Avtor: Boris Iljič Gladkov
Conversation One
1. Man has never been able to reconcile himself to the idea that death is the end of his existence. Comparing a living person to his corpse must have led even primitive people to the conclusion that, with the onset of death, “something” leaves the person, departs from him, and that with the departure of this “something,” all that remains of the living person is their body, which immediately begins to decompose, turning to dust. But what is this “something,” where does it go, and where does it remain? This is the riddle that needed an answer. And the first person to be perplexed by this riddle was undoubtedly Adam, weeping over the body of the murdered Abel. The questions: What happened to Abel? Where is he? Where did “that” go that gave him the ability to move, see, hear, think, and speak?… All these questions crowded in the mind of the grief-stricken father; but he was unable to answer them. And one must assume that these perplexities of the first man were resolved by an inspiration from above, a revelation from the God of Love. And thus Adam learned that his Abel had not ceased to exist, but had only passed into another being, and that his soul, leaving his body lifeless, would live forever. Yes, only such a revelation to Adam can explain the universal belief in the posthumous existence of the human soul, the belief in its afterlife. But this faith, passed down from generation to generation, was subject to peculiar additions and even distortions, depending not only on the degree of development of the peoples who professed it, but also on the peculiarities of the countries in which they had to live. However, no matter how the ancient peoples distorted the revelation about the human soul that reached them through tradition, they still believed that the most important component of man, his soul, lives on after the death of the body. But where and how does it live? These are questions that either were not resolved by the original revelation, or the answers to them remained unclear to Adam himself, and perhaps even forgotten by his descendants. Unable to imagine life outside the conditions of the material world, the ancient peoples had no idea of the souls of the dead residing somewhere in the heavenly abodes; they believed that the soul of a deceased person rested in the same grave into which his body was lowered. This belief was so strong that, at the burial of the deceased, his clothes, utensils, and weapons were lowered into the grave; They even killed horses and slaves and placed them in the same grave, fully confident that the horses and slaves buried with the deceased would serve him in the grave as they had in life. Wine and food were also placed in the grave to sate the hunger and quench the thirst of the deceased; and after the burial, for the same purpose, food was placed on the grave and wine was poured over it.
The dead were considered sacred beings; they were treated with the same reverence as gods. All the dead, without exception, were deified, not just heroes and great men. Burial of the dead, offerings to them, and libations at their graves were considered obligatory. And for such a reverent attitude toward the souls of the dead, these souls protected the living members of their families from various misfortunes, participated in their earthly affairs, and generally patronized them. Worship of the dead was characteristic of all Aryans; With them, it also spread to India, as evidenced by the sacred books “Vedas” and “Laws of Manu”; the latter states that the cult of the dead is the most ancient in its origin.
Če pa telo umrlega ostane nepokopano, potem njegova duša, po mnenju starodavnih, ker ni imela doma, ostane večna potepuhinja; večno tava, kot duh, prikazen, se ne ustavi niti za počitek, večno tava in ne najde miru; zagrenjena na ljudi, ker so ji vzeli podzemni dom in daritve, napada žive, jih muči, jim pošilja vse vrste bolezni, pustoši njihova polja in na splošno povzroča številne nesreče.
Tudi v antičnih časih, a nekoliko kasneje, se je pojavila predpostavka, da duše vseh umrlih ljudi živijo v mračnem podzemnem kraljestvu. Kar zadeva vprašanje selitve duš, lahko sodeč po najstarejših pisnih spomenikih, ki so se ohranili do nas, z vso gotovostjo trdimo, da primitivni ljudje in ljudstva antičnih časov niso imeli pojma o selitvi duš.
2. The most ancient people to have left behind written records are now considered to be the people known as the Sumiro-Akkadians. This people, in the most ancient times, at least five thousand years before Christ, arrived in the plain of Shinar, located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and settled there. They left behind numerous written records. They wrote on wet clay tablets, which were then baked and thus survived to this day. They were discovered in the last century during excavations at the site of the ancient city of Nineveh. Thanks to this discovery, we have the opportunity to become acquainted with the worldview of a people who had reached a high level of development at least five thousand years before Christ. We know of no books older than these.
From these books, it is clear that the Sumiro-Akkadians had no concept of the transmigration of souls. These books speak of the creation of the world, of evil spirits, and the fall of the first humans; there is a lengthy account of the flood; they speak of the gods worshiped by the people; they also speak of an underworld inhabited by the souls of the dead; but there is no mention of the souls of the dead being incarnated into other bodies and continuing to live in them.
Svete knjige hindujcev, torej Arijcev, ki so se v davnini preselili iz Srednje Azije v Indijo, se imenujejo Vede. Njihov datum pisanja je ocenjen na približno 1200–1500 pr. n. št. Govorijo o bogovih, ki so jih častili hindujci, prvem človeku, potopu, nesmrtnosti človeške duše in še marsičem; vendar spet ni nobene omembe selitve duš. Najstarejša knjiga Egipčanov, prvi del »Knjige mrtvih«, za katero velja, da je bila sestavljena skoraj dva tisoč let pred Kristusom, govori o nesmrtnosti duš in njihovem bivanju na Otokih blaženih na daljnem Zahodu; vendar spet ni niti besede o selitvi duš.
The books of Moses and other Old Testament books of the Bible also say nothing about the transmigration of souls.
Izkazalo se je torej, da svete knjige štirih najstarejših ljudstev ne govorijo ničesar o selitvi duš; to dokazuje, da niti Sumiro-Akadci niti Arijci, ki so se preselili v Indijo, niti Egipčani niti Judje niso verjeli v selitev duš. Če bi vsa ljudstva, ki naseljujejo zemljo, ali znaten del njih, verjela v selitev duš, bi lahko z gotovostjo rekli, da so to prepričanje podedovali od svojih prednikov in da bi njegov prvotni vir lahko bilo božansko razodetje prvemu človeku. Ker pa, ponavljam, v svetih knjigah najstarejših ljudstev ne najdemo niti najmanjše sledi vere v selitev duš in jo prvič opazimo šele v sorazmerno poznejših časih, in to le pri določenih ljudstvih, moramo sklepati, da to prepričanje ne temelji na razodetju, temveč je človeški izum.
3. According to Bettany (see his “Great Religions of the East”), the sacred books of the Hindus, the Vedas, as well as the collection of rules on sacrifices known as the Brahmanas, did not sufficiently ensure the dominion of the priestly class over the people; and so, in addition to them, new books appeared under the name of the Upanishads; They were compiled by priests, and they contain the first discussions of the transmigration of souls.
Ko so se iz monotonih srednjeazijskih ravnic preselili v Indijo, to resnično čudovito deželo čudes, opazovali življenje sveta v tem novem okolju, tako rekoč poslušali njegov utrip, so indijski filozofi prišli do zaključka, da ves svet živi eno samo življenje in predstavlja eno samo telo, ki ga poganja en sam duh. In ta novi pogled na svet se je v duhovniški filozofiji izrazil s priznanjem enega samega Duha, Brahme, prvega vzroka vsega, kar obstaja, namesto mnogih prejšnjih bogov.
