in.
14. The things could not be contained in at such a stage. Even, the attachment of property was ordered by the court on the complaint of the opponents.
Man, as a species is as uncomfortable with his ignorance as a child happens to be in dark. He is born with biological needs, and perhaps, to be distinct from lower animals, he invented his cultural needs for knowledge, beauty and civic altruism.
Science has been at the centre-stage of importance for many illuminating most of the dark corners of the universe. With the discovery of the Law of Gravitation, he could observe movements of the heavenly bodies, no less the events on earth and sea. Pope expresses these sentiments as :
“ Nature and nature’s laws lay hid in the night,
God said, ‘ let Newton be !’ and all was light.”
All was light and it was light for the whole world for truth like the Sun is there for everyone to behold. Newton is honoured as an incomparable genius for ‘voyaging through’ strange seas of thought, alone.
For religion, Arnold wrote his ‘The Light of Asia on Buddha’. The Light of World on Chris was his second poem. But the process of growth of knowledge and life runs in continuity for the empirical studies of evolution in its all perscepctives.
A new incomparable genius in the field of religion has appeared in the person of Devatma. He had the unique gifts of spiritual excellence in his inheritance of love of truth and goodness, and hatred for evil and untruth. This generated a new light for him to study the nature and destiny of human personality with strict application of the scientific method under the perspective of evolution. His all alone voyage through un-trodden pathways is to bless the mankind with the same intensity of holy with which he himself was blessed. This is his vision to address the problems of moral, and soul life. The New Light of the World in association with Arnold’s titles in dealing with Buddha and Christ drags us towards the Devatma’s contribution in the field of religion.
Feeling an impulse to write on the light of Bhagwan Dev Atma as a necessity for working on a religion having all its aspects to be verified in manner of experimentation in pure sciences, this is my Sadhan to adopt to appease my own queries on such religion firstly, and then, all the seekers of such religion as envisaged by Bhgvan Atma. Therefore, after finishing, ‘Bhagvan Dev Atma, the Unconquerable’ I am once again to utilise the inking outlet to scribe: ‘Bhagwan Dev Atma as a Born Spiritual Sun’.
The Born Light of the World.
“Bhagwan Dev-Atma” (Founder of Science Grounded Religion) came into the world with a heredity of unique forces. These forces made him to enact a drama of life which is altogether new to our planet. Knowledge of his uniqueness dawned on him (Dev Atma) late in life. But his uniqueness was all the time there. His highest psychic forces moved his body and intellect much in the same way as instincts move animals and lower forces move lower men. Mankind as a rule is ruled by the desire forces of hunting after happiness and avoiding pain even though the happiness may be degrading and dwarfing and pain may be healthful, elevating and evolutionary. We human souls, are destitute of the forces of love for goodness and repulsion for evil or all that is wrong. Hence we bungle, stumble and fall in life, get bruised in body and soul and yet remain in darkness about the cause of our bungling, bruises, and falls. The love for goodness and repulsion for evil being absent, we are devoid of that light which these forces generate. Sans that radiance how can we see our way towards goodness and avoid evil. The absence of these forces blinds us and we cannot escape the ensuing horrid effects. Oh ! how pitiable our life and how helpless our state of mind !
This psychic state of ours is so defective yet so imperious that it helps to close our ears against the voice of goodness and shut our eyes to the beauty of goodness. This side of our defective life rarely reveals itself to us. Hence it is that our psychic state very readily listens to the appeal of happiness though that may be fraught with injury to others, or even to us, but it rarely listens to any appeal for goodness. This is the main reason why the old religions— every one of them—have made happiness —sensual or transcendental — as the goal of life. Religions have been a race of the blind leading another blind to reach nowhere to nowhere.
Some thinkers saw the dangers but they had not the adequate apt psychic forces to give them the power to escape the their predicament.
And it was the blessed moment, when in the course of the grand evolutionary process as working in the human world, a child was born having in his possession the forces needed to take the human world out of the terrible roots. In fact, Man is bound in many ways. The relations in human, animal, vegetable and mineral worlds to be a son, a father, a brother, a sister or a daughter. Besides, he is a husband or wife, citizen or a social unit to exist as we see him in his ordinary lifespan. How should he harmonize his life to lead to his own progress, and of others. Actually, this is not an easy task for an average person to achieve his goals. Yet, some seek solutions by denying all relations or teaching man to terminate them. They forget that Man can establish a higher relationship only by means of higher psychic forces. These were absent, and were of course much needed to fill the gap. But no idea available with him, and therefore the same mess of mass existence with no outlets encounters him.
As a remedial force, fortunately, Bhagwan Dev Atma was born with these much needed forces which could help us human beings to seek salvation.
Yet there is a reasonable question: How do we know that these unique forces manifested themselves in Bhagwan’s life ? The answer is: by verifiable facts.
Then, what are these facts, and how are these verificable?
The answer is like this:
From his infancy the force manifested itself in Bhagwan Devatma was: He felt wonderful attraction for what is good and not necessarily pleasurable and repulsion for what is evil though not necessarily painful.
This demarcated the entire career of Bhagwan Dev Atma from the rest of mankind. Who guided him? None other than his possession of these unique forces. Which light led him? It was his self-illuminating light, the light of his inherited forces.
So to say, he was “A Born Light of the World.”
His Education at School and College.
Let us begin the study of Dev Atma as a child.
Love for education sprouted in his heart. Punctuality, and regularity in his studies even in village school from this. Availing of a chance for higher education at Roorkee at the age of 15 not only affirms his determination but how to resist the objections from the parents for such an adventure.
Then nobody taught him that education was as necessary for men as it was for men. This was the light within him that guided him to set a precedent for us to practise the high morals of education for all. To put the things in practice at the time he appeared was not so easy but he executed his self-embossing ideas about despite vehement opposition of the society he existed in.
It was Bhagwan’s growing light that showed him the beauty of the favours of his benefactors and he felt bound or obliged by his inner feeling of gratitude to return the service. With this feeling he served his parents and his teachers.
His reverence for elders or respect for them was also absolutely pure. Hence when he was attracted even as a child by the beauty of some good forces in his parents, teachers, religious ideals or other elders, he tendered unto them pure, stainless and real regard and never spoke ill of them even at their back and never joined any bad boys in ridiculing elders or talking light of them or making them object of ludicrous jokes.
He felt pain of others in its right perspective. He was a child when he caught hold of a little one of a squirrel to bring it up. His revered father saw it. He told his son- a mere child- that the mother of the little squirrel must be passing quite unhappy and he must leave it at the place from where he had picked it. These words of the father drew before Bhagwan’s merciful heart the image of the mother of the little squirrel sitting in sorrow. Hence, though it was dark and the distance was pretty long, this child led by the urge of his beautiful heart, went to the place from where he had taken the little squirrel and left it under the same tree. The mother squirrel at once appeared took her little one away. The satisfaction of Bhagwan’s heart can be measured by any means possible to prove his inner forced beyond doubts.
Another example with us is that, as a child, Bhagwan had brought up some pigeons and looked after their need himself, for his parents did not like all this. Once he had to leave them for four days. His deepest anxiety remained that how to see his pigeons safe and sound. He therefore at once arranged in the niche enough grain and water, and locked the room for every kind of security. On return, he rushed up to the room, and see the pigeons. All the pigeons found safe made him feel happy.
These are a few examples out of the multitude of his greatness.
As Bhagwan felt repulsion for evil, none of those most dangerous forces which practically rule mankind, ever occurred to disturb his soul, i. e. he possessed no feeling of jealousy, vindictiveness, himsa or false ego. These negativities were not to touch him by any means.
At the age of about 16 Bhagwan Devatma joined Roorkee college. As he was above the control of any low feelings of love for wealth, property, fame, power, position, etc., he used to live in his own enchanted sublime world and realized the joys of inner life. He valued the soul satisfactions more than anything else, and thus solitude was his permanent companion. Instead of involving in gossip of the other students, he kept himself busy with his college work. In the free times, his religious sadhans were to occupy him.
This divided his time into daily duties of studentship, and activities of soul welfare. Admittedly, these are the rare things to be observed in a person of the age of 16 .
At the age of 18, he happened to be in the house of his teacher, Shri Shiv Dayal Singh, to celebrate ‘Holy’ festival along with his fellow students. His inner voice could identify the great soul of the teacher, and from that day the same teacher was to be his spiritual guide, and his general got solitude broken in the company of that soul to lead the world on the path of righteousness.
In the meantime, absorption of the noble traits of his natural guide was but natural consequence his company. In 1871, at the age of 20, he, for his personal initiation, solicited his spiritual guide to enrol him as his disciple. At his point of time, he also entered into wonderful partnership with his wife to be the co-disciple of the same master. It was his firm belief that all persons, whether men or women, equally needed spiritual guidance. This course of self-sought discipleship was a landmark for his life. This trait of his being self sufficient, self-complementary, and therefore to a major extent attaining independent discipleship pushed him towards a higher rung of spirituality than his most revered Guru.
This forces us to ask a question to our own soul making it to realize that whether it can go deeper to such a level of consciousness to find the radical difference between Bhagwan devatma and the ordinary souls that sits withing our persons. At present we cannot generate light. The difference is that we can generate, and he practises generating of that eternal light. So our souls are dependent upon him to attain the same stage that he has already achieved of his own.
His Work in Brahmo Samaj
At the age of 23 Bhagwan Devatma came to Lahore. Here his innate forces of love for truth and repulsion of untruth began to find suitable environments to flourish. The results were marvellous. Bhagwan became to voracious reader and within two short years he came to be known as a coming man. Untaught and uninspired by any external agency, Bhagwan started two journals, one in Urdu and the other in Hindi. Besides, proffering of his ideas by lecturing, amply supported by profuse quotations from shastras, marks him as the greatest orator of the Punjab. Getting large audience for the philosophy Brahmo Samaj, he was the leader and light of it. This work was appreciated as well as abhorred by within the Samaj depending upon the circles, and lobbying vice prevalent in the Samaj of that period.
Bhagwan’s own highest psychic forces made him inaccessible to other in terms of physical and emotional intimacy with others. This distinguishes him from the average humans, as we find him, fixed for a few chores of his life, and living at the level at which he was born. This rather endorses the idea that this great soul was self-emanating, and never needed any help from any outward agency, as submitted in the preceding paragraphs, and occasionally in many other references.
Bhagwan Devatma became a member
A new incomparable genius in the field of religion, thus, has appeared in the person of Devatma, and it is ‘DEV SAMAJ’. It befits all the norms and guidelines set by the great soul. Love for truth and goodness, and hatred for evil, and untruth, as per the set contours of the scientific religious approach, is the essence of the SAMAJ. This is to enlighten the subdued light of humanity by studying the nature in its natural perspectives. Strict application of the scientific methodology may verify its under the laws of evolution. And, it was the voyage of the Devatma through un-trodden pathways o bless mankind focussing light on the vision he envisage to address the problems of moral and religious life of the mankind.
This is the necessity of the modern era which intends to verify each and every facet of his life applying the set mathematical formulae. It requires “A Science Grounded Religion” which could guide the actual path of life for its adoption in letter and spirit.
Yes, the mankind has the opportunity to study His Teachings for seeking salvation of its soul.
My dear Brother/sister! As I meditate upon my social relations, I find that you stand next to parents in the intimacy of relationships. We have common parenthood, we are of the same blood. We shared even the same bed in early years. We shared the same interests for years together. We shared the same familial culture in beliefs and morals. We shared the same love and affection of parents. We were of one house and one.
Let me meditate on these social facts, to re-live them and strengthen my relation with you, Let me feel one with you, and remain one with you. We have common roots. Let us live together as the branches of the same trees, intertwined with each other till the last day on earth.
There is no greater fulfilment in life than satisfactory and satisfying relationships. If I fail to have satisfactory and satisfying relation with you, when our roots are common, when as children we lived in common environments where we grew together, how can i build better social relations in the wider social context. My relation with you is the test of my character for satisfactory and satisfying relationship. May I develop thickness with you. May I have emotional insight that next to parents, you are my relation in life. Our moral culture emphasises this thickness of relationship. May I respond with heart and soul to this cultural demand to feel one with you. This is the cry of my meditation today, for if my feelings are estranged from you, I destroy the common roots, the common tree on which our life has been anchored.
Bhagwan Devatma has rescued the philosophy of soul from the cobweb of theological fancies and metaphysical fibs. He has rescued Nature also from the false flights of imagination according to which men have reduced Nature either to an illusion or insignificant handiwork of God and out of huge ignorance taught that soul is the direct creation of God and is above all law of Nature. How absurd !
The Dev Samaj teaches that soul is the product of human parents much in the same way as is his body. When parents unite, this union leads, according to the natural attraction and coalescence of two cells of the father and the mother (i.e. when mother’s ovum is impregnated by man’s sperm under suitable conditions) and a new active soul is formed. This new life force thus starts for the first time its career of building the body in the womb of the mother. This life force is in fact the human soul. Its greatest characteristic is its constructive or body-building power. In fact this tiny architect of tiny body is the tiny soul which grows in the course of nine months to be a human child.
If no mishap occurs (i.e., if a soul possesses sufficient vitality or constructive power and does not lose it by some accident) this tiny soul succeeds in building a complete living body comprising of needed vital organs.
As soon as the child (consisting both of body and soul) is safely delivered by its revered mother, its life power continues the work of sustaining, maintaining and developing its body and brain. It also develops its emotional and mental powers and in course of time it becomes conscious of its separate existence.
The theists do not believe that soul builds the body. They believe it is built by some supernatural being. The materialists, however, do not believe in the existence of soul. They teach soul to be a phase or aspect of body. The Dev Samaj repudiates the view that man has been created by the so called God and he first constructed human body out of rotten mud and then blew His breath into his nostrils. It also repudiates the ideas that any human being has been created by the will or order of God, that thousands of young men and women were created atonce or that one Adam was created first and his wife Eve was made by pulling out one of his ribs. The Dev Samaj rejects all these and other theological fibs.
How to prove that soul or life force present in the tiny cell impregnated in the mother’s womb or present in a full-fledged and safely delivered child, builds the body?
The Dev Samaj emphatically teaches that all bodies of the vegetable and the animal existences and human beings are built by their respective life forces. If an expectant mother has abortion prior to the completion of the body of the child, what happens? The life force which was building its own body from the mother’s blood becomes extinct and the work of building further, the bodily orgainsm stops then and there. If the life force was not the only force that was building the body, let the incomplete body be built to completion by any God, Allah, Khuda, Parmatma, Brahman or any of their agents–all of whom are claimed to be omnipotent.
Again, let us put a few grains of wheat, barley or grams in boiling water. By this process the life-force in these grains would die. When taken out of water and sowed in a fertile ploughed land, they would not shoot out green blades. This is because the only operative force is absent. What an opportunity for God worshippers to prove the omnipotence of God! Let this fancied omnipotent God grow plants out of the boiled grains whose life-force is now extinct!
This marvellous force called life force-whether present in the vegetable, the animal or the human kingdom–possesses the following four common characteristics :–
1. The capacity of constructing a living body.
2. The capacity of nourshing or developing the body it has constructed.
3. The capacity of keeping alive its body for longer or shorter duration.
4. The capacity of procreating other and similar bodies.
The life force of man or a human soul, posesses the following powers :–
1. Body building, body sustaining, body controlling and body repairing powers.
2. Direct knowledge imparting mental powers of various kinds-namely powers of retention, perception, reasoning etc.. etc.
3. Pleasure and pain producing various kinds of feelings.
4. Various kinds of feelings of attraction and love for different pleasures and aversion and hatred for different pains.
Soul’s Relation with Body
Force and matter are never found existing quite apart from each other in Nature. Hence it is impossible for human body and human soul to be separate and still exist. Their relation is inseparable. Just as human gross body dies when soul casts it off, so also soul dies if it fails to build a suitable body for itself in mother’s womb or after the death of its gross body or if at any step it grows so weak that it cannot sustain body.
This soul is able to build a body because it possesses the most wonderful of all its powers called the constructive power. This constructive power, when it is sufficiently strong, begins to make relatively more light and refined cells from the gross body which it makes daily for the upkeep of the living body. At the death of the gross body the soul of man forms, by means of its sufficiently strong constructive power, a new fine or astral body of nearly the same type and shape out of the gross body. With this new body the soul starts its career on the fine earth or astral plane.
This fine or astral bodied soul remains on or near the earth if the new body is too gross to reach and live on the plane of fine or astral plane. These earth-bound souls are those unfortunate souls who have lived wicked lives on this earth. They also lead most miserable lives. If they undergo no change for the better, they continue to lose the vitality or the constructive power of soul. This gradual loss of vitality makes these miserable souls not only to pass through a lot of avoidable miseries but at last ends their existence as individual beings.
But the souls who live on this earth a life of altruism, build a very fine and beautiful refined or astral body and acquire an ability to go to and live on higher planes of the refined earth.
The altruistic life of a man not only beautifies, refines and strengthens the soul but it also enables it according to its growth in altrustic life, to reach higher and higher regions of the astral plane.
If we grasp this great truth of the inseparable relation of human body and human soul, we shall be in a fit state of mind to realize :
1. That it is entirely a false belief that man’s soul after leaving its gross material body lives
anywhere without any living material body.
2. That it is entirely false that man’s soul after casting off the gross material body remains in sleeping condition in the grave under the earth.
3. That it is entirely false that on a certain fixed day called the Day of Judgement, soul will wake up from the grave at the bugle call and appear before the so-called God to receive the judgement about his deeds done on this earth.
4. That it is the entirely a false belief that evil acts could be forgiven, leaving no mark or trace on the life of soul and thus not degrading the life of human soul. Doctrines of forgiveness of sins by the so-called God by Himself or by intercession of some agent is a huge illusion.
5. That it is an entirely false idea that the soul of a man re-incarnates i.e., is reborn as a man, beast, bird or Plant on this earth after it casts off its gross body and thus begins to live again
in another gross body.
6. That it is an entirely false belief that soul is an effect or expression or activity of a living gross body and that with the death of the gross body, it dies altogether.
7. That it is an entirely false belief that every soul survives the gross body under all conditions and all circumstances.
The Law of Nature teaches us that only such a soul can survive physical death which is able enough to build a fine body at that time, out of the fine cells, which it collects out of the gross body and meets with no mishap.
8. That it is an entirely wrong belief that any soul can escape the inevitable effects of life wedded to falsehoods and evils through the grace of the so-called God etc.
And yet is it not true that millions of persons welter in the mire of these false beliefs and thereby deepen their soul darkness and degrade their soul life? It is indeed most regrettable that humanity in its present stage is not able to go into ecstacies by reflecting on the truths taught by the Dev Samaj. But the time shall come when such contribution by the Dev Samaj would be appraised, honoured and enthusiastically propogated far and wide.
Freedom & Evolution of Human Soul
The Dev Samaj teaches that every human soul gets diseased and degraded when it thinks and acts in violation of the glorious law of Evolution or Construction or Betterment. Man is a part of Nature. And being a part of Nature, it is naturally related very closely to other parts of Nature.
Hence, if moved by higher feelings it thinks, feels and acts in such a way as to contribute towards the betterment of other parts of Nature, it fulfills the law of Evolution (i.e. law of existence and progress). But if on the contrary, moved by low loves and low hates, it begins to prove harmful to others, he runs counter to the law of Evolution and suffers a lot of avoidable and woeful consequences in relation to his own self and produces similar woeful consequences in relation to others.
After enunciating this great principle of life, the Dev Samaj further teaches that the feelings which degrade the soul of man and lead him to wrong, evil and harmful thoughts and acts in relation to others and his own being can be grouped under the following eight heads:
1. The bodily-pleasure-giving low loves of taste, intoxication, lust and slouth.
2. – The egoistic-pleasure-giving low loves of self-gratification, self-aggrandisement, self-praise and selfishness.
3. – Low-pleasure-giving low loves of wife and children.
4. – Low-pleasure-giving low loves of acquisition, wealth, property etc.
5 – Low-pleasure-giving loves of traditions, habits etc.,
6 – Low-pleasure-giving love of Hinsa or violence by means of teasing others, annoying others, troubling others whether men or animals.
7 – Low-pleasure-giving loves of false or blind faith.
8 – Low-pleasure-giving hates of various kinds, generated by jealousy, vindictiveness and religious, communal, racial, colour biases or prejudices.
All these are termed low loves and low hates :–
They produce a havoc in human life.
Those enslaved to low loves and low hates ;ˇ
(a) become hard-hearted and thus develop incapacity to see and accept truth, specially truths regarding soul life
(b) become perverted in vision to such an extent that they to their great misfortune, consider evil as good and good as evil; falsehood as truth and truth as falsehood; friends as foes and foes as friends; false religions as true religions and the true religion as false;
(c) lose their priceless possession of the capacity to get freedom from the slavery to low loves and low hates and to evolve higher or altruistic powers.
(d) lose above all, the constructive power of their soul and thus grow extinct for ever.
What a terrible fate! And yet this fate awaits all who are :
(a) devoid of true knowledge; and
(b) are slaves to low loves and low hates, which they develop pursuing the goal of pleasure as their supreme object in life.
When life force or soul of a human being is the sole builder, preserver, mover and developer of his body, it is indeed the most real, primary and most essential entity on which rests his entire existence. His body is merely a vehicle by which soul expresses itself. Hence it should be the highest endeavour of man to get ;ˇ
(b) true knowledge and consciousness about the nature and organism of his soul, its diseases,
degradation and death, the true courses or methods of his getting salvation from soul degradation and highest evolution.
(c) true, higher or life-promoting environments which may help him to obtain true salvation from his soul-degrading courses of conduct and their causes and true evolution of higher or altruistic powers.
What is meant by salvation of soul?
The salvation in the light of facts and laws of Nature, means freedom from :
1. His pleasure-affording low loves and their resultant low hates;
2. All his false and wrong, sinful and criminal thoughts and acts prompted by his slavery to pleasure-affording low loves and low hates.
3. All his soul impurities accumulated in his soul by his previous thoughts, acts and deeds by making certain atonements, reparations or retribution called Hani Parishod in the Dev Samaj.
The real evolution of soul consists in:
4. The unfoldment, fostering and strengthening of various altruistic forces in man which in fact constitute the real dharma or true religion.
It is an immutable law of Nature that only such a soul can obtain true freedom and true evolution who possesses capacity for them in his inheritance. A man who possesses this capacity is called a fit soul.
It is, again, another immutable law of Nature that a fit soul can get soul freedom and soul evolution by fufilling certain necessary conditions and never otherwise. Two most essential conditions which a fit soul has to fufill are these : –
1. He must. get highest psychic or soul Light (Dev Jyoti). It is the characteristic of this unique light that it illumines the inner life of man in him. It enables the recipient to see the really harmful, ugly and horrible nature and consequences of his false beliefs, evil thoughts and acts and low loves and low hates which produce such thoughts and acts, beliefs and practices.
This light enables the fit soul to see the nature and organism of its soul, of true freedom from its maladies, the enrapturing beauty of various altruistic forces which constitute higher or true dharmic life and the true way of its evolution.
Let this be borne in mind that it is only the requisite light which reveals objects and truths in any sphere of Nature. Physical light alone can show physical forms, shapes and colours of physical objects to a man possessing eyes. Mental light alone can reveal to man laws of Nature ruling the life, growth and death of the bodies of vegetable, animal and human beings and existence of all inanimate beings. Altruistic light alone can reveal the beauty and grandeur of an altruistic feeling. Dev Joyti and Dev Joyti alone can reveal truths pertaining to the nature, organism, life and destiny of human soul.
A fit soul, therefore, has to get this light or live and die in darkness and soul ignorance.
2. He must get the highest psychic power (Dev Tej). As Dev Jyoti illumines the soul of man, reveals to him the most ugly and repulsive form of the slavery to low loves and low hates and their impurities accumulated in soul by their actions, so the Dev Tej or highest psychic power is that supreme force which develops in fit souls higher repulsions for these infernal forces. This higher repulsion weakens man’s attraction for falsehoods and evils and gradually undermines them altogether and awakens hatred and pain and thereby reclaims man from that life–destroying serfdom. The constant action of these two forces–Divine Light and Divine Power-not only demolishes castles of falsehoods and evils but also enables a fit soul to get cleansed from past impurities by making adequate reparatiom. This is called Atma shuddhi.
It is this Dev Tej which not only gets a man the freedom from slavery to low loves and low hates but also evolves higher, noble and altruistic forces in him.
Only by assimilating the psychical influences emanating from the Devatma can man attain his Supreme Goal which consists in getting:
1. True knowledge and consciousness about the nature, and organism of human soul, its diseases, the true cause of these diseases, the laws of its true treatment and cure and its evolution here and hereafter.
2. True soul freedom from slavery to low loves and low hates, true soul purification by various sadhanas of reparations and true soul evolution in altruistic powers. And Bhagwan Devatma enables us to reach this unique goal. What a privilege and what an opportunity Nature, the greatest reality and the only Creator of body and soul of man, has placed before fit souls and what a misfortune to miss this !
Man, as a species is as uncomfortable with his ignorance, as a child is in the dark. He was not born with biological needs only but with cultural needs for knowledge, beauty and civic altruism also. No wonder science has gained so central an importance with man, for it has lighted many dark corners of the universe. When Newton discovered the law of gravitation it helped mankind to see the intelligibility of the brute facts of the movements of the heavenly bodies, no less the events on earth and sea. Pope truly expresses the sentiment of mankind when he says :
“ Nature and nature’s laws lay hid in the night,
God said, ‘ let Newton be !’ and all was light.”
All was light and it was light for the whole world for truth like the Sun is there for every one to behold. Newton is honoured as an incomparable genius for ‘voyaging through strange seas of thought, alone.
In the field of religion Arnold wrote his great poem entitled The Light of Asia on Buddha. He wrote his second poem entitled The Light of World on Christ. But the process of growth of knowledge and life is ceaseless under the impact of the scientific method and the process of evolution.
A new incomparable genius in the field of religion has appeared in the person of Devatma. He had the unique gifts of spiritual excellence in his inheritance of love of truth and goodness and hatred for evil and untruth which developed in him new light to study the nature and destiny of human personality with strict application of the scientific method under the perspective of evolution. He voyaged through un-trodden pathways all alone to bless mankind with new light and vision on the problems of moral life and soul life.
We print this time an un-published writing of Principal P.V. Kanal, the first and foremost writer on the teachings of his worshipful being, Devatma. This published writing lay hidden from vision for over 63 years till it was discovered by Shri K.L. Vohra, M.A. from the collection of papers at the Parvat Ashram, Solan, the residence of Devatma. Principal Kanal titled his book as A Born Spiritual Sun. We have titled it The New Light of the World which in association with Arnold’s titles in dealing with Buddha and Christ, will remind the readers that book concerns the unique light shed by Devatma in the field of religion.
After the Science -Grounded Religion ceased to exist I felt impelled to write down what light of Bhagwan Dev Atma was ever and anon showing me of the Dev Rup of Bhagwan Dev Atma. For some time I did not mind the impulse. But as it grew insistent I took up my pen and instead of having any other Sadhan I made this as the chief part of my Sadhan. I finished one book : Bhagwan Dev Atma, the Unconquerable. I write this book : Bhagwan Dev Atma as a Born Spiritual Sun.
Light of Bhagwan Dev Atma is responsible for this urge. So long I feel the urge I would go on easing my heart by writing out my reflections. They have been benefiting me much and they are bound to prove of some help to those who are anxious to know some thing about Bhagwan Dev Atma’s Rup.
1.
A Born Light of the World.
“Bhagwan Dev-Atma” (Founder of Science Grounded Religion) came into the world with a heredity of unique forces. These forces made him to enact a drama of life which is altogether new to our planet. Knowledge of his uniqueness dawned on him (Dev Atma) late in life. But his uniqueness was all the time there. His highest psychic forces moved his body and intellect much in the same way as instincts move animals and lower forces move lower men. Mankind as a rule is ruled by the desire forces of hunting after happiness and avoiding pain even though the happiness may be degrading and dwarfing and pain may be healthful, elevating and evolutionary. We human souls, are destitute of the forces of love for goodness and repulsion for evil or all that is wrong. Hence we bungle, stumble and fall in life, get bruised in body and soul and yet remain in darkness about the cause of our bungling, bruises and fall. The love for goodness and repulsion for evil being absent, we are devoid of that light which these forces generate. When we are devoid of that light how can we see our way towards goodness and avoid evil. The absence of these forces make us blind and we cannot escape the effects of this horrid blindness. Oh ! how pitiable our life and how helpless our state !
This psychic state of ours is so very defective and so very imperious that it helps to close our ears against the voice of goodness and shut our eyes to the beauty of goodness. This side of our defective life rarely reveals itself to us. Hence it is that our psychic state very readily listens to the appeal of happiness though that may be fraught with injury to others or even to us but it rarely listen to any appeal for goodness. This is the main reason why the old religions— everyone of them—have made happiness —sensual or transcendental — as the goal of life. Religions have been a race of the blond leading the blind till both fall into a ditch.
Some thinkers saw the dangers but they had not the adequate psychic forces to give them the power to escape the terrible predicament.
How blessed was that moment when in the course of the grand evolutionary process as working in the human world, a unique child was born, possessed of those very forces which were need to take the human world out of the terrible root into which it had fallen. The root was this : man is bound in the various relations in human, animal, vegetable and mineral worlds. He is a son, father, brother, sister or daughter, husband or wife, citizen or social unit etc. etc. How should
he harmonize his life in such a way so as to lead to his own progress and the progress of others. This was not easy task. Some sought the solution of this by denying all relations or teaching man to cut them off. Man can establish a higher relationship only by means of higher psychic forces. These were absent and the mess began.
Bhagwan Dev Atma was born with those most urgently needed forces which alone could help us human beings.
How do we know that these unique forces manifested themselves in Bhagwan’s life ? By facts.
What are these facts ? They are as follows:
From his very infancy the one unique force that manifested itself in Bhagwan Devatma was this : He felt wonderful attraction for what is good and not necessarily pleasurable and repulsion for what is evil though not necessarily painful.
This demarcated the entire career of Bhagwan Dev Atma from the rest of mankind. Who guided him ? Non but his unique forces. Whose light led him ? It was the light of his own forces. He was therefore from his infancy “A Born Light of the World.”
2
His Education at School and College.
Let me begin my study of Dev Atma as a child. Love of education sprouted in his heart. He always went to school in time and studied well. He finished all his education in his village. When he came to know that there was a chance of further education at Roorkee, he determined to have it. He was hardly 15 years of age. But his resolution was made. He told his parents plainly that he would have education at any sacrifice and he overcame their objection.
In his inner light he saw that just as education was good for men it was good for women too. Nobody taught him this. Nobody even made a suggestion to him But as soon as his light showed him this he himself began educating his two female relation. He was a child then. The opposition to this step of his was vehement. But he cared not much for any opposition.
It was Bhagwan’s growing light that showed him the beauty of the favours of his benefactors and he felt bound or obliged by his inner
feeling of gratitude to return the service. With this feeling he served his parents and his teachers.
His reverence for elders or respect for them was also absolutely pure. Hence when he was attracted even as a child by the beauty of some good forces in his parents, teachers, religious ideals or other elders, he tendered unto them pure, stainless and real regard and never spoke ill of them even at their back and never joined any bad boys in ridiculing elders or talking light of them or making them object of ludicrous jokes.
He felt pain of others in its true perspective. He was a child when he caught hold of a little one of a squirrel to bring it up. His revered father saw it. He told his son- a mere child- that the mother of the little squirrel must be passing quite unhappy and he must leave it at the place from where he had picked it. These words of the father drew before Bhagwan’s merciful heart the image of the mother of the little squirrel sitting in sorrow. Hence, though it was dark and the distance was pretty long, this child led by the urge of his beautiful heart, went to the place from where he had taken the little squirrel and placed it under the tree. The mother at once came and joyfully took her little one. The satisfaction of Bhagwan’s heart was intense.
As a child Bhagwan had brought up some pigeons and looked after their need himself, for his parents did not like this step of his. Once he was leave them for four days as he was to be married. His deepest anxiety even during that tender age was how to see his pigeons safe and sound. He therefore at once placed in their room enough grain and a big jar of water and locked the room so that no cat or any such animal could go there. When he came back after some days his first care was to run up to the room, unlock it and see the pigeons. He found them quite well and felt happy.
These examples can be multiplied.
As Bhagwan felt repulsion for evil, none of those most dangerous forces which practically rule mankind, ever blossomed in his soul, i. e. he possessed no feeling of jealousy vindictiveness, himsa or false ego. He was slave to none of these low desires.
At the age of about 16 Bhagwan Devatma reached Roorkee and joined Roorkee college. As he was devoid of the soul consuming forces of jealously, vindictiveness, himsa and false ego, and was above the control of any low feeling of love for wealth, property, fame, power, position, etc., he used to live in his own enchanted sublime world and
realized the joys of inner life. He valued the soul satisfactions more than anything else. He loved solitude. It was foreign to his nature then to go to any student ‘s quarters or to call him to his own with a view to indulge in idle gossip or slander or other frothy talk. He did his college work efficiently and well and thereafter engaged himself in the religious sadhans he believed. His life was thus divided into daily duties of studentship and activities of soul welfare. How curious in a child of 16 ! How rare all this even in a man of advanced age !
When Bhagwan was 18 years of age he accompanied students to a teacher’s house to play ‘Holy’. His name was Shri Shiv Dayal Singh. Bhagwan saw in his inner light the beauty and nobility of the heart forces of that great soul. Nobody taught him any thing bout the soul. Nobody had even suggested any thing to him about that soul. There was no third man to introduced him to that soul. He sought that soul out as his spiritual guide and from that day onward he sought his company.
Bhagwan imbibed certain noble traits of that great soul in 1871 when he was about 20 years of age, he, on his own initiation, solicited his spiritual guide to enroll him as his sewak (disciple). Here, again, it was his own light that led him. Not only he sought his own enrolment as a disciple but he joined his wonderful partner of life – his wife — as a co-disciple of the same great master. He knew even then that women had as much need of spiritual guidance and help as man. Thus he continued the course of self-sought discipleship which was a great landmark in his unique life. He was therefore, a born light and hence self sufficient. This the reason that the disciple climbed for great heights, higher than his most revered Guru.
My soul, can you realize this ! If you can deepen this consciousness you will realize that there is a most radical difference between Bhagwan devatma and we human souls ! We cannot generate light. He can and he does. Hence we are eternally dependent upon him.
3
His Work in Brahmo Samaj
At the age of 23 Bhagwan Devatma came to Lahore. Here his innate forces of love for truth and repulsion of untruth began to find suitable environments to bloom and blossom. The result was marvelous. Bhagwan became to voracious reader and within two short years he came to be known as a coming man. Untaught and uninspired by any outside agency, but his own beautiful forces, Bhagwan started two journals, one in Urdu and
the other in Hindi. He also began to deliver lectures. The first lecture was delivered on the glory of truth. This was amply supported by profuse quotations from shastras. The wonderful powers of tongue which soon marked him out as the greatest orator of the Punjab, got him very large audience whenever he spoke. He also soon became the leading man in Brahmo Samaj. Very soon he was the leader and light of Brahmo Samaj.
Bhagwan’s own highest psychic forces made it impossible for him to live on any terms of intimacy with any body. He sough society of non except one or two exceptions. He had no heart-to-heart intimacy with anyone. This was because his unique forces had made a world of difference between him and those around him. It was therefore idle to expect that any of them could lead him.
