Fatherhood and Brotherhood

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Jul 6, 1905

Fatherhood and Brotherhood

A RECENT number of Public Opinion contained an article by Baba Bharati in which he attempted to answer the question, “What Can the East Teach the West?” The writer is the author of “Krishna: A History of the Universe,” and is an accredited representative of the Oriental philosophy.

As showing the intimate relation between the pantheism of the East and recent pantheistic teaching of the West, we quote the following paragraph:—

From the study of the Vedas—the spirit of which is the spirit of Buddhism, Taoism, and Shintoism—any earnest-minded Westerner in search of the truth, will find that this whole creation is one whole throbbing life, and that all phases and details of this life are but parts of the whole; that all the principles which compose and all laws which regulate the functions of this whole life, are present in every atomic part of it, whether they are manifest or not to the superficial vision or investigation; that man represents the most advanced stage in the evolution of the atom on the terrestrial surface, with possibilities within him of still higher development, either on the earth plane or planes higher than the earth—progress higher and higher till he reaches the stage of perfection which is called the Absolute, in which he is then merged. This central ideal of the East will teach the Westerner a much-needed lesson, that the Fatherhood of God—the basic, all-pervading principle of life—argues the brotherhood of not merely man, but of all the universe.

We can say to Baba Bharati, and to all other advocates of the Vedantic philosophy, that it will be quite unnecessary to send any Buddhist from the Orient in order to teach what is characterized as “a much-needed lesson” to the Westerner. This doctrine of the divine immanence, of the evolution of character, and of the brotherhood of being, with which we are familiar, is the Eastern philosophy with slight variations. This sort of teaching is utterly subversive of true Christianity, and there can be no compromise between the two.

Why should these ancient errors of heathenism be brought forward as new light? Why should professed teachers of the gospel of Christ substitute their own speculations for the plain revelation of the truth? Why should spiritualistic interpretations of the Bible be so persistently urged upon the people? It is all a part of the final effort to pervert the message of truth which belongs to the last generation. We must repudiate every trace of this pantheistic, spiritualistic, soul-destroying error.