Believing that in the beginning there was only Brahma and that the world was in him, Indian philosophers believed that Brahma is the undeveloped world, and the world is the developed Brahma, and that, consequently, Brahma and the world are one: God is nature, and nature is God. Preserving the revelation transmitted from the first man about the fall of the spirits created by God, Indian philosophers taught that Brahma, evolving into the existing world, first separated spirits from himself. All spirits emerged from Brahma pure; but some, under the leadership of Magazura, fell away from him. Then Brahma, continuing to separate the world from himself, created various bodies for the fallen spirits, in which they were to repent and purify themselves. After enduring 88 transformations, the fallen spirit is incarnated in a human body, in which it can ascend to a state of primordial purity and reunite with Brahma, as a river unites with the ocean—that is, become depersonalized. But the soul, having not yet purified itself in its temporary abode, naturally cannot merge with Brahma, and therefore is incarnated into a new body, and so on, until it achieves complete purity and merges with the world soul, Brahma.
The doctrine of the transmigration of souls, which developed gradually, was finally developed by the time the collection known as the “Laws of Manu” was compiled, sometime around the 9th century BC. The Laws of Manu state that the soul of a deceased person appears before the judgment of the dead in the underworld to give an account of its deeds. Sinful souls are temporarily subjected to the torments of hell, and then inhabit new bodies, albeit lower than those in which they previously lived. Depending on the gravity of their sins, the soul inhabits either the body of a person of a lower caste, or that of an animal, or even an inanimate object. They enter new bodies not by choice, but under duress, in accordance with the deeds of their previous incarnation. The Laws of Manu specify for what sin and into what body the soul must be incarnated. For cruelty, the soul passes into a predatory beast; for stealing meat, into a vulture; for stealing bread, into a rat, and so on. Thus, human souls constantly wander and migrate; they all suffer, and with their suffering, they pay for the sins of their previous existence.
Developing the doctrine of the transmigration of souls, Indian philosophers asserted that the souls of humans and animals are identical, differing only in their temporary bodily form. A soul, for example, trapped in a worm, can eventually inhabit a human body, and conversely, a human soul can be sent for sins into the body of a worm, a frog, or a snake. This is why Indians see every animal as their own kind and treat them kindly, try not to kill them, and abstain from animal food. According to the Laws of Manu, for killing an animal and eating it, the perpetrator will suffer violent death in their new incarnations as many times as there are hairs on the head of the animal they killed.
Na splošno je po Manujevih zakonih človeška duša obsojena na nešteto selitev, ki v nekaterih primerih dosežejo tudi do deset tisoč milijonov krat, torej skoraj v neskončnost. Tako je selitev duš, namesto da bi dušo rešila muk in jo pripeljala do združitve z Brahmo, sama postala neskončna muka. Zato se je poleg doktrine o selitvi duš pojavila tudi doktrina o osvoboditvi iz teh muk.
According to Indian philosophers, the cause of sin is not the abuse of free will, but the human body itself; within it, within the body, resides all evil, all sin. Therefore, to be freed from sins and, consequently, from transmigration into new bodies, one must free oneself from all attachment to one’s body and consider it an enemy, preventing one from achieving union with Brahma. One must abandon it without any attention or care and, in general, treat it in such a way that the soul can leave it at any time without the slightest regret. On this basis, the priests preached the necessity of self-torture and mortification of the flesh; and one who, while receiving various impressions, experienced neither joy nor disgust from them, was considered to have conquered the flesh. While establishing rules of self-torture and mortification, the priests who constituted the Brahmin caste also instituted mandatory sacrifices at every new moon and every full moon, as well as numerous rituals performed with the indispensable participation of Brahmins. By making the performance of all sacrifices and rituals absolutely obligatory for everyone, the Brahmins exempted only themselves. They demanded special respect from everyone and presented themselves as saints, spoken from the lips of Brahma himself. They also served as judges, and their verdicts in criminal and religious cases further exalted their authority. In short, the endless and painful transmigration of souls, strict rules of self-torture and mortification taken to extremes, and slavish submission to the Brahmins drove many to despair and forced them to seek liberation from both transmigration and the rule of the Brahmins. And so, as a protest against Brahmanism, Buddhism emerged. 4. The founder of Buddhism, according to legend, was Siddartha, a king’s son from the Sakya clan. He was also known as Sakya-Muni, meaning the sage Sakya, as well as the ascetic Gautama and Buddha, meaning the awakened, the knowing, the perfect one.
According to legend, Siddartha once saw a helpless old man, then a leper, and finally a dead man. He pondered the miseries of human life, left his home, donned the garb of a wandering monk, and wandered for a long time, seeking to understand the cause of suffering. He wandered as a mendicant monk, subjecting himself to self-torture and all manner of hardships, but neither conversations with various teachers and wandering monks, nor his desire to mortify his flesh, led him to understanding the cause of suffering. Finally, sitting one day under a tree, which has since become known as the tree of knowledge, he was lost in thought. And it was then that he learned the secret of the transmigration of souls and the four truths about suffering. Having thus become enlightened, the ascetic Gautama ended his wanderings and began preaching his teachings.
Njegov nauk o selitvi duš se je bistveno razlikoval od nauka brahmanov. Brahmani so učili, da se duša seli v različna telesa kot kazen za prejšnje življenje in z namenom, da bi ga popravila, tako da se po dolgem nizu selitev očisti grehov in se vrne k svojemu izvoru, Brahmi, da bi se z njim dokončno združila. Gautama ni nikoli govoril o Brahmi; in ko so ga učenci vprašali, od kod prihaja ta svet, je rekel, da je vprašanje prazno in nepomembno. In ko so ga vprašali, ali duša obstaja po reinkarnaciji, je odgovoril, da to znanje ne prispeva k doseganju svetosti. Na splošno je učil le, kako se osvoboditi trpljenja, in ni maral, da bi ga spraševali o Bogu, izvoru sveta, večnosti ali nesmrtnosti duše. Na vsa taka vprašanja je odgovoril: "Kar mi ni razodeto, pusti neodkrito."
By recognizing the futility of all discussions of God, Gautama thereby proved that he did not believe in His existence. Rejecting God, he naturally could not agree with the Brahman teaching that the human soul is a fallen spirit, which, through a long series of reincarnations, must be cleansed of sin and merge with its original source. Rejecting God, he was forced to reject prayers, sacrifices, and, in general, all the religious rites established by the Brahmans. While preaching complete atheism, Gautama did not reject the transmigration of souls; he explained this transmigration as a kind of slavish attraction of the spirit to the body, to form; and he found that man can free himself from such attraction and subordination only through his own efforts. Only by severing all ties with the body will the soul be freed from the need to incarnate into new bodies and pass into Nirvana, that is, into an extinct existence. Only then will it attain the bliss of non-existence.