Bhagwan used to pass all his spare time after his school duties in delivering sermons, writing articles and publishing them, in prayers, and study, and in doing something for the good of his society and for the public. Whatever he did was never done with a view to please this or that person. His main ideal was to do what was good and true irrespective of any other consideration. Hence it was impossible for him to accept the lead if it did not satisfy his ideal of the good and the true. As all those around him were bereft of his unique light how could they lead him ! He shone by his own light and moved in his unique orbit by his own motion. He was thus a born light for mankind.
Bhagwan Devatma was so constituted even from his childhood upward that it was impossible for him to let his time pass in the idle gossip or uselessly. Soul welfare and service of others were two such dominant objectives in his life that they absorbed every possible time he could spare from his school duties. That was the only atmosphere in which he could live and he himself had to create for himself that atmosphere. It is not fact that any such environment already existed. There was not a single man in Lahore who walked the way that he was treading. It may be said that Brahmo Samaj was the environment of which made him. The facts speak the other way. It was he who made Brahmo Samaj a living institution by his own life. He infused life into its bones. Some of the leading Brahmo Samajists recognized this fact while others grew jealous of him. It is a very interesting chapter of Bhagwan’s life.
Let me see it from the point of view before me.
Bhagwan Devatma became a member
A new incomparable genius in the field of religion has appeared in the person of Devatma who established Science Grounded Religion namely ‘DEV SAMAJ’ for the reasons that He had the unique gifts of spiritual excellence in his inheritance of love of truth and goodness and hatred for evil and untruth which developed in him new light to study the nature and destiny of human personality with strict application of the scientific method under the perspective of evolution. He voyaged through un-trodden pathways all alone to bless mankind with new light and vision on the problems of moral life and soul life.
It is the demand of the modern era that there must be a “A Science Grounded Religion” which could guide true life path for adoption. Fortunately the mankind has the great opportunity to study His teachings for true salvation and development of soul.
Philosophy of Religion
The socio-anthropomorphic study of the human race tells us that religion stands as the foundational stone of the human civilization. Therefore man needs religion to protect and perfect himself, and his society in the eternal flux of this process of world.
At different periods of time, religion has seen several tempests with different human communities. And because of religious differences, the world has bled profusely for the wars fought for the religion itself. Instead, this was to safeguard the interests of the humans. Therefore there is need to seek for true religion to reach for a meaning for humanity, and to avoid repetition of the religious tragedies of the past. Also, the need for religion should bring us devotion for a genuine cause so that we could find significance to our fugitive existence. Science today itself demands for us a religion free from incredible dogmas and uncritical attitude towards life.
And for this pursuit of man, History of religion has provided a thinker of the 19th century who devoted all his life-time to find a scientific religion. In this Natural religion of Devatma, as we refer him, we find a reason based philosophy. This is altruistic in character and is rigged on facts and laws of Nature. Its empirical study proves the standard of such knowledge where so ever it is tried. Here Religion and ethics are not the same thing, though they are so intrinsically related. For it, a good man of transparent virtues may not be religious at all. Rather, he must have faith in his existence, and should love a being accepted as the highest form worthy of it. Such a life may not be full of love for a great cause. Instead, it must involve as essential to it, faith and love for some being –human or superhuman. Yet, this is not classification of religion into good and bad religions. This is only in evolutionary terms that there is sense of speaking of history of religion. It implies in-expugnable element faith and love for some being. It may be a stone, it may be a tree, it may be a statue, or a great man, God or the Devatma. There is range of religions advocating false faith and love of a being which may either be a myth or unworthy in its character to shower love upon it.
Let us be clear as to what a religious life is! It is faith in the guru, and it is a striving for altruistic life. With these, an individual is truly religious. Round these two ends religious life should revolve, if it is so. The first is peculiar to religion. It is its differentia. On the other hand, even if we prove true to personality ethics, i.e. we are free from low-loves and low-hates and have developed altruistic loves, we may not be religious. Faith in Devatma is the other requisition to be religious. This is like the development of psychological techniques which may one day help the society to have mature individuals free from passions and lusts and full of social virtues. Even then psychology would not have dispensed with religion. The greatest contribution of a religion is its leader who has in him worth, essentially worthy of faith. Is it the highest development of a personality, to be good, i.e. to be free from low-loves and hates and to be imbued with and immersed in altruistic life? The answer is in the negative. The highest value for man is in loves and the highest love is the love of the Divine Being. In the love of the highest divine being, man touches the peak point of his destiny. Hence, it has been the soundest instinct of mankind and the natural culmination of the highest philosophy, to place highest value by love of the divine being. There have been errors as to the defining characteristics of the divine being, but there has been no error in the intuition of mankind to give the highest value to faith and love of the divine being.
So great and sublime is the experience of faith and love of the divine being that morality is made secondary to it. We ought to be free from low-loves and low-hates and cultivate altruistic feelings, for this helps us to keep out of the harm’s way to the humblest existence in the four kingdoms and makes us to be serviceable to all existences in hundreds of ways. But this is not all. The crown or glory of such moksha and Vikas, is that it opens the way for being in love with the master, to be Anuraagi Shishya.
If we appreciate that differentia of religion is love of the divine being, it will make it clear why Devatma put his faith in Him as the first condition of membership of Dev Samaj. This condition is intrinsic to religious life. As per definition, a man may be free from all the eight gross sins, he is not religious. Yes, he may be altruistic which is not to be the same as being religious. He may have gratitude for Devatma. he is not religious. This point finds strength in the historical event membership conditions were revised by Dev Samaj. These were disciple having exceptional gratitude for the master –they had rendered historic services to him. Yet these grateful disciples failed to pass the set membership criterion. It is just because the new conditions demanded faith in Devatma which was wanting in them. This showed their life lacked the differentia of religious life –they had joined religion without being religious.
A Devatma is a soul, which is neither all powerful nor all knowing. But he is the soul, which is free from all weaknesses of human souls. There is no evil passion that touches His life and conduct and there is no altruistic feeling that is lacking in Him. He is the soul with new psychology. His urges are governed by the principles of truth and goodness. Every thought and act of His life is processed by these principles and they bear the charm of unique quality. It is this equipment of all-sided love of truth and goodness that had made Him so completely fit for the satisfaction of the souls to open windows towards them for their worship. And goodness awaits for the man to prove his faith in Bhagwan Devatma. Then only a man will be religious, liberated and fully evolved.
But this level of a man does not make him to be identical with his Guru even if he is offered to be Him like a true lover who does not desire to be the beloved despite such an offer. He wants to remain whatsoever he/she is to contemplates the beauty and dignity of the entity infatuated with. No desires of a devotee from his master, so to say. That is: Ecstatic love of his Guru, and nothing else to lay everything at His feet compromising on all possible circumstances.
Only Devatma’s philosophy of comprehensive and humanistic naturalism can pull India out to the dead weight spurious transcendentalism and enable it to enter the 21st century with hope courage and self confidence.
Dr. D.C. Mathur, Prof of Philosophy, New York State University, USA
Devatma’s concept of soul is unique. None before him had developed this concept on the lines he has developed. The soul is normally considered to be an unborn, unchanging, immortal, disembodied spirit, pure consciousness and so on. But Devatma does not accept the existence of anything supernatural transcending the empirical experience. According to him, scientific outlook should be our base what cannot be empirically verified should not be deemed to be existing. Consequently, all the transcendental type of entities like the soul, God etc. get banished out of the field of the meaningful discourse. Therefore the souls are also born, they are also the products of nature as other living things are, they are active, they form bodies and when disembodied, they also die.
Dr. D.D. Bandiste,
Head, Department of Philosohy, Indore (M.P.)
It is unfortunate that a thinker like Devatma who propounded a new view of man and life did not receive recognition he deserved.
Prof. R.C. Pandeya, Delhi.
The philosophy of Devatma is extraordinary, simple and grand and at same time it is naturalistic, dialactical, scientific, evolutionary, developmental, optimistic, responsible and altruistic.
Prof. Dale Reipe, Buffalo, USA.
Devatma has broken new ground in the development of Indian philosophic thought.
Prof. D.D. Vadekar, Puna.
The philosophy of Devatma serves notice that competent survey of types of Indian philosophy must include naturalism.
Prof. Archie J. Bahm, New Mexico, USA.
I feel very much at home in the philosophy of Devatma and regret that I have neglected to express my feelings before. The opportunity for recognising my sympathies and for showing how his ideas continue to be expressed in my own writings. I claim that the needed world philosophy should be humanistic and scientific. Both of the ideas are already firmly embedded in Dev-Darsana.
Prof. of Philosophy, University of Mexico, USA.
As a figure on the stage of the Indian renaissance, Devatma is original, creative and eradical innovator. While challenging the whole metaphysical tradition of India, he still remains the best of its ego-denouncing ethics giving it, however in new turn by focusing it on altruism.
-The Boletin de A.E.O. (Spanish association of Orientalists) Madrid, Spain.
The model of Devatma’s philosophical writings in the Dev Shastras is strikingly that of Spinoza’s Ethics where reflections of nature of reality lead to the conception of human bondage and freedom…
-The Indian Philosophical Quaterly, Poona.
Devatma brought a naturalistic, scientific, rational and evolutionary point of view to bear upon all problems concerning the nature of the universe, theory of knowledge, nature of human personality, and the nature of human bondage and freedom.
Philosophy & Phenomenological research, Buffalo, USA.
Like Hartmann, Devatma believes in plurality of senses of values and moral senses…
-The Indian and Foreign Review, Delhi.
The philosophy of Devatma is positive in its outlook: it is non-speculative, and so does not concern itself with futile thinking regarding what exists beyond the clouds.
Profesor and Head, Dept. of Philosophy, Gorakhpur University.
The powerful writings of a daring Indian thinker -Devatma (1850-1929)- during the later part of the nineteenth century when, as we all know the overwhelming generality of Indian thinkers were wedded exclusively to their age-old method of an idealistic intuitionism, ending up, more often than not, in espousing the concept of static, timeless and all-absorbing absolute as the ultimately real. It is really quite hard, therefore, for one to believe that a philosopher of this very soil could assert which such confident firmness, that what is Real, in the ultimate analysis, is the cosmic universe. And this Universe, for him, is nothing but Nature conceived as ‘one unlimited’ un-created, self-existent whole of embodied existences in ceaseless change.
Prof. S.C. Biswas, Head, Dept of Philosoply, Allahabad University.
In the very remarkable sense Devatma quiet contrary to the different effervescent religious movements of the late nineteenth century or even early twentieth century, has distinctively taken its starting point from the secular knowledge of Nature (man and his social institutions). I recommend its consideration for the proper evaluation of its implications for contemporary theory of human conduct.
Dr. Dharmendra Goel, Head, Dept of Philosophy, Punjab University.
Devatma: The founder of Dev Smaj was an outstanding personality of the nineteenth century India comparable in talent and in the range of his intellectual interests to Raja Ram Mohan Roy, the father of India renaissance, Devatma was astonishingly scientific and modern in his outlook. This explains why he failed to make an impact on the society of his time which was steeped in superstitious medievalism.
Prof. N.K. Devaraja, Varanasi.
I propose to say something about Devatma, who belongs to the company of the nineteenth and twentieth century thinkers like Gandhi Ji, Tagore, Swami Vivekanand,
Dr. Mohammad Iqbal, Sri Manabendranath Roy, Sri Aurobindo and Dr. Radhakrishnan. But unfortunately he has been completely kept out of this company in the matter of appreciative exposition of his philosophy.
Descartes, Spinoza, Leibnitz, Kant, Hegel and other in the West, and Indian above Indian thinkers were all out to save supernaturalism. But Devatma did not allow any scriptural authority to decide his thinking. He put himself to the study of Science and Scientific method and he fell in love with the principals of scientific investigations.
Dr. Sanjib Ghosh, Calcutta University.
In Devatma’s philosophy one finds a philosophical response to the scientific climate. He fearlessly goes against the dominant and conservative elements in Indian thought, which perpetuate the tradition of other-worldly outlook towards life. In Devatma one finds a frank admission, that the philosophical reflections based on the bedrock of scientific discoveries and on the critical on Nature, man and society.
Dr. J.V. Joshi, Poona University.
It is a pleasant surprise to come across Devatma’s philosophy of naturalism in the framework of Indian Philosophy, where Devatma’s love of truth which led him to reject theology. Devatma’s century also belonged to Mars, Darwin, Wundt, Comte, Fechnen and William James. Devatma shared the commitment to science inspired by Ram Mohun Roy (1720-1833), Debendranath Tagore (1817-1905) and Keshab Chandra Sen (1838-1884).
Dr. Madhusudna Baxi. Head, Dept. of Psychology, Ahmedabad.
I feel very much at home in the philosophy of Devatma and regret that I have neglected to express my feelings before. The opportunity for recognising my sympathies and for showing how his ideas continue to be expressed in my own writings. I claim that the needed world philosophy should be humanistic and scientific. Both of the ideas are already firmly embedded in Dev-Darsana.
Prof. of Philosophy, University of Mexico, USA.
Devatma’s Philosoplhy is a significant contribution to this naturalistic tradition in Indian Philosophy and is unique attempt made in India to place religion on the foundations of an Imperical-Naturalisitc philosophy which refuses to foster the hopes of transcending natural laws.
Sri G.M. Kewalramani, Punjab University.
The role of religion is a vital one in the drama of human race. It deeply affects all aspects of human life.The socio-anthropomorphic study of the human race tells us that religion stands as the foundational stone of the human civilization. Therefore man needs religion to protect and perfect himself and his society in the eternal flux of this world process.
No doubt religion has taken many turns and tempests with different human communities at different periods of time. And because of different religious groups, the world has bled and suffered from the wars for years. But ultimately true Religion can alone give a meaning to humanity.
The need for religion should bring a devotion to a cause which will give our fragile and fugitive existence significance and value. In the age of science we need a religion which must be free from incredible dogmas and uncritical attitude towards life and must be free from low loves or low-hates.
The History of religion gives us a noble thinker of the 19th century, who had devoted all his life-time to find a scientific religion which is known as Dev Darma. In the Natural religion of Devatma, we find a scientific philosophy which is altruistic in character and bases itself on facts and laws of Nature. Scientific knowledge is taken to be the standard of true knowledge of whatever exists.
In the religious philosophy, Religion and ethics are not the same thing, though they are so intrinsically related. A good man of transparent virtues may not be religious at all. For a good man of transparent virtues may not be religious at all. For a good man to be religious he must have faith and love in a being, which is accepted as the highest. Religious life is not a life of love for a great cause or even the greatest cause. It must involve as essential to it, faith and love for some being –human or superhuman. I am defining religion in a manner to make room for classifying it into good and bad religions. I am defining it in evolutionary terms, so that there is sense of speaking of history of religion. Religious life implies as its in-expungable element faith and love for some being. It may be a stone, it may be a tree, it may be a statue, or a great man, God or the Devatma. there are false religions, which advocate faith and love of a being who is either a myth or unworthy in his character.
Let us be clear as to what is religious life-it is faith in and love of the guru and it is striving for altruistic life. When both of these things are present in an individual, he is religious. It is round these two ends of the pole that religious life revolves. The first is peculiar to religion. It is its differentia. Even if we raised to personality ethics, i.e. even if for argument’s sake, we are free from low-loves and low-hates and have developed altruistic loves, we are not religious. It is when we show faith in or love of bhagwan Devatma that we become religious. We can imagine for the sake of argument, that development of psychological techniques may one day help the society to have mature individuals free from passions and lusts and full of social virtues. Even then psychology would not have dispensed with religion. The greatest contribution of a religion is its leader who has in him worth which is worthy of faith and love.
Is it the highest development of a personality, to be good,i.e. to be free from low-loves and hates and to be imbued with and immersed in altruistic life? The answer is in the negative. The highest value for man is in loves and the highest love is the love of the Divine Being. In the love of the highest divine being, man touches the peak point of his destiny. Hence, it has been the soundest instinct of mankind and the natural culmination of all highest philosophy, to place highest value by love of the divine being. There have been errors as to the defining characteristics of the divine being, but there has been no error in the intuition of mankind to give the highest value to faith and love of the divine being.
So great and sublime is the experience of faith and love of the divine being that morality is made secondary to it. We ought to be free from low-loves and low-hates and cultivate altruistic feelings, for this helps us to keep out of the harm’s way to the humblest existence in the four kingdoms and makes us to be serviceable to all existences in hundreds of ways. But this is not all. The crown or glory of such moksha and Vikas, is that it opens the way for being in love with the master, to be Anuraagi Shishya.
If we understand that differentia of religion is love of the divine being, it will make it crystal clear why Devatma put faith in Him as the first condition of membership of Dev Samaj. This condition is intrinsic to religious life. A man may be free from all the eight gross sins. He is not religious. He may be altruistic. He is not religious. He may have gratitude for Devatma. he is not religious. This point can be made clear by the historical event of the revision of conditions of membership of Dev Samaj. These were disciple whose gratitude for the master was exceptional –they had rendered historic services to him. Yet these reverential and greateful disciples failed to sign the new membership form. The new form demanded faith in Devatma. This they felt wanting in them. This showed their life lacked the differentia of religious life –faith in and love for the Devatma. They had joined religion without being religious. They had missed the bus in life.
A Devatma is a soul, which is neither all powerful nor all knowing. But he is the soul, which is free from all weaknesses of human souls. There is no evil passion that touches His life and conduct and there is no altruistic feeling that is lacking in Him. He is the soul with new psychology. His urges are governed by the principles of truth and goodness. Every thought and act of His life is processed by these two principles and they bear the charm of unique quality.
It is this equipment of all-sided love of truth and goodness that had made Him so completely satisfaction to the souls which can open their window of worship to Him.
When a one opens the window of worship to Devatma, it enjoys the highest illumination and noblest purity nook and corner of its being to the limit of its climax.
Goodness awaits and yearns for the day when man will show faith in or love of Bhagwan Devatma. Then and then alone will man be religious, liberated and fully evolved.
And after touching this level, man does not want to be identical with his Guru even if he is offered to be Him. As best lover does not desire to be the beloved, even if he is offered to change his position. He wants to remain the lover to his beloved and contemplates on his or her beauty. So a best devotee desires nothing from his Guru. What he desires is to be in ecstatic love of his Guru and to lay everything at His feet, irrespective of what may happen to him.
From the study of the specific behaviour patterns there emerge certain general conclusions which are symptomatic of all low-loves and low-hates. Whenever these symptoms are discovered, there is low-love and there is human bondage.
According to Devatma the life of low-loves and low-hates or human bondage, is a life of blindnesses, perversions, sufferings and ultimately extinction. Let us study these tragic symptoms of human bondage.
1. Spiritual Blindness
– The complete or exclusive dominance of the pleasure determinant in our choices blinds us to the good which could be realized through that desire for the total personality. When, for example, a person is determined entirely and exclusively by the pleasure which comes through sex satisfaction in his decisions and actions, he indulges in it in excess, indulges in it too often, indulges in it when it is injurious to his health, and when it is against social ethics. To start with, he may see that he indulges in it in excess and this harms his health. He may see that he does wrong when he betrays his friend in seducing his wife into sexual relation with him. He may see that he is unjust or cruel when he induces an innocent girl into sexual intercourse. But as the bondage to the low-love of the pleasure of sex closes on him, his vision gets dimmed and blurred. He sees less and less the harm, the wrong, the injustice which the exclusive determination by the pleasure of sex involves in his decisions and acts in his relations to the member or members of the opposite sex. He loses the sense of discrimination of what is right or wrong in this particular relations between the members of the opposite sex.
Every low-love tells the same pathetic tale. A greedy capitalist gradually develops spiritual cataract and fails to see the misery, the injustice, and the evil he causes by his exploitation of labour and customers. A miser fails to see the harm and injustice to himself and his dependents by denying to himself and them the use of his money for his and their good. A parent with low-love of children fails to see his partiality for his children, how it leads to wrong and unjust behaviour. A party man fails to see or realize the blindness caused by his partiality for his party-men.
We stand in relation to others. There is right or wrong in our conduct in relation to them. The senses of discrimination between right and wrong in various relations are the eyes and the lights of the soul to walk the right path avoiding harm, injury, evil and injustice to self and to others. What is right and what is wrong are not identical with what is pleasant and what is unpleasant. When we love the pleasure of a certain desire, say, sex, it proves a cataract for the eyes which can discriminate between right and wrong in sex relation between numbers of the opposite sex and if this cataract persists, it brings complete blindness. The bondman becomes a blind man.
The wide net of human bondage does not only produce moral blindness about what is right or wrong in various relations and thus compel us to trample other existences under our feet like a drunken elephant and make our own life one of bumps and injury, it does for us something more tragic. This general leaning and attachment for pleasure as such, produces a general blindness to see and attend to the good of our soul. As this general leaning becomes love of pleasure in course of time, there is entrenched resistance in us to know the nature of the soul, its laws of health and disease, and the cures for the various diseases. Those rare souls to devote their whole life in search of the truth of the soul are betrayed by this weakness for love of pleasure into illusions and hallucinations about the soul. They fall into the error of regarding the soul as transcendental, as above all laws in nature, untouched by conduct, good and evil, and thus unconditionally immortal.
This love of pleasure, this secret subtle enemy of the soul, would not let the soul to open its eyes in the light of truth to see where the good or health of the soul lies. Every perception of the good of the soul shows some low-love or bondage in its ugliness and no wonder the low-loves must blind us to the truths about the good of our soul. The men of the cave must murder the man of light who has seen the sun and who calls their attention to it. The attraction and surrender to the life of low-loves gradually lays their hands on the life of soul.
To fail to see the truths about the good of the soul is spiritual blindness and this is practically universal in mankind.
2. Spiritual perversions
: A blindman steers clear in life through guidance by others. A blindman is not blind to the fact of his blindness. He knows and accepts that some other have eyes. He accepts their guidance and help and their is thankfulness for it.
But the spiritual blindness caused by low-loves and low-hates is worse than physical blindness. It involves the spiritually blind in the denial of his blindness. Nay, it involves him into accusation and abuse of persons with spiritual vision. It leads him to refuse their assistance. It urges him to take offence at an offer of assistance by them and even to become vindictive to them thus his spiritual blindness degenerates into spiritual perversion.
To be a spiritual pervert, is to be much worse than being spiritually blind. A spiritually pervert sees what is false as true, and what is true as false. Such a pervert may believe that he and the world are Maya and the Brahman is the only reality, or, he may believe that matter and motion are the only truth and their is no such thing as force or energy. A selfish person may think it right not to contribute, anything, his time, money, energies and abilities, to some cause, but to exhaust his all in the satisfaction of his low-love. A lazy person may think it right to lead the life of a parasite to live on patrimony, or be a burden on others. A person blinded by the low-love of money may get into perversion to think that amassing of wealth is the ideal of life. A person with the cataract of low-love of children may think it proper to will away all his property even for such of their children who earn sufficient for their living or even for children who are spendthrifts or who are cold, disrespectful and hostile to him. But he does not think it proper to will away his property or a portion of it for some good cause and if someone approach him or advises him on this, he feels offend it and wronged, tries to avoid such person and even talk ill of him. Persons with the low-love for the social, religion and political position, power and prestige consider it proper to indulge in untruths, hypocrisy, cheating and injustice to get their objective satisfied. For them everything is fair so long it serves the objective to get power and position. They resent anyone who tells them the ugliness of the means they adopt in getting at their objective. They challenge him and reject him as an unpractical man.
Every low-love erects itself into true ideal of life and reject the true good of life as foolish, false and wrong. This is spiritual perversion. A man with the low-love of sex may spend his life, his patrimony, his own earnings, his wife’s ornaments, to please a prostitute and regard it as the be-all and end-all of his life. A man with the low-love of money considers it the ideal for his life to become a business magnate. This low-love of pleasure in general, leads the common man, no less than a philosopher, to consider deliverance from suffering of life or attainment of maximum pleasure or Anand as the ideal. There is this topsy-turvy Dom in value perspective which comes to a bondman-good is denied its goodness, the evil is invested with goodness.
This is not all. This topsy-turvy Dom in value perspective brings about a further degradation. A pervert tanks offence if some benefactor tries to help him to the right path of life. He considers such a benefactor as misguided, as his enemy and accuses and abuses him. A debauchee considers all such persons who push him more and more into the vice as his friends. He shuns those who try to save him from his rack and ruin. He considers them as his enemies, accuses them, and abuses them. A man with the low-love of wealth considers them foolish who give up the pursuit of wealth to serve some good cause. He pooh-poohs all suggestions to make room for and accommodate some higher values of life.
Spiritual perversion lessens the chances of moral blindness being reduced or cured at all. It throws a man into greater dungeon of darkness and thus makes him blind to his blindness and enemy of the friends of his good.
3. Avoidable Sufferings
The third symptom of the presence of low-loves and low-hates is that they bring about avoidable suffering. If one is free from bondage to, say, taste , he is free from all the suffering that comes from intemperance. A man of jealousy is in perceptual suffering from which a man without jealousy is blissfully free.
It is the suffering that is of one’s own creation that is more noticed than the first two evils which ensue from low-loves and low-hates.
Devatma holds that low-loves and low-hates, the product of the exclusive pursuit of pleasures, are as much the diseases of a human soul as typhoid, bronchitis, T.B. and cancer are diseases of the body, torture an individual with pain. Jealousy burns us with pain as stomach ache gives us pain. Again, since we are psycho-physical organisms, the diseases of the soul cause physical pain, too. The low-loves of sex and drink ruin an individual’s health and make him heir to painful diseases besides giving him the pain of frustrated hopes or denied satisfactions. Devatma details the suffering which various low-loves and low-hates inflict on an individual into the following eight groups :
(1). The low-loves connected specially with the body, that is, low-loves of taste, drinks, sex and laziness, injure the functions of the body, render it liable to diseases and consequent sufferings which torture an individual with persistent and/or unbearable pain. There is an unending tale of suffering, told by intemperance in food, drink, sex and laziness. These diseases and sufferings bring, in many cases, premature death, insanity, and sometimes suicides. Man can get moksha from such suffering if he attains to moksha from these low-loves.
(2). There is intense and persistent suffering caused by loss or separation. A man experiences persistent pain through loss or separation from a dear one, may be wife, or husband, child or friend, or such things as money, ornaments of property etc., for whom he has developed low-loves. Who has not heard the heart-rending cries of a wife on the death of her husband, of a mother on the death of her child, of a rich man on his loses in business. One has only to have a sensitive ear to hear the groans of suffering in the daily life of the human society which result from death, separation, or betrayal of a person or loss of things for which the low-love is developed.
(3). There are sufferings in man which are connected with frustrated hopes. To pine away in sorrow for things beyond one’s control is the folly of human soul. But this folly and its sufferings haunt the bondman throughout life. The bondman suffers when frustrated in vain hope to get acceptance or love of one’s beloved, to get a particular girl or a particular man as life partner, to get children of a boy, to amass wealth, to rise to a particular position in social, religion or political hypocrisy, to get a particular job, to get success in an examination, to get praise and appreciation from a particular individual or group, to get free from certain diseases etc. The sufferings from frustrated hopes colour the whole texture of human psychology so much so that a philosopher could say that life is all suffering. When we say that life is all suffering we do not mean to refer only to sufferings which come to consequences on specific occasions but also to the sickening films of frustrations which cover the whole space and span of life.
Sometimes the sufferings from frustration is so intense that a bondman seeks relief from it in suicide.
(4). Sometimes sufferings come from the low-love of false believes in traditions, or hearsay. In order to get all child, a woman is led by her false belief to take such medicines which permanently injure her body and inflict intense or persistent suffering on her. A woman may suffer permanent ill-health because she considers the use of contraceptives as sinful. she may lose her only child by acting on her superstition against the advice of the doctors. A person may suffer due to a false belief based on superstitions about natural events. A man may take to severe asceticism and torture of body to attain moksha.
Buddha could rise above the traditional asceticism when he found it worthless in his search for death about woman suffering, but his fellow ascetics had low-love of false beliefs. They rejected Buddha but not their false beliefs. They left him.
What a toll of suffering can be removed in human society if we rise above the low-love of traditional beliefs and practices and cultivate impartial evaluation of them in the light of the latest knowledge.
(5). Jealousy is a breeding ground of suffering. A person in good health and in possession of favourable conditions in day-to-day life, may suffer from crucifying pain of jealousy. It is not possible to stop the process through which some individuals are superior to us in looks, physique, abilities, intelligence, motivation, attitudes, achievements, possessions of house, land or property, wife, children, relations, etc. If we do not accept this fact of individual differences, we burn ourselves in the hell-fire of sufferings. Nothing can extinguish this hell-fire of suffering in us unless we get moksha from the low-feeling of jealousy.
(6). There is suffering caused by the low-feeling or revenge. When someone refuses to comply with what we desire most, we may develop hatred for him; and this hatred may take the form of revenge. The feeling of revenge robs a man of revenge, of his peace of mind. He is restless and in the hell-fire of suffering. The satisfaction of his feeling of revenge, may further involve him in a new chain of sufferings due to the injury or harm done by him to object of his hatred. Again, it may set chain-recreation as found in tribal areas where revenge follows a revenge and runs into generations.
(7). Vanity is another fertile source of acute suffering. Each of us has the low-love of self in a lesser or a greater degree. Each of us has sense of superiority about us. Some of us think no end of ourselves. Such persons are on pin pricks all the time, for it is not possible that others may not criticize them or their views and conduct, or may refuse to acknowledge their inflated sense of superiority. Again, such persons take to tasks beyond their ability and strength and suffer the anguish of frustration of failure or injury in their impossible tasks. They may disfigure or injure their body, invite death or come in conflict with those superior to them in strength and abilities and meet their doom.
(8). Lastly, suffering may come through the use of illegal practices to gain our objective. Some persons indulge in stealing, robbery, dacoity, cheating, forgery, bribes-taking, murder, scandals etc., which involve them in litigation and gets them the punishment of fine or imprisonment.
What is hateful about these sufferings is not that they are sufferings. What is evil and ugly about these sufferings is that they are sufferings of disease. They are not the pains of growth which are welcome, but the pains of putrifying and dying soul. These pains do not proclaim life but death. They are not only pains but evils in themselves. Moksha is deliverance from these diseases and their sufferings.
4. The death of the Life-force (soul)
– Devatma holds that a human death from these diseases. We know how a living organism lose its strength by bodily diseases. The diseases sap the energy of a living body and if they continue un-cured and un-checked, they cause the death of the body. In the same way the low-loves and the low-hates sap spiritual strength of a soul and if they remain unchecked and un-cured, cause the death of the soul.
But how do we know that spiritual strength is affected through low-loves and and low-hates ? What are the symptoms of the lose of strength of a soul ?
(a) A soul suffers lose of strength when its higher hatred for some evil conduct is lessened or disappears. A man may hate dishonesty. If he develops low-love of greed he may take dishonesty. If he develops low-love of greed he may take dishonesty. If he develops low-love of greed he may take to dishonest means which he hated before. A man may be punctual in his time engagements. If he develops low-love of laziness, he may start disregarding his time engagements. A man may be particular about the finish of his work. But if his work starts flourishing, he may neglect the quality of his work to make more money. A man may hate to take coffee. But by habit he may develop a weakness for it.
At first a person may feel unhappy at these degradations. Even though he indulges in dishonest practices, violates his time engagements, indulges in slipshod work, or takes to coffee, or drinks, he may still hate to slip into them. But gradually his vision is affected. He sees less and less the ugliness of his degrading acts. When his vision is closed, he no more sees any ugliness of his acts. He no more hates the slum condition of his moral life. On the contrary, he starts justifying his ugly acts into which he has fallen.
When a man ceases to hate particular evil as poison for his soul, he shows deficient vitality to protect his personality.
(b) When the higher feeling of hatred for some evil is lost in an individual, indulgence in that evil no more gives him pain. When we are sensitive to the evils of a wrong conduct, we experience pain. We value money. When we lose money by some carelessness or someone cheats us of it, we feel pain. To feel pain is to be sensitive to the loss.
When we value our honesty, we feel pain on doing a dishonest act. It is a pain at the loss of something we value. When we have compassion, we feel pain for some act in which we have unintentionally inflicted pain on another. When we value to do over duty we feel pain in the neglect of duty. In such cases we may not only feel pain b ut also feel an urge to make amends to the person who has been harm by our acts of commission and omission. We may feel an urge to return the money wrongly taken from another, or compensate for the pain inflicting on another, or make amends for the neglect of duty in relation to another.
When this pain at the loss of some higher sense of feeling or at the pain or injury done to others decreases or disappears, or when the urge or the capacity to make amends to another for the harm done to him his decreased or lost, the soul experiences death in some part of its being.
(c) The third symptom of the decreased vitality of soul is its the soul of satisfaction in rapport with noble souls all service of one’s benefactors or of some good cause. Suppose a person was once appreciative of some service done to him by his benefactor and felt gratitude for him and rendered service to him. If he now feels no satisfaction or happiness in his acts or appreciation, gratitude, or service in relation to his benefactor, it is symptom of decrease vitality of his soul. Again, suppose a person felt satisfaction and joy rendering service to some good cause and now feels no satisfaction in such service, the vitality of his soul is on the decline.
(d) The fourth symptoms of the decreased vitality of the soul is its reduced capability to get rid of low-loves and low-hates and to evolve altruistic loves.
A body, in order to live and grow, must be free from diseases. But this is not sufficient. It must get nourishment to compensate for its loss and wear and tear or to meet the needs of its growth. The human soul is also under these two conditions for its growth or survival. It must be free from the diseases of the low-loves and low-hates. Besides, it must develop altruistic feeling of compassion, justice, disinterested service of other existents in different kingdoms of Nature, in order to gather in strength and vitality.
An organ must function in order to live. If an organ is not allowed to function, it loses it strength and dies in course of time. If a seed is allowed to remain inactive, its power to sprout and grow into a plant, is gradually decreased and may disappear in time. So the powers of the soul must be exercised. If they function in violation of the law of evolution, i.e. the process which makes for things and species which are innocent and harmless or are helpful for others, it courts disease and death. If they act in the service of the process of evolution they strengthen the survival of the soul. The feeling of justice in social relations makes us serviceable to others. The feeling of disinterested spiritual service makes us cure low-loves and low-hates in others and to develop altruistic feelings in them. To be altruistic is to be a participant in Nature’s invincible process of creativity, harmony, beauty, and joy and thus to share in its invincibility.
Therefore, when we lose our attraction for doing good to others, in relieving them of their pain or suffering, in educating them into enlightenment, in curing them of their diseases, physical or spiritual, cultivating health and strength in them, we show decrease in our vitality. If a person felt happy to give time or money for a good cause, and now feels less inclined to do so, he is declining in his spiritual strength. If a person felt happy to appreciate and create beauty and now he has lost all interest in it, he proclaims his decline. If he was responsive to new truths as they were discovered and now he lacks sensitiveness to new knowledge, he is slipping into spiritual death.
When a soul loses its sensitiveness, attraction and serviceableness for things good, true and beautiful, it fails to reinforce vitality. It is on its way to death.
Higher hates constitute the other sphere of human evolution. they are feelings of repulsion for specific untruth and evils in thought and conduct.
