Lesson - 3

GOD CALLS AGAIN

Our last section ended on a frightening note. We saw God’s Wonderful plan for us, by which we should live for a time in the midst of this world that he had filled with such great gifts for our use. He wanted us to show that we really accepted him as our Lord, and that we should give him our love. If we proved ourselves in this way, then he would take us to Himself to live in complete joy and happiness in His company forever and ever.

But our first parents rejected God’s plan. And I myself have approved of their refusal of love by my own sins. Thus we have cut ourselves off from God. We have separated from Him. We are like the younger son who went his own way and found himself completely alone.

 THE POSSIBILITIES

What are the possibilities for me in this terrible state of being dead to God’s friendship and love?

One possibility would be that God would allow me to finish out my life on this earth, and then when death came, I would simply cease to exist. When my body was reduced to dust and ashes, my soul would also cease to exist. But God has planted in me such a real hunger for immortality that it is not possible that I should cease to exist. My own individual personality is so strong and so real that non-existence for myself is not even imaginable. This hunger for immortality is so strong that it can only have been planted in man by God who does not contradict Himself.

Another possibility has been thought out by men whose minds have considered the problem deeply. They have produced the theory of karma and rebirth.

These men were deeply aware of the fact of sin. They clearly saw that sin cuts a man off from God. They felt deeply the problem we are now considering. And they concluded that a soul passes through a series of births in different forms-rising or falling in dignity – according to the good or evil deeds done, until finally liberation or moksha would be gained.

But the philosopher, Shankara in his commentary on Vedanta-Sutra (3, 2, 38-39), shows that reward or punishment for actions can come only from the Person served or offended and not from the actions themselves:

“There arises.” Says Shankara, “the question whether the fruits of actions spring from the actions themselves or from the Lord. The Sutrakara (Badarayana) embraces the latter alternative on the ground that it is the only possible one……Actions themselves, which pass away as soon as done, have no power of bringing about results at some future time, since nothing can spring from nothing…..”.

A further clarification is provided in Shankara’s commentary on Brihad-Aranyaka Upanishad, 3.8.9: .