Po Gautaminem nauku je življenje neprekinjen niz trpljenja. »Kaj mislite,« je vprašal svoje učence, »je večje od vse vode, ki jo vsebujejo štiri velika morja, ali solz, ki ste jih prelili, ko ste tavali na svojih potovanjih, jokali in jokali, ker ste dobili tisto, kar ste sovražili, in vam bilo odrečeno tisto, kar ste ljubili? Smrt očeta, matere, brata, sestre, sina, hčere, izguba ljubljenih, izguba premoženja – vse to ste doživeli v tem dolgem obdobju. Da, prelite je bilo več solz kot vse vode, ki jo vsebujejo štiri velika morja! Vse življenje je eno samo trpljenje.« In to je prva resnica, ki jo je Gautama razumel.
The second truth concerns the origin of suffering, that is, its cause. The cause of suffering is the thirst for life, attachment to it, to the body; it is our desires and sensations. The satisfaction of desires produces a sensation of pleasure, while dissatisfaction produces a sensation of sorrow. But in human life, even the most essential desires are rarely satisfied; and this dissatisfaction of desires constitutes the fundamental cause of suffering.
Ko je tako ugotovil vzrok trpljenja, je Gautama prešel k razmišljanju o uničenju tega vzroka; in odkril je tretjo resnico: prenehanje trpljenja ...
If the cause of suffering is the sensation of displeasure from the dissatisfaction of desires, then, to end suffering, one must destroy not only all desires, not only the thirst for life and attachment to the body, but also the very sensation of dissatisfaction of desires; one must sever, while still alive, all connection with the body and, through it, with the entire sensory world; one must reach a state where the senses perceive nothing. Only with such complete detachment from the world is the liberation of the spirit from the body, the cessation of further incarnations, and the transition to blissful nothingness possible. If the soul has even the slightest relationship with the external world, then this relationship requires that it be in a corresponding material form. Therefore, the liberation of the soul from transmigration, complete freedom from matter and all evil, and therefore complete bliss, occurs only when a person detaches himself from the external world, when his soul casts off its shackles and, as it were, emerges from its material form. Only under these conditions does the onset of death free the soul from the need to re-enter into connection with any body; only then does it cease all relationship with the external world and will never be reborn: “the body of the perfect is cut off from the force that leads to origination.”
Having thus discovered three truths—about suffering, about the origin and cessation of suffering—Gautama turned to the question of how to end suffering, how to achieve a complete break with the matter that envelops the soul; and he discovered the fourth truth: the path to the cessation of suffering. Honesty, introspection, and wisdom—according to Gautama, this is the path to the end of suffering.
Honesty consists of strictly following five rules: 1. Do not kill any living being. 2. Do not trespass on another’s property. 3. Do not touch another’s wife (and for monks, complete chastity). 4. Do not tell lies. 5. Do not drink alcoholic beverages.
Moreover, Gautama demanded from his followers non-malice and a friendly disposition towards the whole world; for, “Enmity is never pacified by enmity; it is pacified only by non-malice.” Non-resistance to evil is carried to the extreme. He who is scolded by evil people should say: “They are kind, they are very kind, that they do not beat me.” If they beat him, he says: “They are kind that they do not throw stones at me.” If they kill him, he says: “There are disciples of the Exalted One, to whom body and life cause torment, grief and disgust, and they seek a violent death. And such a death I have found without seeking it.” The sage is indifferent to everything, and no actions of people touch him. He is not angry at the injustice done to him, but he does not suffer from this injustice. His body, against which his enemies commit violence, is not he himself; It is something foreign, alien to him. The sage is the same with those who have caused him grief as with those who have brought him joy. He who strives for perfection must be ready to give everything, even that which is most dear to him. But charity should be given not to the poor, but to a monk. The gift that a monk, out of kindness and compassion, allows people to give to him, brings the benefactor the richest fruits.
Pravzaprav je po naukih Gautama, imenovanega Buda, torej Popolnega, le življenje beraškega meniha lahko sveto življenje in le on lahko doseže blaženost neobstoja. Gautama sam je bil beraški menih in je ustanovil skupnost takšnih menihov. Bili so paraziti v pravem pomenu besede: niso se obremenjevali z nobenim delom, niso obdelovali zemlje, se niso ukvarjali z nobeno obrtjo in so si vsa sredstva za preživetje zaslužili izključno z beračenjem. Resnično so živeli strogo asketsko življenje: jedli so le enkrat na dan in pred poldnevom šli ven prosit miloščino; oblačili so se v cunje, darovali ali nabirali iz ostankov ob cesti; živeli so v kolibah in se podvrgli vsem vrstam odvzemov. Ves svoj čas so preživeli v samozatopljenosti, s pomočjo samohipnoze so se trudili, da bi se oddaljili od vseh občutkov in celo dosegli stanje, ko celo um preneha razmišljati.
Tako vsa Budova moralna pravila od svojih sledilcev zahtevajo negativne vrline. Kar zadeva pozitivne vrline, še posebej ljubezen do drugih, tisti, ki si prizadevajo za popolnost, ne smejo pozabiti, da vsaka privlačnost srca do drugih bitij veže človeka na materialni svet, od katerega se mora osvoboditi. »Vse žalosti in pritožbe, vse trpljenje izvirajo iz ljubezni do nekoga ali nečesa; kjer ni ljubezni, ni trpljenja.« Zato so le tisti ljudje, ki ne ljubijo ničesar in nikogar, osvobojeni trpljenja; kdor si prizadeva za kraj, kjer ni ne žalosti ne žalosti, naj ne ljubi.«
Thus, the fundamental rule of Buddhist morality is the narrowest self-love, taken to its extreme. Meekness, mercy, and non-resistance to evil are based not on selfless love for one’s neighbors, but on a narrow self-love, on the desire to quickly renounce everything sensual and material, to forget those closest to oneself and to free oneself from all obligations to them. Gautama told his disciples about his penultimate incarnation. He was a king’s son, but was unjustly deprived of the throne. Renouncing all possessions, he walked into the desert with his wife and two children; there he lived in a hut he built from leaves. But one day, a beggar came to him and asked for his children. Gautama smiled, took both children, and gave them to the beggar. When he gave up his children, the earth trembled. Afterward, a Brahmin came to him and asked for his wife, virtuous and faithful. Then Gautama joyfully gave him his wife, and the earth trembled again. Concluding this story, Gautama added: “I did not think then that by this I had attained the qualities of Buddha.”
Gautama said that the earth trembled twice when he gave his children and wife to passersby. And how could the earth not tremble, how could the stones not cry out at such self-satisfied hypocrisy from a heartless man! And yet there are those who dare to say that our Lord Jesus Christ borrowed all His moral teachings from Gautama the Buddha! I have deliberately dwelt in some detail on Buddhist morality to demonstrate the gulf that separates it from Christ’s teaching of selfless love, the love that compels a person to sacrifice their life for the good of others, without any consideration of personal gain. In His farewell address to the Apostles, Christ said, “This is My commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:12-13). And Buddha said, “Only he who loves nothing and no one can be saved.”
So, to be freed from suffering, according to Buddha’s teaching, one must first of all be an honest person, that is, embodying all the negative virtues within oneself, without, however, becoming attached to anything earthly, loving no one and nothing.
But this is not enough. One must purify oneself by constant immersion in oneself, in one’s “I.” Solitude, the solitude of the forest, is best for self-immersion.