We can best approach the study of higher hates by what we said under moksha. We saw that moksha from any low-love involves development of higher hatred for the untruth and evil indulged in for the satisfaction of that low-love. My moksha from low-love of wealth, e.g., consists in developing hatred for lying and cheating and exploitations indulged in by me for the sake of increasing my pile of wealth and the exclusive selfish use i made of it. So long I continue to maintain hatred for them decreases, it is a symptom that I am returning to my bondage. Such hatred is a case of higher hate.
Each higher hate is specific in its character. The higher hate concerned with moksha from the low-love of wealth is hatred for bad practices of lying and cheating in earning wealth or exclusive selfish use of it. It is not hatred for other forms of untruthful and evil practices. My moksha from the low-love of sex helps me to develop hatred for the untruthful means I employed for anti-social sex satisfactions and for the harm i do to myself by over-indulgence. My moksha from low-love of idleness is achieved when I hate dereliction of my dependence on patrimony. My moksha from the lo-love of self-esteem requires of me to hate untruthful praise by myself and others. I must hate all the wasteful and unprincipled means I adopted to get praise.
It is clear from what is said that just as different low-loves involve different forms of untruthful and evil practices, moksha from them requires higher hate for these different forms of untruthful and evil practices. higher hates are as specific as low-loves. Just as deliverance from one low-loves, development of higher hates for one of the forms of untruthful and evil practices is not ipso facto hatred for all forms of untruthful and evil practices but not hate harmful practices in eating involved in intemperance in food but may not hate dishonest practices in his business. A person may hate dishonesty but may not hate dereliction of duty in his office work.
There are as many higher hates as there are untruths and evils connected with different loves. This shows what a number of higher hates can be.
However, all higher hates are not tied to moksha from low-loves. there are higher hates are not tied to moksha from low-loves. There are higher hates consequent on higher loves. A man of compassion is directly concerned to remove suffering of others. But he hates suffering also. A man of gratitude is directly concerned to prove serviceable to his benefactors but he hates ingratitude wherever he perceives it. A man of reverence is directly appreciative of the superior virtues of his object of reverence and hates the acts of fault-finding and backbiting of superiors by others and and hates selfishness in himself and in others.
Here we may also notice the specific character of higher hates. The specific hates are concerned with the specific areas of higher love. Suffering is the specific object of higher hate in a man of compassion, ingratitude in a man of gratitude, irreverence in a man of reverence, selfishness in a man of selflessness. A selfless man may lack gratitude, or reverence and may not hate ingratitude or irreverence in himself or in others.
Here, also, there are as many forms of higher hates as there are kinds of altruistic feelings.
There are altruistic feelings, however, which dominantly and directly constitute higher hatreds. The feelings of justice are such feelings. The feeling of justice is hatred for the denial of rights to others. We have sense of justice when we show higher hate for cruelty or exploitation in some sphere of life. The sense of duty is hatred for the harm which comes from neglect of duty. The sense of discipline is hatred for the harm that comes from not keeping to the rules of work and administration. There are various specific forms of feelings of justice and so there are various specific forms of higher hates.
It is important to note that a feeling of higher hate is hatred for some specific form of untruth and evil, in some sphere of thought and conduct. Devatma is insistent on this distinction. According to him the human soul is not capable of developing higher hate for untruth as such or evil as such. It is not capable of developing disposition to hate every form of untruth or/and every form of evil in his thought and conduct. This is so, because he cannot rise above the influence of the pleasure principle in his choices of beliefs and conduct. He must harbour untruth or evil in some spheres of life. It is beyond his capacity to abjure all false beliefs and all evil practices in all the relationships.
In spite of this limitation, every higher hate is an achievement and a blessing for the individual and society. By developing higher hate, e.g., for untruthful business practices and the exclusive use of wealth for selfish needs, an individual safeguards his soul from tremendous degradation and the society gains in clean life. By developing higher hate for untruth, mean and cruel practices in sex life, an individual saves himself from harm and degradation to himself and saves from wreckage the chastity, loyalty, peace and love of home life. Every higher hate cleanses some stables of untruth and evil life for the individual and the society.
Higher hates are are, therefore, the antithesis of low-hates. Low-hates are hates for the individual and things. A man of the low-loves of vanity hates the senior or the superior who points out his defects. He harbour ill feelings for him, is happy to know if some harm comes to him, and goes out to do harm to him. But when he obtains moksha from vanity, he develops higher hate for untruthful self-esteem, and accepts true criticism with gratitude. He does not hate other vain persons, as other vain persons do. But he hates their vanity feels sympathy for them as if they are sick persons. He thinks well of them and wishes that they were helped out of their untruthfulness in life. A man with compassion hates the suffering but not the sufferer. A man of justice hates the tyranny but not the tyrant.
Again, low-hates is hatred for good. A jealous man feels pain even hatred for the points of superiority of the victim of his jealousy. A man of the low-love for drinks, i.e. a drunkard, hates his wife for her courage to stop him from drinks. He hates her for the good she is doing to him by saving him from the ill-effects of drink. A higher hate for drinks is hatred for the harmful and evil aspects of drinks and gratitude for those who save others from the evil of drinks.
Low-hates plague human society with estranged, inimical and embittered inter-personal relationships and leads to incalculable harm in the form of personal vindictiveness, civil strifes and world wars. Higher hates help to remove these plagues of human society, and establish just and sweet kinship for mutual evolution in inter=personal and infra-personal relationships.
To sum up : Higher loves are dynamic motives to achieve some specific good in others and oneself. Higher hates are dynamic motives to remove some specific evil in others and in oneself. The two together define vikas or evolution of man.
Human evolution means the health, strength and growth of the human personality, and this is not possible without another. It is not possible in isolation or disjunction from the natural and the social worlds. It is possible in certain forms of relationship with others. All such forms of relationship with others which build up the health, strength and growth of a personality constitute the spheres of human evolution.
Out of the three spheres of powers, mental, aesthetic, and altruistic that define our evolution, it is altruistic feelings that are pivotal in the philosophy of Devatma. Intellectual and aesthetic powers can be employed in the service of low-loves and low-hates. When they are so employed they do great harm all around. We know how intellectual gifts can be used for destructive purposes. Such employment of intellectual powers which involve injury and ruin of others is a prostitution of these powers. We know how intellectual powers are exploited in daily life in inventing ways of lying and cheating others. Further, intellectual powers are misused in the religious world to support or rationalize myths, false-beliefs and dogmas of super-natural. In the same way artistic gifts can be harnessed for satisfaction of low-love of sex. Such misuse is perversion of these powers – intellectual and aesthetic – are not in the hands of low-loves and low-hates but work for higher values that their activities are conducive to the health, strength and growth of the soul.
However, intellectual and aesthetic powers have their own specific good to achieve for human personality. Intellectual powers, when they take to the scientific method, illumine the events of the universe and no other power can discharge this function. Aesthetic sensibilities yields us ineffable joy of appreciation and creation of beauty. Nothing else can play their role in the appreciation and creation of beauty. But their intellectual and aesthetic powers can play their benign role when they remain untouched by low-loves and low-hates and remain untouched by low-loves and low-hates and remain within the bounds of altruistic feelings.
Devatma, therefore, emphasizes the value of altruism in his philosophy. for it helps the healthy and blessed functioning of intellectual and aesthetic powers and contribute their vital role in knowledge and conduct in relation to other existences and thus in strengthening the soul.
He defines some of the major altruistic feelings in man as under :
The basic altruistic feeling is gratitude. . .
The second major altruistic feeling is compassion or mercy. It is sensitive to the pain of others and desires to remove it. . .
the third major altruistic feeling is responsiveness to the needs of others. . .
The fourth major altruistic feeling is reverence. It is a feeling of appreciation. . .
Where there is appreciation of certain skills or knowledge of some persons, it is a case of admiration, not of reverence. Reverence is appreciation of altruistic feelings in others.
Devatma recognizes a fifth group of altruistic feelings which concern the man of religion in relation to his Guru. The study of these feelings falls outside the scope of this chapter.
Devatma recognizes a separate group of altruistic feelings of justice. These feelings are concerned to establish the rights of others. . .
So the trinity of the feelings of scientific discovery, appreciation and creation of beauty and service of others inspired by reverence, gratitude, sympathy, justice and love of the good of the other, constitutes human evolution or Vikas in the sphere of the good.
It should be clear to the reader from what has gone before that Salvation must carry together different connotation for the philosophy of Devatma. Salvation, for him, is freedom from low-loves and low-hates and the untruthful and evil thoughts, actions and disposition produced by it.
Low-loves and low-hates are dispositions to seek exclusively the pleasures of body and ego which lead to untruthful and actions and thus degrade and disease the soul and therefore constitute human bondage. The low-love of money, for example, leads one to indulge in thinking of ways and means to cheat and exploit others. It leads one to act in ways detrimental to the interests of others. It produces low-hates makes one think out evil designs to harm such a person. A low-love of praise leads one to indulge in one’s false self-praise, and to enjoy false praise by others. He does not hesitate to squander his patrimony on his flatterers or to give them unprincipled help. The well-wisher who warns him or actively stops him from some of his ruineous activities becomes an object of low-hate to be removed by fair or foul means. Thus every low-love and low-hate goes the way of untruth and thereby diseases the soul and brings about its death, if moksha is not attained from it.
1
“true moksha consists in getting rid of (i) low-love and their consequent low-hates; (ii) the untruthful and evil thoughts practices produced by them; and (iii) to remove the spiritual impurities accumulated by the past activities of low-loves and low-hates.”
The concept of moksha differs in fundamental respects from the classical Indian concept of moksha. The classical concept is an answer to the question so clearly put in Sankhya Karika at the very first page. It says, “From torment by three-fold misery (arise) the inquiry into the means of terminating it.” “If there were no misery or if misery did not affect us, there would be no inquiry at all.
The classical concept of moksha sets up elimination of misery or pain as the ideal.
This interpretation is confirmed by the fact that all doctrines of moksha agree only on one point that moksha is a state free from pain. On all other characteristics of moksha state, namely, whether it is conscious or unconscious state, pleasurable state or one without pleasure, a state of self-gathering or a state of identity or likeness to Brahman, there are wide differences among Indian philosophers.
The problem posed by Devatma in interpreting the state of moksha is not how to eliminate pain in life but how to eliminate untruth and evil in life. For him pain is not evil in all cases. There are pains and frustrations involved in scientific research, in espousing great causes for human good, in adventures for discovery and conquest of new worlds. There are pains involved in moral and spiritual ascent. The pain one experiences, for example, in recognition of the harm done to another and the effort involved to make amends for it, is a blessing for the soul. Such a pain liberates the soul from past accumulated impurities. It is only that pain which brings no gain to the quality of life that is evil and is to be eliminated. It is the pains of disease that are to be removed, not pains of growth. It is pains of accidents that are to be prevented and not pains of adventure. It is pains of superstition and ignorance that are to be removed but not pains for the gain of knowledge. It is fruitless pains of greeds, jealousy and vindictiveness that are evil and not the pains and sacrifices involved in altruistic service of others. All these healthy pains are not undergone just to remove pain in future but to bring truth, goodness and beauty in some aspects of life. Further, let us mark, it would not be a better world if these achievements in quality living were effortless satisfactions of lotus eaters. Devatma rejects, thus, the elimination of pain in life as the ideal of life. He does not conceive the ideal state for man to be a state free from all pain.
Secondly, Devatma holds the problem of moksha to be a value problem and not a psychological problem. The classical Indian thinker holds the problem to be psychological. . .
Devatma says, ‘if there had been any law of the universe governing man, by which he could safely follow the wake of happiness and by so doing produce nothing but good and under no circumstances produce wrong or anything antagonistic to good, there would have been no harm at all in raising happiness to the pedestal of the goal of life. but this is not a fact. There is no such law of Nature governing the life of man. On the contrary we find another eternal law of Nature that a lover of pleasure cannot but produce evil and wrong and cannot but harmful to himself as well as to other beings. . .
To sum up : The two fundamental differences between the classical and Devatma’s conception of moksha are that for Devatma pain is not evil in all cases and the problem of moksha is not the problem of elimination of all pain in life, for there are pains integral to quality of the soul. Secondly, it is impossible to avoid pain altogether, for human personality – both body and soul – is part of Nature and cannot avoid contacts which prove painful. thirdly, the problem of moksha is not attainment of pleasure as the goal of life, whether the pleasure is empirical or transcendental. The exclusive pursuit of pleasure is pathological in all cases, whether the pursuit is for the empirical or the transcendental pleasure.
The problem of moksha is neither the elimination of pain nor the attainment of pleasure, empirical or transcendental. It is eliminate low-loves and low-hates, i.e, to eliminate dispositions to untruthful and evil thoughts and actions, which disease, disintegrate and destroy the soul.
II
Let us concentrate on Devatma’s interpretation of moksha. When does a person attain to moksha from some low-love or low- hate? He obtains moksha from a low-love or a low-hate when he satisfies the following conditions :
(a)
He must awaken to the repulsive character of a low-love and the untruthful and evil thoughts and actions produced by it as symptomatic of the diseased state of his soul. He must cognize the repulsive character of the low-loves and the untruthful and evil thoughts and evil practices in the same way as a man cognizes certain physical symptoms as symptomatic of cancer in his body. . .
Moksha admits of degrees. To get moksha from one low-love or one low-hate is not ipso facto to get moksha from other low-loves and low-hates. One may get freedom from the low-love of greed, but fail to get rid of the low-love of sex. he may hate dishonest ways to earn money. He may hate to hoard money. He may be fair in his dealings with his labour and customers. But he may be blind to the harm involved in excessive sex satisfactions, or is being tyrannical to his wife in his sex demands, or in seeking sex satisfaction outside marital relationships by untruthful and evil means. He may get moksha from some biological low-loves but remain a slave to low-love of self. He may keep to the sex ethics, and business ethics, but indulge in false self-praise, waste money on ostentations. Since low-loves and low-hates are many , moksha remains a matter of degrees. Some can attain moksha from a greater number of low-loves than others.
It is not only true that there are different low-loves and each is to be separately tackled and conquered for the health and safety of the soul, but each low-loves is many sided in character. I have a low-love of taste for meat but fail to give up the low-love for sweet things. I may develop enough hatred for meat diet as involving cruelty to the animal world, but fail to develop hatred for the harm involved in my taking sweet things as a diabetic patient.
Finally, there are low-loves which stand in the way of moksha more than others. In order to get moksha from a low-love, I need the light to see the repulsive character of the untruthful and evil thoughts and actions produced by that low-love and the strength to root out the disposition. I need education. I need a moral inspirer who is free from that low-love. He provides the psychological climate in which my eyes can open in the light to see the ugly and repulsive character of that low-love and get inspiration to root it out. This is possible if I am not given to too much self-love or vanity which does not let me recognize the moral inspirer as my superior and Saviour. If my self-loves are intense, I barricade my way to moksha.
Human evolution concerns the health, strength and growth of human soul. What constitutes the content of inner and outer conditions of evolution is determinable through the study of human soul, just as what constitutes the health, strength and growth of a body is determinable through study of body. All those personal feelings, thoughts and actions and social conditions of customs, conventions and laws, which contribute to the health, strength and growth of soul are inner and outer conditions of evolution.
Human good consists of the conditions of evolution. Human evil consists of the conditions of human bondage. Low-loves and low-hates are human evils for they are destructive of the health and strength of the soul and other existents. Higher loves and higher hatreds are human good for they make for the strength of a soul and contribute to the evolution of others.
So human good and human evil are determinable by the study of human soul. But good and evil are not humanistic concepts, they are cosmic concepts. There are certain conditions, inner and outer, which, e.g. help a plant to grow well and bear fruits. These conditions define its good. There are certain conditions, inner and outer, which hinder a plant from growing well and bearing fruits. These conditions define its evil. It is part of the science of the agriculture to define the optimum conditions of health and growth of plants, as it is part of the science of medicine to study the standards of health and growth of human body, as it is the science of psychology that deals with mental hygiene.
It is pity that the terms good and evil have been discarded in scientific studies. For example, psychology does not call stealing bad but anti-social. It speaks of mental hygiene but not of ethics. It speaks of atmosphere of love for a child’s growth, but does not speak of love as a virtue for the guardian for the moral growth of the child.
The tendency to avoid the use of the terms good and bad in scientific studies, is in part due to the fact that these terms have gathered meanings which fall outside their perusal.
Devatma does not feel the same need to avoid the use of these terms, for he brings down soul to the same ontological level as life force in plants and animals. Human soul is life-force, nutritive, reproductive, sensitive with additional powers, intellectual, aesthetic and emotional. It is born, grows and decays like any other living organism. Therefore, for devatma, good and bad carry the same meaning as health and growth, disease or decay carry for the medical scientist.
However , Devatma extends the application of good and bad to non-living things. The conditions that preserve inanimate entity are good and the conditions that injure or destroy it are bad.
Devatma takes a cosmic view of good and bad or values. The entities in the cosmos are in casual relationships. When a causal interrelation betters the figure, form and qualities in relationship it is good, when it harm them, it is bad. There are changes in the entities that produce a pattern of mutual co-operation for better existence and those are called evolutionary or good and there are changes in the entities that produce a pattern of mutual destruction and such changes are devolutionary or bad.
Let us now view the value situation of our planet as a whole. There have been changes in the physical conditions that made life possible and these conditions continue to persist. These changes are good or evolutionary. Further, there have been changes in the growth of life under the stimuli of certain physical conditions that have led to man. These are evolutionary changes . Again there are changes in the human society for co-operation for common good for all existences, human , animal, plant and mineral. All these changes for good are evolutionary.
This is one side of the picture. There are changes in the cosmos which threaten extinction of life , retardation in further improvements of species or qualities in the animal or plant world or in human communities. These devolutionary changes are bad .
Devatma holds that good or evolution of man is not in conflict with the good or evolution of other entities, it is part of it. Whenever man participates in the process of change for the common good in the cosmos, he ensures the health, strength and the growth of his soul.
We have seen how low-loves and low-hates injure and exploit others. They constitute the pathology of human soul, its bondage. They tender the soul blind. pervert, weak and ultimately bring about its death.
Higher loves and higher hates make us fair, just and serviceable to others and they strengthen the human soul. They constitute human evolution.
It is clear from our discussion that for Devatma human evolution or human good is not moksha. i.e. deliverance of the unborn, unchanging, and eternal soul from body, or karmic matter, or Maya. Since Devatma rejects transcendental metaphysics, he rejects transcendental interpretation of the moksha for man.
Devatma employs two concepts in his philosophy, Moksha and Vikas. Moksha means deliverance from low-loves and low-hates. Vikas means development of higher loves and higher hates. Taken together, the two constitute the health and strength of the human soul. Just as health is not only freedom from diseases but positive functioning of bodily organs for strength of the body, the health of the soul is not only freedom from low-loves and low-hates, but positive development of altruistic feelings-higher loves and higher hates. . .
Let us enumerate the conditions Devatma stipulates as criteria to know if a person possesses an altruistic feeling :
1. a person has altruistic feeling if he serves some existences with whom he is not bound by ties of low-loves or undue attachment. Common sense is clear on this point. It does not consider service to wife and children as altruistic, for here is considered by it as motivated by selfish pleasure. But if this person looks after some orphans children his service is altruistic. In such service it is thought he is not seeking his pleasure, but the good of the other. Devatma does not accept this common sense view to be precisely true. A person can do altruistic service to his own children if he is motivated in his service by the sole motive of their good. Again, a person may develop undue attachment with some orphan children and hence his service may not be altruistic. A person is altruistic if it is the good of the other which is the sufficient motive of his doing service to the other.
2. A person has altruistic feeling if he is sensitive to some evil to be removed or some good to be ushered in. The average man lacks altruistic feeling. He therefore lacks insight into the evils of his society. he lacks vision for the reconstruction in the society. He lacks vision for the reconstruction in the society. The acuity of an altruistic feelings in a person opens his eyes to some evil in the society or raises his gaze to higher vision of the society. It is these exceptionally gifted altruists who awaken and develop the altruistic capacity of the less-gifted in society who come to share their insight into some evil or vision of good. The two together constitute the class of altruists.
3. A person with an altruistic feeling experiences to some degree the suffering of the victim of that evil or imaginatively lives through the thrill of the satisfaction that would come to others when the visioned good is brought in their lives. It is altruists of compassion who experience the suffering of some section of the down-trodden in society. It is altruists of the future who are full of joy for their new vision of interpersonal relations, for which they live and labour.
4. An altruist feels an urge strong enough to engage himself in removing that evil or ushering in that good. There are some persons who feel inspired at moments to engage themselves in altruistic work of removing some suffering or doing some constructive work of rebuilding society. But their low-loves are too powerful and would not allow their altruistic feeling to have its way. Some have the low-love of laziness. They cannot bring themselves to do the hard work demanded by the altruistic work. Some have low-love for name in society. They cannot stand the bad name and condemnation of their community which engagement in altruistic work brings in its train. Some find that their low-love of wealth or children would not let them make the necessary sacrifice for the great cause they feel an urge to serve. A person can be an altruist if his feeling of altruism is strong enough to overcome the opposition of his low-loves.
5. An altruistic is a person who engages himself in an altruistic work in a regular and methodical way. There are persons who feel enthused by, say, a great cause, serve it for some time, them give it up, return to it, only to give it up again. Such spasmodic altruistic work indicates that altruistic feeling has not yet got stable position in their personality. It is still at the mercy of other low-loves and low-hates. It is yet not their character. Unless an altruistic feeling becomes the character of a person, he cannot claim to be an altruist. An altruist is a person who lives altruism every minute of his life, as a greedy man is one who lives for wealth even in his dreams.
6. An altruist experiences satisfaction in his altruistic engagements. Satisfaction in the altruistic work by a person is an indication that the altruistic feeling has become his character. As Aristotle points out, a good man is not he who does good actions but one who finds pleasure in doing good actions. Unless a person finds pleasure in his altruistic work, he is an altruist, though he does altruistic work. To do altruistic work is not to be altruist, though it is a step towards being an altruist.
7. An altruist finds his enthusiasm for altruistic work grow with time. every exercise of a feeling strengthens that feeling if it is accompanied or followed by satisfaction. If the enthusiasm for the altruistic work does not grow with time, it means that it is infected by low-loves and low-hates. This is an alarm-bell for the altruist to safeguard his altruistic feeling from the evil influence of low-loves and low-hates. If he is not conscious of what is happening to his altruistic feeling, he may lose it altogether.
8. An altruist does not spare himself in his work for a good cause. This is a non-moral mental equipment for an altruist. One must have the whole-hatred devotion to the work in hand. There should be complete commitment to the accepted work. Without the gift to forget oneself in a great task, an altruist fails in his vocation. There can be no half-heartedness, no relaxation of effort, no surrender to laziness, for an altruist. He is so full of what he is called upon to do by his insight and vision that every other thing sinks before it. His altruistic feeling taps the last ounce of energy from him. Death alone can spare him from his constant commitment to his self-chosen service of some great cause.
9. An altruist never despairs of his great cause even in the most non-co-operative and inimical conditions in the social and nature world. An altruist is inspired by faith for the victory of his great cause which he is serving. His altruistic feeling is like a light-house to him for it is an unfailing light to him to see through the darkness of opposition that surrounds him. He is able to direct the ship to his cause clear of shoals in spite of the storms of the sea that toss his ship, for he has the light-house of altruistic feeling in him. This light gives him the faith to rise above despair.
10. An altruistic never throws up the sponge. As said above, an altruist has invincible faith in the victory of his good cause. This unconquerable faith and his identity with the good cause makes it impossible for to throw up the sponge. He and the good cause are not two but one. To give up the cause is to give up his life. He would prefer to give up his life, but not his good cause, for he knows his cause to be a far more excellent thing than himself.
11. The opposition of others and the Herculean nature of the task only stimulate an altruist to greater and greater commitment to the cause. This characteristics of an altruist shows that he needs to be equipped by a number of non-moral qualities in order to be an altruist. One who has not the character to meet the challenge of circumstances, to rise to greater effort to overcome obstacles and thus have the character of invincibility – all non-moral qualities – cannot be altruist. A great cause throws up great challenges to the courage, resourcefulness, energy, intelligence, perseverance, patience, faith, or an altruist. Without these non-moral qualities in greater abundance, he cannot stay an altruist of first importance.
12. An altruist seeks no return for the service he renders to his society. He seeks no praise, no title, no reward. His satisfaction in the accomplishment of removing suffering or bringing in some good in the life of some section of humanity is so valuable to him that every other satisfaction is to him, relatively insignificant. An altruistic feeling gives eyes to the altruist to see the intrinsic value of his work of removing some suffering and ushering in some good and he feels all sufficient satisfaction in working for it.
When one expects a return for his service to a great cause, here and hereafter, he is not an altruist. what is motivating his altruistic work is not altruistic feeling but desire for name and fame, power and position, possessions and pleasures. He is anything but an altruist. His altruistic services will cease also, if he fails to get praise or reward, for it is for their satisfaction that he did the altruistic work.
It is when the life of a person is characterized by these twelve excellences that he can be said to be an altruistic.
It is when the life of a person is characterized by these twelve excellences that he can be said to be an altruist.
This is the description of altruism in general. It expresses itself in specific forms and these specific forms have these twelve good characteristics besides their own. . .
Human Altruistic personality, even at its best, is infected with certain limitations which mitigate against its full growth and satisfaction. I may have the altruistic feeling to appreciate the achievements of others. But my self-love is jealous of full and free satisfaction of this altruistic feeling. I may have the altruistic feeling of justice. But my partiality to some familial, social, and national relations may make its full operation impossible. I may have the feeling of service of others, but my partiality for my my own group may make me cold to the service of other groups or even make me hostile and harmful to them. Thus my inter group altruism may be accompanied by extra-group indifference and even enmity.
I may develop love for a good cause and may desire to part with my money for it.
But my attachment to money or children may bar my way to this altruistic satisfaction. The cause of women’s emancipation may touch me but my service may be soiled by my sex weakness. I may feel attraction for a great personality and start serving him but my vanity may make my adjustment to him difficult and I may cease to be of service to him. Our altruistic personality is grown all over with the weeds of low-loves and low-hates and they sap the full growth of altruistic feelings and leave a stunted personality for us.
Even if low-loves and low-hates are not allowed to grow or are removed for all times, there will still remain certain difficulties to the completion of the altruistic personality of man. Human personality does not show capacity to develop total configuration of all the altruistic feelings – respect, reverence, faith, gratitude, humility, duty, courage justice, sympathy, service of others in need, appreciation of others, urge to complete well and in time one’s assignments, affection and appreciation for animals, birds, plants, and beautiful natural objects and sights. The growth and development of all these and other altruistic feelings in us is limited by our individual inherited capacities and social influences. Some individuals in one group shows fine development of certain altruistic feelings, e.g. moral courage, justice, sympathy and service of others, whereas these altruistic feelings are not developed in the altruistic persons of another group. The altruistic persons in the other group may show the growth of reverence, faith, and humility repentance and these are not found in the first group in any marked degree. this difference between altruistic persons shows the influence of the cultural pattern in which they are reared and educated. But altruistic persons show difference in their altruistic personality development even when they belong to the same group. Some altruists may find their fulfilment in the personal service of some master personality whereas others may find their satisfaction in the service of the cause of that master personality. These differences are individual differences.
Apart from differences due to social influences and inheritance there are certain universal limitations of the human personality in respect of development of a complete altruistic organism. These may stem in him from his lack of love of good as such. Man shows capacity for appreciation and service of particular good or particular value and not for good as such or value as such, just as he shows capacity for appreciation, dedication and sacrifice for truths in a particular field and not to truth in general. It is only when there is love for good as such, that there is possibility of sprouting , growing and maturing of all the altruistic feelings in a personality.
Since human personality shows incapacity for love of good as such, it must continue to remain incomplete in its altruistic altruism organism/ we can have some idea of state of an incomplete altruistic organism. An altruist who lacks feeling of appreciation of the beautiful qualities in mental life and natural world is like the body organism that is without eyes. An altruist who is without the feeling of sympathy and is therefore insensitive to the cries of suffering around him is like the body organism which is without ears and therefore cannot hear. There is all the difference in the satisfaction of a complete body organism and incomplete organism.
There is further limitation of human altruistic personality. Each altruistic feeling shows that it is limited in spread. . .
However, this is not the end of the story. Human altruism shows limitation in relation to depth too. The depth of an altruistic feeling should correspond to the extent and the quality of the values in a person or thing towards which the altruistic feeling is directed.
We have so far considered how altruism fails in its reach to the ideal of love of goodness as such. We found that it is directed to specific values and is exclusive rather than inclusive of all the benefactors and benefits.
Apart from this limitation in relation to love of goodness, human altruism in infected with an element of untruth. To live a truthful life is to have impartial appreciation of and adjustment to the true character of values of persons and things. when our altruism shows partiality for certain persons rather than others, there is an element of untruth in it. There is an element of untruth in my feeling of appreciation of good qualities if i am not able to the do so in relation to a person who does not belong to my social-group, or my community or my country or to whom i bear feeling of hostility even though he possesses the same qualities which i appreciate in others who belong to my social group, or my community or nation or to whom i am friendly. There is an element of untruth when my gratitude is touched by some benefactors. there is an element of untruth where the depth of my reverence does not take note of the quality of excellences of the persons concerned. This is being unjust and untrue to the constituents of the value world. this element of untruth exposes the fact that human altruism is not founded on love of truth.
If it is ideal for human evolution to develop adjustment with all the four kingdoms of Nature on truth and goodness, man’s altruism is not sufficient unto him.
Human psychology delimits the frontiers of human moksha and vikas. It develops low-loves and low-hates in the satisfaction of its biological, social and spiritual needs. It cultivates the low-loves of palate, sex, intoxicants, laziness (in relation to body); vanity, praise, selfishness, self-willedness (in relation to self); attachment to children, property, association (in social context); blind reverence, false worship, false sadhanas (in relation to spiritual needs); and the low-hates of jealousy, ill-will and revenge or vindictiveness, etc. These low-loves and low-hates deviate a human soul into pathways of evils and untruths and lead it into blind alleys of no return. They constitute its bondage. They bring the frontiers right on its head to crush it out of existence. Can we reduce our low-loves and low-hates and thus push back our frontiers to have a living space for our life?
The human psychology has capacity for altruistic life. But it is severely limited in extent and depth and has blind spots in relation to certain evil means and untruths. Can we extend and deepen our altruistic life and keep it clean from untruths?
The ideal limit for the new frontiers of human freedom and evolution is the optimum soul-consciousness which repulses low-loves and low-hates as fatal diseases for the soul, and feels attraction and love for different altruistic feelings in their comprehension and depth as essential to health leading to rightful and truthful adjustments and service of the four kingdoms of Nature. The soul enjoys the widest life-space to grow into the image of the Ekta Vadi with the evolutionary process of Nature.
A person can get free from bondage to a low-love if
I. he can get light to see his low-love in all its repulsive ugliness;
II. gets moral strength to throw off the bondage; and he can develop an altruistic feeling to its full maturity if
(a) he gets vision to see its charming beauty, and
(b). gets moral strength to live it. Further, we saw that such freedom from some low-love and evolution of some altruistic feeling does not push frontiers far enough. He must develop soul consciousness which consists in
(i). emotionally appreciating and accepting the good of soul as a thing of utmost concern; and
(ii). it is to having knowledge of the psychology of the soul, its conditions of ill-health in the form of low-loves and low-hates and how to get rid of them; and its conditions of health in the form of altruistic loves and higher hates and how to evolve them.
The question is how these conditions can be satisfied. We do find that some low-love is reduced or removed through some shock experience. . .
We can systematically help ourselves to this evolution if we develop rapport with a character who has evolved in him all the altruistic feelings in their comprehensiveness and depth, and who has the devotion to help others to see the beauty of altruistic feelings and to get strength to develop them.
Further, we saw that hatred for low-loves and low-hates and attraction and love for altruistic feelings must be founded on soul-consciousness. Unless this happens, the work of elimination of low-loves and low-hates and evolution of altruistic feelings must remain haphazard. It is only when the soul consciousness is developed that systematic elimination of low-loves and evolution of altruistic feelings can work out to success to the extent of an individual’s capacity.
We can acquire soul consciousness through association with a character who
(I). values his soul life as the highest good in the world;
(II). is awakened to the concern to evolve his soul life;
(III). has love of goodness to evolve all his Altruistic feelings and hatred of evil to repel the growth of low-loves and low-hates; and
(IV). has love of truth to develop it in all-sidedness and hatred of untruth to repel any trace or form of it.
A soul with such characteristics may be termed Devatma.
Devatma evolved this life of all-sided hatred for untruth and all-sided love of goodness and all-sided hatred of evil in himself and called upon man to ‘participate in this life of his’ to advance to new frontiers of moksha and vikas. this topic leads us from Ethics to Religion which is outside our borders. it is best to avoid temptation to cross one’s borders.
From the study of the specific behaviour patterns there emerge certain general conclusions which are symptomatic of all low-loves and low-hates. Whenever these symptoms are discovered, there is low-love and there is human bondage.
According to Devatma the life of low-loves and low-hates or human bondage, is a life of blindnesses, perversions, sufferings and ultimately extinction. Let us study these tragic symptoms of human bondage.
1. Spiritual Blindness
– The complete or exclusive dominance of the pleasure determinant in our choices blinds us to the good which could be realized through that desire for the total personality. When, for example, a person is determined entirely and exclusively by the pleasure which comes through sex satisfaction in his decisions and actions, he indulges in it in excess, indulges in it too often, indulges in it when it is injurious to his health, and when it is against social ethics. To start with, he may see that he indulges in it in excess and this harms his health. He may see that he does wrong when he betrays his friend in seducing his wife into sexual relation with him. He may see that he is unjust or cruel when he induces an innocent girl into sexual intercourse. But as the bondage to the low-love of the pleasure of sex closes on him, his vision gets dimmed and blurred. He sees less and less the harm, the wrong, the injustice which the exclusive determination by the pleasure of sex involves in his decisions and acts in his relations to the member or members of the opposite sex. He loses the sense of discrimination of what is right or wrong in these particular relations between the members of the opposite sex.
Every low-love tells the same pathetic tale. A greedy capitalist gradually develops spiritual cataract and fails to see the misery, the injustice, and the evil he causes by his exploitation of labour and customers. A miser fails to see the harm and injustice to himself and his dependents by denying to himself and them the use of his money for his and their good. A parent with low-love of children fails to see his partiality for his children, how it leads to wrong and unjust behaviour. A party man fails to see or realize the blindness caused by his partiality for his party-men.
We stand in relation to others. There is right or wrong in our conduct in relation to them. The senses of discrimination between right and wrong in various relations are the eyes and the lights of the soul to walk the right path avoiding harm, injury, evil and injustice to self and to others. What is right and what is wrong are not identical with what is pleasant and what is unpleasant. When we love the pleasure of a certain desire, say, sex, it proves a cataract for the eyes which can discriminate between right and wrong in sex relation between numbers of the opposite sex and if this cataract persists, it brings complete blindness. The bondman becomes a blind man.
The wide net of human bondage does not only produce moral blindness about what is right or wrong in various relations and thus compel us to trample other existences under our feet like a drunken elephant and make our own life one of bumps and injury, it does for us something more tragic. This general leaning and attachment for pleasure as such, produces a general blindness to see and attend to the good of our soul. As this general leaning becomes love of pleasure in course of time, there is entrenched resistance in us to know the nature of the soul, its laws of health and disease, and the cures for the various diseases. Those rare souls to devote their whole life in search of the truth of the soul are betrayed by this weakness for love of pleasure into illusions and hallucinations about the soul. They fall into the error of regarding the soul as transcendental, as above all laws in nature, untouched by conduct, good and evil, and thus unconditionally immortal.
