C. Jinarajadasa
The life of man is not
more than a fraction of a millionth of a millimeter compared to the eternity of
time. What, therefore, is the outlook for man when his body wears away and is
dissolved into the elements from which it is composed? Does anything remain of
man that can be thought of as in any way “immortal?” This, indeed, is the great
problem around which all philosophical systems revolve.
The first important
element in trying to understand the problem is to realize that a man is what he
thinks he is. In one of the sermons of the Buddha there is the striking
verse, “Thought in the mind hath made us; what we are by thought is wrought and
built.” Just as it is necessary, in trying to make a machine operate well, to
remove all dust from it, so similarly one of the first actions of a man who is
to think rightly is to separate himself from the expressions of his body, its
needs, its ailments, its clamours. The English philosopher Carlyle put the
whole matter sarcastically in one phrase, “Soul is not synonymous with
stomach.”
Today some of the greatest
scientific thinkers in the field of physics have openly stated that what is
important in understanding the universe, from their standpoint, is that matter
is only after all a form of mind. It is, therefore, not an impossible
assumption to state that above all things a man is mind. From this assumption
comes to problem, which is, can a man organize his mind in such a manner that
both Immortality and Infinity reflect themselves in his mind?
This is the problem which
every religion presents to its followers. But it is no exaggeration to say that
today religions are so full of dead traditions, that no man with a keen
intellect, especially if he is trained in scientific ways of thought, finds a
solution along the line of religion.
If religion the fails us,
is there no other line of action possible? There is a way through what is
called “Culture.” The word certainly is very vague, but considered in its
highest sense and not limiting it to the culture of any one civilization, we
mean by culture something which by experiences of our heart and mind we find is
permanent among the fleeting and passing details of our lives. The poets
especially are representatives of this aspect of culture, for each true poet
tries to see the permanent in the impermanent. When a great poet succeeds, his
creation is for all time. Homer when translated today into any language has a
quality of vividness; he is still in touch with life in this year 1946 as he
was in the life of his own day. So beautiful is this element in Homer that at
the moment I am reading daily to a girl of eleven a brilliant translation of “The
Odyssey”, and she is as much enthralled by the story as I am. It is this
quality of permanence among the impermanent which the Greek sculptors showed in
all their best creations, for a statue of Pallas Athene or Apollo, though it
began with a human model was made by the sculptor to reveal a definite Idea of
a divine Personality. Similarly, too, there is a sculpturesque quality in the
great men and women created by Shakespeare. They have translated him in Japan
and put some of his plays on the stage, although Japanese mentality is in many
ways so different from that of the English.
In the same way, though
Goethe wrote over a century ago, something of what he created has still for us
the quality of permanence. In a supreme manner, the great religious and
philosophical works of India called the Upanishads are as living to day for the
seeker of truth as when they were first composed thousands of years ago.
Perhaps the most brilliant instance of a philosopher and poet whose creations
have the quality of permanence is Plato.
It is from these elements
of culture that a man can find himself, if he has the right development of his
mind, to be what the Platonist called “the Idea.” That Idea of himself can be
discovered by him as having the quality of immortality and infinity. So far
went Plato.
But it is not enough to
discover oneself as the Idea. To realize oneself as immortal requires that the
Idea should be “put to work.” In other words, the individual who realizes
himself as the Idea must stand forth in life as one who generates ideas in
the minds of others, and so brings about revolutionary changes in their
lives. In this manner the individual knows that though he is mortal, yet
immortality is a part of him. So we have Jesus Christ saying, “Not I work, but
the Father worketh in me.” And the Father is eternal.
Are all these thoughts
only like the mere spinning of a spider’s web which can be broken by a gust of
wind? That is the test for one who seeks to know that he is not the perishable
body, but is something that can be described an imperishable soul. No one in
this matter can lead another by the hand and say, “Follow me and I will show
you Truth.” On the other hand there is the testimony throughout the ages that
great souls have identified themselves with an immortal and infinite element in
life, and so stand finger-posts pointing to the road that leads to the Infinite
and the Immortal. They entered upon a supreme adventure and they found success
in it. How far a man today can set out on that same adventure and come to the
goal he seeks depends on himself, on what is within him for that task which
only he can know.
Socrates, after he was condemned to death, was not disturbed in the least; even on the last day, he talked with his friends as if he would meet them the next day. Carlyle said of him: “Socrates is terribly at home in Zion.” That is the supreme adventure in life, to be here and now, in this chaos of a world in the year 1946, to be “at home in Zion.” I can only testify: It can be done.
(From Triveni 1937)