Retreating to the forest, the follower of Buddha would sit on the ground, legs crossed beneath him, hands clasped, and remain completely still. Gradually detaching himself from the surrounding world, the seeker thus lost the ability to feel anything and slowed his breathing so much that one could mistake him for a lifeless, frozen being. Sometimes the seeker would fix his motionless gaze on a single object, a single point on it; he would stare intently at this point, sometimes closing and sometimes opening his eyes. Practicing this contemplation for a long time, he would begin to see the object he was contemplating not only with his eyes open but also with his eyes closed; in short, he resorted to the same techniques that all hypnotists now employ. Fixing his vision on a single point, he entered a state of hypnotic sleep, when the human organism actually loses all sensitivity and the will becomes completely suppressed. Fixing his thought on a single word, for example, the word “forest,” he tried to concentrate all his attention on this word and think of nothing else. Repeating this word countless times without thinking of anything else, he reached such a state that he could no longer think of anything else; and it seemed to him that nothing existed but the forest. Then, he tried to distract his thought from this image and concentrated it on the image of infinity. Long and motionless, immersed in contemplation of spatial infinity, he reached the image of absolute emptiness, the realization that the world does not exist. And such a state of numbness is considered, according to the teachings of Buddha, close to redemption, to the bliss of non-existence. The third condition necessary for liberation from suffering is wisdom, that is, knowledge of the Buddha’s teachings, knowledge of how to attain Nirvana.
Toda sam Buda je rekel, da je odrešitev od trpljenja in s tem od reinkarnacije na voljo le beraškemu menihu. In z njim se ne moremo ne strinjati, saj lahko vse te tehnike samozadovoljevanja in samohipnoze izvajajo le popolnoma leni ljudje, tisti, ki so se odpovedali svetu in so poleg tega prepričani, da jim bodo drugi poskrbeli za hrano in oblačila – da bodo drugi delali zanje, čeprav sami ne storijo ničesar.
Having rejected God and, as a result, finding no consolation for man, the Buddha saw only grief, suffering, and evil everywhere and in everything; and all his efforts were directed exclusively toward freeing man from suffering. Having created a godless religion of despair to achieve this goal, the ascetic Gautama recognized, however, that his teaching could not endure for long. He said to his beloved disciple, Ananda: “The teaching of truth will not last long; it will exist for five hundred years. Then faith will disappear from the earth until a new Buddha appears.” If the ascetic Gautama had considered himself truly perfect, knowing the truth, he would have no reason to expect another, more perfect One; but Gautama foresaw His appearance. And the Perfect One, Knower of the truth, Christ the God-Man, indeed appeared almost at the very time Gautama had predicted—that is, five hundred years later—and brought a divine teaching, before which the philosophy of Buddha pales, as a wax candle pales before the light of the midday sun.
Nauk, ki je zavračal Boga, ni preživel niti petsto let. Privrženci Gautama Bude so ga oboževali in častili kot boga. Sodobni budizem pa si je veliko sposodil od skoraj vseh drugih ver, zato je zelo oddaljen od naukov asketa Gautama in »se zdi, da je mešanica vseh vrst vraževerja s čarovništvom, čarovništvom, malikovanjem in fetišizmom«.
Toliko sem se osredotočil na temeljna načela naukov Gautama Bude, ker je pravi čas, da se tisti, ki jih ne poznajo, seznanijo z njegovimi nauki. Budizem je priljubljen v zahodni Evropi; tudi grofa Leva Tolstoja je fasciniral. Morda bo priljubljen tudi tukaj v Sankt Peterburgu, kjer se gradi Budov tempelj in kjer so graditelji tega templja inteligentni ljudje, ki so bili prej navedeni kot pravoslavni kristjani. Zato je pravi čas, da opozorimo na fascinacijo nad budizmom, s katero ateisti poskušajo nadomestiti nauke našega Gospoda Jezusa Kristusa. 5. Nauk o selitvi duš je prodrl iz Indije v Egipt in je bil vključen v drugi del egipčanske "Knjige mrtvih". Egipt je dosegel že dolgo pred pojavom Gautama Bude, saj je popolnoma podoben brahmanskemu in ne budističnemu pogledu na pomen in namen zaporednih reinkarnacij. Dosegel je tudi stare Grke; vendar se med njimi ni razširil preko grških filozofskih šol in ni bil last Grkov kot ljudstva; ni bil ljudska vera.
According to Plato, the Creator of the world created a multitude of souls and placed them in the heavenly bodies so that they might live a divine life there. But as soon as these souls became attracted to the sensory world, God began sending them into human bodies. Embodied in a body, the soul had to struggle with the lusts of the body; and if it emerged victorious from this struggle, then, after the death of the body, it again ascended to the heavenly body where it had lived before, for an eternal life of bliss with pure spirits. But if the soul became addicted to the sensory world during its earthly life, it is again incarnated in a human body. Then, as it falls morally in its incarnations, it migrates into animal bodies and undergoes this migration until, through the struggle with passions, it attains its original purity; and then it ascends to its heavenly body for an eternal life of bliss. Without touching on the teachings of other Greek philosophers, some of whom, like Aristotle, denied the transmigration of souls, while others believed in it, we will move directly to the teachings of the Christian philosopher and teacher Origen.
During the time of Origen (185–254 AD), the question of the origin of human souls arose in the Christian world. Many, agreeing with the pagan philosophers of antiquity, believed that at birth, a soul, created by God before the creation of the visible world, enters the human body. Others believed that God creates a soul for each newborn. Still others, including Tertullian, asserted that the soul is born from the human soul, just as the body is.
Examining these three opinions, Origen argues that the soul is a simple and indivisible being; therefore, it cannot communicate its essence to others and cannot give birth to another soul. Rejecting, therefore, Tertullian’s teaching on the generation of souls, Origen did not agree with the assumption that God creates souls for newly born people. If God created souls (says Origen), then, of course, He would create them pure and innocent. But why does He immediately condemn them to the most diverse states in this world? Some people, for example, will be born with bodies completely healthy and beautiful; others, on the contrary, with bodies sickly and even deformed, afflicted either with blindness or dumbness; some will be born amidst comforts, contentment, and even excess, others will be born in poverty and even crying need; some will be born of enlightened and well-bred parents and are immediately surrounded by cares for physical and moral education; others are descended from wild and crude barbarians and know no other environment than barbarism, savagery, and cruelty; In short, some are condemned from childhood to favorable, joyful, and happy conditions of life, while others, on the contrary, are condemned to the most difficult and barely bearable. How can all this be explained if souls are created by God for every newborn human being, and if, immediately upon leaving the hands of the Creator, they could do absolutely nothing that could deserve their happy or unhappy fate on earth?
If we assume (Origen continues) that God, at His own discretion, creates some souls perfect and good, others evil, and accordingly predetermines their different fates on earth—then this would be slander and blasphemy against God; for where then would be the holiness and truth of God?