This love of pleasure, this secret subtle enemy of the soul, would not let the soul to open its eyes in the light of truth to see where the good or health of the soul lies. Every perception of the good of the soul shows some low-love or bondage in its ugliness and no wonders the low-loves must blind us to the truths about the good of our soul. The men of the cave must murder the man of light who has seen the sun and who calls their attention to it. The attraction and surrender to the life of low-loves gradually lays their hands on the life of soul.
To fail to see the truths about the good of the soul is spiritual blindness and this is practically universal in mankind.
2. Spiritual perversions
A blind man steers clear in life through guidance by others. A blind man is not blind to the fact of his blindness. He knows and accepts that some other have eyes. He accepts their guidance and help and there is thankfulness for it.
But the spiritual blindness caused by low-loves and low-hates is worse than physical blindness. It involves the spiritually blind in the denial of his blindness. Nay, it involves him into accusation and abuse of persons with spiritual vision. It leads him to refuse their assistance. It urges him to take offence at an offer of assistance by them and even to become vindictive to them thus his spiritual blindness degenerates into spiritual perversion.
To be a spiritual pervert, is to be much worse than being spiritually blind. A spiritually pervert sees what is false as true, and what is true as false. Such a pervert may believe that he and the world are Maya and the Brahman is the only reality, or, he may believe that matter and motion are the only truth and there is no such thing as force or energy. A selfish person may think it right not to contribute, anything, his time, money, energies and abilities, to some cause, but to exhaust his all in the satisfaction of his low-love. A lazy person may think it right to lead the life of a parasite to live on patrimony, or be a burden on others. A person blinded by the low-love of money may get into perversion to think that amassing of wealth is the ideal of life. A person with the cataract of low-love of children may think it proper to will away all his property even for such of their children who earn sufficient for their living or even for children who are spendthrifts or who are cold, disrespectful and hostile to him. But he does not think it proper to will away his property or a portion of it for some good cause and if someone approach him or advises him on this, he feels offend it and wronged, tries to avoid such person and even talk ill of him. Persons with the low-love for the social, religion and political position, power and prestige consider it proper to indulge in untruths, hypocrisy, cheating and injustice to get their objective satisfied. For them everything is fair so long it serves the objective to get power and position. They resent anyone who tells them the ugliness of the means they adopt in getting at their objective. They challenge him and reject him as an unpractical man.
Every low-love erects itself into true ideal of life and rejects the true good of life as foolish, false and wrong. This is spiritual perversion. A man with the low-love of sex may spend his life, his patrimony, his own earnings, his wife’s ornaments, to please a prostitute and regard it as the be-all and end-all of his life. A man with the low-love of money considers it the ideal for his life to become a business magnate. This low-love of pleasure in general, leads the common man, no less than a philosopher, to consider deliverance from suffering of life or attainment of maximum pleasure or Anand as the ideal. There is this topsy-turvy Dom in value perspective which comes to a bondman-good is denied its goodness, the evil is invested with goodness.
This is not all. This topsy-turvy Dom in value perspective brings about a further degradation. A pervert tanks offence if some benefactor tries to help him to the right path of life. He considers such a benefactor as misguided, as his enemy and accuses and abuses him. A debauchee considers all such persons who push him more and more into the vice as his friends. He shuns those who try to save him from his rack and ruin. He considers them as his enemies, accuses them, and abuses them. A man with the low-love of wealth considers them foolish who give up the pursuit of wealth to serve some good cause. He pooh-poohs all suggestions to make room for and accommodate some higher values of life.
Spiritual perversion lessens the chances of moral blindness being reduced or cured at all. It throws a man into greater dungeon of darkness and thus makes him blind to his blindness and enemy of the friends of his good.
3. Avoidable Sufferings
The third symptom of the presence of low-loves and low-hates is that they bring about avoidable suffering. If one is free from bondage to, say, taste, he is free from all the suffering that comes from intemperance. A man of jealousy is in perceptual suffering from which a man without jealousy is blissfully free.
It is the suffering that is of one’s own creation that is more noticed than the first two evils which ensue from low-loves and low-hates.
Devatma holds that low-loves and low-hates, the product of the exclusive pursuit of pleasures, are as much the diseases of a human soul as typhoid, bronchitis, T.B. and cancer are diseases of the body, torture an individual with pain. Jealousy burns us with pain as stomach ache gives us pain. Again, since we are psycho-physical organisms, the diseases of the soul cause physical pain, too. The low-loves of sex and drink ruin an individual’s health and make him heir to painful diseases besides giving him the pain of frustrated hopes or denied satisfactions. Devatma details the suffering which various low-loves and low-hates inflict on an individual into the following eight groups :
(1). The low-loves connected specially with the body, that is, low-loves of taste, drinks, sex and laziness, injure the functions of the body, render it liable to diseases and consequent sufferings which torture an individual with persistent and/or unbearable pain. There is an unending tale of suffering, told by intemperance in food, drink, sex and laziness. These diseases and sufferings bring, in many cases, premature death, insanity, and sometimes suicides. Man can get moksha from such suffering if he attains to moksha from these low-loves.
(2). There is intense and persistent suffering caused by loss or separation. A man experiences persistent pain through loss or separation from a dear one, may be wife, or husband, child or friend, or such things as money, ornaments of property etc., for whom he has developed low-loves. Who has not heard the heart-rending cries of a wife on the death of her husband, of a mother on the death of her child, of a rich man on his loses in business. One has only to have a sensitive ear to hear the groans of suffering in the daily life of the human society which result from death, separation, or betrayal of a person or loss of things for which the low-love is developed.
(3). There are sufferings in man which are connected with frustrated hopes. To pine away in sorrow for things beyond one’s control is the folly of human soul. But this folly and its sufferings haunt the bondman throughout life. The bondman suffers when frustrated in vain hope to get acceptance or love of one’s beloved, to get a particular girl or a particular man as life partner, to get children of a boy, to amass wealth, to rise to a particular position in social, religion or political hypocrisy, to get a particular job, to get success in an examination, to get praise and appreciation from a particular individual or group, to get free from certain diseases etc. The sufferings from frustrated hopes colour the whole texture of human psychology so much so that a philosopher could say that life is all suffering. When we say that life is all suffering we do not mean to refer only to sufferings which come to consequences on specific occasions but also to the sickening films of frustrations which cover the whole space and span of life.
Sometimes the sufferings from frustration are so intense that a bondman seeks relief from it in suicide.
(4). Sometimes sufferings come from the low-love of false believes in traditions, or hearsay. In order to get all child, a woman is led by her false belief to take such medicines which permanently injure her body and inflict intense or persistent suffering on her. A woman may suffer permanent ill-health because she considers the use of contraceptives as sinful. She may lose her only child by acting on her superstition against the advice of the doctors. A person may suffer due to a false belief based on superstitions about natural events. A man may take to severe asceticism and torture of body to attain moksha.
Buddha could rise above the traditional asceticism when he found it worthless in his search for death about woman suffering, but his fellow ascetics had low-love of false beliefs. They rejected Buddha but not their false beliefs. They left him.
What a toll of suffering can be removed in human society if we rise above the low-love of traditional beliefs and practices and cultivate impartial evaluation of them in the light of the latest knowledge.
(5). Jealousy is a breeding ground of suffering. A person in good health and in possession of favourable conditions in day-to-day life, may suffer from crucifying pain of jealousy. It is not possible to stop the process through which some individuals are superior to us in looks, physique, abilities, intelligence, motivation, attitudes, achievements, possessions of house, land or property, wife, children, relations, etc. If we do not accept this fact of individual differences, we burn ourselves in the hell-fire of sufferings. Nothing can extinguish this hell-fire of suffering in us unless we get moksha from the low-feeling of jealousy.
(6). There is suffering caused by the low-feeling or revenge. When someone refuses to comply with what we desire most, we may develop hatred for him; and this hatred may take the form of revenge. The feeling of revenge robs a man of revenge, of his peace of mind. He is restless and in the hell-fire of suffering. The satisfaction of his feeling of revenge, may further involve him in a new chain of sufferings due to the injury or harm done by him to object of his hatred. Again, it may set chain-recreation as found in tribal areas where revenge follows a revenge and runs into generations.
(7). Vanity is another fertile source of acute suffering. Each of us has the low-love of self in a lesser or a greater degree. Each of us has sense of superiority about us. Some of us think no end of ourselves. Such persons are on pin pricks all the time, for it is not possible that others may not criticize them or their views and conduct, or may refuse to acknowledge their inflated sense of superiority. Again, such persons take to tasks beyond their ability and strength and suffer the anguish of frustration of failure or injury in their impossible tasks. They may disfigure or injure their body, invite death or come in conflict with those superior to them in strength and abilities and meet their doom.
(8). lastly, suffering may come through the use of illegal practices to gain our objective. Some persons indulge in stealing, robbery, dacoit, cheating, and forgery, bribes-taking, murder, scandals etc., which involve them in litigation and gets them the punishment of fine or imprisonment.
What is hateful about these sufferings is not that they are sufferings. What is evil and ugly about these sufferings is that they are sufferings of disease. They are not the pains of growth which are welcome, but the pains of putrefying and dying soul. These pains do not proclaim life but death. They are not only pains but evils in themselves. Moksha is deliverance from these diseases and their sufferings.
4. The death of the Life-force (soul)
– Devatma holds that a human death from these diseases. We know how a living organism loses its strength by bodily diseases. The diseases sap the energy of a living body and if they continue un-cured and un-checked, they cause the death of the body. In the same way the low-loves and the low-hates sap spiritual strength of a soul and if they remain unchecked and un-cured, cause the death of the soul.
But how do we know that spiritual strength is affected through low-loves and low-hates? What are the symptoms of strength of a soul?
(a) A soul suffers lose of strength when its higher hatred for some evil conduct is lessened or disappears. A man may hate dishonesty. If he develops low-love of greed he may take dishonesty. If he develops low-love of greed he may take dishonesty. If he develops low-love of greed he may take to dishonest means which he hated before. A man may be punctual in his time engagements. If he develops low-love of laziness, he may start disregarding his time engagements. A man may be particular about the finish of his work. But if his work starts flourishing, he may neglect the quality of his work to make more money. A man may hate to take coffee. But by habit he may develop a weakness for it.
At first a person may feel unhappy at these degradations. Even though he indulges in dishonest practices, violates his time engagements, indulges in slipshod work, or takes to coffee, or drinks, he may still hate to slip into them. But gradually his vision is affected. He sees less and less the ugliness of his degrading acts. When his vision is closed, he no more sees any ugliness of his acts. He no more hates the slum condition of his moral life. On the contrary, he starts justifying his ugly acts into which he has fallen.
When a man ceases to hate particular evil as poison for his soul, he shows deficient vitality to protect his personality.
(b) When the higher feeling of hatred for some evil is lost in an individual, indulgence in that evil no more gives him pain. When we are sensitive to the evils of a wrong conduct, we experience pain. We value money. When we lose money by some carelessness or someone cheats us of it, we feel pain. To feel pain is to be sensitive to the loss.
When we value our honesty, we feel pain on doing a dishonest act. It is a pain at the loss of something we value. When we have compassion, we feel pain for some act in which we have unintentionally inflicted pain on another. When we value to do over duty we feel pain in the neglect of duty. In such cases we may not only feel pain b ut also feel an urge to make amends to the person who has been harm by our acts of commission and omission. We may feel an urge to return the money wrongly taken from another, or compensate for the pain inflicting on another, or make amends for the neglect of duty in relation to another.
When this pain at the loss of some higher sense of feeling or at the pain or injury done to others decreases or disappears, or when the urge or the capacity to make amends to another for the harm done to him his decreased or lost, the soul experiences death in some part of its being.
(c) The third symptom of the decreased vitality of soul is its the soul of satisfaction in rapport with noble souls all service of one’s benefactors or of some good cause. Suppose a person was once appreciative of some service done to him by his benefactor and felt gratitude for him and rendered service to him. If he now feels no satisfaction or happiness in his acts or appreciation, gratitude, or service in relation to his benefactor, it is symptom of decrease vitality of his soul. Again, suppose a person felt satisfaction and joy rendering service to some good cause and now feels no satisfaction in such service, the vitality of his soul is on the decline.
(d) The fourth symptoms of the decreased vitality of the soul is its reduced capability to get rid of low-loves and low-hates and to evolve altruistic loves.
A body, in order to live and grow, must be free from diseases. But this is not sufficient. It must get nourishment to compensate for its loss and wear and tear or to meet the needs of its growth. The human soul is also under these two conditions for its growth or survival. It must be free from the diseases of the low-loves and low-hates. Besides, it must develop altruistic feeling of compassion, justice, disinterested service of other existents in different kingdoms of Nature, in order to gather in strength and vitality.
An organ must function in order to live. If an organ is not allowed to function, it loses it strength and dies in course of time. If a seed is allowed to remain inactive, its power to sprout and grow into a plant, is gradually decreased and may disappear in time. So the powers of the soul must be exercised. If they function in violation of the law of evolution, i.e. the process which makes for things and species which are innocent and harmless or are helpful for others, it courts disease and death. If they act in the service of the process of evolution they strengthen the survival of the soul. The feeling of justice in social relations makes us serviceable to others. The feeling of disinterested spiritual service makes us cure low-loves and low-hates in others and to develop altruistic feelings in them. To be altruistic is to be a participant in Nature’s invincible process of creativity, harmony, beauty, and joy and thus to share in its invincibility.
Therefore, when we lose our attraction for doing well to others, in relieving them of their pain or suffering, in educating them into enlightenment, in curing them of their diseases, physical or spiritual, cultivating health and strength in them, we show decrease in our vitality. If a person felt happy to give time or money for a good cause, and now feels less inclined to do so, he is declining in his spiritual strength. If a person felt happy to appreciate and create beauty and now he has lost all interest in it, he proclaims his decline. If he was responsive to new truths as they were discovered and now he lacks sensitiveness to new knowledge, he is slipping into spiritual death.
When a soul loses its sensitiveness, attraction and serviceableness for things good, true and beautiful, it fails to reinforce vitality. It is on its way to death.
The worst consequence of low-loves is that they push the bondsman into the dark slavery of low-hates. Whenever the satisfaction of any of our low-loves is thwarted, it gives rise to hatred for the object of interference. If I have low-love for drinks, I hate my wife if she stands between me and my drinks. I abuse her, find fault with her, deny her needs and even lay hands on her. If I have developed low-love of self-esteem, I feel unhappy with the senior or the superior who points out some of my shortcomings or mistakes and warns me about them. I develop low-hate for him, start harbouring ill feelings against him. I talk ill of him; I exaggerate his faults, and devalue his virtues. I am happy to find others talk ill of him or when harm comes to him. I seek and find satisfaction in doing harm to him getting harm done to him. In short, I have feeling of low-hate for some one if I: (i) find satisfaction in thinking, wishing and talking ill of him; (ii) inflate his shortcoming and devalue his virtues; (iii) find satisfaction when some harm comes to him; or (iv) actively go about to do harm to him or get harm done to him by others.
1
It is easy to see how low-hates are bondage of human soul. One way to know why low-hate is bondage is to know as to how we come to hate. The psychological causes will reveal the untruthfulness of them.
One of the chief causes of low-hate is difference of thought, feeling and behaviour. For example, we find customs, conventions and etiquette of a group to be different from our customs, conventions and etiquette. We regard the dress of another as ‘shameless’ or ‘grotesque’ or ‘ugly’ or ‘unbecoming’. We dislike a person for his manner of eating which is different from ours and we call it ‘uncivilized’. Hatred between social groups rests in part on differences of language, mode of dress, diet, customs, religious beliefs, etc.
We hate when we differ in physiognomy from others. There are physical peculiarities between Aryans and non-Aryans. Each hates the other because each differs from the other. We hate a particular ‘voice’, particular ‘handicap’, a particular gait, some particular dimensions of body or a particular deportment of a person.
We hate a person who holds opposite opinion or different interpretation. We hate another who presents things differently from us. Children express hatred of parents calling their opinion ‘old fashioned’ and parents express hatred for their children by calling their opinions ‘new fanged’.
When this is one of the psychological causes of hatred, we see how untruth lies at the root of it. We make our customs, etiquette, modes of dress, speech, gait, physical constitution, beliefs, interpretations, likes, and dislike the standards of truth, beauty and goodness. True is what I believe, good is what I do, and beautiful is what pleases me. So what differs from my point of view is neither true, nor good, nor beautiful. This is the lie in the soul which feeds fat our passion for hatred. What is ugly about low-hatred is that it rests on untruth. A belief different from mine is not necessarily false. A life different from mine is not necessarily evil. A style of painting different from mine is not necessarily ugly. Both beliefs, both lives, both style of painting, both interpretations may have equal degree of truth in them or different degrees of truth in them, or what I believe, live or paint may untrue evil and ugly. I may, e.g., have the habit to work in the early hours of morning, and my friend the habit to work late in the night. Both hours of work are good, so long each gains best in those hours. The western style of dress in pants, coat and tie is different from our achkan and churidar pyjamas. Both are aesthetically satisfying. A woman looks beautiful in a skirt and blouse, or in saree and blouse or salwar kamiz and chunni. Two bodily types may be equally beautiful. Two modes of writing may be equally effective, even if each presentation is diametrically different. Two different bodies can be beautiful, though no two bodies are alike. Different music can be aesthetically satisfactory. Different customs, conventions, etiquettes can be morally unobjectionable. The standard of beautiful, e.g., does not exclude differences between things which are beautiful. Symmetry is, for example, one of the characteristics of a beautiful arrangement. Today our contact with the Japanese arrangement of things shows that asymmetry can be characteristic of a beautiful arrangement. So a true standard of what is beautiful admits of these different characteristics. Take the standard of good. During certain periods the virtues of ‘honour’, ‘courage’, and ‘sacrifice in war’ were considered exclusively good. In the medieval religious period, devotion, humility, control of appetite, non-attachment, etc., were regarded exclusively good. Today ‘social good’, ‘democratic living’, ‘freedom is regarded as exclusive good. The past emphasized the ethics of duty. The present emphasizes the ethics of rights. The standard of good admits both rights and duties, humility and pride, control of appetite and satisfaction of appetite, etc., as good. Again, the scientists admit different interpretations of, for example matter -as particle or wave – as acceptable in the study of phenomena in different contexts.
No standard is identical with one of the things that fall under it. Hence it can admit different from of behaviour, thought and feeling as good, true and beautiful.
Thus one untruth that feeds low-hate is ego-love, i.e. making oneself the standard of what is true, good and beautiful. Instead of utilizing the facts of differences to care oneself of one’s ego-centric outlook, belief, and practices, one exploit them untruth is made, by low-hate, to strangulate us.
II
Another psychological cause of hatred is the unfulfilled expectations and unsatisfied demands made on others. I want some money from a friend of mine. He refuses to give me. I want him to support my case in an appointment. He does not help me. I want him to support me in an election, by voting for me, and he refuses to do so. I make claim on my wife for my needs and she fails to satisfy them. I built some expectations in respect of my children and they do not rise up to it. I claim certain respect, praise and service of another and he fails to do any one of these things. In short, I lay claim of my desires on others and when they do not comply with my desires, I develop low-hatred for them.
Not only this, There is a need of mine which the other person can satisfy. I expect him to know this need of mine without my telling him and expect him to satisfy it to my standard. All frustrations of expectations rest on this. Most of the low-hates in family and social relations rise from this source. This is glaringly exhibited in the frustrations between the relations of the boy and the girl on occasion of a marriage. It is the best illustrated in the relation of husband and wife.
This psychological cause of hatred shows another foundation of untruth on which low-hate is based. I assume that my desire is good which may be false. I may desire respect from others which I don’t deserve. I build expectations of my children which go against the facts of their hereditary capacities. I ask for support in an appointment which others deserve better. My low-hate takes for granted that my claim is just. Again, I assume that I have a rightful claim on the others to get satisfaction of my request. Request is not a claim. If my Principal refuses to give me leave, he is within his rights. If a member refuses to support my case in an appointment, he is within his rights to be true to his beliefs. If I propose to a girl, she is within her right to reject my proposal. If I persuade someone to support me on a resolution, the persons are within his rights not to support me.
This is the biography of thousands of acts of low-hate in our life story.
III
Now, suppose a particular belief of another is false, a particular social custom of his is evil, a particular mode of his dress or gait is ugly. But he is not that particular belief, that particular custom, that particular gait. He has some other beliefs which are true, some customs which are innocent and good, and some life aspects that are good. Where is the justification in extending my hate to the whole area of his life, which is the case, when I hate him! To hate a person is to hate the whole of him. It is clear from the fact that I am no more enthusiastic or touched by his virtues as I was before the different arose. The virtues of my object of hate get an unbecoming gloss over them by my hate. Nay, I even see his virtues in perverted light. I try to reduce them to evil.
When to hate a person is to hate the whole of him, the glaring degree of untruth stands exposed.
Nothing can for a moment whose every activity is geared to evil and destruction. A man whose body is damaged in every part and each part refuses to co-operate with others, cannot just exist. What is bad on the whole is not bad in every part of it. A rotten core may yet have many healthy parts about it. A drunkard may take good care of his health whereas a teetotaler may neglect his health. A selfish man be honest. A quarrelsome person may be generous. A debauchee may yet have a heart of gold in way of serviceableness to others. Nothing is know to exist which is pure evil or ugly. Since nothing is pure evil, nothing deserves to be hated in toto.
So, when I hate, I am through and through with untruth. Since obligation to truth is unconditional, low-hate is unconditionally evil.
IV
Low hate is not only evil under all conditions; it is the worst of evils. Its direct object is to besmear and harm another. This is not the case with a low-love. The direct object of a low-love is to secure some end in view. Suppose parents have the low-love for children. Their direct object of satisfaction is to server the child. They may spoil their child by over-indulgence. They may not stop their child from bad behaviour out of fear of displeasing him. They may thus harm him, though this is not their direct intention. But suppose some well-wisher criticizes their indulgent conduct towards the child, they will it take ill, feel unhappy about it and come to develop low-hated for him. In this state of low-hate, every time they would think of the critic, they would think ill of him, wish harm to him. A man who has love of money directly aims at accumulating wealth. He may resort to dishonest ways. Here he harms another. But he does not hate him. He does not harbour ill feeling for him. He does not grow vindictive in relation to him. What he directly aims at is to increase his income and not to harm others.
Again, there is a lot of good which comes through low-loves, though evil over-weighs the good. The low-love of sex leads to family life. There may be low attachment between the partners. There may be low attachment to children. But we know what good has come to society through the low-love for children. One has to imagine the lot of orphans to realize what good comes from the institution of family life. The passion for laziness, according to H. G. Wells, is a motive for the growth of technology. The low-love for wealth is a factor for the magnificent evolution of world industry. This is not the case with low-hatreds. They directly aim at destruction and spread destruction. They are the most loathsome diseases of the human soul, for unmitigated evil flows from them, Involving destruction of others as well as of one’s own self.
V
The low-hates are varied. Jealousy is one from of low-hate. In jealousy one hates the points of superiority in the other. He wishes to harm or damage his superiority and even destroy him.
Vindictiveness is the worst form of low-hate. It is a passion of destruction, pure and simple. It is cruelty conceived in cold blood. It scorches every tender feeling of the soul. It is the limit of human bondage.
Devatma thus sums up the whole topic: “There are four ways which lead to the production of low-hates:
(i) When one does not get from another the satisfaction of one’s desired pleasure:
When a person wants someone to be a party to the pursuance of some of his pleasure-giving desires (however undesirable and harmful they may be for himself and/or for someone else) but the other person does not want to become his accomplice and does not support him, or cannot or does not want to satisfy, for some reason, even some proper desire of his, then being insane under the intoxication of his love of that pleasure and ignorant of this soul-welfare, he feels hurt and pain in his heart at this refusal of the other person and develops low-hate in himself in relation to such pain-giver.
“(II) when one is attached to himself or some other person or society by some low-love:
When a person becomes attached to himself or to some member of his family or to the people of his religion or his community or his country by the bond of some low-love, then naturally he becomes partial towards himself or to them. In such a state, if someone points out some true defect or crime or some evil or shortcoming of his or of someone of them, then partly due to his self-love and partly due to the low-love by which he is attached to them, he feels hurt and pain in his heart from action of his and having received this hurt and pain from him, he develops low-hate for him.
“(III) When one’s self-love develops extra-ordinarily : When a person reaches such a state that in comparison with his own superiority, he does not like and feels pained to listen, to see or to accept the superiority of someone else in any respect whatsoever (though it may even be absolutely true), then he naturally feels low-hatred for the superior person.
“(IV) When a person becomes a lover of one or another kind of his false traditions or false beliefs: When a person becomes lover of his false traditions or false beliefs and therefore becomes partial to them, then:
“(1) he hates a person or society on finding it holding a different religious creed or a different religious belief from his own;
“(2) he hates a person on finding him not akin to himself in dress or in manners or the way of living or language etc;
(3) he hates a person on finding him inferior to himself in some respects;
“(4) he hates a person on account of difference in profession, colour or community, etc.”
The psychological make-up of a person given to hate is as follows:
“1. He desires that every wish or will of his – howsoever evil and undesirable it may be in relation to someone else – should be necessary satisfied by every one.
“2. No one should have a belief or opinion against any of his religious beliefs-even when it is absolutely false in the eyes of others. And no one should ever express or propagate any opinion or view which is against his views and wishes.
“3. No one should be considered or accepted, or declared to be superior to or better than he and no one should be praised more highly than he, in any respect.
“4. He should not be considered or called, or accepted or believed to have a defect or, to be lower or inferior by any one even when he has really got some defect or inferiority.”
It is this untruthfulness of low-hates that makes them unconditionally evil and it is their expression in the form of wishing evil, jealousy and vindictiveness that condemns them as the worst evils. They complete the bondage of the soul.
There are as many spheres of human bondage as there are drives, motives, desires or forms of willing which admit of dominance by their feeling of satisfaction. This is more specifically true of such volitions as concern themselves with bodily and ego-centric urges. These are the special areas of human bondage.
Devatma takes the major human drives: biological, psychological and social and holds a mirror to man to see how many low-loves and corresponding low-hates he has developed and thus fallen a prey to bondage.
Devatma divides the urges into six main groups:
1. There are urges for food, drink, sex and bodily comforts. These urges are connected with body. If there were no body, these urges would be absent in human soul.
2. There are urges connected with the consciousness of ego. If there were no consciousness of ego or ‘I’, there would be no urge for praise………, name and fame, superiority, and self-seeking.
3. There are certain urges primarily connected with the culture of a group, say, the urge for children, for acquisition of money and property and sociability.
4. There is an urge for violence or destructiveness.
5. There is an urge in man to accept as true and good whatever is felt to be conducive to other urges.
6. There are urges for sympathy, benevolence, compassion, disinterested service etc.
We will leave out for the present, the study of the sixth group of urges. They require a separate treatment.
When the satisfaction of the first four groups of urges deviate from its goal as set by the evolutionary process and determines the individual to take to course of action which are evil and untruthful, it is a case of love for the pleasure of that urge, it is a low-love.
Devatma takes up each of these urges and details the consequences of low-love for them. Let us follow him in this.
1
There is the bondage of low love of taste in a person who in spite of his knowledge find himself compelled to eat
(a) what is not edible for human organism, say, mineral salt;
(b) what is injurious to his body, like coffee, chilies, spices;
(c) what involves cruelty and injustice to others, say, meat diet, misappropriation of others’ share or stealing.
A man is in bondage to low-love of intoxicants when even though in the know of the evil effects of drinks, opium, morphia, charas, chandu, cocaine, tobacco, etc. he finds inner compulsion them.
There is bondage to low-love of sex in a person when, in spite of himself, he knowingly indulges in
(a) excessive sex satisfactions;
(b) is tyrannical to his partner in marriage in insisting on sex satisfactions when she or he is diseased or unwell or unwilling;
(c) transgresses the social sex ethics by seeking pre and extra marital sexual intercourse or prostitution.
There is satisfaction in bodily rest or in other effortless satisfactions. One develops low-love for effortless life or laziness when he lives:
(a) as a parasite on his patrimony;
(b) takes to cheating or borrowing for his living when patrimony or other means are not open to him;
(c) shirks work assigned to his job;
(d) neglects his duties or obligations of service to others;
(e) takes to life of a beggar or conventional ‘sadhu’ or ‘fakir’ and becomes parasite on others;
(f) takes to a do-nothing life when he retires from work after earning enough for his livelihood;
(g) wastes time in sex gossip or talking or hearing ill of others; or
(h) becomes incapable of observing the principle of self-help in the satisfactions of his needs, or in protection of things under his care .
These are the major low -loves connected with body. But just as there can be low-love of taste, there can be low-love connected with every sense organ, of touch, smell, sound, and sight.
The low-loves of the second group are connected with the growth of the consciousness of self, the consciousness of ‘I’, ‘mine’. This consciousness of one’s self extends beyond one’s body, thought and action, to others -things and persons. We come to regard certain things and persons as ours, as part of ourselves, so that their loss is felt as our loss. When we lose our money or property; no less a dear one, a relative or a friend, we feels as if a part of us is cut out. Sometimes, we so much identify ourselves, with things and persons, that their loss becomes our total loss. We loss our bearing or commit suicide.
When we develop consciousness of self we find satisfaction in the approval and appreciation by others about our person and thoughts and about such things and persons with which we have identified ourselves. This urge for acceptance, approval and appreciation by others is innocent. It is part of our mental health to accept ourselves and get acceptance of others. But when the pleasure which comes from the satisfaction of this urge gets the better of the urge and deviates it into paths of untruth and evil, it becomes a bondage.
Devatma distinguishes four deviations that this urge undergoes and thus leads to the four kinds of low-loves into which it degenerates.
We enjoy our praise by others. When the praise is truthful about us, its enjoyment or satisfaction or pleasure is and right, but when such pleasure gets the better of some persons, it becomes low-love of praise, which leads them:
(a) to enjoy undeserved praise;
(b) to render even unprincipled help to their flatterers;
(c) to profess faith in what they do not believe, out of fear of loss of the approval of the social group;
(d) to observe ceremonies in which they have no faith, in order to avoid disapproval;
(e) to keep external symbols of a faith even when they consider them unnecessary or harmful and thus turn hypocrites; or
(f) develop low-hate for a man who truly exposes even their undeserved praise. They sometimes go to the extent of harming him or getting him harmed.
The second deviation of this urge is to seek social respect, name and fame. It is a healthful urge to seek recognition. There is a moral justification, if a great soul feels sad or laments the neglect of his greatness or contribution or merit, by his society. He has a moral claim that his and service be given recognition and respect.
But when a person seeks positions of respect and power without reference to the excellence of his character, calibre or achievements, he is in bondage to the love-love of name and fame. A person is under bondage if he seeks political, social or religious distinctions:
(a) by squandering money;
(b) by using the wrong means of flattering or doing unprincipled service those who can confer such distinctions on him; or
c) by propagating his own false image to impress his merit on them. Such an enslaved person:]
(i) feels pained and hurt if some one points out to him the wrong, the evil, the undesirability and the vulgarity of such of his actions;
(ii) harbors hatred for such a person
(iii) stops help to him if he was giving him help;
(iv) in case his hatred is intense, he devises ways and means to harm him.
The third form of deviation of this urge is the desire for superiority. We want to be superior to others in body strength, ability and achievement. This natural urge to excel other is innocent and helpful to social progress. But we do suffer from false sense of superiority. When this happens, we have low-love for superiority.
We have low-love for superiority when we: (a) falsely believe, declare, and show ourselves to be superior to another in skill, knowledge and character when the other person is, in fact, superior to us in these respects; (b) falsely claim to possess some excellence which we do not, infect, possess or exaggerate some excellence which we do possess; (c) take to bragging of some of our vices; (d) unnecessarily challenge those of superior strength or ability; (e) squander money to be accepted superior; (f) feel small to take help or advice from persons who know better on matters on which we know nothing or little; (g) criticize or disrespectfully say something to a person, superior to us, or elder to us in the family, or generation, or otherwise worthy of our respect; (h) fail to acknowledge some of our real faults or wrong doings;
(i) grow vain and thus fail to see the beauty or superiority of others; (j) become cruel to others who have different beliefs and way of life; or (k) feel pained when someone else is even truly praised and to feel pleasure even when someone falsely praises us. This low-love, like other low-loves, hates the light of truth and hence develops low-hatred for such a person who evens our false beliefs about our superiority.
The fourth urge is to seek one’s own pleasure. It becomes low-love of selfishness in us only when we seek our pleasure without consideration or at the cost of the good of others. We are entirely to selfishness when: (a) we do not utilize some portion of our time, energy, skill, education or money for a social good; (b) make no return for the services received from others; (c) fail to prove serviceable to the animal, the plant and the mineral world from which we receive so many benefits; or (d) become self-willed and insist on going our own way however harmful it is to us and others and disrespect the discipline of our group.
III
We now pass on the third group of low-loves or human bondage. In our cultural pattern there is tradition of love of parents for children. This affection, love and service of parents for children is an enormous good. One has only to visualize the social problem of the orphans to realize how great the service rendered by the parents is. Only if parents were to remain true parents, they cannot, exceptions apart, render a greater social good than to rear healthy and noble children. When the pleasure in the service of children comes to dominate parents it deviates their love and service into untruthful and evil pathways and become their bondage.
This love of children degenerates into bondage to children when:
(a) we concede to such of the wishes of our children which are harmful to them, out of fear to displease them or lose them;
(b) become partial to them and conceal their faults, vices or wrong actions or crimes and tell lies for them;
(c) come to hate persons who complain against them to us;
(d) develop partiality for some children against others and thus be unjust to them;
(e) give away or will away our self-acquired property to such of our children:
(i) who are adults, self-earning and able to meet the needs of their family;
(ii) even to children who have already squandered our earnings by their evil life; or
(iii) who even neglect us in our serious illness and wish for our death so as to possess our property and go to the extent of being hostile to us. Such are the limits of this bondage.
Another low-love in this group concerns the earning of one’s livelihood. It is proper for each of us, when we are adults and fit, to participate in the production of our society through our profession and thus earn a share of the production for our needs. The economic activity is basic to good life for the individual and society. Not to earn the goods of life when adult and fit, is to be a parasite and what a contemptible life it is !
Through successful economic activity, we gain satisfaction. This satisfaction is healthy. But then we grow slaves to this satisfaction so much so that it becomes the-all and end-all of life. Our life is geared to earning or possessing or hoarding money. The means become the end. We earn for the sake of earning and we employ the methods of exploitation to increase our piles.
Devatma lists as many as forty practices and professions in which the bondage for money or property manifests itself. All these may be dividing into three groups. There are certain legally criminal methods by which some earn their livelihood such as stealing highway robbery, dacoit, murder on hire, forcible confiscation of others’ land and property, child lifting, taking away woman by force or seduction for prostitution, forging of documents or making of counterfeit notes or coins, gambling, suppression of debts, misappropriation of the property of one’s brother or sister, cheating others by pretending to be alchemist or miracle worker, etc, etc.
The second group consists of professions which may be legally permissible but which involve harm or injustice to others. The trade in wine, tobacco and other intoxicants, in meat diet, skins, silk, and profession of prostitution in some countries; fortune-telling, speculation, and putting of one’s daughter or wife to prostitution, are some such cases.
