Replenished from the East
By George F. Enoch
The Pagan Philosophies of India Fulfilling Prophecy In the second chapter of Isaiah is found a remarkable prophecy of conditions that are to prevail in the last days. The modern peace propaganda, purposing to beat all swords into plowshares—a dream now rudely shattered—is clearly portrayed. The Lord does not say that peace will be, but foretells that “many people” will make such a prediction. In the midst of these conditions, we have thrust on our attention a prophecy which, if less spectacular, has a vital relation to the welfare of the church. “Therefore Thou hast forsaken Thy people the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the East, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers.” Isa. 2: 6. These matters now agitating the minds of the people should have our attention. The Christian church is in grave danger of being “replenished from the East.” An item of interest along this line is that of the lectures now being delivered by Dr. Paul S. Chinappa, a young man from South India. These lectures are attended by throngs in the Eastern States, among whom are to be seen prominent society people. Dr. Chinappa is a Hindu priest with a university education. He is steeped in the philosophy of India, and is giving lectures on the nature of the soul, producing what are stated to be convincing proofs concerning reincarnation and the transmigration of the soul. The soil is already prepared, and there can be but little doubt that many people will be surprised and dazzled as they come under the influence of the keen, subtle arguments of this Oriental, and these deceptive teachings will find ready acceptance in many quarters. Perhaps the first representative of this particular movement to make an impression in America was Swami Vivekananda, who made his début at the Chicago Parliament of Religions in 1893. His real name was Narendra Nath Datta. He was a graduate of Calcutta University. He had, however, so tinctured his Vedantic philosophy with ideas from the West that, while it surprised and pleased the West, it did not make as rapid progress in the East as he would like. Since then, others have succeeded him, and the Vedantic philosophy of India has found acceptance in many places in this country. One of the interesting converts to the cult was Miss Margaret Noble, a girl of Irish descent, who met the swami in New York and became an ardent “Vedantist,” eventually going to India, and adopting Hindu dress, manners, and customs. Her facile pen wrote some of the best books ever produced in defense of Hinduism. She took the name of Sister Nivedita, but after a few years, stricken with a tropical disease, she died in Darjiling, a tragic figure, surrounded by a few of the natives of India for whom she had given her life. Few realize how rapidly the principles of this Vedantic philosophy are permeating the thought of the West. The Vedas are the most ancient books of India. There are four of them, written in Sanscrit, at some date unknown, beginning at least 1,300 years B. C. They form one of the most interesting groups of literature in the world. No other pagan people ever produced a body of religious poetry of such striking originality and beauty at such an early stage in their history. “Veda” means knowledge; and the hymns give a clear, distinct picture of the people, their daily life, their wars, their toil and worship. The later Vedas gave formulas for the priests and the sacrifices. But the ancient Aryans, in their contact with the darker and inferior peoples they found in India, allowed them to retain their gods and demonology, and eventually absorbed into their system of religion all the congeries of beliefs they found scattered over the land. A learned class grew up, and some of the brightest and keenest intellects this world has ever seen, for centuries, in uninterrupted succession, concentrated all their faculties in what they considered a great search after God. The soil thus prepared not only developed the Vedantic philosophy, but gave Buddhism to the world, and offered a congenial clime for the growth of Mohammedanism, until India is to-day the greatest single Mohammedan country. This Vedantic philosophy is the most subtle and successful attempt that the human mind, unaided by inspiration, has ever made to solve the mystery of existence and foretell the future. Its underlying principles are as follows: There is only one impersonal Reality. The actual phenomenal world that we see and of which we are a part is unreal, only maya, or illusion. Its explanation of the problem of existence is twofold: First, the doctrine of transmigration, that is, that souls are the emanations of the one Reality, sparks from the central fire; that these souls are incarnated times without number; that the same soul may in one life be a god, in another a man, in a third an animal or even a plant; and that there457can be no rest for the soul, or relief from suffering, until it finds release from the necessity of rebirths, and returns to the source from which it came. One of the poems says: “How many births are past, I cannot tell;
How many yet to come, no man can say;
But this alone I know, and know full well,—
That pain and grief embitter all the way.”
The second doctrine is that of Karma; that is, a man’s body, character, capacity, social status, in fact everything about him, are but the just retribution in this life for his actions, good or bad, in his former birth. He can only work out salvation by being passive and actionless. The greatest sin is to love and enjoy life, and the goal of all his hopes has been well described as “the sweetness of being wrecked on the shores of eternity.” This may all seem of little practical interest to our readers; but next week we will trace the story of the way these ideas have invaded the West, well-nigh capturing intellectual Germany, and now making rapid strides in England and America.