All these perplexities are resolved, according to Origen, by the assumption that spirits were created by God even before the creation of the sensible world; all were created equally pure and blissful in the supersensible world. But some of them abused their free will, grew cold toward God, and thereby fell morally. Then, with His Word, the Almighty God created the visible world, which was brought into being solely as a result of the fall of the spirits. Having thus created the material world to punish the fallen spirits and restore them, through correction, to their original state, God began sending them into different bodies and condemning them to different fates. Thus, before being born into this world, people already existed and lived as spirits, and even then they were morally distinct from one another. Therefore, when incarnated in human bodies, they exhibit different characteristics almost from birth. Some people are evil and cruel from infancy, while others, on the contrary, are kind, meek, and obedient. How can such differences in the character of children be explained if not by the qualities of the spirits incarnated in their bodies? On the other hand, the innateness of the idea of God in all people proves, according to Origen, that spirits, when incarnating in human bodies, bring with them a kind of memory of what they knew in their previous existence.
This is the essence of Origen’s teaching, which he, however, later renounced, calling it madness. It was also recognized as madness by the Church at the Second and Fifth Ecumenical Councils.
6. Ko sem vam povedal, kako je nastala doktrina o selitvi duš, bom poskušal dokazati njeno nedoslednost. Začel bom z nauki brahmanov in Gautama Bude.
Najbolj temeljna napaka v njihovem nauku je bila zanikanje osebnega Boga, Stvarnika vesolja. Brahmani so verjeli v univerzalnega Duha, Brahmo, neločljivega od narave in z njo deli življenje. Buda pa v takšnega boga ni verjel. Z zanikanjem obstoja osebnega Boga, ki bi edini lahko nadzoroval duše mrtvih in jih pošiljal, da se inkarnirajo v različna telesa, na podlagi njihovih zaslug, bi morali brahmani in Buda zavrniti samo selitev duš. Vendar so verjeli v selitev duš in svoje sledilce učili, da duša umrle osebe ne naseljuje prvega telesa, na katerega naleti, temveč tistega, ki je bilo posebej namenjeno. Če pa Boga ni, kdo potem sodi človekovo zemeljsko življenje? Kdo določi natančno telo, v katerega je duša namenjena? Soočeni s tem vprašanjem, ki je spodkopalo celotno doktrino o selitvi duš, so si brahmani zamislili nekakšno sodišče mrtvih, pred katerim naj bi se duša, osvobojena svoje minljive lupine, pojavila. Gautama Buda je tudi to razsodišče zavrnil in pridigal, da duša, ki še ni dosegla popolnosti in zato ni pretrgala svojih vezi z materijo, gravitira k njej in si ustvari telo, ki si ga zasluži. S priznanjem moči duše umrlega, da se sodi in si ustvari ustrezno telo, Buda s tem priznava vsemogočnost duše, moč, ki je po našem razumevanju lastna le Bogu. Če pa je duša vsemogočna, zakaj se potem reinkarnira, da bi znova trpela? Ali ne bi bilo bolje, da takoj prekine vse vezi z materijo, vso privlačnost do nje in preide v blaženo ničnost, v Nirvano? Vendar se izkaže, da duša ne more prekiniti svoje povezave z materijo in preiti neposredno v Nirvano, h kateri si z vso močjo prizadeva. To pomeni, da ni vsemogočna; to pomeni, da si ne more ustvariti telesa, v katerega se mora inkarnirati. In če tega ne more storiti sama, kdo jo potem obsoja na nadaljnje inkarnacije? Kdo potem izvaja takšne prisilne inkarnacije duše? Gautama na ta vprašanja ne ponuja odgovora. Pravzaprav nihče ne more odgovoriti nanje, saj zanikanje osebnega Boga neizogibno pomeni zanikanje selitve duš in celo zanikanje njihovega obstoja.
Let us now attempt to introduce the necessary correction into the teachings of the Brahmans and Gautama the Buddha: let us assume that the transmigration of souls exists, that Almighty God, the Creator of the world, assigns the soul one body or another for each subsequent incarnation, and that the soul’s incarnation itself is accomplished by the omnipotent power of God. Let us see whether these teachings, even with this amendment, do not contradict common sense.
Če predpostavimo, da Bog sam preseljuje duše v različna telesa, potem moramo priznati tudi, da morajo biti Božje odredbe glede preselitve povsem razumne. Vendar pa preselitve duše umrlega grešnika v telo živali, rastline ali kamna težko lahko štejemo za racionalno ali smotrno. Navsezadnje se preselitev duš v različna telesa po mnenju brahmanov, Platona in Origena dogaja kot kazen za grehe. Da pa kazen doseže svoj popravni namen, se mora kaznovani zavedati razloga, zaradi katerega je kaznovan. In ker niti živali, niti rastline niti kamni nimajo zavesti in zato ne morejo razumeti razloga, zaradi katerega se vanje uteleša grešna duša, je jasno, da takšne preselitve duš, ki je očitno nesmotrna, ne more izvesti Vrhovni Um, Stvarnik vesolja.
According to Brahman teachings, the transmigration of souls is performed to punish and correct a sinful soul. If this is true, then why would a soul guilty of, say, theft be transferred into the body of a rat? As if a rat could better understand the vileness of theft and purify the soul embodied in it from this vice? Zoology knows of no virtuous rats who consider it shameful to live at someone else’s expense; on the contrary, zoologists assert that the rat’s entire existence is based on theft. Clearly, a soul guilty of theft and incarnated in a rat’s body will become so accustomed to theft during its life as a rat that it will find it impossible to live any other way. The question arises: does such a transmigration achieve its corrective goals?
On the other hand, what is the point of placing a sinful soul, for example, in a piece of stone or iron, for the purpose of correction? If the soul undergoes a new migration only after death or the destruction of the body in which it was inhabited, then, one wonders, when will it emerge from some granite cliff whose decay requires hundreds of thousands of years?
So, it must be acknowledged that the idea of souls migrating into the bodies of animals, plants, and stones defies common sense and fails to achieve its purpose.
In če doktrino o selitvi duš očistimo te skrajnosti, se nam predstavi v naslednji razlagi:
7. Vsemogočni Bog, Stvarnik sveta, je najprej ustvaril svet čistih, brezmadežnih duhov za večen, blagoslovljen obstoj. Ker pa so mnogi duhovi odpadli od Boga in prenehali ubogati njegovo voljo, je Bog ustvaril vidni svet, materialni svet, da bi jih kaznoval, popravil in jim povrnil prejšnjo svetost. In Bog je začel pošiljati padle duhove v ta materialni svet, ki so naseljevali človeška telesa z razumevanjem, da če se padli duh, medtem ko prebiva v človeškem telesu, pokesa, preoblikuje in doseže svojo prejšnjo čistost, se bo po smrti telesa vrnil v bivališče večne blaženosti. Če pa namen inkarnacije ni dosežen, se po smrti telesa, v katerem je bil duh, po Božji volji inkarnira v novo telo in tako naprej, dokler ne doseže svoje prejšnje svetosti. To je bistvo nauka, očiščenega skrajnosti.