The third group consists of economic activities otherwise unobjectionable but in which a slave of money brings in evil practices. A man in business or private practice may take to false advertisement and exploitation of customers and workers. A medical practitioner may issue false certificates, an official may take to bridge-taking, or misappropriation of the funds of his office, firm or institution, a man in a business partnership may unnecessarily risk the money of the investors, or cheat other partners out of their partnership, a money-lender may suppress pawned things, a social or national worker may misappropriate the funds collected for some good cause; or divert them to some purpose other than for which they are collected, or a ruler may take to empire building or forcible occupation of land beyond his border etc.
However, a slave of money need not take to these or any other undesirable professions or practices, yet he does not cease to be a slave. He is slave if he turns into a miser and refuses to spend for his needs or progress or for the needs or progress of his dependants or if he does not contribute some share of his money to the good causes which call for help from every one able to afford in lesser or greater measure.
In short, we are slaves or in bondage to love for money or property, if we acquire it through evil trades or indulge in evil practices in otherwise socially useful professions or if we fail to spend it for our needs or for the needs of our dependants or for contributing to some good cause.
Finally, there are low-loves concerned with attachment to group ethos, place of residence and sociability. A child is born into a family. The family has its ethos, its beliefs about God, soul and the universe, its beliefs about what is right or wrong in its conduct and etiquette, in its own habits and profession. The child assimilates all this. As he grows into an adolescent he is influenced by the social ethos in his beliefs, practices and style of life.
This assimilation of familial and social ethos is helpful to the growth of human personality. This is mental food for the maturity of the mind. There is satisfaction in this process of assimilation and identification. However, repeated satisfactions make us partial to the ethos and put us in bondage. The bound man does not take to critical evolution of the beliefs and practices of his ethos. On the contrary he utilizes his intellectual and emotional gifts to defend even the false beliefs and evil practices. He rationalizes them. Even when he finds beliefs false or a practice evil, he is not able to give it up. No wonder a reformer has such a hard time to make his group see the evil character of some practice or to make them give it up. The conservatism, when it is attachment to the ethos for the sake of it, rather than for the truth or goodness of it, is bondage.
Similarly, we develop inertia to move out of our place of residence where we have stayed for long even when our professional need, or physical health or cultural advancement requires it. A man may starve in his village but he may not move out to a place where better opportunities await him. A man may not go to an outside place or change his residence even when medically advised as desirable for his health. A man may touring other places and countries when he has time, money and health. Such a conduct is symptomatic of low-love for one’s place or residence.
Sociability is another urge in human beings. We feel drawn to those who share our temper, character, habits, interests, ideology, or pursuit of some good cause. Even when such friendship or association is innocent or socially useful, its repeated satisfaction leads to partiality for the associated. We come to help or defend our friends even when it is unjust. We come to believe what our friend or group tells us against others even when it is false. Finally, this low-love involves some persons in so great a mental suffering at the separation from a dear one, may it be wife, husband, child or friend that their nervous system is shattered and they suffer from physical pain or disease and when this suffering becomes unbearable, they commit suicide or pine away into premature death.
IV
The low-loves of the fourth group concern the urge to inflict suffering on others. It may be compared in some respects to the death instinct in Freudian psychology. It can be traced to the hunting stage in man when he lived by shooting animals for food. With the invention agriculture, hunting gradually came to be a sport. This urge has got extended to inflicting pain on fellow human beings. It becomes a low-love when:
(a) we shoot animals for sport or food;
(b) delight in cruel sport among animals like bull-bating; (c) tease or torture animals or human beings; (d) give mental pain to some one by giving him false news of the death of his dear one; or (e) become destructive of things or properties of others.
V
The fifth group of low-loves concerns man’s weakness to accept or use untruth and evil if it appeals to or satisfies some one of his desires or provides safeguards or escape from some feared consequences. The parents give false fears to children to silence them from crying or to force them into obedience. They teach their children evil practices of their professions. To this low-love can be traced the origin of false religions. This weakness in man accept or use falsehood to get out of difficulties or obstacles of life, is exploited by departed spirits and the priestly class to foster false beliefs about supernatural powers of imaginary and actual persons to get their own end served.
The epidemic of untruths or falsehoods in speech and evils in conduct in day to-day commerce of life is due to the fact that they help satisfactions for our low-loves and low-hates. We use falsehoods to make a better bargain in a deal or to win in an argument or election, or to seduce a person into agreement to our advantage or passion, to escape unpleasant consequences of wrong doing or to harm a person who has antagonized us. We indulge in evil practices of cheating, or forcible possession or intimidation, to satisfy the ends of low-loves and low-hates.
Devatma devotes as many eight chapters and about one hundred pages of The Dev Shastra, Part III, in tracing out the various deviations which urges, otherwise innocent and useful, flow due to the exclusive domination by the pleasure of the satisfactions for which the agent develops attachment and thus his urge into bondage.
This brief statement of the analysis of low-loves as done by Devatma, reveals to us as to at how many points human personality is threatened with bondage. Each one of us can verify for him how many borings low-loves and low-hates have made in his personality.
In the history of human thought, different methods have been employed in the study of the problems of conduct. The prophets were faced with the problem of remodeling the conduct and the life of the people in which they found themselves. They faced the question: What are the types of conduct to be practiced and what are the types of conduct to be prohibited.
Devatma denies the existence of God and naturally rejects the method of revelation. He rejects that commandments in the scriptures are right because they are word of god or revealed. He exposes the evil character of many of the commandments given in different scriptures. For him moral laws are as verifiable as the laws of health.
Devatma rejects also the apriority approach to the problems of conduct. Reason is most competent to deal with the world of the possible or essences where the relations between entities are necessary. It cannot, by itself, know the laws of the existents. Just as we cannot do research in medicine by apriority method, we cannot have apriority method for ethical research. Medicine discovers the laws of the health of the body. Ethics for Devatma discovers the law of the health of the soul. Medicine uses empirical methods in its study. Devatma urges the use of empirical method in the study of Ethics.
Devatma holds that good essentially centers round the soul. The principles of goodness are the law of the health of soul. Any moral principle can be verified to be true, in the same manner as any principle of health can be verified to be true verification of the principles of goodness in the manner of a medical scientist.
Though Devatma employs empirical method, he avoids the error of some of the empiricists. He would not accept Mill’s identification of desirable or good with what is desired. What is desired may be bad. He does not reduce Ethics to Psychology nor to Biology or any other natural science. He considers Ethics analogous to bodily hygiene. The laws of physical health are not like the laws of gravitation, purely descriptive. They are partly descriptive and partly prescriptive. We find in them atonce the elements of description and prescription. In the same way, the moral laws are both descriptive and prescriptive and the prescriptive element is amenable to empirical method. The statements of metal hygiene are empirical prescriptive statements. Devatma employs empirical method parallel to the way as the mental hygiene scientist uses this method for arriving at and verifying its conclusions.
Devatma, however, thinks that special equipment is required for the discovery of moral laws, in contrast to the equipment required for the discovery of physical laws. It is valuation consciousness that is essential for a worker in this field. One requires sense of justice to discover the conditions that violate justice or which can promote justice. In the absence of the sense of justice, no investigator can set out to discover just laws to regulate human relations. An investigator with a sense of compassion can discover the laws for the amelioration of the conditions of the down-trodden.
The moral equipment is not to be identified with conscience. Devatma rejects conscience as a single power which alone and unerringly tells what is right or wrong in interpersonal relationships. Each vale needs a specific sense for its perception and practice. A man with the sense of justice will be to perceive what is just in certain of situations but not what is generous in it. Again, the sense of justice is not a single power. A man with the sense of justice in economic field may lack the sense of justice in certain familial relationships.
These senses of value, Devatma calls, altruistic feelings. Each altruistic feeling is a condition for cognition of value corresponding to its specific sensitivity. The altruistic feeling of justice is a condition for discovery of one or another right of man as or of man in certain social or occupational context. The altruistic feeling of compassion is a condition for perception of one or another need of a helpless and unfortunate group.
Devatma differs from the intuitionists or the upholders of conscience in another respect. He not only questions the validity of a single moral power, call it conscience or practical reason, he rejects the view that the deliverances of conscience are true because they are deliverances of conscience. The deliverance of conscience of an altruistic feeling can go wrong. The altruistic feeling of justice may consider certain ways of regulating a relationship as just, but when it is worked out it may be found to defeat the ends of justice. We know the slogan of economic freedom for all brought misery and slavery for the countless millions of worker in the factories. What is delivered by some altruistic feeling as right for the regulation of human relationship is to put to the test of verification to be accepted as true.
Devatma holds that whereas each altruistic feeling can help to discover certain laws for the regulation of relationship between man and the sub-human kingdoms, none of them singly and collectively can know the nature of soul, its laws of health and disease, its freedom from disease and evolution of its health. It is a person endowed with love of all-sided goodness and all-sided truth who is mentally equipped to undertake this task. This love of goodness is not the sun total of all altruistic feelings about goodness, though a person with love of goodness will have the whole gamut of altruistic feelings. Nor is the love of truth sum total of altruistic feelings for the understanding and discovery of truths in different fields. Man is crippled in this slavery to the principle of pleasure. Devatma claims himself as the soul so equipped for this task.
But even the deliverance of one possessed of love of goodness and truth need not be accepted as true. Since no human understanding is immune from error. Our beliefs, whether concerning facts or values, or both, are on eternal probation to be re-checked every time new facts or new values or both come to light.
Devatma is out and out an empiricist both in method and spirit. Though a man of religion, a religion, a religious leader who challenged all religions, he never put his deliverance outside the possibility of error and insisted that whatever in his philosophy will not satisfy the scientific criteria of truth must be rejected. He writes, “If any of the teachings of the Devatma also fails to satisfy any one of these four criteria, it too does not deserve to be accepted as true.”
However, his empirical Ethics is an Ethics with a difference. Thought it employs the empirical method, what it studies are the laws of health of the soul which for him are the laws of morality and religion. The modern empiricists in Ethics are not sensitive to the relation of soul and values, and are found mainly concerned to systematize the values discovered by certain altruistic feelings. There is all the difference between a codified common-sense and a science about the subject. That is the difference between other Empirical Ethics and the Empirical Ethics of Devatma.
Devatma’s ethics is one that is within the reach of all men, whether intellectual or not, philosophers or laymen. The core of his ethics is the Human-soul & the aim of his philosophy is the advancement of the human soul. ‘Soul consciousness’ can be acquired only by one who considers his soul as the highest good & who tries to get freedom from low loves & low hates & cultivate higher loves & higher hates. Devatma’s ethics is unique in this that while a total empiricist, he employs the empirical method to study the laws of the soul. To study of the soul is religion & morality.
Devatma re-examine the maps of the geography of the universe and human soul as drawn by speculation, human desire and aspirations and rejects all such elements as would not satisfy the demands of scientific method, logic and the direct evidence of the eight-fold consciousnesses. He draws his own blueprint in accordance with the demands of the scientific method.
When Devatma comes to deal with Ethics, he brings the same scientific spirit and the same scientific method in understanding of it. Values do not constitute a world apart, a world of essences. Just as he rejects it in Ethics too. There is nothing outside Nature. Value, like facts, are part of Nature.
For Devatma Ethics is a science which discovers the laws of the soul, its conditions of health and ill-health just as medicine discovers the laws of the body, its condition of health and ill-health. Just as no reference to the super-naturalism is required for the science of medicine, no reference to it is necessary for the science of Ethics.
The whole empirical life is felt worth discarding as valueless, for it appears to be infested with unavoidable pains and impermanent pleasures. It is the aesthete’s hatred of pain that makes the philosopher, in general, theorize a way out of body involvement.
Devatma rejects this ideal of freedom from pain or of a permanent state of uninterrupted pleasure as bad ethics. For him, neither empirical Hedonism nor transcendental Hedonism is the human ideal. He saw clearly that the pursuit of the pleasure whether empirical or transcendental is not the pursuit of good. More than any other philosopher, he has brought out the moral and spiritual evils or diseases that attend on the exclusive pursuit of the pleasure, whether the pleasure pursued is empirical or transcendental. His moral perceptions on the invidious influences of pleasure principle on the health of the human soul are classic in the philosophic literature.
Devatma’s Ethics on the nature of human ideal is a new writing on a clean slate, nay, on a new slate.
It is necessary to mention here that it is not the ethics of a great man, a noble soul, a saint, a mahatma, a great mystic, in one word of a perfect human being. It is the ethics of a religious genius who founded a naturalism religion, divergent in species from the theistic, absolutistic or spiritualistic religions of the world. The world of religion upto his time was polytheistic, theistic, atheistic, spiritualistic & humanistic in its system of thought and practice. He offers a new spurt in religious evolution, build with complete commitment to scientific temper and method and in untiring efforts to discover human nature and its destiny. His findings of evolutionary naturalism offer no loopholes for easy deliverance from human slavery to passions and freedom into life of light and salvation. His scriptures can be taken as books in science.
The great world-Teacher and Saviour has appeared whose spiritual name was Devatma. Devatma, a great world-teacher who founded and taught a new system of one, true and universal science-grounded religion, called Dev Dharma.
The most adorable Bhagwan Devatma (this being his spiritual name) was born on 20th December 1850, at Akbarpur, District Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh) INDIA exactly at the time of sunrise. It was a strange coincidence as this spiritual luminary was destined to illuminate the spiritual world with the unique light of a science based universal religion that could stand the tests of logic and experiment and was based on immutable laws and facts of Nature.
Devatma has founded a religion which is really scientific in content and spirit, evolutionary in its vision on life & universe, moral in its detailed duties in all different relationships and spiritual in its knowledge and true source of salvation and evolution of one’s soul to the limit of its capacity
Dev Dharma teaches the scientific truth that human life-force (soul) is part of Nature. It is under the laws of change, of growth and decay. Dev Dharma is spiritual not only in the sense that it awakens one to the consciousness of the reality of his life-force (soul) and its laws of growth but it provides the conditions for the life-force (soul) to attain its fulfillment in the form of Moksha and Vikas. It provides the true seeker of the evolution of his life force (soul) rapport with Dev Atma, which besides giving the spiritual aesthetic experience of the highest beautiful life-force (soul), helps to liberate him from low loves and low hates and to cultivate noble altruistic forces which constitutes the true destiny of human life force (soul).
Dev Dharma is the only religion that can claim to be scientific in spirit, for it alone openly accepts scientific methods as necessary for truth discovery and verification in the field of religion.
When it is said that Dev Dharma is scientific in spirit, it means more than that it rejects supernaturalism or it accepts the findings of science at any particular period. It means that like science it accepts that no belief is too sacred to be re-examined and re-evaluated or rejected if new facts come to light which make that imperative. Just as it is no loss to the prestige of science, rather it is to its glorification when it modified any one of its theories to meet the demand of facts and truths, similarly Dev Dharma holds it be its glory that it permits its beliefs to be revised if scientific method so demands it.
Dev Dharma avoids conflicts between science and religion, because it accepts that scientific verification is necessary for a belief to be true. This is the first offering that Dev Dharma makes to modern man in search of a religion which does not compromise his scientific makeup.
Devatma brought the field of religion under investigation by scientific method and therefore founded the science of religion.
The scientific method must be employed in the field of religion and religion can be made into a science, like other sciences.
Our culture has failed to develop a common term, such as science of religion, or religionology, to name the scientific investigation of religion.
A deliberate systematic use of scientific methods applied to the problem promises the most reliable way to discover the religion needed.
Tests as rigorous as those demanded by physicists, chemists & astronomers must be used & passed.
A philosophy of change can alone give meaning, significance and a role to human action in the universe and that is the philosophy of Devatma.
Man’s ethical responsibility to himself and the universe is clear. He must subdue or get rid of such evil feelings: low-loves and low-hates – in him that set him in opposition to the evolutionary process. He has to develop altruistic feelings that put him in stride with the evolutionary process, makes for his higher adjustments with all the four kingdoms of the universe and helps him to be serviceable to them. Man is to be the dreamer, architect, and executioner of the evolutionary changes on this planet.
Man has a magnificent destiny and evolution has a superb participant in man, in shaping the future of the universe. Man’s altruistic feelings and actions have a meaning, significance and a future in the establishment of higher and creative harmony in all the four kingdoms. This opportunity makes for an inescapable responsibility and committed earnestness for the development of the life of altruism.
Devatma’s philosophy of change and evolution gives man the vision to see his great destiny as a participant in the future of this planet and creates intense responsibility for a faithful execution of this vision.
The Dev Shastra, part III, which is Devatma’s opus magnum in Ethics, opens with a statement of the fundamental insight that the unexamined life of the cave is not worth living and nothing surpasses in worth the knowledge and the cultivation of the good of the soul. The following is the preamble given to this part of The Dev Shastra:
Devatma’s diagnosis is that man’s soul has a weakness for the life of pleasure and that the dominance of the love of pleasure would not let him attend to the understanding and cultivation of the life of the soul. Says Devatma, “…..millions of people, on being enslaved by the love of the pleasure derived from and self are so engrossed in the process of getting the objects of their satisfactions and are so lost in inner thousands and over activities in connection with them that in this most pitiable condition of unconcern about their most essential being, i.e. life-force (soul) (to which is due the whole drama of their lives), that they do not pay any attention to it and they remain completely unmindful, unconcerned, and ignorant about it,”
The dominance of the love for pleasures, does not only usurp all time and energy of millions of people leaving no time and attention for the study of the good of the soul, but it also produces, in various ways, incapacity and aversion for getting such knowledge. The dominance of the love of pleasures produces spiritual darkness and blindness which would not let one be sensitive and perceptive to truths about the good of the soul. And love of these pleasures goes further. It produces spiritual perversion. “In this state, “says Devatma, “they enslaved souls -are not only disinclined to accept anything good or true against their slavery, but on the contrary they hate it and motivated by this feeling of hatred wish to stay away from it. How pitiable is this state of man!!”
Man living in the dark cave of sensuous and ego pleasure lose sight to see what is good of the soul, nay, they come to hate the good of the soul. They develop so much hatred for what is good about soul, that they would rather hate and kill the philosopher who would bring them the light of what is good and true about it.
How it is that love for the pleasures derived from, say, drink or greed, stands in the way of one’s good? The enslavement to drinks stands in the way of the health of the body. The considerations of the health of the body are annoying to the thought of pleasure to be derived from drinks. The law of pleasure is not the law of good. Pleasure and good are not identical, nor is pleasure the only good. Nay, they are antagonistic as independent principles of conduct. Pleasure is good as subordinate to good, but not as an autonomous principle of conduct.
The dominance of love for the pleasures waylays the human soul in its concern for its good. Nay, it resists its concern for the good, for such concern will destroy its hold. The knowledge of the soul or soul consciousness will open the eyes to truth that dominance of pleasure principle on our psychology is pathological; it breeds diseases of the soul, which produce the epidemic of evil and untruth in social its very existence as an entity.
Thus, the dominance of the pleasure principle is the main hurdle to man’s concern about his highest good. From the point of view of higher values, he spends his life in ignorance, like the animals. He does not sit down to examine as to how he leads his life, what values he pursues in his activities, what goals he has put before himself. He does not study what is the true good for him and how he can pursue soul true good. But such an unexamined life is not worth living. Just as scientific knowledge in different fields of activities, like agriculture and crafts, has revolutionized them and raised us from the primitive stage of uncivilized existence, the science of the good of the soul will raise man from primitive soul life.
Why is the concern for the study of the life-force (soul) the most important? Devatma holds that the soul is the source of all human activities. If we wish to produce refinement in our activities, it is essential to know the nature of the soul. The evolution of higher activities needs soul-knowledge. Again, since certain activities are felt to do harm to us and to others, it is essential to know the cause of them, to be able to eliminate them. This requires the study of soul. Our present and further existence depends on the present and the further existence of the soul. The soul’s further existence depends on what our activities do to it. Some of our activities contribute to the health and strength of the soul. Some of our activities weaken and disease the soul. As all our good depends on the continued existence of our soul, we must know what the activities are which contribute to our soul-health and what activities dissipate soul-health. That is, we must know the laws of the health of the soul, and how to observe them; we must know the causes of the diseases to which our soul is liable, and how to get rid of the diseases when we get them.
All our concerns are concerns so long our soul live. How unwise it is to neglect to get knowledge of our soul on which everything depends and busy ourselves with activities which may lead to extinction of our life, here and hereafter.
Devatma is never more eloquent than in arousing his audiences or readers to shame in their pursuit of wealth, reputation, honor or power, at the cost of the good of the soul. This was the mission which he felt was the object of his scientific investigations. His light showed him that the highest task for man is to discover what constitutes the greatest good of his life-force (soul). But he was more than a pure scientist. He carried his torch of knowledge of the good of the life of slumber in which they may die, if they do not wake up to the truths about their life-force (soul) life.
The basis of the entire structure of the universe is evolution. Its processes can be explained by the so far learnt theories of science. And the verification of the processes by these theories compels every modern thinker to accept the truth regarding evolution. His mind application finds out the what, how and why of evolution.
And where does the thinking of Devatma stand? Dale Riepe aptly describes his philosophy in these words, “it is naturalistic, dialectical (understanding things and events always in their inter-relationship), scientific, evolutionary, developmental, optimistic, responsible and altruistic. Its goal is a life of service in which low-hates and low-loves are kept to minimum while the individual tries in high loves to remove evil in life wherever he may find it”.
According to Devatma Nature is constantly creating fresh and fragrant values pertaining to humanity. Moreover the course of time means more sublimation of human values. Therefore the evolutionary process means a persistent development of new and ever new values.
Evolution and devolution, utility and futility, life and death, creation and destruction are the various two aspects of this seeming enigma which interact within themselves creating a specific tension amongst them all, and then with strict adherence to the rules governing them lead to creativity. Those having capacity for progress, and are proactive when they happen to bein a conducive environment rise higher in their personal capacity.
On the other hand, millions of living and non-living beings sans such a faculty or are proactive but do not find themselves in the required environments for reacting with each other in a specific way gradually degenerate. And this course of degenerating remaining unchecked may cause their annihilation.
Devatma differs from Darwin’s fundamentals concerning evolution, though he himself was prompted by his theories to work for the verification of the things in a studied manner. While presenting the concept of ’natural selection’ Darwin is generally understood to be stating that the survival, propagation and reproductive variations of the species is a purely random or an irrational process. But for Devatma, there are the laws of evolution. However the successive rise of dominant types leading to human species swells with meaning.
Devatma’s metaphysical position is that the universe is law-bound. Darwin proposes his fundamentals without reference to values. For Darwin the emergence of destructive animals is as much cases of evolution as useful animals. But Devatma gives value meaning to the concept of evolution. The emergence of a useful species is evolutionary. The emergence of ferocious species is devolutionary. There are two opposing processes in Nature and one is tosustain, the other is to atrophy.
Secondly,other evolutionists like Herbert Spencer maintain that since the fittest alonesurvive as a result of natural selection, those which survive are perfect. He,thus, equates survival with perfection. But Devatma does not equate meresurvival with perfection. For him it is not a contradiction to say, ‘ XYZ hassurvived, but it is not perfect’. ThereforeDevatma says,
“Accordingto the ceaseless process of change, just as, such existences in everydepartment of Nature as follow degrading activities of harming others, cannotbut sink to nothingness in course of time, similarly such existences as showhigher conduct, progress in their utility to others and achieve better and betterharmony with other existences, do prolong their life. Hence, a time must comewhen there will be existences in each kingdom whose intra-group and extra-grouprelationship will be one of pure service and absolute harmony.”
The process of evolution has a direction and hence it is teleological. There is emergenceof species and individuals which makes possible the realisation of a world of values. The process of evolution is teleological both at the unconscious and conscious levels.
The evolutionary process is biological as well as cultural. When Devatma speaks ofthe process of evolution, it is not limited to biological evolution. With the appearance of man, a new technique of evolution has come into operation. It is the method of cumulation and communication, the culturalmethod.
Man is atool making animal. His tools preserve his manipulation of material for use indefense and production. He can think in symbols and his writtenlanguage preserves his thinking. These socio-psychological processes ofcumulation and communication of learned responses have replaced the biologicalprocess of mutation through genes. For example, a science student at universitylevel may know more science than Newton did. Thus the part played by genes in biologicalevolution is also played by culture in social evolution. This culturalprocess is as much a natural process as the biological process is.
Therefore,human evolution concerns the health, strength and growth of human life-force.What constitutes the content of inner and outer conditions of evolution isdeterminable through the study of human soul, just as what constitute thehealth, strength and growth of a body is determinable through study of body.
All thosepersonal feelings, thoughts and actions and social conditions of customs,conventions and laws, which contribute to the health, strength and growth ofthe soul are inner and outer conditions of evolution. Thus human good consistsof the conditions of evolution. Human evil consists of the conditions of human bondage.
Low-loves and low-hates are human evils for they are destruction of the health and strength of the soul and other existents. Higher loves and higher hates are human good for they make for the strength of the soul and contribute to the evolutionof others.
Last but not the least, what is the future but completing course of evolution? Can human being be Devatma or can he choose to be perfect? Man’s moral perfection only is possible because of the cultural evolution. Man’s advances towards his optimum moral perfection through association and rapport with fellows, and more so through Devatma. But he cannot become Devatma because a person who attains to evolution of his altruistic feelings is sattvick jivan Dhari (altruistic person), not Devatma. A person is Devatma if he develops sublime powers amounting to absolute love for what is true and good having qual intensity for hating evil and untruth. Altruistic feelings like that of compassion, justice, gratitude, reverence, honesty etc, remain under the influence of pleasure principles and they dispose him to partiality and untruth. Devatma alone is the ideal soul for it as he has no disposition towards evil and untruth.
Therefore the sum of all the higher feelings is not Devatma. No doubt, as believed by Devatma there is no end of evolution, still perfect moral perfection is not possible. Of course! A man can be the best altruistic but not Devatma because altruistic will be under the influence of pleasure principles rather than truth and Goodness.
In Devatma’s philosophy it is through rapport with the Devatma alone that a human soul can understand the highest development of the process of evolution in the sublime life of Devatma and the beneficial evolution it will bring in all the orders of existences –human, animal, plant and the inanimate world.
Thanks to evolution for the emergence of Devatma where mankind leaps forward in evolution under the light and power which is embodiment of truth and goodness.
The Dev Samaj (a unique religious movement) was founded in 1887 by the Most Worshipful Bhagwan Dev Atma. The fundamental objective of Dev Samaj is to make us more and more capable of promoting the cause of unique life mission of Bhagwan Dev Atma i.e. propagation of Truth, Beauty and Goodness in thought; speech and action among all classes of people, irrespective of any consideration of caste, creed, colour and country. The Dev Samaj endeavors to eradicate from the hearts of the people, as far as possible, such egoistic forces as vanity, hatred, self-will and selfishness and to evolve such altruistic feelings as compassion, gratitude, reverence etc. The Highest Evolution of mankind is the summum bonum of the Dev Dharma. Dev Samaj believes in the Science of moral and spiritual laws of soul. It employs the scientific method and accepts the scientific pattern of thought that Nature is self-sufficient in its working and therefore we are not to go ‘OUT OF NATURE’ to understand any happening within it.
The founder of Dev Samaj, Bhagwan Dev Atma ji exhosts us to cultivate harmonious relationship with the four kingdoms the Kingdom of the Inanimate, the Kingdom of Vegetable, the Kingdom of Animals and the Kingdom of Human Beings; through feelings of respect, appreciation and gratitude for and services rendered by all these four kingdoms. Under the strong Psychic influence of its Most Worshipful Founder, Dev Samaj took positive steps to build a social structure where women could enjoy respectable position, free from the gender bias. Dev Samaj Constitution gives equal rights and status to women with men while adopting many social reforms in this regard like; recognition of girl child, monogamy, widow-remarriage, dowry less marriages etc. The Dev Samaj considers women education essential for their social, moral and spiritual upliftment. The Illustrious Founder set a golden example in his childhood when feeling strongly that education was as good for girls as for boys, he started teaching his two women relatives in the sixties of 19th century. At that time women education was considered superstitious breed involving the divine wrath. The venerable Founder of Dev Samaj realised that future of women lay in education. Education alone could open opportunity of enlightenment and independence for women. He wanted to regenerate mankind and transform society through women education.
Bhagwan Dev Atma was the pioneer reformer who opened a High School for Girls at Ferozupur in 1901. The Dev Samaj Managing Council continued the educational work and at present the Dev Samaj Society is running about 26 educational institutions in the country. Prominent among them are located at Ferozepur, Moga, Ambala, Delhi and Chandigarh. These educational institutions hold a significant place on the educational map of Northern India. It is a matter of immense pride that the college has completed 25 years of its meritorious service to country in general and to the Union Territory of Chandigarh in particular, in the field of women teacher education. We are extremely grateful to the Dev Samaj Managing Council and the Managing Committee for its very valuable help, guidance and inspiration in discharging our responsibilities despite heavy odds and difficulties. It is hoped that with an inbuilt momentum, our institutions will continue to march onward to a better tomorrow in the service of the Nation.
The Dev Samaj teaches that every human soul gets diseased and degraded when it thinks and acts in violation of the glorious law of Evolution or Construction or Betterment. Man is a part of Nature. And being a part of Nature, it is naturally related very closely to other parts of Nature.
Hence, if moved by higher feelings it thinks, feels and acts in such a way as to contribute towards the betterment of other parts of Nature, it fulfills the law of Evolution (i.e. law of existence and progress). But if on the contrary, moved by low loves and low hates, it begins to prove harmful to others, he runs counter to the law of Evolution and suffers a lot of avoidable and woeful consequences in relation to his own self and produces similar woeful consequences in relation to others.
After enunciating this great principle of life, the Dev Samaj further teaches that the feelings which degrade the soul of man and lead him to wrong, evil and harmful thoughts and acts in relation to others and his own being can be grouped under the following eight heads:
1. The bodily-pleasure-giving low loves of taste, intoxication, lust and slouth.
2. The egoistic-pleasure-giving low loves of self-gratification, self-aggrandisement, self-praise and selfishness.
3. Low-pleasure-giving low loves of wife and children.
4. Low-pleasure-giving low loves of acquisition, wealth, property etc.
5. Low-pleasure-giving loves of traditions, habits etc.,
6. Low-pleasure-giving love of Hinsa or violence by means of teasing others, annoying others, troubling others whether men or animals.
7. Low-pleasure-giving loves of false or blind faith.
8. Low-pleasure-giving hates of various kinds, generated by jealousy, vindictiveness and religious, communal, racial, colour biases or prejudices.
All these are termed low loves and low hates :–
They produce a havoc in human life.
Those enslaved to low loves and low hates ;
(a) become hard-hearted and thus develop incapacity to see and accept truth, specially truths regarding soul life;
(b) become perverted in vision to such an extent that they to their great misfortune, consider evil as good and good as evil; falsehood as truth and truth as falsehood; friends as foes and foes as friends; false religions as true religions and the true religion as false;
(c) lose their priceless possession of the capacity to get freedom from the slavery to low loves and low hates and to evolve higher or altruistic powers.
(d) lose above all, the constructive power of their soul and thus grow extinct for ever.
What a terrible fate! And yet this fate awaits all who are :
(a) devoid of true knowledge; and
(b) are slaves to low loves and low hates, which they develop pursuing the goal of pleasure as their supreme object in life.
When life force or soul of a human being is the sole builder, preserver, mover and developer of his body, it is indeed the most real, primary and most essential entity on which rests his entire existence. His body is merely a vehicle by which soul expresses itself. Hence it should be the highest endeavour of man to get ;
(b) true knowledge and consciousness about the nature and organism of his soul, its diseases, degradation and death, the true courses or methods of his getting salvation from soul degradation and highest evolution.
(c) true, higher or life-promoting environments which may help him to obtain true salvation from
his soul-degrading courses of conduct and their causes and true evolution of higher or altruistic powers.
What is meant by salvation of soul?
The salvation in the light of facts and laws of Nature, means freedom from :
1. His pleasure-affording low loves and their resultant low hates;
2. All his false and wrong, sinful and criminal thoughts and acts prompted by his slavery to pleasure-affording low loves and low hates.
3. All his soul impurities accumulated in his soul by his previous thoughts, acts and deeds by making certain atonements, reparations or retribution called Hani Parishod in the Dev Samaj.
The real evolution of soul consists in:
4. The unfoldment, fostering and strengthening of various altruistic forces in man which in fact constitute the real dharma or true religion.
It is an immutable law of Nature that only such a soul can obtain true freedom and true evolution who possesses capacity for them in his inheritance. A man who possesses this capacity is called a
fit soul.
It is, again, another immutable law of Nature that a fit soul can get soul freedom and soul evolution by fufilling certain necessary conditions and never otherwise. Two most essential conditions which a fit soul has to fufill are these : –
1. He must. get highest psychic or soul Light (Dev Jyoti). It is the characteristic of this unique light that it illumines the inner life of man in him. It enables the recipient to see the really harmful, ugly and horrible nature and consequences of his false beliefs, evil thoughts and acts and low loves and low hates which produce such thoughts and acts, beliefs and practices.
This light enables the fit soul to see the nature and organism of its soul, of true freedom from its
maladies, the enrapturing beauty of various altruistic forces which constitute higher or true dharmic life and the true way of its evolution.
Let this be borne in mind that it is only the requisite light which reveals objects and truths in any sphere of Nature. Physical light alone can show physical forms, shapes and colours of physical objects to a man possessing eyes. Mental light alone can reveal to man laws of Nature ruling the life, growth and death of the bodies of vegetable, animal and human beings and existence of all inanimate beings. Altruistic light alone can reveal the beauty and grandeur of an altruistic feeling.
Dev Joyti and Dev Joyti alone can reveal truths pertaining to the nature, organism, life and destiny
of human soul.
A fit soul, therefore, has to get this light or live and die in darkness and soul ignorance.
2. He must get the highest psychic power (Dev Tej). As Dev Jyoti illumines the soul of man, reveals to him the most ugly and repulsive form of the slavery to low loves and low hates and their impurities accumulated in soul by their actions, so the Dev Tej or highest psychic power is that supreme force which develops in fit souls higher repulsions for these infernal forces. This higher repulsion weakens man’s attraction for falsehoods and evils and gradually undermines them altogether and awakens hatred and pain and thereby reclaims man from that life–destroying serfdom. The constant action of these two forces–Divine Light and Divine Power-not only demolishes castles of falsehoods and evils but also enables a fit soul to get cleansed from past impurities by making adequate reparatiom. This is called Atma shuddhi.
It is this Dev Tej which not only gets a man the freedom from slavery to low loves and low hates but also evolves higher, noble and altruistic forces in him.
Only by assimilating the psychical influences emanating from the Devatma can man attain his Supreme Goal which consists in getting:
1. True knowledge and consciousness about the nature, and organism of human soul, its
diseases, the true cause of these diseases, the laws of its true treatment and cure and its evolution
here and hereafter.
2. True soul freedom from slavery to low loves and low hates, true soul purification by various sadhanas of reparations and true soul evolution in altruistic powers.
And Bhagwan Devatma enables us to reach this unique goal.
What a privilege and what an opportunity Nature, the greatest reality and the only Creator of body and soul of man, has placed before fit souls and what a misfortune to miss this !
Religion and science are two of the major disciplines of human creativity. Each one of them has separate origin, attitude, field of operation and method of study.
