SOUL, GOD AND RELIGION

The voice of the sages, the masters who live in the light have come to earth to accompany man since the beginning of time. They speak of the light that shines wherever we go and lives with us forever, even at this very moment. The messages that we receive from the prophets and holy men and women of all nations are: Peace be with you and to all religions. It is not a message of antagonism, but one of unity.

Not long ago, with advance of the industrial revolution it was almost feared that religion was at an end. Under the tremendous advance of scientific research, old believes were crumbling. Those to whom religion meant only a bundle of creeds and meaningless ceremonials were in despair. Everything was slipping between their fingers. For a time it seemed inevitable that the surging tide of agnosticism and materialism would be foremost in the minds of men and women. There were those who did not dare utter what they thought. Many thought the case hopeless and the cause of religion lost once and for all. But the tide has turned and to the rescue has come, the study of comparative religions.

In the West the dominant religion has always been Christianity. But then one could learn about Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Taoism and others. By engaging in these different studies it became evident that the same fundamental principles taught by Christianity were also taught by all the other religions.

Another revelation in the study of the various religions of the world is that there are three different stages of ideas with regard to the soul and God. In the first place, all religions admit that, apart from the body which perishes, there is a certain part or something which does not change like the body, a part that is immutable, eternal, that never dies; but some of the later religions teach that although there is a part of us that never dies, it had a beginning. But anything that has a beginning must necessarily have an end.

We, the essential part of us, never had a beginning, and will never have an end. And above all of us, above this eternal nature, there is another eternal Being without end, God.

People talk about the beginning of the world, the beginning of man. The word beginning simply means the beginning of the cycle. It does not mean the beginning of the whole Cosmos. It is impossible that creation could have a beginning and not one of us can imagine a time of beginning. That which has a beginning must have an end. This implies that, "Never did we not exist, nor will any of us ever cease to exist

Along with this idea of the soul we find the idea of, perfection. The soul in itself is perfect. The Old Testament states that in the beginning man was perfect. Man made himself impure through his own actions, but he is to regain his old nature, his pure nature.

Some speak of these things in allegories, fables, and symbols. But when we begin to analyze these statements, we find that they all teach that the human soul is in its very nature perfect, and that man is to regain that original purity. But how is this done? It is done by knowing God. The Bible says, "No man can come to God but through the Son." This means is, that one’s union with God is the aim and goal of all human life, but the son-ship must come before we become one with the Father. Remember that man lost his purity through his own actions. When we suffer, it is because of our own acts; God is not to be blamed for it.

Closely connected with these ideas is the doctrine which was universal before the Europeans mutilated it, the doctrine of reincarnation. For more information check out, Reincarnation as Taught by Early Christians, by I. M. Oderberg,

This idea of reincarnation runs parallel with the other doctrine of the eternity of the human soul. Nothing which ends at one point can be without a beginning and nothing that begins at one point can be without an end.

We cannot believe in such a monstrous impossibility as the beginning of the human soul. The doctrine of reincarnation asserts the freedom of the soul. Suppose there was an absolute beginning, then the whole burden of this impurity in man falls upon God. The all-merciful Father responsible for the sins of the world!

If sin comes in this way, why should one suffer more than another? Why such partiality, if it comes from an all-merciful God? Why are millions trampled underfoot? Why do people starve who never did anything to cause it? Who is responsible? If they had no hand in it, surely, God would be responsible.

Therefore the better explanation is that one is responsible for the miseries one suffers. If I set the wheel in motion, I am responsible for the result. And if I can bring misery, I can also stop it. It necessarily follows that we are free. There is no such thing as fate. There is nothing to compel us. What we have done, that we can undo.

We gain all our knowledge through experience. What we call experiences are on the plane of consciousness. For illustration: an individual learns to type, he places the finger on the right key consciously. He repeats this process till the movement of the fingers becomes a habit. He then begins to type without having to pay special attention to each particular key. Similarly, we find in regard to ourselves that our tendencies are the result of past conscious actions.

 A child is born with certain tendencies. Where do they come from? No child is born with a tabula rasa, or a clean, blank slate of a mind. The slate has been written on previously.

The old Greek and Egyptian philosophers taught that no child came with a vacant mind. Each child comes with a hundred tendencies generated by past conscious actions. It did not acquire these in this life, and we are bound to admit that it must have had them in past lives.

The most ardent materialist has to admit that these tendencies are the result of past actions, only they add that these tendencies come through heredity. Our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents come down to us through this law of heredity.

Now if heredity alone explains this, there is no necessity of believing in the soul at all, because the body explains everything. We need not go into the different arguments and discussions on materialism and spiritualism. This makes the point for those who believe in an individual soul.

We see that to come to a reasonable conclusion we must admit that we have had past lives. This is the belief of the great philosophers and sages of the past and of modern times. Such a doctrine was believed in among the Jews. Jesus Christ believed in it. He says in the Bible, "Before Abraham was, I am." And in another place it is said, "This is Elias who is said to have come."

All the different religions which grew among different nations under varying circumstances and conditions had their origin in Asia, and the Asians understand them well. When these teachings came out from their motherland, they became mixed up with errors. The most profound and noble ideas of Christianity were never understood in Europe, because the ideas and images used by the writers of the Bible were foreign to it.

Take for illustration the pictures of the Madonna. Every artist paints his Madonna according to his own pre-conceived ideas. We can see   hundreds of pictures of the Last Supper of Jesus Christ, and he is made to sit at a table. According to tradition, Christ never sat at a table, he squatted with the others; they had a bowl in which they dipped bread and not the kind of bread we eat today.