Na čem temelji? Znanstvena metoda je neuporabna za razumevanje skrivnosti selitve duš, ker sama selitev duš iz enega telesa v drugo ni opazna, četudi se zgodi; zato so poskusi za potrditev teh opažanj nemogoči. In brez opazovanja in preverjanja s poskusi je znanstvena razlaga katerega koli pojava nemogoča. Razodetje, tako Staro kot Novozavezno, nam prav tako ne daje odgovora na to vprašanje. Zato je treba priznati, da celoten nauk o selitvi duš temelji na eni sami predpostavki. Graditi svoj pogled na svet in svojo vero na eni sami predpostavki, ki je poleg tega v očitnem nasprotju z naukom našega Gospoda Jezusa Kristusa, je več kot nepremišljeno.
But let us examine this teaching for now without illuminating it with the light of Christ’s truth.
It is said that all the souls of people who have ever attained holiness, as well as all the souls of people living today, are spirits that fell away from God before the creation of the world. Consequently, there were a great many spirits who fell away from God. And if God created the material world to punish and correct rebellious spirits, then it would seem that immediately after the creation of the world, He should have incarnated them all into human bodies—that is, He should have created a great multitude of people at once. But why does God create only one pair of people? Why does He incarnate only two fallen spirits into the bodies of Adam and Eve?
Why does He leave the remaining spirits unpunished and uncorrected until the progeny of the first humans multiplies? In answering these questions, we must either reject the Old Testament revelation and believe that God immediately created a great multitude of human bodies and embodied in them all the spirits who rebelled against Him, including, of course, those we call evil spirits or demons. Or we must admit that before the creation of the world, only two spirits rebelled against God, subsequently incarnated in the bodies of Adam and Eve. However, even after the creation of the visible world, there continues to be a constant falling away from God of pure spirits, and that this falling away is constantly increasing, for each new human being requires a new falling away from God by some spirit, so that it can spiritualize the nascent body. In short, in such a case, we must admit that the revolution in heaven continues uninterrupted and grows ever greater as the human race multiplies. But then we come to the opposite conclusion. Then we must admit that human bodies are not created by God to incarnate fallen spirits, but rather that the spirits themselves become fallen in order to be incarnated into nascent human bodies. And since the human race multiplies by God’s will, the fall of spirits, as absolutely necessary for the spiritualization of bodies, also occurs by God’s command. But this is such an absurdity that we can’t go any further.
Torej, ko smo nauk o selitvi duš očistili te nenavadnosti, bomo ostali pri naslednji razlagi. Bog ne uteleša padlih duhov v človeška telesa, temveč duše, ki jih ustvarja po potrebi. Če je človek živel pravično, brezgrešno življenje, se po smrti telesa njegova duša povzpne v Božja bivališča za večno življenje blaženosti. Če pa je duša v svojem zemeljskem življenju grešila in zato ni vredna blaženosti večnega življenja, jo Bog reinkarnira v človeško telo, da se v novem telesu pokesa, popravi in doseže svetost. Če v novem telesu še naprej greši, se po smrti telesa reinkarnira, z novimi inkarnacijami, ki se nadaljujejo, dokler duša ne doseže svetosti. S ponavljanjem inkarnacije iste grešne duše v različnih telesih jo Bog kot kazen za grehe prejšnjih inkarnacij namesti v telesa ljudi, ki so v svojem zemeljskem življenju obsojeni na različne nesreče in nesreče. Če se duša niti v takšni inkarnaciji ne odpove svojim grehom, jo Bog položi v telo nekoga, ki je obsojen na še hujšo usodo, in tako naprej, dokler duša ne spozna vse teže svojih grehov in se jih popolnoma ne očisti. Tako so vse razlike med ljudmi, vse težave in nesreče, ki jih doživljajo, neizogibna posledica prejšnjega življenja duše, v njenih predhodnih inkarnacijah.
V takšni obliki ostane nauk o selitvi duš, če ga očistimo vseh nečistoč, ki ne prenesejo najmanjše kritike.
But, in discussing the doctrine of the transmigration of souls, even in such a purified form, we cannot help but notice the obvious unattainability of the purpose for which souls are forced to migrate from one body to another. It is said that a sinful soul is forcibly inhabited a new body as punishment for the sins of its previous incarnation and for its correction, to bring it to holiness. Punishment is imposed here, obviously, not as vengeance, but for the purpose of correction; therefore, for punishment to achieve its purpose, the soul being punished must know why it is being punished. To abandon the sins of a previous incarnation, one must know these sins, one must recognize their criminality and punishability. In short, a soul subjected to a new incarnation must remember all the sins of its previous, and even all previous, incarnations, and recognize that it is precisely for these sins that it is forced to endure such a miserable, such a wretched existence here on earth. However, no one remembers anything from the supposed past of their soul; no one can say who they were before birth and for what sins they were sent into this world.
In defense of the doctrine of the transmigration of souls, Origen cites the innateness of the idea of God in humans. In his view, the idea of God, inherent in all people, is nothing other than the soul’s recollection of its previous existence in the supersensible world as pure spirit, a recollection of its closeness to God. But if the thought of God were truly the soul’s recollection of its former angelic existence, then why can’t the soul of even the holiest person tell us anything about that period of its life? If it remembers that there is a God, the Creator of the entire world, then surely it must also remember its blessed life and its fall, which led to its first incarnation in a human body? However, it remembers nothing of the sort; and this gives us reason to assert that the thought of God cannot be considered the soul’s recollection of its former existence.
Plato explained the innateness of the idea of God in all people by the kinship of the human soul with God, i.e., its origin from God Himself. This explanation is entirely consistent with the Old Testament revelation, which states that, having created the human body, God animated it with His Spirit, breathing into it the breath of life (Genesis 2:1).
If we assume that the human soul possesses memory only when united with the human body and therefore, upon leaving the body, forgets everything, then this would be to deny the very existence of the soul. After all, those who deny the memory of the soul side with materialists, who consider memory to be the result of the movement of brain particles. One thing must be acknowledged: either the soul is a free and rational being, and therefore possesses memory, or there is no soul at all. But since those who believe in the transmigration of souls also believe in the existence of the soul, they have no right to deprive it of memory. And if the soul truly remembers nothing of the past preceding its incarnation in a human body, then that past did not exist, meaning the soul never existed before and never incarnated into any bodies; therefore, the very idea of the transmigration of souls is nothing more than a failed attempt to lift the veil that conceals the unknown from us.
So, it must be acknowledged that the soul, as a free, rational being, must remember its previous incarnations, if there were any; but since no human soul remembers them, it follows that no one has had previous incarnations; therefore, there has never been and is no transmigration of souls.
Ko nadaljujemo z razpravo o doktrini o selitvi duš, ne moremo spregledati njenega popolnega protislovja z našimi predstavami o Božji modrosti in pravičnosti.
Pravijo, da Bog uteleša grešne duše v človeška telesa, da bi jih popravil in jim povrnil prvotno svetost. Seveda plemenit cilj. Če pa je prav to namen, zaradi katerega Bog preseljuje duše iz enega telesa v drugo, potem morajo biti sredstva, ki jih Bog uporablja, seveda razumna in morajo izražati najvišjo pravičnost, saj Bog ne more storiti ničesar nerazumnega, niti ne more biti krivičen.
Razmislimo torej, ali je mogoče prepoznati kot razumna in pravična sredstva, ki jih po mnenju zagovornikov selitve duš Bog uporablja za dosego tega cilja.