(1)
Religion originated in fear. The primitive man found himself faced with certain conditions in his environment which threatened his very existence. Storms and lightning, floods and earthquakes, blew away or washed away his huts or houses, injured or killed his domestic animals and lay waste or turned to ashes his ready harvests. In his state of fright against such ruinous events, he thought, given his undeveloped intellect and ignorance, that events are caused by conscious agents and so there must be agents of the frightful events. He did not perceive these agents in his environments and so he thought of them as invisible. He called these invisible agents God. It is not only the undeveloped intellectual of the ignorant primitive man that thought thus. Even today when there is so much knowledge about events of Nature, the theistic intellect still shares the primitive world view. Some years back there was a famine of water in Maharashtra State due to absence of rains. On this occasion the educated heads of all theistic religions convened a joint large public meeting in which they prayed to God to forgive their sins and give rain. The theistic mentality of the modern man is no superior to the mentality of the primitive man inspite of all the knowledge of events of Nature which modern scientific education has given to it. To think that God can cause rain is not superior pattern of thinking then to think of Indra Deva to be the cause of rain. Monotheism is no superior to polytheism in its anthropological model of thinking. Both are stupid enough to think that natural events are due to some conscious agent or agents.
Though the primitive man thought of some super-human agents of natural agents and gave them the dignified name of gods, yet he gave them his own psychology. He knew he got others to do things for him by all blown adulation, by going into a mood of humility and surrender and by offering gifts. So when he thought of getting a god to protect him from some calamity, he indulged him indiscriminate praise of him and offered him gifts. This is how religion was born. The early man framed prayers eulogizing his gods, singing hymns in praise of them and by going prostrate before their image or symbol and offering gifts to them. Let us refer to our Vedas, the most ancient scriptures of the world. In the mantras the gods are given so much of praise that it makes it difficult to differentiate one god from another and this made it easy for commentators to assert that Vedas consistently hold to monotheism. True. there are monotheistic mantras in Vedas but to interpret that primarily all mantras are monotheistic in character is taking too much liberties with the texts.
The Vedic Aryans pray to God for protection from wild animals (by which they were surrounded in their early period of life) thus: “O God, give us not upto evil creatures as spoils to wolf or she wolf” (R.V.vi. 516). They prayed to god Indra to protect them from local tribes which attacked them: “O Indra, we are surrounded on all sides by Dasyu tribes: O’ destroyer of foes ! Kill them”. (R.V.x. 22.8) They prayed for cattle: “ O Agni, may this sacrifice be rich in kine, sheep and horses’. (R.V.iv 2.5) They prayed for rain for their agricultural prosperity. O Varuna, Mitra, pour down in plenty here upon the people, the choice of your celestial rain” (R.V. vii; 64.2) They prayed from freedom disease: “Soma And Rudra, expel the wide spread sickness that had entered in dwellings; keep of Nirriti (misfortune and poverty) so that she may be far away, many prosperous means of substenance be ours (R.V.6.13.2) They prayed for protection of life: “Agni, be thou our guardian and protector, bestow upon us life and vital vigour. Accept, O Mighty one, the gift we offer and with increasing care protect our bodies.” (R.V.x. 77:T)
It is clear from these few hymns that the motivation of religion is fear. We love and struggle to live and seek pleasure and avoid death and pain. Whatever threatens our life and pleasure causes fear. Fear is the urge to get rid of circumstances threatening our life and pleasures. No wonder all religions offer techniques of how to live even after death. Immortality of long life is assured by all religions under certain conditions. It is true there ha been progress in thought as to what constitutes true life and lasting pleasure. Biological life is distinguished from spiritual life. Body is distinguished from soul. Body is perishable and its desires and satisfactions are transitory and mixed with pain. So religion has consoled man that his soul is immortal or a more lasting entity. It prescribes elaborate spiritual exercises to ensure an eternal life of bliss for soul or long lasting peaceful and harmonious life for soul. All religious idealism boils down to obtaining eternal life of bliss or indefinite life of harmony and peace hereafter through successful communion with one’s deity.
The origin of science is in the instinct of curiosity just as origin of religion is in the instinct of fear. As the instinct of fear is escape from dangers that threaten life and pleasure, the instinct of curiosity is the urge to know things for themselves. Aristotle said: “Philosophy begins in wonder.” Kant said: “The starry heaven above and moral law within make me wonder.” Ralph Weldon Emerson says: “ Men love to wonder and that is the seed of science.”
In a child the instinct of curiosity or wonder is strong. To him the world is a magic box. He wants to open it and see it for the fun of it. If he happens to find a watch , he can not resist the temptation to open it. In his attempt to open it and see it, he mishandles its part, loses some and renders the watch useless. The elders blame him, blow him why he opened it, what he had to get from it, he had nothing to do with time. He was not to be a watch-maker ! The child has no answer. His curiosity is his only answer. H was not seeking any advantage in opening it. He was seeking understanding of it. The watch was not thing of utility for him, a thing to keep his engagements. He was not interested in it to take to the profession of a watch-maker or watch manufacturer. His interest was delight in understanding it. A scientist, like the child, finds the world to be bewitching in its fascinating working. He wants to understand it for its own sake. He is drawn to the truth of things for their own sake. We at common sense level, can appreciate a scientist’s delight in truth if we take our own example from our daily life from another sphere. We prefer to put on beautiful dress. What has the beauty of dress to do with its utility ? We put on clothes to cover our shame and protect our body from dirt and cold. A rough and ready dress does discharge all these functions as well. Then why do we seek beautiful dress ? From the point of view of utility there is nothing to choose between the two dresses. Beauty of the dress has no extra utility to rough dress, It is not preferable on the basis of utility. Beauty of the beautiful dress has its own intrinsic attraction. We seek its for its own sake and find complete satisfaction in it without regard of its utility. Sometimes we sacrifice some utility of beauty. We choose to love beauty for its own sake and find in it all justification in seeking it and creating it. A scientist seeks truth for its own sake as we seek a beautiful dress and finds his complete fulfillment in seeking or discovering it. To put it in the words of Russell: “Science in its beginning was due to men who were in love with it. They perceived the beauty of the stars and the sea, of the winds and mountains….Heraclitus and Ionian philosophers from whom came the first impulse to scientific knowledge (in the West) felt the strange beauty of the world almost like a madness in the blood. They were men of Titanic passionate intellect and from the intensity of their intellectual passion the whole movement of the modern world has sprung.” (Scientific Outlook, pp 271-72) To a passionate scientific intellect understanding the universe is the be-all an end-all of his study. He does not seek beyond understanding. He does not seek worldly enrichment or spiritual salvation through knowledge. To him to perceive the universe as a system of law is the highest satisfaction. He would undergo any sacrifice to be beholden to the harmony of the laws in the universe.
There is a world of difference between a religious man seeking knowledge and a pure scientist seeking knowledge. A religious man has some interest other then knowledge in seeking knowledge, whereas a pure scientist is disinterested in seeking knowledge. As religious consciousness developed it sought knowledge of self and the universe. But the knowledge is tied to the objective of salvation or ‘moksha’. Knowledge has worth for him as a means or method of salvation. All knowledge outside this objective is waste of life. All that is of worth for religious consciousness is self-knowledge for self-realization.
Scientific knowledge may yield utility. The Greek philosophers felt it a misfortune if a utility was found for a truth. They considered a truth inferior for which utility is found. The distinguished three grades of values or good. Good as a means. Transport is good as a means to reach one’s destination. It has no value in itself . Good as an end has value in itself and may also be useful. Education is an end in itself, it illuminates our mind. But it is also a means to help us to get into some profession in life. The highest grade of good is that good which is beyond all utility. The perception of the highest truth is example of the third grade of good. In the western scientific culture, the highest scientist is the theorist ho gives understanding of the universe, though his theory may have no utility for mankind. The scientist who seeks knowledge for utility in the form of inventions, ranks second in science.
(2)
The second difference between religion and science is this: Worship and not morality is the soul of religion. If one lacks feeling of worship for a deity he is not a religious person, however magnificent be his nobility of character. Again, the anthropologists tell us the tribal religions had very little to do with morality. This is clear from the fact that whereas religious beliefs of various tribes are so much diverse, their moral practices are comparatively similar. Morality is based among them on practical common sense of the group. Since social life necessitates respect for life, property and sex, the behavior pattern is framed according to the social and political conditions and the state of knowledge of the group in which these three respects can be practiced.
It is true that as religion developed, morality came to be recognized as essential to religious life. In all developed religions codes of conduct are prescribed. However, even when morality comes to be recognized and prescribed, faith and worship remain indispensable. There is no religion in the world which does not place faith or worship as the primary condition of admission to it. No man will be admitted to a religious society on the basis of his observance of the bet ethical life. He must accept faith and worship of the deity of the religion he wishes to join.
Faith and worship expresses itself in rituals. Hindus garland their deity, sings hymns and arti. A Christian goes on his knees and offers praise and prayer to his lord. A Muslim says prayer five time a day, and each time he indulges in the praise of his God. Even though certain religions like Buddhism and Confucianism avoided worship to start with, worship has entrenched itself in their religions. However, rituals are not indispensable to worship. Their religious sects, which do not observe rituals in their worships.
In science there is no place for faith or worship. When a scientist enters his laboratory, he does not go with a garland in hand to offer to the photo of Newton or Einstein, though their intellect is higher then the sky. No scientist goes on his knees before the photo of Newton or Einstein, but the same scientist does go on his knees when he goes to his church. A scientist does not go to his laboratory to seek acceptance of what other scientists have said in a particular field. He goes to check the truth of what has been said . His attitude is not one of acceptance but critical examination of the theories in the field. It is best to sum up what Karl Popper says about scientific attitude. “On the pre-scientific level we hate the very idea that we may be mistaken. So we cling dogmatically to our conjectures as long as possible. On the scientific level, we systematically search for our mistakes, for our errors. This is a great thing. We are consciously critical in order to detect our errors. This the ethical method of error elimination. It is the method of science”.
(3)
The third difference between religion and science relates to their field of operation. Religion deals with values, science deals with facts.
Every developed religion lays down commandments. The commandments of Moses is a case in point. In our Vedas we have Vidhi and Nisedha. In Koran the whole social life is prescribed. At a higher stage there is call for purity of soul from passions like greed, sex, anger, undue attachments, ego-love and cruelty and for cultivation of gratitude, compassion, love, reverence, disinterested service. Some of the noble sayings of Dhammapada (the path of virtue) and the Sermon on the Mount are supreme texts of moral virtues. Religion offers spiritual exercises for elimination of ugly passions and development of beautiful virtues. The doctrines of heaven and moksha, and salvation dominate all developed religions and these are primarily value concepts.
Science is concerned to know what is what. It studies events, discover laws of them and seeks higher and higher laws. For example Kepler formulated three laws for explanation of the movements of heavenly bodies. These were laws of the lowest order of generality. Newton’s genius was to take these three laws and Galelio’s law of falling bodies and subsume them under the higher general law of gravitation. Einstein’s law of gravitation is more general then Newton’s law of gravitation for it covers in its explanation not only matter but also light and every form of energy.
Physicals sciences study inanimate existences and events like earth-quacks, volcanoes, hurricane, floods, lightning and epidemics and no where find need to evoke value concepts to explain this. But religious do give value interpretation. Religious persons, like Gandhiji said when Bihar earthquake took place in 1934 that it was caused by God as a punishment to Hindus for ill-treating untouchables. Ahmedyia leaders thought it was a warning to Muslims for non-recognition of their founder as Masiha. In 1960 when an unusually alarming comet appeared in England, en eminent Scottish divine declared that the comets are “prodigies of great judgment on these lands for our sins, for never was the Lord more provoked by a people.” At personal level when we get some incurable illness like cancer, we ask ourselves as to what sins we have committed to suffer unbearable pain. We seek value explanation for the physical event of cancer. No medical researcher goes out to find out what sins lead to cancer. His researchers are concerned with changes in the body caused by habits in food, drinks and environments. The scientist lifts all physical events of earthquakes, floods, diseases from the morass of value concepts.
The religious outlook is ego-centric. It makes man to look on the universe from his superiority. How much man has tickled his vanity by his make-belief that the infinite God thought it worthwhile to create man, and to provide him with the universe for his needs and enjoyments and looks after him day and night; or in how much megalomania man has indulged in, in hypnotizing himself into the belief that he and Brahman are one. Thus the universe has no meaning apart from him and whenever an unusual event happens in it, it is a warning from God to man to beware of his misconduct.
Science studies the universe without its relation to man and treats man as any other object of the universe, giving him no privileged position. It removes man from the centre of the stage of the universe and refuses to impute human and divine values to the universe. It remains value neutral to get at the factual aspect of things. The astronomical facts of planets, even those of our planet, are explained by science without bringing in value concepts. It finds that the evolution is not known to have occurred in hundreds and million of other planets. It interprets in cold logic the evolution on our planet as well as other possible destruction of our planet in future, when it collides with some other planet. It speaks of the evolution of the conditions which has made life possible on earth and speaks with the same unconcern about the probable effects of the second law of thermo-dynamics by which heat is so distributing itself that no life will be possible. Science studies the universe with complete unconcern for human personality and values. Science tells itself not to let ‘ego, come between its understanding and the universe.
The emphasize the point for the purpose of clarification let us take Darwin’s theory of evolution. Darwin explained the origin of man by ‘chance variation’ and ‘Natural selection’ both value void concepts. He excludes any purpose in the rise and disappearance of species. We can understand the difference of approach to evolution between science and religion if we compare the scientific theory of evolution of Darwin with the religious theory of evolution of the Christian mystic Teilhand de Chardin and the Absolutist theory of evolution by the Indian mystic, Sri Aurobindo. Religion puts meaning and values on the facts of the process of evolution, while science ignore them as irrelevant and obstructive in the understanding of evolution.
Even when science deals with value activities of man an his institutions, it excludes value perspective. Take sociology. It deals with rituals, customs, conventions and moral codes of different tribes and communities, as they are practiced without evaluating them. It does not compare the conduct pattern of different societies in terms of good or bad. It just says what they are. Psychology studies human motivation and behavior in factual terms. For example, it tells us how habits are formed and how habits can be broken. But it says nothing about what are good habits and what are bad habits and how to judge them. If a patient asks a doctor if he should live or die, he will tell him his science is not concerned with this question. It deals with the conditions in which health can be maintained and improved and the conditions in which body deteriorates and how diseases can be cured. There is a factual aspect of things and events and science hold that understanding is adversely affected by bringing in values.
(4)
The fourth difference between religion and science is in their methodology of study.
Religion explores the inner experience and science studies the public fact. The method of religion has been to dive deep in the recesses of mind and find the secret of universe and self through meditation. Swami Vivekanad, a modern religious thinker of exceptional brilliance, thus defines the method of religion: “Religion deals with the truths of the metaphysical world, just as chemistry and other natural sciences deal with the truths of the physical world. The book one must read to study chemistry is the book of Nature. The book from which to learn religion is your own mind and heart.” How to study our mind and heart to know the truths of religious metaphysical world ? Says Swamiji, “Experience is the only source of knowledge. There is always, however, a small group of men who teach religion from experience. They are called mystics.” Our Upnishads which are considered highest repository of metaphysical truths, are fruits of concentration on inner experiences which are not public facts.
Science has throughout its career of over three centuries used the method of external observation and experiment. Science started as Astronomy and gradually took to the study of physics, chemistry, biology. All these fields of study offered public facts which any one could observe under certain conditions. We know how a telescope and or a microscope can help any normal person to see facts when he is directed how to set the instrument. When science came to the study of the mind of man, it at first look to introspective method which gave contradictory reports. So it gave it up and followed methods of external observation. It defined psychology , not as the science of the mind, but as the science of behavior. Behavior is an observable object. Psychology observes behavior under experimental and field methods to understand human personality.
(5)
Let us sum up the difference between religion and science. Religion has its birth in the instinct of fear. Fear is the urge to avoid and escape from those conditions which threaten one’s life and happiness at biological and spiritual levels. All religions prescribe techniques for self-protection and self-satisfaction here and hereafter. Science is born of the instinct of curiosity, i.e. the urge to investigate and know things for their own sake. It finds complete fulfillment in the discovery of truth for itself with complete unconcern about its advantages to oneself or to mankind, here and hereafter.
Religion involves worship of some power superior to man to get benefits here and hereafter and at all levels of life. Deity need not be genius of excellence, it can as well be an evil genius. Worship can take the form of rituals, meditations, ‘dhyan’, mystic experience. In science there is no place for personality cult. A scientist goes to his laboratory, not to accept but to check the theories of great scientists. The scientist’s attitude is not one of acceptance and submission but of critical appreciation of the truth of theories.
Religion is primarily concerned with values. It gives us, say, ten commandments of Moses, noble sayings of Buddha in Dhammpada for the conduct of daily life and method of attaining ‘Nirvana’, or ‘eternal life of bliss.’ Science is primarily concerned with facts, to know things as they are in their objective character without admixture of subjective involvement.
Religion primarily studies inner experience, i.e. ‘know thyself’, science studies public facts, i.e. ‘know the universe’.
It is clear that the two disciplines can not be made identical. Science can not become religion for it will lose its objective spirit of critical study of the universe. Religion cannot become science for it loses its feelings of reverence and worship of super-human excellence. However, religion can be science-grounded in the way of its method of study, just as it can be revelation (Sruti)- grounded or mystic grounded.
(6)
The question we face is what is the relation between Religion and Science. When there are two objects or attitudes, the relation between them can be conflict, co-existence, co-operation or mergence. We have seen that it cannot be of mergence for both lose their distinctive characteristics. Whether the relation between Religion and Science can be one of conflict, co-existence, co-operation depends on the kind of religion in question.
We can distinguish four types of religions. Theistic, non-theistic, Humanistic and Evolutionary Naturalistic. Theism as religion is revealed religion. The religious scriptures are word of God, infallible in charter. Under non-theistic religions we include Jainism and classic Yoga. Jainism rejects God as the creator and ruler of the universe. It holds that the universe is eternal, and consists of living and non-living things. The events in the universe and human life are governed by the law of Karma.
However, it holds that human soul in its moksha state is disembodied, infinite in power, and knowledge and bliss. So, though Janism denies God it does not deny the supernatural world of disembodied souls.
Humanism is a product of scientific culture. As regards facts, it holds that whatever science discovers about the universe and man is alone worthy of acceptance. As regards values it holds that each person is an end in himself and therefore right conduct is to respect the rights of others in conduct. Evolutionary Naturalism of Dev Dharma holds that the scientific method is also true method of investigation even in the field of religion. Good is what is conducive to the health of the human personality and society. Evil is what damages the health of the human personality and society. Just as the medical sciences discover the laws of the health and disease of the body by the scientific method, Religion is to discover the laws of health and disease of the soul by the scientific method.
(7)
We take revealed religions first. Bible, Koran and Vedas are revealed books of Christianity, Islam and Hinduism respectively. Modern science had its birth in the West where Christianity was and still is the religion of the people. To start with, there was no conflict between the theistic religion of Christianity and science. In fact the theistic religion of Christianity provided psychological motivation for the rise of science. The theistic view that God made the universe and rules it by invariable laws encouraged scientists to the study of Nature. However, the progress in the scientific study brought scriptural texts and science into open and severe conflict.
Science first took to the study of Astronomy. It discovered that it is the earth which goes round the sun. In the Bible, the word of God is that it is the sun which goes round the earth. Since the word of God is infallible, it was blasphemous for science to challenge it. A Jesuit Father maintained that “ the opinion of the earth’s motion is of all heresies the most abominable, the most pernicious, the most scandalous. Immovability of earth is thrice sacred; argument against the immortality of soul, the existence of God and the incarnation should be tolerated sooner than an argument to prove that the earth moves.” Galileo was summoned to Rome to appear before the Inquisition. The Inquisition punished him inspite of the fact that Galileo was compelled to declare his view to be false. It said: “We condemn you to the formal prison of this Holy office for a period determinable at our pleasure; and by way of salutary penance, we order you during the next three years to recite, once a week, the seven penitential psalms.” Galileo remained till the last day of his life under house confinement, debarred from seeing his relatives and friends who scientifically confirmed his view that the earth goes round the sun.
Science took to the study of Geology. Its views conflicted with that of the Bible. It discovered how it has taken millions of years for the earth to come to the stage on which life has become possible. It is given in the Bible that God made the world in six days. There was again conflict between religion and science. The church had now lost its political power. But the condemnation of the scientists was no less severe.
Science took to Biology. Bible had the view that God had made man in his own image. Darwin presented the scientific view that man has evolved from a species of apes. He storm of protest against it continued for years on end. There was no abuse which was not hurled against Darwin and his supporters like Huxley.
At every step religion opposed and delayed the growth of scientific knowledge.
It is true that the conflict of religion and science has ceased in the 20th. Century. This is due to two reasons; Christianity has accepted that the cosmological view given in the Bible were primitive and need to be discarded. Again science has progressed in knowledge far beyond the
dream of spiritual beliefs. Even if the cosmology of theistic religion were true, it would be suitable for kindergarten children only.
(8)
However, today religion claims that there is harmony between religion and science. The latest discoveries of science support religious doctrines. The fact is that “ the statements of the scientists have, as a rule, been somewhat tentative and indefinite but the theologians have seized upon them and extended them, while the news papers in turn have reported the sensational accounts of theologies, so that the general readers had derived the impression that the physics confirms practically the whole book of genesis.”
There are four fundamental concepts in science: Space and Time, Matter and Force. It interprets all phenomena within the frame-work of these concepts In using these conceptual tools it is led to sharpen, refine and re-shape them. It has given up some old sample clock model presentations of the universe and replaced it by new, complex ones. But it does not go outside these concepts however much it makes them subtle and complex. Hence all attempts to seek support in the refinement of these concepts and models in science for metaphysics of God and soul, is like trying to save oneself from drowning by catching at a straw. Though a drowning man catches at a straw, it does not save him.
In the eighteenth century Newton thought that space and time are absolute and infinite in character. With his law of gravitation he was able to explain the motion of the whole solar system. Though the law of gravitation continued to explain different motion of the heavenly bodies, it did not touch the natural laws. New branches of physics dealing with sound, heat, light and electricity grew to vast proportions but no property of matter was discovered which could be connected with gravitation. It was only through Eintein’s theory of relativity that gravitation was fitted with the general theory of physics. Eintein’s theory of relativity revolutionized the whole concept of pace and time. Eintein proposed that instead of considering space and time and separate entities, they be considered as one entity, space-time with observer thrown in. Religious apologetics interpreted this change to mean that Eintein’s concepts of space-time made room for transcendental reality by denying the absoluteness of space and time. This interpretation is wrong. The relativity of space and time does not involve denial of the reality of the world of space and time.
There is another development in physics which the apologetics read as supporting the view that the universe is idealistic in character. The atom has been spilt into electrons and protons and there is further development in this direction. Atom is no more a hard indivisible entity. It is a complex of electronic charges and protons. True, atom is no more regarded as simple indivisible entity, but it is reckless to interpret this to mean that atom is physical centre of activity. Here is what disciple of Sri Aurbindo, Sri Ompoorna Swatantra says: “ The latest researches have revealed that matter is nothing but asleep form of spiritual and spirit the awakened matter, these are two extreme ends of the vast range of manifestation of consciousness. It has blasted the age-old myth of matter being absolutely devoid of consciousness. “ This is not the view science holds. It must be divine revelation like we have in religious scriptures. It is a pity that religious-minded scientists (not science) are less cautious and precise when the speculate outside their laboratories and it is still greater pity that religious apologetics unacquainted with scientific investigations make wide assertions on scientists’ cautious statements.
Whatever be the refined analysis of atom as ‘wave’ it does not cease to be under the law of physics. If it is under the law of physics, it is physical; and to attribute consciousness to it is speaking beyond the text of physics.
In reply the apologetics point out that single atom is no more under the old laws of mechanics.
True. The old laws of mechanics which could predict with precision the movement of big bodies are not found applicable to behavior of single atom. A single atom shows capriciousness in its hop from one state to another and it is not determinable which of the possible hops it will take on a given occasion. This is known as quantum phenomenon. Even the scientist Sir Arthur Eddington who should know better, draws the conclusion that atom has free will and free will is characteristics of psychic activity. Einstein differ from this view of atom. He says ‘God does not play dice’, which means in literal language that all events are determined by cause and effect or all events an subject to laws. If today we find that the behavior of atom is not subject to the laws of old physics, “it is rash to jump,” says Russell, “ to the conclusion, as some physicists have done, that it is not subject to laws of all. To prove that a given set of phenomena is not subject to law is essentially and theoretically impossible. All that can be affirmed is that law, if any, has not been discovered. Given further developments of techniques of measurement and space-time concepts, the laws regulating the behavior of individual atom may be discovered. It is very rash to erect a theological superstructure upon a piece of ignorance, which may be temporary.”
Sir Hermann Bondi of the Combridge University and Noble Prize winner in physics, asked theistic apologists as to what would be their position if receive discovers the law of the behavior of single atom. Have the apologists the capacity apologetics to reject their scriptural view when science propounds a new view opposed to the scriptural view. The history of religion has not shown the capacity to move out of their scriptural encirclement. How can then, conflict between science and religion be avoided !
Again, theistic religions are varied in their doctrines. We ask which theistic view is supported by ever–developing views of science on space-time, mass-energy.
There can be no way to avoid conflict in the approach of theistic religion and science. Einstein says: “ the main source of the present day conflicts between the spheres of religion and of science lies in this concept of a personal God. It is the aim of science to establish general rules which determine the reciprocal connection of objects and events in time and 15
space. The more a man is imbued with the ordered regularity of all events, the firmer becomes his conviction that there is no room left by the side of this ordered regularity for cause of a different nature. For him neither the rule of human nor the rule of divine will exists as an independent cause of natural events.”
(9)
Let us take mystic religion based on mystic experience in contrast to Prophetic religion based on revelation. Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Raman and Sri Aurobindo are three modern founders of mystic religion.
It is claimed by mystic religion that when sense experience is held as evidence for the belief in the reality of the external world there is no reason why the evidence of mystic experience should not be accepted as evidence for the reality of the transcendental world. If experience is the way to truth, we must accept the sensory world which is given and guaranteed by sense experience and transcendental world given and guaranteed by mystic experience. The mystic religion pleads for co-existence between science and religion, each to limit itself to its own world. The mystic claims that what it says about the transcendental world should not be questioned and denied on the basis of the criteria of sense experience. The transcendental world has entirely different character from the sensory world and the categories of interpretation and the criteria of truth applicable to sensory world are not relevant to it.
Let us examine the claims of mystic experience to be deliverer of knowledge about the transcendental world and its claim for co-existence.
How to define mystic experience ? It is an experience which is allied to the experience which comes to some rare individuals who tell us how in a rare moment their whole outlook on life underwent an emotive change. Such a person had been reared under the certain views and values of life and then, some event in his life, says the death of a dear one, one’s prolonged illness in bed, reading of a poem or hearing of a musical symphony had lifted up the veil and made him beholden to new light on the universe and life. Such experiences are spontaneous, not a result of discursive thinking. It has the character of being received rather than acquired. Though the experience is transitory, it leaves an impression for the whole life. William James holds that mystic experience is characterized by noetic quality, passivity, transiency and ineffability.
We may thus define mystic experience in the words of Prof. R.W. Hepburn: “Mysticism refers to experience which reveals something about the (a) totality of things; (b) something of immense human importance for all times and places: and (c) something upon which one’s ultimate wellbeing or salvation wholly depends.”
Such experiences are not restricted to religious field. It may relate to art and literature. We will limit ourselves to mystic experiences in the religious field. They are varied in content. There are the non-theistic mystic experiences of Jain and classical Yoga mystics. They interpret their mystic experience as monadistic, i.e. revelatory of their own individual state of moksha without a relation to the transcendental reality of God, distinct from their experience. Buddha’s mystic experience was revelatory of the Four Noble Truths and the eight-fold path which made him the Buddha, the enlightened, the ‘Light of Asia’ . We have monotheistic experience of the Christian mystics, like Saint Teresa and Absolutist mystic experience of the Vedantists. Besides these classic mystic experience, there are numerous mystic experiences of all colors and hues. Given the diversity of mystic experience it is false to define a mystic experience as “the feeling of unity of the self with God (Otto Pfleiderer) or “an attitude of mind in which all relations are swallowed up in the soul o God (Edward Caired). No mystic experience can be defined in terms of the content of the specific mystic experiences for it amounts to denial of all the mystic experiences of different contents altogether and ultimately of all mystic experiences.
Inspite of diversity of mystic experiences, it is still claimed by some mystics, like Dr. Dean Inge that there is unanimity among them. He says: “ I know nothing remarkable than the unanimity of the mystics, ancient, medieval, modern, Protestant, Catholic and even Buddhist or Mohammedan, though the Christian mystics are the most trustworthy”. To say that the Christian mystics are the most trustworthy is to give up the case for remarkable unanimity. William James tells about the actual state of difference in mystic experiences in his book, The varieties of Religious Experience. He says: “The classic Religious mysticism, it now must be confessed, is only privileged case. It is an extract. It is carved out from a much longer and if we take the larger mass as seriously as religious mysticism has historically taken itself, we find that the supposed unanimity disappears. To begin with, even religious mysticism itself, the kind that accumulates traditions and makes schools, is much less unanimous than I have allowed. It has been both ascetic and anti-nomiously self-indulgent within the Christian Church.”
When mystic experiences give different beliefs about the transcendental world, how to discriminate a true belief from a false one ? Are there any checkposts to help in separating the illusory mystic experience from a veridical mystic experience ?
No experience about what exists, can claim to be its own truth. If each experience is its own truth, there can be no illusory experience. The distinction between perception and illusion will disappear. Unfortunately each mystic considers his own mystic experience to be self- validating. If it is so, how can one’s own experience be regarded as more trustworthy than that of another. One school of mystics considers the other schools of mystics as mistaken on most points and rejects their views as false. But no school of mystics can challenge the views of the mystics of another school as mistaken on the basis of experience for all the experiences of mystics are claimed by them to be mystics experiences.
It is on grounds other than experience on which one school can reject beliefs of the others as untrustworthy. We ask the mystic for the criteria to judge between his own mystic experience and the mystic experiences of another whose reporting he has challenged, since all mystics desire that we should not apply to mystic experiences the same criteria which we apply to two different reportings about sensory experiences. No criterion has been offered for judging the truth of differing mystic experiences. If there is no criterion to judge true mystic experiences from the illusory ones, the statement of mystic experiences fall outside the truth and falsehood, like statement of a fiction. They give no objective knowledge. These experiences may well be treated as emotional rather than cognitive in character.
To escape this damaging criticism mystics do try to specify the conditions, under which one can have veridical mystic experience of the transcendental reality of God. They claim that when a man of science wishes others to believe what he has observed, he arranges the external conditions of observation, i.e. asks the observer to see through a telescope or a microscope. Similarly, we demand from a candidate for mystic experience who wishes to check what we tell him about the transcendental world, to be morally pure, detached from the affairs of the world, to be ascetic in life and acquire the ability to concentrate on a single point and to undergo yogic exercises.
However, there is wonderful difference between the scientist and the mystic in their attitude to the results of such experiments. If a scientist arranges an experiment and majority of normal persons failed to find verification of what he has asserted, then the scientist takes back his assertion about the start of things. But this is not the attitude of a mystic. If some mystics satisfy all the conditions of perfect detachment and concentration and they report the failure of contact with personal God, the theistic mystic, unlike a scientist, will not regard it as disconfirming the view that there is God. If the belief in personal God is not disconfirmed even when a group of mystics with character of purity and detachment like the Buddhist and Jain monks fail to report it in their mystic experience, it is also not confirmed by the mystic experience of Christian mystics. If among mystics of the same inner purity and concentration, some report contact with God, and others deny it, it means that the reports about God’s existence are unreliable. One can not have the advantage of confirmation without running the risk of disconfirmation. James has well observed: “The fact is that the mystic feeling of enlargement, union and emancipation has no specific content whatever of its own. It is capable of forming matrimonial alliances with material furnished by the most diverse philosophies and theologies, provided only they can find a place in their framework for its peculiar emotional mood. We have no right, therefore, to involve its prestige as distinctively in favor of any special belief, such as that of absolute idealism, or absolute monotheistic identity, or of the absolute goodness of the world.”
A mystic experience does not divulge the same unanimous statements about its world of reality as a perceptual experience does. It therefore cannot claim co-equal status with perceptual experience in the matter of giving knowledge of reality. The mystic experience is as Acharya Ramanuj points out, imagination killed by perception. Mystic experience is predominantly emotional experience which takes its content from the theological tradition of its group. No wonder the mystic experiences of the primitive man to the modern man show bewildering verities of thoughtful patterns, non of which can claim authority of truth for no mystic does or can offer any criteria of truth outside his experience. A mystic experience is highly emotional like the emotional state of a man under drink and reporting in both cases are unacceptable as cognitive experiences. As Russell points it: “From a scientific point of view, we can make no distinction between the man who eats little and sees heaven and the man who drinks much and sees snakes. Each is in as abnormal physical conditional and has abnormal perceptions. Normal perceptions, since they have to be useful in the struggle for life, must have some correspondence in fact, but in abnormal perceptions there is no reason to expect such correspondence, and their testimony cannot outweigh that of normal perception.”
We have further reasons of treating mystic experiences as emotional. The mystic reports of the contents of his experience bristle with contradictions and paradox. Some mystics tells us: “ God neither exists nor does not exist. He is above the category of existence and non-existence.”; “ Mystic enlightenment,” says another mystic, “is an absolute emptiness which is absolute fullness.” Still others say; “ The more sublime divine light, the darker it is to understanding.” Such incompatible predications about the transcendental reality and knowledge support the view that mystics statement are expression of ecastic experience of non-cognitive character, i. e. those statements lie outside the sphere of truth and falsehood. The mystic can answer to our puzzle about paradoxical statements of mystic experience by saying that it is due to the fact that the mystic has to express himself in the language of sensory experience. There is no puzzle to the mystic himself. We make two comments; Language is a social product. Mystics of different countries do claim to have unanimity about their experiences. If this is so, it should have led to the invention of mystic language other then the language relating to sensory world and it could have developed its own criteria to differentiate a false mystic experience from a veridical mystic experience. Since both these things are absent, the best way is to treat mystic experiences as transitory emotional excitements.
(10)
The mystic religion claims that it is not a conflict with science, since each deals with different world. However, there is conflict in the condition of obtaining knowledge. The mystic belongs to this world. He is body-soul unit here and now. As body-soul unit he is also under the conditions of acquiring knowledge operative in the present state of his being in the natural world. Now, knowledge is possible to us in daily life, through contact of the physical stimuli, may it be of light or a sound, with visual and auditory centers of brain via sense organs. I see red colour of the red ink because light waves traveled from the red ink, strike my eyes which convey the impression to the visual centers and I see red. There is no cognitive experience in mind about what exists without ultimate involvement of contact of a physical stimulus with the brain. In what way is the brain of the mystic affected by the supernatural with which he is in contact, for it violates the condition of being in contact with objects of knowledge, since the object of knowledge in this case is not physical. Either mystic experience is not cognitive or there is a miracle, a clash between the scientific and the mystic ways of knowing.
Mysticism claims that the conflict between science and mysticism concerning knowledge is apparent that real. It is forgotten that there is difference between mind and soul. Mind and soul belong to different realms of being. The conditions of knowledge by mind do involve the operation of the physical and the psychological conditions. Some philosophers like Plato, Aristotle and Descartes consider that ‘active reason’ or ‘self ’ has capacity of thinking apart from the necessity of intervention of stimulation of brain and so there can be contact with the supernatural.
Mysticism cannot claim that it does not clash with science when it holds (like Jainism) that soul is other than mind and is eternal and intrinsically transcendental entity outside the jurisdiction of natural law. This view of soul is opposed to the history of evolution. Evolution holds that life originated in certain chemical conditions, passed through unicellular organisms to multi-cellular organisms in plants and animal leading on to human life-force called ‘soul’. Soul is not eternal. It has a date of birth on this planet. It is in ceaseless change like life-forces in other existents. A thing under change can cease to be. Soul is not intrinsically eternal or immortal.. Again soul as we know it, is embodied. We have no evidence of dis-embodied souls. So the doctrine of (1) eternal and (2) disembodied soul which can establish contact with supernatural being on which mystic knowledge of the supernatural is grounded and defended, is false to facts and clashes with science.
(11)
Let us now pass on to the relation of humanism to science. Humanism as a religion is in complete co-operation with science. It leaves to science the understanding of the world of facts. It holds that science alone can give us the understanding of Nature in its factual aspect. Humanism limits itself to the task of values. So there is no question of conflict between humanism and science, for science leaves values out in its understanding of the universe and human life. In the sphere of values, humanism holds that each human being is an end in itself. One should treat oneself and others as ends in themselves. All evil arises from considering oneself and others as mere means. Slavery is evil, for slavery treats human beings as things for purchase and sale. Women have been considered as things for sale and purchase. Prostitution is evil for both involved in prostitution consider each other as things for satisfaction. When a businessman adulterates things, he is treating his fellow human beings as means for profit. All exploitation, economic, social and sexual, treats fellow human beings as means or things for one’s gratification.
It is always wrong to ask about a human being as to what he is good for. It is a question for things and not persons. It is moral perversion to approach human being as mere things of utility. But we do so. It is regrettably said, “matlab ke hain rishte naate, matlab kee hai dunia saaree.” i. e. why is relation of selfishness regrettable ? It is because every human being wishes to be accepted, respected and even loved as a person. He does not like to be treated as a thing of utility and resents it when some one uses him as a thing. We call such relation ‘matlab’ i. e. selfishness for this reason. As soon as the selfish purpose is over, the relation gets discarded as an ice cream cup is discarded to a dust bin when it has no more ice-cream left in it for consumption.
However, it is not selfishness that distorts one’s relation to others. It is attitude of utility with which we approach others. If I am keen to collect blood donors for poor patients, I may look upon prospective donors as just as donors and if I don’t maintain the same attitude of respect for a person whether he donates blood or does not donate it, I am building my relation with donors as a thing of utility even though my end in view is good. Once a blood donor regretfully said to me that I visit him about the time the blood donation camp is to be held. When we remember or contact a person at time when he can do something for us o for our cause, we are utilizing him as a thing of utility. He also resents this attitude. An altruistic ideal can prevent us as passion do, in failing to keep intact the primacy of treating others as persons. So the above saying is better expressed thus “ Jhuthe hain sab rishtey naate, jhoothi hai yeh duniya saree.” It means that we human beings live jhuthee life or unauthentic life. The authentic life is based on accepting and respecting each other for what we are and as we are, with all ours foible, as persons without qualifications.
Unfortunately we internalize this social ethos of utility aggravated by machine age and lose respect for ourselves as persons of intrinsic value when we fail in or retire from our role of utility in our profession. Our too much engagements with gadgets and machines make us unconsciously an automation whose entire value is measured and exhausted by utility. It is self perversion to identify one’s life with utility and feel small or lost when it ceases to yield utility. Utility is an aspect of life, it does not cover all values of life like our capacity for love and laughter, appreciation of beauty in Nature and arts, friendship of innocence and leisure, which repel utility but give authenticity to life.
This humanistic ethics is unexceptionable. But it is incomplete for it does provide the highest project for love. Human love, in one of its aspects, strives for perfect object to love. We know how love turns an ordinarily girl into an object of perfect beauty, though she would not even qualify for entry in a beauty competition. Some rare persons, therefore, create a perfect God of their imagination and love it. They are called mystics. Humanism is deficient in this aspects.
Again, humanism inspite of the intrinsically beautiful ethical ideal of training each human being as a person, does not face the problem of how to control our passion which lead us to treat ourselves and others as means or things of exploitation. Our greeds, lusts and vanities make us treat others and ourselves as mere things of exploitation. How to control these passions of life ? Is man sufficient unto himself to solve his problem of mutual relationships on basis of love and justice ? It is found that human psychology is incapable to help itself to treat other as end in themselves. In fact the chief problem of religion is to help man to love, to be just and serviceable to fellow men and other living creatures. Humanism as religion fails here. Without a deity, a super human being, though not supernatural deity, is required to illumine and cure man of his exploitative motives and to create feelings of love and disinterested service for day-to-day conduct. Without a worshipful deity, Humanism is reduced to Ethical code.
(12 )
We now consider “Evolutionary Naturalism of Dev Dharma” as the last alternative. What is the relation between Dev Dharma and Science ? Dev Dharma holds that scientific method is the only method for human knowledge in all the fields including religion. Religion deals with man’s origin, his redemption from evil life and his destiny of moksha (salvation) and settvic life. According to Dev Dharma all these problems can be dealt with by use of the scientific method. Human personality, both its body and soul, is biological in origin and under the natural laws of life and death. Human personality has no privileged status in Nature. It is one among others objects of Nature, subject to its laws, discoverable only by the scientific method. Understandably, there is no conflict between the religion of Dev Dharma and Science, on method for knowledge, for it does not ask for the ‘privileged status’ for soul capable of supernatural communication.
Dev Dharma holds that body is not an outer covering of soul which soul can dispense with like an old coat and take to a different new coat.
There is inseparable relation between body and soul. Just as a living body can not exist without a soul, so a soul cannot exist without a living body.
Both body and soul have inseparable relation here and hereafter. There is no world of disembodied souls outside the world of Nature.
This intimate relation of soul and body, helps to explain how our behavior is product of the joint participation of body and soul. Both body and soul play their part in our thinking and doing. Physiology and psychology for example, tell us how the secretions of glands influence our thinking and behavior. Body and soul are both responsible for good and evil thoughts and good and evil actions. When I think some anti-social sex thoughts or do an anti-social sex act, it is not only my mind which is to be blamed for it, my body is co-responsible for its excessive secretion of sex gland. In my religious exercises to control the sex urge towards anti-social behavior, science can render great help. There are experiments to show how the anti-social behavior of persons under detention in jail improve with change of diet.
If science can help religion in developing better conduct, religion can help science in its pursuits. The primary object of science is to discover truth in a disinterested spirit. However, some scientific truths have helped to develop techniques to get control and power over environment. All inventions are techniques to manipulate environment — physical and social—for one’s use. Technology is admissible objective in science only if it does not side-track its real objective to illumine the world to human understanding. To put it in the words of Russell-: “ Step by step, as science has developed, the impulse to love (to understand the universe) which gave it birth has been increasingly thwarted while the impulse to power, which was first a mere camp follower, has gradually usurp command in virtue of its unforeseen success.” Today Governments and big firms are investing huge funds for technological improvements. Our Prime Ministers one after another repeat at every Annual Session of Indian Science Congress that the scientists should devote themselves to rural technology relegating fundamental research in science to secondary place.
It is not realized that knowledge as power is detrimental to love for truth, just as position as power is suicidical to right conduct. Politics of power leads to dictatorship even in democratic frame work, and science as power leads to nuclear weapons of destruction and devastation. Ecological imbalance created by industrialization is threatening human life more than atom bomb. Power must be unmindful of right and wrong to be powerful. The character of power is to get things done and it finds principles of higher conduct obstructive in it and so it blacks out consideration of higher conduct. Science can be cured from its lust for manipulating environments by religion. Religion is concerned with values. It can help science to cultivate vision and strength to the pursuit of truth and nothing but truth. Dev Dharma has this capacity. It specializes in presenting truth and goodness in most captivating vision and it can give strength to the scientist to follow truth as its chief objective and give second place to technology within the field of benign goods.
There is a second help of religion to scientists. A scientist in his laboratory is superb, he is perfectly objective and impartial, and shows infinite patience in the study of the phenomena and is anxious to check and re-check his results. But he is a failure in his personal relationship. Such a master intellect like Newton, was found to be jealous and vindictive in inter-personal relationship. This is the second task of religion to help the scientist in his social relations to be cured of evil passion and to cultivate altruistic attitude of love, understanding and disinterestedness in person to person and person to social relationships. Dev Dharma in is humanistic in the sense that it denies all supernatural beings like God. Its religion is not of mystic trances or God intoxication. It is centered in giving Moksha or freedom from evil passions and developing fine sentiments of love and service in relation to others—human beings, animals, plants and inanimate objects.
We have said that Dev Dharma is in complete harmony with the spirit of science and is anxious to develop the relation of mutual service. Let us explain:
A religion is the autobiography of the life and the thoughts of its founder. It has the character of the life and the spirit of the founder. It is outpouring of the life of the founder in word and action. The founder of Dev Dharma explicitly states: Deasya Dharmah se Dev Dharma, i. e. whatever is the religious life of Devatma (Founder) is Dev Dharma. So Dev Dharma is not the name of the society (Dev Samaj) which owes allegiance to him.
Now what is the religious life of the Devatma ? The religious life of Devatma is characterized by:
(a) Complete love of truth;
(b) Complete hatred for untruth;
(c) Complete love of goodness; and
(d) Complete hatred for evil.
Life which evolved under these four — fold love and hatred is called Dev Jiwan.
Devatma’s love of truth helped him to give up all traditional methods like revelation, mystic experience, intuition and to stay committed to the scientific method in his naturalistic re-construction in philosophy of religion. He writes: “The scientific methods of investigation which were imperative for researches into their domains (Vishwa Tattva and Moksha Tattva) gradually acquired sovereign sway over my heart. The love of experimental interrogation had so completely possessed me and had become such an integral part of my mind that it was absolutely impossible for any unverified belief to stay there.” No other religious leader has given this exclusive importance to the scientific method as the only true method of discovery of truth in the field of religion.
His opus magnum entitled Dev Shastra is religious scripture of its own kind. Its conclusions are not revealed. They are arrived at through the scientific method. They are not infallible. In his scriptures Dev Shastra he has said: “ If any of the teachings of Devatma also fails to prove true on being tested by any one of these four criteria (logical consistency and verification are two of them ), it does not deserve to be accepted as true.” There is not only permission in Dev Dharma to reject any belief which is not verified, but there is strength in Dev Dharma to actually reject it. For Devatma has in him complete hatred for untruth. His total personality repels untruth. Therefore he has in him unbounded strength to through out any belief found unverified by scientific tests.
There is a further characteristic of Dev Dharma as a reflection of the life of the founder. The established religions go to science to get some support for their engrained fixed beliefs. They love their beliefs, wish to stay to them and therefore seek science, due to its prestige, to get bulwark for their tottering beliefs. This is love for one’s beliefs, not love for truth. Devatma had developed in his life love to seek truth unconditionally. Dev Dharma would go to science not so much for support for the beliefs it holds, but for getting its beliefs checked or re-checked to discover any element of untruth in it. A ruthless subjection of all beliefs to the scrutiny of reason and scientific method was his life characteristic. He writes in his autobiography, ‘ Mujh Mein Dev Jiwan Ka Vikas’: “I became anxious that I should examine and criticize whatever beliefs I had acquired from others or assimilated from tradition and whatever was true in that I should know and accept it and whatever was false, I should know it and never accept nor teach it to others as true. In pursuance of this anxiety, I used to pray in all sincerity that whatever is true I should have the capacity to know it as such and whatever is false I should have the capacity to know it and to reject it. Let everyone of my beliefs be true. Let non of my beliefs be false.” This was not only his ‘prayer.’ It was motivating force of his life. After years of God worship and devotion to his service, he, though the leader of a theistic society, gave up his beliefs when he applied the scientific method to it. He had to lose some disciples and incur the hostility of the entire theistic religious communities.
Again, he had to throw over broad his entire work of several years and re-start new research. He first published his new philosophy of religion in 1905 under the title of Dev Shastra. But he continued to re-examine it and published the second draft in 1910. His last researches of philosophy of religion took shape in 1928, a few months before his death. A religious leader who holds his conclusions to be fallible and repeatedly and continuously reviews them will be anxious to get them checked and re-checked for all times. He would not like untruth to be perpetuated with his ‘Dev Jiwan’ (Divine Life).
Besides his complete love of truth and hatred of untruth, which made him to use the scientific method in the field of religion, his love of goodness and hatred for evil helped him to see good and evil as conditions of soul as health and illness are conditions of body. Good and evil in the soul have as much natural origin as health and disease have. His love of goodness made him see good in all its attractiveness and made him developed it and his hatred of evil made him see evil in all its horrid ugliness and shun it. So Dev Dharma has in it the light to show to the scientist his deviation from the path of discovery of the truth for itself as ugly and can give him the power to shun it. It has in it the light to show to the scientist the ugliness of anti-social behavior and to give him freedom from it. It can show him the social virtues in all their beauty and help him to adorn his life with them.
There can be no two opinions that there can be co-operation, and mutual give and take between religion and science if religion has the characteristics of Dev Dharma.
Introduction
We are too much engaged and engrossed in our busy routine to find to raise the question: ‘What is the meaning of life ?”. But there come occasions or situations in life when this question comes to the forefront of our consciousness. If we lose a dear one, say when one loses one’s only promising child, or one loses one’s partner in life, we ask, what the meaning of life is. Is it another name for suffering or pain ? If one faces terrible deprivations and frustrations for years together in grinding labor to build up one’s business or profession and when he reaches its zenith, he finds to his dismay that he suffers from cancer, he writhes in agony and asks himself: “Is life meaning striving ? Were my tears and toils to end in smoke ? Is this suffering of cancer a term in the unending series of suffering ? Are life and suffering identical ?” If a person has worked for political emancipation of his country from foreign rule, suffered imprisonment and risked life or fought for social and political justice for years and thus earned so much respect and gratitude that wherever he goes, he gets standing ovation from millions, and then comes a time when people turn their face when they see him or he is faced with the fate of Browning’s ‘The Patriot’, he shouts in sorrow, ‘ what is this chaotic drama of life ? Is it a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury, signifying nothing ?’ Thus the occasion of the loss of a dear one, of incurable disease, of frustration and disgrace, shake one out of the slumber inducted by engagements in meeting the demands of desires, to ask about the meaning of life. No wonder, the answer is pessimistic for it is the only answer which tragedies can give to the question.
There are other situations too, which make one give such pessimistic answer. Some persons come to consider the normal satisfaction of their biological instincts to be sinful through their religious and social culture and thus suppress them. They get mentally diseased. In this state the world loses all its charm for them. The most joyous events leave them cold. They consider life as a meaningless burden, senseless suffering.
As we grow old, our responsibilities in relation to children are over. We are retired from work. Our instincts for enjoyment are deadened. And one or another disease makes our body a permanent home. In this state of old age, life becomes tasteless. One feels one is carrying a load. One wonders whether life is not a maya, an illusion, or a conspiracy of sufferings.
These reactions to situations involving disease, frustration, old age and death, are emotional and not reflective. They represent moods of the hour. Even if these moods become settled, as it does happen in the life of some persons, they are not worthy of serious consideration. However, they are philosophers, both theistic and non-theistic, who support the view that life is meaningless. They give reasons in support of the conclusion that life is all suffering and therefore, worthless. They challenge anyone to say that life on earth is worth while. Let us study their reasons for such a conclusion about life on earth.
The Pessimistic view.
Atheistic philosophers of pessimism agree that life on earth is empty of significance. We have a number of desires which make us restless and clamor for satisfaction. We strive hard to fulfill them. Inspite of our tiresome labor we fail to satisfy many of them. Their frustration rancors in our heart and this rancor grows more painful as their fulfillment becomes impossible. They remain ghosts to disturb our peace of mind.
We do fulfill some of our desires, but we are disappointed to find that their fulfillment has not yielded the satisfaction we expected of them. The distance had lent charm to the idea of their satisfaction, but their actual satisfaction is less satisfactory. For example, as Young-men we thought if we could amass wealth, we would have heaven around us. We suffer deprivation and put in endless toil to get rich. When we get rich, the glow of success declines into dull feeling. Further, we find that when we grow rich, we do not become happier in proportion. On the contrary, some rich persons are so bored with wealth that they commit suicide.
We bringing up children with a halo of hopes about them. As time passes, the halo round our hopes disappears and hopes turn into disappointments.
Our pleasures in life are baseless. What gives us satisfaction today, fails to satisfy us later on. The new cinema tunes which we so much enjoy that we wish to hear them again and again in the day, soon lose their charm for us. We feel bored by them. We enthusiastically get a new dress stitched. But after some time we do not care even to look at it. There is no principle on which our pleasures rest. They are arbitrary in character.
Our pleasures are not only without foundation, they are undependable. As Hartmann puts it, pleasures are prostitutes, we cannot depend on them. They leave us without reason, without notice. We may be happy at this moment and next moment we find the sun of happiness is covered with clouds, and set for ever.
Our pleasures fail to sustain themselves. The more intense the satisfaction, the less is its duration. If we try to sustain our pleasures, they turn into pain. Take a simple example. If we are hungry, we will enjoy if we take two or three pieces of sweet (rasgullas). We feel tempted to maintain this state of satisfaction. We take one or two rasgullas more, only to feel disappointed that these two rasgullas have not yielded the same quantity of pleasures, which the first two rasgullas had given. To compensate for the loss, we try two other rasgullas, only two experience a nauseating feeling. If we are foolish enough to take two more rasgullas, we cannot avoid vomiting. This is, in economics, the law of diminishing returns. What is true for this bodily pleasure is true for all bodily pleasures. They are incapable for sustaining themselves. There is no way to avoid their mortality.
The futility of bodily pleasures becomes still more patent when we know that many a pleasure demands ‘ahuti’ of pain. If we want to have satisfaction of food we must experience the pain of hunger. We cannot enjoy food on a full stomach. The pangs of hunger alone can give the pleasure of food. However, the pleasures of satisfaction of hunger do not last long. They are soon followed by pangs of hunger. Our pleasures are preceded and followed by pain. However bright be our pleasures, there are hunting shadow of pains to extinguish them. Our pleasures are conspiracies for pains. Just as a flicker of light intensifies the darkness, a flush of pleasure intensifies the gloom of life.
Whenever our pleasures are chance- medley, our pains are companions of life, for degeneration is unavoidable and inevitable in life. Our degradation begins the moment of our conceptions in mother’s womb. The date of our conception is the date of our death. When we speak of a child as two years old, we mean he is two years short of life. The process of degeneration is true for all our organs and energies of life. As years pass, the degenerative process ascends to dominate our personality. Our bodily organs and intellectual and emotional fabric decline and decay and we become old. It is said old age is itself a disease. But the suffering of old age is not only physical. In old age, we become strangers in our own home which we have ourselves built. The younger generation we reared with love and service, looks askance on us. They feel us old fossils, whose place is in museums rather than in home. In hundreds of ways, open or subtle, they tell us we are out of place, our world is all over, and gone. We still offer them love. But they do not appreciate it. On the contrary, they feel irritated by the coldness of our kisses, the shakiness of our embrace. As we step out of home, we find ourselves stranger in outside society. The old friends in business or profession who greeted us and welcomed us, are gone. The new generation has taken their place, who show slight recognition and no concern. The natural world is no more welcome to us. The wet earth and cold water which sent us in ecstasies in our childhood, now produces a shudder in our old age. The flowers no more look enchanting as they did in childhood. The foot is les prompt to meet the morning dew, the heart less bouncing to emotions new. Disowned by home and society, we have not even the strength to cry. Overwhelmed by sufferings of physical disability, mental degeneration and, social ostracism, we mutter : ‘Is the life is not a vanity, a pointless suffering ? We feel that the human loves are frail, human relations brittle, human world is callous, and human life is tragedy.
Whatever little capacity man has for enjoying pleasures of life, is ruined by religion. It dins into man’s ears that pleasures of this earth are a snare to trap man into recurrent transmigration. If we pursue worldly pleasure, it warns us, we be born as a fly or a mosquito only to be tortuously killed by D.D.T. Poor man, who seeks shelter in pleasures against pains of life, comes to distrust his pleasures and thus helplessly surrenders himself to pains.
The philosophers like Schopenhauer and E.V. Hartmann, and literary giants like, Tolstoy, and Thomas Hardy, all consider life to be a ‘stupid fraud’, a luckless chance that mud became conscious to be overwhelmed with pointless suffering. They all conclude that it would have been a better world if there had been no life on earth.
‘Today or tomorrow’, wrote Tolstoy in A Confession, ‘sickness or death will come to those I love or to me; nothing will remain but stench and worms. Sooner or later my affairs, whatever they may be, will be forgotten and I shall not exist. Then why go on making any efforts ?’ Tolstoy linked the fate of man to that of a traveler in the Eastern tale who pursued by an enraged beast, seeks refuge in a dry well. At the bottom of the well he sees a dragon that has opened its jaws to swallow him. To escape the enraged beast above and the dragon below, he holds on to a twig that is going in a crack in the well. As he looks around, he noticed that two mice are gnawing at the stem of the twig. He realizes that very soon the twig will snap and he will fall into his doom, but at the same he sees some drops of honey on the leaves of the other branch and reaches out with his tongue to lick them. “So I, too, clung to the twig of life; knowing that dragon of death was inevitably awaiting me, ready to tear me to pieces…… I tried to lick the honey which formerly consoled me but the honey no longer give me pleasure. I only saw the inescapable dragon and the mice and I could not tear my gaze from them. And this not a fable but the real unanswerable truth.”
Clearence Darrow is one of the most compassionate man who ever lived in America. He holds: ‘Life is a ship on the sea tossed by every wave and by every wind; a ship headed for no port and no harbor, without rudder, no compass, no pilot, simply floating for a time, then lost in the wave.’
Schopenhauer says that ‘ the final judgment’ about vanity of life is death. This is the last proof, that life is a false path, that all wishing is perversity and that nothing at all is worth our striving, our efforts and struggles.
Criticism of pessimism.
The philosophies of pessimism are wrong in denying all meaning to life. Their conclusion that life is meaningless I based on the false pre-supposition that life and pain are identical. If life and pain were identical, life would have long disappeared. If in taking each morsel, I were to experience pain of a severe toothache, how many morsels of food I would take and how long I would survive. If sexual intercourse were as severely painful as hand in fire, how would human species survive. The fact is that exercise of the biological functions is pleasurable. I find pleasure in eating food, I eat and live. I enjoy sexual intercourse and become father of children. It may be said by the pessimist that the existence of pleasure is not denied. There are pleasures in life, but the pleasures are mainly to intensify the consciousness of suffering. The separation from pleasure makes pain more acute. The logic of the pessimists can be turned on them. We can say that pain exists to intensify pleasure. The pangs of hunger exist to intensify the pleasure or satisfaction that follows it. The headache is painful. The relief of headache is experienced as pleasurable. This relief from headache gives us the consciousness how our normal healthy existence I pleasurable.
It is a strange oddity in the thinking of the pessimists that they consider death to be a tragedy. They point out that illumination of intellect is achieved through infinite labour, and death snuffs out the light of the intellect. It takes a life-time of arduous discipline to cultivate some virtues, but death turns these diamonds of heart into dust. If some rare person, by chance, enjoys happiness, death puts an end to his happiness. Death takes away from us the dear ones whom we have brought up with love and service. 7
There is no doubt that the pessimists indulge in double thinking. If intellectual illumination is something worthwhile in itself, then death which extinguishing it becomes a tragedy, not otherwise. If emotional maturity of virtues is good in itself, then and then only death is an evil. If love of dear ones is valuable in itself then death is the most painful event which deprives us of them.
If intellectual illumination, and emotional maturity of compassion and love
Religion and science are two of the major disciplines of human creativity. Each one of them has separate origin, attitude, field of operation and method of study.
(1)
Religion originated in fear. The primitive man found himself faced with certain conditions in his environment which threatened his very existence. Storms and lightnings, floods and earthquakes, blew away or washed away his huts or houses, injured or killed his domestic animals and lay waste or turned to ashes his ready harvests. In his state of fright against such ruinous events, he thought, given his undeveloped intellect and ignorance, that events are caused by conscious agents and so there must be agents of the frightful events. He did not perceive these agents in his environments and so he thought of them as invisible. He called these invisible agents God. It is not only the undeveloped intellectual of the ignorant primitive man that thought thus. Even today when there is so much knowledge about events of Nature, the theistic intellect still shares the primitive world view. Some years back there was a famine of water in Maharashtra State due to absence of rains. On this occasion the educated heads of all theistic religions convened a joint large public meeting in which they prayed to God to forgive their sins and give rain. The theistic mentality of the modern man is no superior to the mentality of the primitive man inspite of all the knowledge of events of Nature which modern scientific education has given to it. To think that God can cause rain is not superior pattern of thinking then to think of Indra Deva to be the cause of rain. Monotheism is no superior to polytheism in its anthropological model of thinking. Both are stupid enough to think that natural events are due to some conscious agent or agents.
Though the primitive man thought of some super-human agents of natural agents and gave them the dignified name of gods, yet he gave them his own psychology. He knew he got others to do things for him by all blown adulation, by going into a mood of humility and surrender and by offering gifts. So when he thought of getting a god to protect him from some calamity, he indulged him indiscriminate praise of him and offered him gifts. This is how religion was born. The early man framed prayers eulogizing his gods, singing hymns in praise of them and by going prostrate before their image or symbol and offering gifts to them. Let us refer to our Vedas, the most ancient scriptures of the world. In the mantras the gods are given so much of praise that it makes it difficult to differentiate one god from another and this made it easy for commentators to assert that Vedas consistently hold to monotheism. True. there are monotheistic mantras in Vedas but to interpret that primarily all mantras are monotheistic in character is taking too much liberties with the texts.
The Vedic Aryans pray to God for protection from wild animals (by which they were surrounded in their early period of life) thus: “O God, give us not upto evil creatures as spoils to wolf or she wolf” (R.V.vi. 516). They prayed to god Indra to protect them from local tribes which attacked them: “O Indra, we are surrounded on all sides by Dasyu tribes: O’ destroyer of foes ! Kill them”. (R.V.x. 22.8) They prayed for cattle: “ O Agni, may this sacrifice be rich in kine, sheep and horses’. (R.V.iv 2.5) They prayed for rain for their agricultural prosperity. O Varuna, Mitra, pour down in plenty here upon the people, the choice of your celestial rain” (R.V. vii; 64.2) They prayed from freedom disease: “Soma And Rudra, expel the wide spread sickness that had entered in dwellings; keep of Nirriti (misfortune and poverty) so that she may be far away, many prosperous means of substenance be ours (R.V.6.13.2) They prayed for protection of life: “Agni, be thou our guardian and protector, bestow upon us life and vital vigour. Accept, O Mighty one, the gift we offer and with increasing care protect our bodies.” (R.V.x. 77:T)
It is clear from these few hymns that the motivation of religion is fear. We love and struggle to live and seek pleasure and avoid death and pain. Whatever threatens our life and pleasure causes fear. Fear is the urge to get rid of circumstances threatening our life and pleasures. No wonder all religions offer techniques of how to live even after death. Immortality of long life is assured by all religions under certain conditions. It is true there ha been progress in thought as to what constitutes true life and lasting pleasure. Biological life is distinguished from spiritual life. Body is distinguished from soul. Body is perishable and its desires and satisfactions are transitory and mixed with pain. So religion has consoled man that his soul is immortal or a more lasting entity. It prescribes elaborate spiritual exercises to ensure an eternal life of bliss for soul or long lasting peaceful and harmonious life for soul. All religious idealism boils down to obtaining eternal life of bliss or indefinite life of harmony and peace hereafter through successful communion with one’s deity.
The origin of science is in the instinct of curiosity just as origin of religion is in the instinct of fear. As the instinct of fear is escape from dangers that threaten life and pleasure, the instinct of curiosity is the urge to know things for themselves. Aristotle said: “Philosophy begins in wonder.” Kant said: “The starry heaven above and moral law within make me wonder.” Ralph Weldon Emerson says: “ Men love to wonder and that is the seed of science.”
In a child the instinct of curiosity or wonder is strong. To him the world is a magic box. He wants to open it and see it for the fun of it. If he happens to find a watch , he can not resist the temptation to open it. In his attempt to open it and see it, he mis-handles its part, loses some and renders the watch useless. The elders blame him, blow him why he opened it, what he had to get from it, he had nothing to do with time. He was not to be a watch-maker ! The child has no answer. His curiosity is his only answer. H was not seeking any advantage in opening it. He was seeking understanding of it. The watch was not thing of utility for him, a thing to keep his engagements. He was not interested in it to take to the profession of a watch-maker or watch manufacturer. His interest was delight in understanding it. A scientist, like the child, finds the world to be bewitching in its fascinating working. He wants to understand it for its own sake. He is drawn to the truth of things for their own sake. We at common sense level, can appreciate a scientist’s delight in truth if we take our own example from our daily life from another sphere. We prefer to put on beautiful dress. What has the beauty of dress to do with its utility ? We put on clothes to cover our shame and protect our body from dirt and cold. A rough and ready dress does discharge all these functions as well. Then why do we seek beautiful dress ? From the point of view of utility there is nothing to choose between the two dresses. Beauty of the dress has no extra utility to rough dress, It is not preferable on the basis of utility. Beauty of the beautiful dress has its own intrinsic attraction. We seek its for its own sake and find complete satisfaction in it without regard of its utility. Sometimes we sacrifice some utility of beauty. We choose to love beauty for its own sake and find in it all justification in seeking it and creating it. A scientist seeks truth for its own sake as we seek a beautiful dress and finds his complete fulfillment in seeking or discovering it. To put it in the words of Russell: “Science in its beginning was due to men who were in love with it. They perceived the beauty of the stars and the sea, of the winds and mountains….Heraclitus and Ionian philosophers from whom came the first impulse to scientific knowledge (in th West) felt the strange beauty of the world almost like a madness in the blood. They were men of Titanic passionate intellect and from the intensity of their intellectual passion the whole movement of the modern world has sprung.” (Scientific Outlook, pp 271-72) To a passionate scientific intellect understanding the universe is the be-all an end-all of his study. He does not seek beyond understanding. He does not seek worldly enrichment or spiritual salvation through knowledge. To him to perceive the universe as a system of law is the highest satisfaction. He would undergo any sacrifice to be beholden to the harmony of the laws in the universe.
There is a world of difference between a religious man seeking knowledge and a pure scientist seeking knowledge. A religious man has some interest other then knowledge in seeking knowledge, whereas a pure scientist is disinterested in seeking knowledge. As religious consciousness developed it sought knowledge of self and the universe. But the knowledge is tied to the objective of salvation or ‘moksha’. Knowledge has worth for him as a means or method of salvation. All knowledge outside this objective is waste of life. All that is of worth for religious consciousness is self-knowledge for self-realization.
Scientific knowledge may yield utility. The Greek philosophers felt it a misfortune if a utility was found for a truth. They considered a truth inferior for which utility is found. The distinguished three grades of values or good. Good as a means. Transport is good as a means to reach one’s destination. It has no value in itself . Good as an end has value in itself and may also be useful. Education is an end in itself, it illuminates our mind. But it is also a means to help us to get into some profession in life. The highest grade of good is that good which is beyond all utility. The perception of the highest truth is example of the third grade of good. In the western scientific culture, the highest scientist is the theorist ho gives understanding of the universe, though his theory may have no utility for mankind. The scientist who seeks knowledge for utility in the form of inventions, ranks second in science.
(2)
The second difference between religion and science is this: Worship and not morality is the soul of religion. If one lacks feeling of worship for a deity he is not a religious person, however magnificent be his nobility of character. Again, the anthropologists tell us the tribal religions had very little to do with morality. This is clear from the fact that whereas religious beliefs of various tribes are so much diverse, their moral practices are comparatively similar. Morality is based among them on practical common sense of the group. Since social life necessitates respect for life, property and sex, the behavior pattern is framed according to the social and political conditions and the state of knowledge of the group in which these three respects can be practiced.
It is true that as religion developed, morality came to be recognized as essential to religious life. In all developed religions codes of conduct are prescribed. However, even when morality comes to be recognized and prescribed, faith and worship remain indispensable. There is no religion in the world which does not place faith or worship as the primary condition of admission to it. No man will be admitted to a religious society on the basis of his observance of the bet ethical life. He must accept faith and worship of the deity of the religion he wishes to join.
Faith and worship expresses itself in rituals. Hindus garland their deity, sings hymns and arti. A Christian goes on his knees and offers praise and prayer to his lord. A Muslim says prayer five time a day, and each time he indulges in the praise of his God. Even though certain religions like Buddhism and Confucianism avoided worship to start with, worship has entrenched itself in their religions. However, rituals are not indispensable to worship. Their religious sects, which do not observe rituals in their worships.
In science there is no place for faith or worship. When a scientist enters his laboratory, he does not go with a garland in hand to offer to the photo of Newton or Einstein, though their intellect is higher then the sky. No scientist goes on his knees before the photo of Newton or Einstein, but the same scientist does go on his knees when he goes to his church. A scientist does not go to his laboratory to seek acceptance of what other scientists have said in a particular field. He goes to check the truth of what has been said . His attitude is not one of acceptance but critical examination of the theories in the field. It is best to sum up what Karl Popper says about scientific attitude. “On the pre-scientific level we hate the very idea that we may be mistaken. So we cling dogmatically to our conjectures as long as possible. On the scientific level, we systematically search for our mistakes, for our errors. This is a great thing. We are consciously critical in order to detect our errors. This the ethical method of error elimination. It is the method of science”.
(3)
The third difference between religion and science relates to their field of operation. Religion deals with values, science deals with facts.
Every developed religion lays down commandments. The commandments of Moses is a case in point. In our Vedas we have Vidhi and Nisedha. In Koran the whole social life is prescribed. At a higher stage there is call for purity of soul from passions like greed, sex, anger, undue attachments, ego-love and cruelty and for cultivation of gratitude, compassion, love, reverence, disinterested service. Some of the noble sayings of Dhammapada (the path of virtue) and the Sermon on the Mount are supreme texts of moral virtues. Religion offers spiritual exercises for elimination of ugly passions and development of beautiful virtues. The doctrines of heaven and moksha, and salvation dominate all developed religions and these are primarily value concepts.
Science is concerned to know what is what. It studies events, discover laws of them and seeks higher and higher laws. For example Kepler formulated three laws for explanation of the movements of heavenly bodies. These were laws of the lowest order of generality. Newton’s genius was to take these three laws and Galelio’s law of falling bodies and subsume them under the higher general law of gravitation. Einstein’s law of gravitation is more general then Newton’s law of gravitation for it covers in its explanation not only matter but also light and every form of energy.