Proponents of the doctrine of the transmigration of souls assert that, in order to bring a sinful soul to repentance and correction, God, at its next incarnation, condemns it to a fate worse than the one it experienced; and if the sinful soul, in this worse environment, has not attained its original holiness, then, at the next incarnation, God condemns it to an even worse fate, and continues to do so until, finally, the soul recognizes the full heinousness of its sins and begins to live a righteous life. If the soul remembered all the sins of its previous incarnations and recognized that it was precisely for these sins that it was suffering such a disastrous fate, and that in the future it would suffer even worse if it continued to sin, then it would undoubtedly be compelled to repent and reform. But since it remembers nothing of its previous incarnations, cannot compare its previous life with the present, and cannot understand that it is being punished by the misfortunes of the present life for the sins of its former one, such punishment cannot lead the sinful soul to repentance and reform. On the contrary, by condemning the sinful soul to an ever worse fate, forcing it to endure an increasingly miserable existence, God thereby creates conditions for it that are not only unfavorable to repentance but, on the contrary, hinder the recognition of its sinfulness. By gradually relegating the soul to ever lower levels, one would eventually reach the point of incarnating the soul into the body of, say, some savage who not only doesn’t recognize that murder is a sin, but even proudly boasts of the number of people he’s killed and eaten. How does such a transmigration differ from the already condemned transmigration of a thief’s soul into a rat, or the soul of a cruel person into a tiger? And can such an inappropriate transmigration influence the correction of a sinful soul? No! Such a transmigration can only transform a thief into a desperate robber, and a cruel person into a bloodthirsty predator.
The inexpediency, and therefore the unreasonableness, of such reincarnations is all too obvious. It would perhaps be more expedient to incarnate a sinful soul in such a way that it would each time be placed in conditions increasingly conducive to repentance and correction; that is, it would need to be gradually transferred to higher and higher levels of human existence. If, for example, a sinful soul could not be reformed in an ignorant, almost savage family, unable to distinguish good from evil, then, in its next incarnation, it would need to be placed in the conditions of a cultured people’s life, thereby teaching it the meaning of good and evil. And in subsequent incarnations, again, remove from it not only all incentives for sin, but even temptations themselves. With such a method of incarnation, the correction of a sinful soul would indeed be possible. But one wonders, would it be fair to reward a sinner for his sins by improving his living conditions in subsequent incarnations? If, in return for their sins, people enjoy ever greater comforts in earthly life in the future, then, on the one hand, the sinner will have no reason to reform; on the other hand, if reformation does occur, it will be not voluntary but forced; and actions committed under duress cannot be considered meritorious.
Thus, the doctrine of the transmigration of souls, even in such a carefully refined form, appears entirely inappropriate, therefore unreasonable, and also clearly unjust. And since God, according to our understanding, cannot do anything unreasonably or unjustly, it must be acknowledged that this doctrine itself has no rational basis.
8. The Indian priests, the ascetic Gautama, and the ancient Greek sages could be forgiven for being carried away by speculations about the transmigration of souls. They sought clues to the unknown, wanted to penetrate the afterlife, and wanted to know what fate awaits man after death. It’s no wonder that, groping in the darkness, they found no way to the light. But for us, to whom our Lord Jesus Christ illuminated this darkness and showed the way to knowledge of the truth, such infatuation is inexcusable. And if there are still people among us who believe in the transmigration of souls, it is explained by their insufficient familiarity with the Gospel, their ignorance of the person of Jesus Christ, their lack of a firm, unshakable conviction that Christ was truly the God-man, the Son of God, and that therefore He knew the world’s mysteries hidden from man. If He spoke of them, then what He said, as the word of God, is the absolute truth, which we must accept as such.
Lani so v tej dvorani potekale razprave prav na to temo: »Kdo je bil Kristus?«. Njihov cilj je bil prepričati poslušalce, da niti naravoslovje niti filozofija ne moreta odgovoriti na vprašanja o izvoru sveta in človeka, niti o naši prihodnji usodi, in da nam je le Kristus, Bogočlovek, Kristus, Božji Sin, prinesel pravi odgovor na ta vprašanja. Da bi namreč našli mir in se izognili tavanju v temi, reševanju vprašanj, ki jih človeški um ne more rešiti, se moramo prepričati o Kristusovi božanskosti in nato na tem trdnem prepričanju utemeljiti svojo vero v vse, kar je Gospod rekel, čeprav je veliko nerazumljivo. Kdor je prepričan o Kristusovi božanskosti, bo v njem videl božansko avtoriteto in bo zavrnil vse, kar se ne strinja z naukom, ki ga ta avtoriteta posvečuje. Nauk našega Gospoda Jezusa Kristusa bo v rokah tako prepričanega kristjana svetilka, ki osvetljuje vse, kar se je prej zdelo temno ali je bilo predstavljeno v lažni luči. Naj iskreno svetujem tistim, ki verjamejo v selitev duš, naj resno preučijo vprašanje, kdo je bil Kristus. In če bo potrebna naša pomoč, bomo z veseljem ponovili naše pogovore o tej temi iz lanskega leta.
Recimo, da predpostavka o selitvi duš očitno nasprotuje naukom našega Gospoda Jezusa Kristusa; in za tiste, ki verjamejo v Kristusovo božanskost, je to dovolj, da zavrnejo kakršno koli idejo o reinkarnaciji duš mrtvih.
Da je Jezus Kristus poznal nauk o selitvi duš, se strinjajo vsi: tako verniki v njegovo božanskost kot neverniki. Verniki priznavajo, da je v svoji vsevednosti poznal ta nauk; neverniki pa pravijo, da je do tridesetega leta veliko potoval, obiskal Indijo in Egipt ter preučeval religije in filozofske sisteme skoraj vseh ljudstev svojega časa. Čeprav svoje domneve o teh potovanjih ne morejo utemeljiti in jo lahko ovržemo s sklicevanjem na evangelije, jih prav njihova domneva o Kristusovih potovanjih v Indijo sili, da se strinjajo, da je bil vsak, ki je živel v Indiji, seznanjen s temo selitve duš. Jezusovega molka o selitvi duš torej niti neverniki ne morejo razlagati kot njegovo nepoznavanje tega nauka.
Yes, Christ knew it; and if this teaching were true, He certainly would not only have spoken of it in His sermons but would have confirmed it with His authority. However, we do not find a single word about this teaching in the Gospel. Moreover, the entire Gospel, from beginning to end, contains a revelation about our fate after death that is completely opposed to the view of the reincarnation of the soul.
Začnimo z dejstvom, da bodo po mnenju zagovornikov reinkarnacije vsi padli duhovi, utelešeni v človeških telesih, pa tudi vse duše, ki jih je Bog ustvaril za utelešenje v nastajajočih človeških telesih, prej ali slej dosegli stanje prvobitne svetosti, poleg tega pa bodo to dosegli izključno z lastnimi prizadevanji in trpljenjem, brez kakršne koli Božje udeležbe ali pomoči. Zaporedne reinkarnacije so zgolj premestitve iz ene samice v drugo. Tudi če bi bila grešna duša prisiljena zamenjati tisoč, sto tisoč takšnih celic, bo na koncu iz svojega zapora izšla popolnoma očiščena in sveta; in svojo svetost ne bo dolgovala Bogu, temveč le sebi, svojemu trpljenju med prisilnimi inkarnacijami.
Kristus je učil, da grešnega človeka ni mogoče rešiti brez Božje pomoči. Skratka, nauk o preseljevanju duš popolnoma izključuje Božje sodelovanje pri odrešenju padlega duha oziroma grešne duše; po Kristusovem nauku je odrešenje nemogoče brez Božje pomoči.
True, according to the teaching of the Lord, the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence (Matthew 11:12; Luke 16:16), and only those who exert force over themselves to re-educate and correct themselves can enter this Kingdom. But even those who have fully reformed and lead righteous lives still remain with the sins of their past and are still subject to responsibility for these sins. Only God can free a repentant sinner from this responsibility if, in His mercy, He forgives him. However, even a forgiven sinner does not cease to be a sinner, even though unpunished; therefore, he cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven, prepared for the righteous. This is where God’s help is again needed. Just as guests could not enter the palaces of the ancient Eastern kings without removing their garments and putting on the ceremonial garments offered to them by the king, so a forgiven sinner can enter the Kingdom of Heaven only when his sins are removed and he is clothed in the garment of holiness graciously given to him by the Lord. Man himself cannot remove his sins, or make them disappear. Only Almighty God can do this. And this is what our Lord Jesus Christ does, taking upon Himself the sins of such reformed, forgiven sinners through His death on the cross.
Yes, this is the fundamental contradiction between the teaching of the transmigration of souls and the teaching of Jesus Christ. There, God is not needed; here, salvation without God is impossible.
Tukaj je še eno protislovje. Po doktrini o preseljevanju duš se duša lahko neštetokrat reinkarnira in se bo še naprej reinkarnirala, dokler ne doseže svetosti. Kristus pa je učil, da človek živi zemeljsko življenje le enkrat. Iz prilike o bogatašu in beraču Lazarju je razvidno, da se bogataš, ki je v svojem življenju močno grešil, po smrti ni reinkarniral v drugo telo zaradi popravka, temveč je bil neposredno podvržen usodi, ki si jo je zaslužil. Prilika o drugem bogatašu, ki mu je Bog poslal obilno žetev žita, izraža isto misel: človek živi le enkrat. Bogataš je pričakoval, da bo živel mnogo let v razkošju, toda Bog mu je rekel: »Neumnež! To noč bodo tvojo dušo vzeli od tebe.« Seveda jo bodo vzeli za vedno in ne za preselitev v drugo telo.
Tretje protislovje. Kristus je rekel, da bo obudil vse ljudi, ki so kdaj živeli za svojo zadnjo sodbo; in jih obudil hkrati in pravzaprav v trenutku. Toda doktrina o selitvi duš ne priznava nobenega vstajenja in ne le ne določa konca selitve vseh duš na en sam čas, ampak niti ne predvideva njenega konca.
Ne da bi se dotaknil drugih protislovij, bom govoril le o posledicah, ki bi lahko nastale zaradi prenosa doktrine o selitvi duš iz indijskega konteksta na evropska tla.
In India, this doctrine arose from the awareness that life is a continuous misery, from which one must escape and pass into nothingness. We Europeans, however, view life quite differently. The most miserable person, living in extreme poverty, misery, suffering from incurable diseases, is still attached to life and does not want to die. If any of them say that they eagerly await death, they are hardly sincere; when death approaches, they ask for medical help, for salvation from death. And what about suicides, who remain alive for some time? How they pray to those around them for salvation! How they repent of their actions when they come face to face with death! Yes, we do not view life as the Indians do. And if, given such a European’s attachment to life, we were to suggest to him that sooner or later, but in any case and without fail, he will attain holiness through numerous reincarnations, then not only will he have no reason for repentance and self-correction, but, on the contrary, any striving for righteousness will seem pointless: it will undoubtedly shorten the number of his reincarnations, that is, his earthly life in various bodies, a life with which he is familiar and to which he is attached; consequently, one must sin in order to delay the unknown and incomprehensible bliss of Nirvana; one must prolong one’s well-known earthly life in various incarnations and, in time, from a beggar, become a nobleman and even a king. Why deprive oneself of this opportunity to live in a better environment if holiness will come naturally? This is what a European who believes in the transmigration of souls might come up with!
In the doctrine of the transmigration of souls, the only explanation that might seem appealing is the explanation of material, social, and all other inequalities among people based on the differences in their lives in previous incarnations. Without this explanation, many view human inequality as an injustice to God. Why, they ask, does God give much to some, little to others, and almost nothing to others?
Toda tudi to vprašanje je posledica slabega razumevanja evangelija. Gospod je učil, da se moramo v tem zemeljskem življenju ukvarjati le s pripravo na nebeško kraljestvo, na večno angelsko življenje. Trajanje našega zemeljskega življenja je trenutek v primerjavi z večnim življenjem; zato ne bi smeli pripisovati posebnega pomena blagoslovom tega življenja. Kristus je, ko se je dotaknil tega vprašanja, rekel: Kaj koristi človeku, če si pridobi ves svet, svojo dušo pa pogubi? Iščite najprej Božje kraljestvo in njegovo pravičnost in vse, kar je potrebno za življenje, vam bo dano. Bodite bogati v Bogu! Kopite si zaklade v nebesih, kajti kjer je vaš zaklad, tam bo tudi vaše srce! Da, naše zemeljsko življenje je le priprava na večno življenje; in nanj se moramo pripraviti, kot je učil Gospod. Ne more biti nepravičen. Ne bo zahteval veliko od tistega, ki mu je bilo malo dano; na svoji zadnji sodbi bo upošteval vse razlike med ljudmi v njihovem zemeljskem življenju in vsakega nagradil po njegovih delih. Veliko je tega, česar ne razumemo, in pogosto smo pripravljeni obtožiti samega Boga krivice. Spomnimo pa se Gospodovih besed Petru: Kar jaz delam, zdaj ne razumeš, a boš razumel pozneje. In kolikokrat se pritožujemo nad preizkušnjami, ki nam jih pošilja, a čez nekaj časa začnemo razumeti, da so bile te preizkušnje poslane za naše dobro, in se za to zahvaljujemo Bogu. Ne godrnjajmo, ne glejmo Božje krivice tam, kjer morda izkazuje posebno skrb za nas. Z vero in spoštovanjem mu recimo: Zgodi se tvoja volja!
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Opombe
1. Ti pogovori so objavljeni v moji knjigi »Tri predavanja: Pot do spoznanja Boga. Kdo je bil Kristus? Ali so Kristusove zapovedi izpolnive?«
Vir v ruščini: Pogovori o selitvi duš in komunikaciji s posmrtnim življenjem (budizem in spiritualizem) / B. I. Gladkov. Sankt Peterburg: Tiskarna »Družbena korist«, 1911. – 114 str.
Ilustrativna fotografija Mika Birda: https://www.pexels.com/photo/boy-statuette-204651/