Physicals sciences study inanimate existences and events like earth-quacks, volcanoes, hurricane, floods, lightning and epidemics and no where find need to evoke value concepts to explain this. But religious do give value interpretation. Religious persons, like Gandhiji said when Bihar earthquake took place in 1934 that it was caused by God as a punishment to Hindus for ill-treating untouchables. Ahmedyia leaders thought it was a warning to Muslims for non-recognition of their founder as Masiha. In 1960 when an unusually alarming comet appeared in England, en eminent Scottish divine declared that the comets are “prodigies of great judgment on these lands for our sins, for never was the Lord more provoked by a people.” At personal level when we get some incurable illness like cancer, we ask ourselves as to what sins we have committed to suffer unbearable pain. We seek value explanation for the physical event of cancer. No medical researcher goes out to find out what sins lead to cancer. His researchers are concerned with changes in the body caused by habits in food, drinks and environments. The scientist lifts all physical events of earthquakes, floods, diseases from the morass of value concepts.
The religious outlook is ego-centric. It makes man to look on the universe from his superiority. How much man has tickled his vanity by his make-belief that the infinite God thought it worthwhile to create man, and to provide him with the universe for his needs and enjoyments and looks after him day and night; or in how much megalomania man has indulged in, in hypnotizing himself into the belief that he and Brahman are one. Thus the universe has no meaning apart from him and whenever an unusual event happens in it, it is a warning from God to man to beware of his misconduct.
Science studies the universe without its relation to man and treats man as any other object of the universe, giving him no privileged position. It removes man from the centre of the stage of the universe and refuses to impute human and divine values to the universe. It remains value neutral to get at the factual aspect of things. The astronomical facts of planets, even those of our planet, are explained by science without bringing in value concepts. It finds that the evolution is not known to have occurred in hundreds and million of other planets. It interprets in cold logic the evolution on our planet as well as other possible destruction of our planet in future, when it collides with some other planet. It speaks of the evolution of the conditions which has made life possible on earth and speaks with the same unconcern about the probable effects of the second law of thermo-dynamics by which heat is so distributing itself that no life will be possible. Science studies the universe with complete unconcern for human personality and values. Science tells itself not to let ‘ego, come between its understanding and the universe.
The emphasize the point for the purpose of clarification let us take Darwin’s theory of evolution. Darwin explained the origin of man by ‘chance variation’ and ‘Natural selection’ both value void concepts. He excludes any purpose in the rise and disappearance of species. We can understand the difference of approach to evolution between science and religion if we compare the scientific theory of evolution of Darwin with the religious theory of evolution of the Christian mystic Teilhand de Chardin and the Absolutist theory of evolution by the Indian mystic, Sri Aurobindo. Religion puts meaning and values on the facts of the process of evolution, while science ignore them as irrelevant and obstructive in the understanding of evolution.
Even when science deals with value activities of man an his institutions, it excludes value perspective. Take sociology. It deals with rituals, customs, conventions and moral codes of different tribes and communities, as they are practiced without evaluating them. It does not compare the conduct pattern of different societies in terms of good or bad. It just says what they are. Psychology studies human motivation and behavior in factual terms. For example, it tells us how habits are formed and how habits can be broken. But it says nothing about what are good habits and what are bad habits and how to judge them. If a patient asks a doctor if he should live or die, he will tell him his science is not concerned with this question. It deals with the conditions in which health can be maintained and improved and the conditions in which body deteriorates and how diseases can be cured. There is a factual aspect of things and events and science hold that understanding is adversely affected by bringing in values.
(4)
The fourth difference between religion and science is in their methodology of study. Religion explores the inner experience and science studies the public fact. The method of religion has been to dive deep in the recesses of mind and find the secret of universe and self through meditation. Swami Vivekanad, a modern religious thinker of exceptional brilliance, thus defines the method of religion: “Religion deals with the truths of the metaphysical world, just as chemistry and other natural sciences deal with the truths of the physical world. The book one must read to study chemistry is the book of Nature. The book from which to learn religion is your own mind and heart.” How to study our mind and heart to know the truths of religious metaphysical world ? Says Swamiji, “Experience is the only source of knowledge. There is always, however, a small group of men who teach religion from experience. They are called mystics.” Our Upnishads which are considered highest repository of metaphysical truths, are fruits of concentration on inner experiences which are not public facts.
Science has throughout its career of over three centuries used the method of external observation and experiment. Science started as Astronomy and gradually took to the study of physics, chemistry, biology. All these fields of study offered public facts which any one could observe under certain conditions. We know how a telescope and or a microscope can help any normal person to see facts when he is directed how to set the instrument. When science came to the study of the mind of man, it at first look to introspective method which gave contradictory reports. So it gave it up and followed methods of external observation. It defined psychology , not as the science of the mind, but as the science of behavior. Behavior is an observable object. Psychology observes behavior under experimental and field methods to understand human personality.
Let us sum up the difference between religion and science. Religion has its birth in the instinct of fear. Fear is the urge to avoid and escape from those conditions which threaten one’s life and happiness at biological and spiritual levels. All religions prescribe techniques for self-protection and self-satisfaction here and hereafter. Science is born of the instinct of curiosity, i.e. the urge to investigate and know things for their own sake. It finds complete fulfillment in the in the discovery of truth for itself with complete unconcern about its advantages to oneself or to mankind, here and hereafter.
Religion involves worship of some power superior to man to get benefits here and hereafter and at all levels of life. Deity need not be genius of excellence, it can as well be an evil genius. Worship can take the form of rituals, meditations, ‘dhyan’, mystic experience. In science there is no place for personality cult. A scientist goes to his laboratory, not to accept but to check the theories of great scientists. The scientist’s attitude is not one of acceptance and submission but of critical appreciation of the truth of theories.
Religion is primarily concerned with values. It gives us, say, ten commandments of Moses, noble sayings of Buddha in Dhammpada for the conduct of daily life and method of attaining ‘Nirvana’, or ‘eternal life of bliss.’ Science is primarily concerned with facts, to know things as they are in their objective character without admixture of subjective involvement.
Religion primarily studies inner experience, i.e. ‘know thyself’, science studies public facts, i.e. ‘know the universe’.
It is clear that the two disciplines can not be made identical. Science can not become religion for it will lose its objective spirit of critical study of the universe. Religion cannot become science for it loses its feelings of reverence and worship of super-human excellence. However, religion can be science-grounded in the way of its method of study, just as it can be revelation (Sruti)- grounded or mystic grounded.
(6)
The question we face is what is the relation between Religion and Science. When there are two objects or attitudes, the relation between them can be conflict, co-existence, co-operation or mergence. We have seen that it cannot be of mergence for both lose their distinctive characteristics. Whether the relation between Religion and Science can be one of conflict, co-existence, co-operation depends on the kind of religion in question.
We can distinguish four types of religions. Theistic, non-theistic, Humanistic and Evolutionary Naturalistic. Theism as religion is revealed religion. The religious scriptures are word of God, infallible in charter. Under non-theistic religions we include Jainism and classic Yoga. Jainism rejects God as the creator and ruler of the universe. It holds that the universe is eternal, and consists of living and non-living things. The events in the universe and human life are governed by the law of Karma. However, it holds that human soul in its moksha state is disembodied, infinite in power, and knowledge and bliss. So, though Janism denies God it does not deny the supernatural world of disembodied souls. 18
Humanism is a product of scientific culture culture. As regards facts, it holds that whatever science discovers about the universe and man is alone worthy of acceptance. As regards values it holds that each person is an end in himself and therefore right conduct is to respect the rights of others in conduct. Evolutionary Naturalism of Dev Dharma holds that the scientific method is also true method of investigation even in the field of religion. Good is what is conducive to the health of the human personality and society. Evil is what damages the health of the human personality and society. Just as the medical sciences discover the laws of the health and disease of the body by the scientific method, Religion is to discover the laws of health and disease of the soul by the scientific method.
(7)
We take revealed religions first. Bible, Koran and Vedas are revealed books of Christianity, Islam and Hinduism respectively. Modern science had its birth in the West where Christianity was and still is the religion of the people. To start with, there was no conflict between the theistic religion of Christianity and science. In fact the theistic religion of Christianity provided psychological motivation for the rise of science. The theistic view that God made the universe and rules it by invariable laws encouraged scientists to the study of Nature. However, the progress in the scientific study brought scriptural texts and science into open and severe conflict.
Science first took to the study of Astronomy. It discovered that it is the earth which goes round the sun. In the Bible, the word of God is that it is the sun which goes round the earth. Since the word of God is infallible, it was blasphemous for science to challenge it. A Jesuit Father maintained that “ the opinion of the earth’s motion is of all heresies the most abominable, the most pernicious, the most scandalous. Immovability of earth is thrice sacred; argument against the immortality of soul, the existence of God and the incarnation should be tolerated sooner than an argument to prove that the earth moves.” Galileo was summoned to Rome to appear before the Inquisition. The Inquisition punished him inspite of the fact that Galileo was compelled to declare his view to be false. It said: “We condemn you to the formal prison of this Holy office for a period determinable at our pleasure; and by way of salutary penance, we order you during the next three years to recite, once a week, the seven penitential psalms.” Galileo remained till the last day of his life under house confinement, debarred from seeing his relatives and friends who scientifically confirmed his view that the earth goes round the sun.
Science took to the study of Geology. Its views conflicted with that of the Bible. It discovered how it has taken millions of years for the earth to come to the stage on which life has become possible. It is given in the Bible that God made the world in six days. There was again conflict between religion and science. The church had now lost its political power. But the condemnation of the scientists was no less severe.
Science took to Biology. Bible had the view that God had made man in his own image. Darwin presented the scientific view that man has evolved from a species of apes. He storm of protest against it continued for years on end. There was no abuse which was not hurled against Darwin and his supporters like Huxley.
At every step religion opposed and delayed the growth of scientific knowledge.
It is true that the conflict of religion and science has ceased in the 20th. Century. This is due to two reasons; Christianity has accepted that the cosmological view given in the Bible were primitive and need to be discarded. Again science has progressed in knowledge far beyond the
dream of spiritual beliefs. Even if the cosmology of theistic religion were true, it would be suitable for kindergarten children only.
(8)
However, today religion claims that there is harmony between religion and science. The latest discoveries of science support religious doctrines. The fact is that “ the statements of the scientists have, as a rule, been somewhat tentative and indefinite but the theologians have seized upon them and extended them, while the news papers in turn have reported the sensational accounts of theologies, so that the general readers had derived the impression that the physics confirms practically the whole book of genesis.”
There are four fundamental concepts in science: Space and Time, Matter and Force. It interprets all phenomena within the frame-work of these concepts In using these conceptual tools it is led to sharpen, refine and re-shape them. It has given up some old sample clock model presentations of the universe and replaced it by new, complex ones. But it does not go outside these concepts however much it makes them subtle and complex. Hence all attempts to seek support in the refinement of these concepts and models in science for metaphysics of God and soul, is like trying to save oneself from drowning by catching at a straw. Though a drowning man catches at a straw, it does not save him.
In the eighteenth century Newton thought that space and time are absolute and infinite in character. With his law of gravitation he was able to explain the motion of the whole solar system. Though the law of gravitation continued to explain different motion of the heavenly bodies, it did not touch the natural laws. New branches of physics dealing with sound, heat, light and electricity grew to vast proportions but no property of matter was discovered which could be connected with gravitation. It was only through Eintein’s theory of relativity that gravitation was fitted with the general theory of physics. Eintein’s theory of relativity revolutionized the whole concept of pace and time. Eintein proposed that instead of considering space and time and separate entities, they be considered as one entity, space-time with observer thrown in. Religious apologetics interpreted this change to mean that Eintein’s concepts of space-time made room for transcendental reality by denying the absoluteness of space and time. This interpretation is wrong. The relativity of space and time does not involve denial of the reality of the world of space and time.
There is another development in physics which the apologetics read as supporting the view that the universe is idealistic in character. The atom has been spilt into electrons and protons and there is further development in this direction. Atom is no more a hard indivisible entity. It is a complex of electronic charges and protons. True, atom is no more regarded as simple indivisible entity, but it is reckless to interpret this to mean that atom is physical centre of activity. Here is what is disciple of Sri Aurbindo, Sri Ompoorna Swatantra says: “ The latest researches have revealed that matter is nothing but asleep form of spiritual and spirit the awakened matter, these are two extreme ends of the vast range of manifestation of consciousness. It has blasted the age-old myth of matter being absolutely devoid of consciousness. “ This ns not the view science holds. It must be divine revelation like we have in religious scriptures. It is a pity that religious-minded scientists (not science) are less cautious and precise when the speculate outside their laboratories and it is still greater pity that religious apologetics unacquainted with scientific investigations make wide assertions on scientists’ cautious statements.
Whatever be the refined analysis of atom as ‘wave’ it does not cease to be under the law of physics. If it is under the law of physics, it is physical; and to attribute consciousness to it is speaking beyond the text of physics.
In reply the apologetics point out that single atom is no more under the old laws of mechanics.
True. The old laws of mechanics which could predict with precision the movement of big bodies are not found applicable to behavior of single atom. A single atom shows capriciousness in its hop from one state to another and it is not determinable which of the possible hops it will take on a given occasion. This is known as quantum phenomenon. Even the scientist Sir Arthur Eddington who should know better, draws the conclusion that atom has free will and free will is characteristics of psychic activity. Einstein differ from this view of atom. He says ‘God does not play dice’, which means in literal language that all events are determined by cause and effect or all events an subject to laws. If today we find that the behavior of atom is not subject to the laws of old physics, “it is rash to jump,” says Russell, “ to the conclusion, as some physicists have done, that it is not subject to laws of all. To prove that a given set of phenomena is not subject to law is essentially and theoretically impossible. All that can be affirmed is that law, if any, has not been discovered. Given further developments of techniques of measurement and space-time concepts, the laws regulating the behavior of individual atom may be discovered. It is very rash to erect a theological superstructure upon a piece of ignorance, which may be temporary.”
Sir Hermann Bondi of the Combridge University and Noble Prize winner in physics, asked theistic apologists as to what would be their position if receive discovers the law of the behavior of single atom. Have the apologists the capacity apologetics to reject their scriptural view when science propounds a new view opposed to the scriptural view. The history of religion has not shown the capacity to move out of their scriptural encirclement. How can then, conflict between science and religion be avoided !
Again, theistic religions are varied in their doctrines. We ask which theistic view is supported by ever–developing views of science on space-time, mass-energy.
There can be no way to avoid conflict in the approach of theistic religion and science. Einstein says: “ the main source of the present day conflicts between the spheres of religion and of science lies in this concept of a personal God. It is the aim of science to establish general rules which determine the reciprocal connection of objects and events in time and space. The more a man is imbued with the ordered regularity of all events, the firmer becomes his conviction that there is no room left by the side of this ordered regularity for cause of a different nature. For him neither the rule of human nor the rule of divine will exists as an independent cause of natural events.”
(9)
Let us take mystic religion based on mystic experience in contrast to Prophetic religion based on revelation. Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Raman and Sri Aurobindo are three modern founders of mystic religion.
It is claimed by mystic religion that when sense experience is held as evidence for the belief in the reality of the external world there is no reason why the evidence of mystic experience should not be accepted as evidence for the reality of the transcendental world. If experience is the way to truth, we must accept the sensory world which is given and guaranteed by sense experience and transcendental world given and guaranteed by mystic experience. The mystic religion pleads for co-existence between science and religion, each to limit itself to its own world. The mystic claims that what it says about the transcendental world should not be questioned and denied on the basis of the criteria of sense experience. The transcendental world has entirely different character from the sensory world and the categories of interpretation and the criteria of truth applicable to sensory world are not relevant to it.
Let us examine the claims of mystic experience to be deliverer of knowledge about the transcendental world and its claim for co-existence.
How to define mystic experience ? It is an experience which is allied to the experience which comes to some rare individuals who tell us how in a rare moment their whole outlook on life underwent an emotive change. Such a person had been reared under the certain views and values of life and then, some event in his life, says the death of a dear one, one’s prolonged illness in bed, reading of a poem or hearing of a musical symphony had lifted up the veil and made him beholden to new light on the universe and life. Such experiences are spontaneous, not a result of discursive thinking. It has the character of being received rather than acquired. Though the experience is transitory, it leaves an impression for the whole life. William James holds that mystic experience is characterized by noetic quality, passivity, transiency and ineffability.
We may thus define mystic experience in the words of Prof. R.W. Hepburn: “Mysticism refers to experience which reveals something about the (a) totality of things; (b) something of immense human importance for all times and places: and (c) something upon which one’s ultimate wellbeing or salvation wholly depends.”
Such experiences are not restricted to religious field. It may relate to art and literature. We will limit ourselves to mystic experiences in the religious field. They are varied in content. There are the non-theistic mystic experiences of Jain and classical Yoga mystics. They interpret their mystic experience as monadistic, i.e. revelatory of their own individual state of moksha without a relation to the transcendental reality of God, distinct from their experience. Buddha’s mystic experience was revelatory of the Four Noble Truths and the eight-fold path which made him the Buddha, the enlightened, the ‘Light of Asia’ . We have monotheistic experience of 23
the Christian mystics, like Saint Teresa and Absolutist mystic experience of the Vedantists. Besides these classic mystic experience, there are numerous mystic experiences of all colors and hues. Given the diversity of mystic experience it is false to define a mystic experience as “the feeling of unity of the self with God (Otto Pfleiderer) or “an attitude of mind in which all relations are swallowed up in the soul o God (Edward Caired). No mystic experience can be defined in terms of the content of the specific mystic experiences for it amounts to denial of all the mystic experiences of different contents altogether and ultimately of all mystic experiences.
Inspite of diversity of mystic experiences, it is still claimed by some mystics, like Dr. Dean Inge that there is unanimity among them. He says: “ I know nothing remarkable than the unanimity of the mystics, ancient, medieval, modern, Protestant, Catholic and even Buddhist or Mohammedan, though the Christian mystics are the most trustworthy”. To say that the Christian mystics are the most trustworthy is to give up the case for remarkable unanimity. William James tells about the actual state of difference in mystic experiences in his book, The varieties of Religious Experience. He says: “The classic Religious mysticism, it now must be confessed, is only privileged case. It is an extract. It is carved out from a much longer and if we take the larger mass as seriously as religious mysticism has historically taken itself, we find that the supposed unanimity disappears. To begin with, even religious mysticism itself, the kind that accumulates traditions and makes schools, is much less unanimous than I have allowed. It has been both ascetic and antinomiously self-indulgent within the Christian Church.”
When mystic experiences give different beliefs about the transcendental world, how to discriminate a true belief from a false one ? Are there any checkposts to help in separating the illusory mystic experience from a veridical mystic experience ?
No experience about what exists, can claim to be its own truth. If each experience is its own truth, there can be no illusory experience. The distinction between perception and illusion will disappear. Unfortunately each mystic considers his own mystic experience to be self- validating. If it is so, how can one’s own experience be regarded as more trustworthy than that of another. One school of mystics considers the other schools of mystics as mistaken on most points and rejects their views as false. But no school of mystics can challenge the views of the mystics of another school as mistaken on the basis of experience for all the experiences of mystics are claimed by them to be mystics experiences. 24
It is on grounds other than experience on which one school can reject beliefs of the others as untrustworthy. We ask the mystic for the criteria to judge between his own mystic experience and the mystic experiences of another whose reporting he has challenged, since all mystics desire that we should not apply to mystic experiences the same criteria which we apply to two different reportings about sensory experiences. No criterion has been offered for judging the truth of differing mystic experiences. If there is no criterion to judge true mystic experiences from the illusory ones, the statement of mystic experiences fall outside the truth and falsehood, like statement of a fiction. They give no objective knowledge. These experiences may well be treated as emotional rather than cognitive in character.
To escape this damaging criticism mystics do try to specify the conditions, under which one can have veridical mystic experience of the transcendental reality of God. They claim that when a man of science wishes others to believe what he has observed, he arranges the external conditions of observation, i.e. asks the observer to see through a telescope or a microscope. Similarly, we demand from a candidate for mystic experience who wishes to check what we tell him about the transcendental world, to be morally pure, detached from the affairs of the world, to be ascetic in life and acquire the ability to concentrate on a single point and to undergo yogic exercises.
However, there is wonderful difference between the scientist and the mystic in their attitude to the results of such experiments. If a scientist arranges an experiment and majority of normal persons failed to find verification of what he has asserted, then the scientist takes back his assertion about the start of things. But this is not the attitude of a mystic. If some mystics satisfy all the conditions of perfect detachment and concentration and they report the failure of contact with personal God, the theistic mystic, unlike a scientist, will not regard it as disconfirming the view that there is God. If the belief in personal God is not disconfirmed even when a group of mystics with character of purity and detachment like the Buddhist and Jain monks fail to report it in their mystic experience, it is also not confirmed by the mystic experience of Christian mystics. If among mystics of the same inner purity and concentration, some report contact with God, and others deny it, it means that the reports about God’s existence are unreliable. One can not have the advantage of confirmation without running the risk of disconfirmation. James has well observed: “The fact is that the mystic feeling of enlargement, union and emancipation has no specific content whatever of its own. It is capable of forming matrimonial alliances with material furnished by the most diverse philosophies and theologies, provided only they can find a place in their framework for its peculiar emotional mood.
We have no right, therefore, to involve its prestige as distinctively in favor of any special belief, such as that of absolute idealism, or absolute monotheistic identity, or of the absolute goodness of the world.”
A mystic experience does not divulge the same unanimous statements about its world of reality as a perceptual experience does. It therefore cannot claim co-equal status with perceptual experience in the matter of giving knowledge of reality. The mystic experience is as Acharya Ramanuj points out, imagination killed by perception. Mystic experience is predominantly emotional experience which takes its content from the theological tradition of its group. No wonder the mystic experiences of the primitive man to the modern man show bewildering verities of thoughtful patterns, non of which can claim authority of truth for no mystic does or can offer any criteria of truth outside his experience. A mystic experience is highly emotional like the emotional state of a man under drink and reporting in both cases are unacceptable as cognitive experiences. As Russell points it: “From a scientific point of view, we can make no distinction between the man who eats little and sees heaven and the man who drinks much and sees snakes. Each is in as abnormal physical conditional and has abnormal perceptions. Normal perceptions, since they have to be useful in the struggle for life, must have some correspondence in fact, but in abnormal perceptions there is no reason to expect such correspondence, and their testimony cannot outweigh that of normal perception.”
We have further reasons of treating mystic experiences as emotional. The mystic reports of the contents of his experience bristle with contradictions and paradox. Some mystics tells us: “ God neither exists nor does not exist. He is above the category of existence and non-existence.”; “ Mystic enlightenment,” says another mystic, “is an absolute emptiness which is absolute fullness.” Still others say; “ The more sublime divine light, the darker it is to understanding.” Such incompatible predications about the transcendental reality and knowledge support the view that mystics statement are expression of ecastic experience of non-cognitive character, i. e. those statements lie outside the sphere of truth and falsehood. The mystic can answer to our puzzle about paradoxical statements of mystic experience by saying that it is due to the fact that the mystic has to express himself in the language of sensory experience. There is no puzzle to the mystic himself. We make two comments; Language is a social product. Mystics of different countries do claim to have unanimity about their experiences. If this is so, it should have led to the invention of mystic language other then the language relating to sensory world and it could have developed its own criteria to differentiate a false mystic experience from a veridical mystic experience. Since both these things are absent, the best way is to treat mystic experiences as transitory emotional excitements.
(10)
The mystic religion claims that it is not a conflict with science, since each deals with different world. However, there is conflict in the condition of obtaining knowledge. The mystic belongs to this world. He is body-soul unit here and now. As body-soul unit he is also under the conditions of acquiring knowledge operative in the present state of his being in the natural world. Now, knowledge is possible to us in daily life, through contact of the physical stimuli, may it be of light or a sound, with visual and auditory centers of brain via sense organs. I see red colour of the red ink because light waves traveled from the red ink, strike my eyes which convey the impression to the visual centers and I see red. There is no cognitive experience in mind about what exists without ultimate involvement of contact of a physical stimulus with the brain. In what way is the brain of the mystic affected by the supernatural with which he is in contact, for it violates the condition of being in contact with objects of knowledge, since the object of knowledge in this case is not physical. Either mystic experience is not cognitive or there is a miracle, a clash between the scientific and the mystic ways of knowing.
Mysticism claims that the conflict between science and mysticism concerning knowledge is apparent that real. It is forgotten that there is difference between mind and soul. Mind and soul belong to different realms of being. The conditions of knowledge by mind do involve the operation of the physical and the psychological conditions. Some philosophers like Plato, Aristotle and Descartes consider that ‘active reason’ or ‘self ’ has capacity of thinking apart from the necessity of intervention of stimulation of brain and so there can be contact with the supernatural.
Mysticism cannot claim that it does not clash with science when it holds (like Jainism) that soul is other than mind and is eternal and intrinsically transcendental entity outside the jurisdiction of natural law. This view of soul is opposed to the history of evolution. Evolution holds that life originated in certain chemical conditions, passed through unicellular organisms to multi-cellular organisms in plants and animal leading on to human life-force called ‘soul’. Soul is not eternal. It has a date of birth on this planet. It is in ceaseless change like life-forces in other existents. A thing under change can cease to be. Soul is not intrinsically eternal or immortal.. Again soul as we know it, is embodied. We have no evidence of dis-embodied souls. So the doctrine of (1) eternal and (2) disembodied soul which can establish contact with supernatural being on which mystic knowledge of the supernatural is grounded and defended, is false to facts and clashes with science.
(11)
Let us now pass on to the relation of humanism to science. Humanism as a religion is in complete co-operation with science. It leaves to science the understanding of the world of facts. It holds that science alone can give us the understanding of Nature in its factual aspect. Humanism limits itself to the task of values. So there is no question of conflict between humanism and science, for science leaves values out in its understanding of the universe and human life. In the sphere of values, humanism holds that each human being is an end in itself. One should treat oneself and others as ends in themselves. All evil arises from considering oneself and others as mere means. Slavery is evil, for slavery treats human beings as things for purchase and sale. Women have been considered as things for sale and purchase. Prostitution is evil for both involved in prostitution consider each other as things for satisfaction. When a businessman adulterates things, he is treating his fellow human beings as means for profit. All exploitation, economic, social and sexual, treats fellow human beings as means or things for one’s gratification.
It is always wrong to ask about a human being as to what he is good for. It is a question for things and not persons. It is moral perversion to approach human being as mere things of utility. But we do so. It is regrettably said, “matlab ke hain rishte naate, matlab kee hai dunia saaree.” i. e. why is relation of selfishness regrettable ? It is because every human being wishes to be accepted, respected and even loved as a person. He does not like to be treated as a thing of utility and resents it when some one uses him as a thing. We call such relation ‘matlab’ i. e. selfishness for this reason. As soon as the selfish purpose is over, the relation gets discarded as an ice cream cup is discarded to a dust bin when it has no more ice-cream left in it for consumption.
However, it is not selfishness that distorts one’s relation to others. It is attitude of utility with which we approach others. If I am keen to collect blood donors for poor patients, I may look upon prospective donors as just as donors and if I don’t maintain the same attitude of respect for a person whether he donates blood or does not donate it, I am building my relation with donors as a thing of utility even though my end in view is good. Once a blood donor regretfully said to me that I visit him about the time the blood donation camp is to be held. When we remember or contact a person at time when he can do something for us o for our cause, we are utilizing him as a thing of utility. He also resents this attitude. An altruistic ideal can prevent us as passion do, in failing to keep intact the primacy of treating others as persons. So the above saying is better expressed thus “ Jhuthe hain sab rishtey naate, jhoothi hai yeh duniya saree.” It means that we human beings live jhuthee life or unauthentic life. The authentic life is based on accepting and respecting each other for what we are and as we are, with all ours foible, as persons without qualifications.
Unfortunately we internalize this social ethos of utility aggravated by machine age and lose respect for ourselves as persons of intrinsic value when we fail in or retire from our role of utility in our profession. Our too much engagements with gadgets and machines make us unconsciously an automation whose entire value is measured and exhausted by utility. It is self perversion to identify one’s life with utility and feel small or lost when it ceases to yield utility. Utility is an aspect of life, it does not cover all values of life like our capacity for love and laughter, appreciation of beauty in Nature and arts, friendship of innocence and leisure, which repel utility but give authenticity to life.
This humanistic ethics is unexceptionable. But it is incomplete for it does provide the highest project for love. Human love, in one of its aspects, strives for perfect object to love. We know how love turns an ordinarily girl into an object of perfect beauty, though she would not even qualify for entry in a beauty competition. Some rare persons, therefore, create a perfect God of their imagination and love it. They are called mystics. Humanism is deficient in this aspects.
Again, humanism inspite of the intrinsically beautiful ethical ideal of training each human being as a person, does not face the problem of how to control our passion which lead us to treat ourselves and others as means or things of exploitation. Our greeds, lusts and vanities make us treat others and ourselves as mere things of exploitation. How to control these passions of life ? Is man sufficient unto himself to solve his problem of mutual relationships on basis of love and justice ? It is found that human psychology is incapable to help itself to treat other as end in themselves. In fact the chief problem of religion is to help man to love, to be just and serviceable to fellow men and other living creatures. Humanism as religion fails here. Without a deity, a super human being, though not supernatural deity, is required to illumine and cure man of his exploitative motives and to create feelings of love and disinterested service for day-to-day conduct. Without a worshipful deity, Humanism is reduced to Ethical code.
(12 )
We now consider “Evolutionary Naturalism of Dev Dharma” as the last alternative. What is the relation between Dev Dharma and Science ? Dev Dharma holds that scientific method is the only method for human knowledge in all the fields including religion. Religion deals with man’s origin, his redemption from evil life and his destiny of moksha (salvation) and settvic life. According to Dev Dharma all these problems can be dealt with by use of the scientific method. Human personality, both its body and soul, is biological in origin and under the natural laws of life and death. Human personality has no privileged status in Nature. It is one among others objects of Nature, subject to its laws, discoverable only by the scientific method. Understandably, there is no conflict between the religion of Dev Dharma and Science, on method for knowledge, for it does not ask for the ‘privileged status’ for soul capable of supernatural communication.
Dev Dharma holds that body is not an outer covering of soul which soul can dispense with like an old coat and take to a different new coat. There is inseparable relation between body and soul. Just as a living body can not exist without a soul, so a soul cannot exist without a living body.
Both body and soul have inseparable relation here and hereafter. There is no world of disembodied souls outside the world of Nature.
This intimate relation of soul and body, helps to explain how our behavior is product of the joint participation of body and soul. Both body and soul play their part in our thinking and doing. Physiology and psychology for example, tell us how the secretions of glands influence our thinking and behavior. Body and soul are both responsible for good and evil thoughts and good and evil actions. When I think some anti-social sex thoughts or do an anti-social sex act, it is not only my mind which is to be blamed for it, my body is co-responsible for its excessive secretion of sex gland. In my religious exercises to control the sex urge towards anti-social behavior, science can render great help. There are experiments to show how the anti-social behavior of persons under detention in jail improve with change of diet.
If science can help religion in developing better conduct, religion can help science in its pursuits. The primary object of science is to discover truth in a disinterested spirit. However, some scientific truths have helped to develop techniques to get control and power over environment. All inventions are techniques to manipulate environment — physical and social—for one’s use. Technology is admissible objective in science only if it does not side-track its real objective to illumine the world to human understanding. To put it in the words of Russell-: “ Step by step, as science has developed, the impulse to love (to understand the universe) which gave it birth has been increasingly thwarted while the impulse to power, which was first a mere camp follower, has gradually usurp command in virtue of its unforeseen success.” Today Governments and big firms are investing huge funds for technological improvements. Our Prime Ministers one after another repeat at every Annual Session of Indian Science Congress that the scientists should devote themselves to rural technology relegating fundamental research in science to secondary place.
It is not realized that knowledge as power is detrimental to love for truth, just as position as power is suicidical to right conduct. Politics of power leads to dictatorship even in democratic frame work, and science as power leads to nuclear weapons of destruction and devastation. Ecological imbalance created by industrialization is threatening human life more than atom bomb. Power must be unmindful of right and wrong to be powerful. The character of power is to get things done and it finds principles of higher conduct obstructive in it and so it blacks out consideration of higher conduct. Science can be cured from its lust for manipulating environments by religion. Religion is concerned with values. It can help science to cultivate vision and strength to the pursuit of truth and nothing but truth. Dev Dharma has this capacity. It specializes in presenting truth and goodness in most captivating vision and it can give strength to the scientist to follow truth as its chief objective and give second place to technology within the field of benign goods.
There is a second help of religion to scientists. A scientist in his laboratory is superb, he is perfectly objective and impartial, and shows infinite patience in the study of the phenomena and is anxious to check and re-check his results. But he is a failure in his personal relationship. Such a master intellect like Newton, was found to be jealous and vindictive in inter-personal relationship. This is the second task of religion to help the scientist in his social relations to be cured of evil passion and to cultivate altruistic attitude of love, understanding and disinterestedness in person to person and person to social relationships. Dev Dharma in is humanistic in the sense that it denies all supernatural beings like God. Its religion is not of mystic trances or God intoxication. It is centered in giving Moksha or freedom from evil passions and developing fine sentiments of love and service in relation to others—human beings, animals, plants and inanimate objects.
We have said that Dev Dharma is in complete harmony with the spirit of science and is anxious to develop the relation of mutual service. Let us explain:
A religion is the autobiography of the life and the thoughts of its founder. It has the character of the life and the spirit of the founder. It is outpouring of the life of the founder in word and action. The founder of Dev Dharma explicitly states: Deasya Dharmah se Dev Dharma, i. e. whatever is the religious life of Devatma (Founder) is Dev Dharma. So Dev Dharma is not the name of the society (Dev Samaj) which owes allegiance to him.
Now what is the religious life of the Devatma ? The religious life of Devatma is characterized by:
(a) Complete love of truth;
(b) Complete hatred for untruth;
(c) Complete love of goodness; and
(d) Complete hatred for evil.
Life which evolved under these four-fold love and hatred is called Dev Jiwan.
Devatma’s love of truth helped him to give up all traditional methods like revelation, mystic experience, intuition and to stay committed to the scientific method in his naturalistic re-construction in philosophy of religion. He writes: “The scientific methods of investigation which were imperative for researches into their domains (Vishwa Tattva and Moksha Tattva) gradually acquired sovereign sway over my heart. The love of experimental interrogation had so completely possessed me and had become such an integral part of my mind that it was absolutely impossible for any unverified belief to stay there.” No other religious leader has given this exclusive importance to the scientific method as the only true method of discovery of truth in the field of religion.
His opus magnum entitled Dev Shastra is religious scripture of its own kind. Its conclusions are not revealed. They are arrived at through the scientific method. They are not infallible. In his scriptures Dev Shastra he has said: “ If any of the teachings of Devatma also fails to prove true on being tested by any one of these four criteria (logical consistency and verification are two of them ), it does not deserve to be accepted as true.” There is not only permission in Dev Dharma to reject any belief which is not verified, but there is strength in Dev Dharma to actually reject it. For Devatma has in him complete hatred for untruth. His total personality repels untruth. Therefore he has in him unbounded strength to through out any belief found unverified by scientific tests.
There is a further characteristic of Dev Dharma as a reflection of the life of the founder. The established religions go to science to get some support for their engrained fixed beliefs. They love their beliefs, wish to stay to them and therefore seek science, due to its prestige, to get bulwark for their tottering beliefs. This is love for one’s beliefs, not love for truth.
Devatma had developed in his life love to seek truth unconditionally. Dev Dharma would go to science not so much for support for the beliefs it holds, but for getting its beliefs checked or re-checked to discove