*****
The Mountain and the Bowl
Aurangzeb said, "Your children's stories are wasted on me. You prattle about moksha, samsara, and dharma. What did Muhammad ever say of these things? He said nothing; therefore they have no meaning to me. Such distinctions will not be caressed into singleness with Islam."
The boy answered, "Muhammad never used the words samsara or dharma, moksha or atman-words common in this land and attached to our traditions. Yet Muhammad surely spoke of detachment and duty, following the straight path and the way to Paradise."
Aurangzeb said, "But the words you use are different and have different meanings, for how could they be the same when Muhammad did not arise among you and when the words of that apostle of God have never until now reached you?"
The boy said, "O king, why do you see many when there is but One? Yes, our words are different, as our languages are different, as our histories are different. Why must you persist and indulge this illusion that God has not come to us? Has He words only for you and your fathers? You scoff at the notion that God has spoken only to the Jews, for you know that God also appeared among the Persians and the Arabs. Why do you refuse to concede that He has also appeared to my people? You persist in seeing many when there is but One; you sift through the differences, failing to recognize precious gold, casting it all away like dust."
Aurangzeb, his eyes blazing, shouted, "Ah, but if this is so, can you explain why the journey of Rama and the teachings of Krishna are inconsistent with the teachings revealed to the people of the Book? The Quran and the Hadith are a sure testimony of this, that your beliefs share nothing in common with mine. Consider your doctrine of reincarnation, the false belief that men and women, when they die, are reborn again into this same world. This dogma by itself separates truth from falsehood and Islam from such notions as karma, moksha, and samsara."
The boy said, "What you are saying is not true, though there are many people who believe in reincarnation as you describe it. They believe it must be literally so, but this belief has no firm foundation. They believe it because they imagine that Rama and Krishna likewise believed in reincarnation and spoke of it as literally true. But they did not."
Aurangzeb said, "I agree that simply because the people believe a thing does not mean that the prophets taught them something false. After all, Jesus never spoke of a trinity, yet Christians consider it an article of faith. Still I know what Krishna says in the Mahabharata and when he spoke to Arjuna before the battle, as they stood between the contending armies. How do you explain what Krishna says? He refers clearly and without equivocation to reincarnation."
The boy said, "I know the verses to which you refer. Let me address a few. Krishna says, As the man's spirit enters childhood, then youth, then old age, so it enters a new body; the wise do not doubt this. This verse has two evident meanings. First it means that the bodies of the child, the young man, and the old man are manifestly different, though the same spirit resides in this ever-changing body. Second it means that just as a man is born into this corporeal body, when a man dies, his spirit enters a new body. Krishna does not declare that an earthly body is the spirit's new home once the body has died. Krishna teaches only that the spirit lives on forever. Belief in literal reincarnation is not necessary to understand this teaching.
"Krishna speaks again metaphorically, and says, As a man leaves ragged clothing behind to put on new clothing, so a man's spirit leaves his mortal body behind and enters a new body. Again, this new body is nowhere described as earthly or corporeal. This is no endorsement of belief in physical and literal reincarnation. In fact, to read these verses literally is to deprive them of their true and deeper significance.
"Krishna says, If a man's spirit was born again and again, yet he must die. Knowing this, do not be sorrowful. All things born must die, but from death the spirit finds new life. See now, O emperor, the truth of this is manifest without reliance on belief in reincarnation. Even as a faithful Muslim you do not have in your hand a key to full understanding of the life that comes to men after they shed their earthly clothing, yet still you know such life will come, just as Krishna reveals. The nature of this life is a mystery to men and neither Muhammad nor Krishna unveils this mystery, for it is beyond our conception. Muhammad speaks of the world to come in worldly terms; so too does Krishna. But these descriptions are analogies only, intending to represent a thing we cannot understand until we have experience of it.
"Yet even so, within a single lifetime we are born into many lives, as an infant, as a child, as a youth, as an old man, and we die again many times, all within the web of samsara. Hear Krishna's words, I have passed through many births, Arjuna, and so have you. I have died many deaths, Arjuna, and so have you. But my lives and deaths are not like yours. Krishna makes clear a distinction between himself as a messenger, as the return of Rama, as the manifestation of God on Earth, and Arjuna, who is not the return of any man and who is not to return again to another corporeal body after he dies, but who nevertheless must strive to sunder the chains of worldly attachment and selfish action, dying to the world and to himself in order to live in union with God. Surely he possesses the attributes of many men before and many men yet to come, but this is not reincarnation, though again and again such men arise in this world.
"Finally, Krishna speaks of those trapped in samsara. They are warped souls who see heaven itself as the image of their selfish desire. Krishna says, They have prayers for pleasures and power, and their reward is earthly rebirth. Endlessly they are reborn to earthly desire, never dying to themselves, though they are already dead. Hear them declare that there is nothing except the transient world, for they learn nothing of the world to come. Those who deny it are right; their denials are forfeiture. This verse does not mean that a man trapped in samsara, once his mortal body dies, is born again to another mortal body. No, it means only that his spirit has not escaped the bonds of illusion and karma. Remember the Hadith, when Muhammad said, Die before you die. Men who remain trapped in samsara are truly born into a new body in the world to come, but they are, like infants born prematurely, weak and stunted and this is surely hell."
Aurangzeb could not speak for a moment. When he found words, he said only, "This is not true, for the people believe otherwise. They believe in literal reincarnation."
The boy said, "Many do. But this belief cannot be established on the teachings of Krishna. Rama himself never utters a word of it, even metaphorically."
Aurangzeb said, "Why then does Krishna not explicitly deny the doctrine of reincarnation?"
The boy said, "Because his teachings are otherwise unintelligible to a people if he does not speak their language of religion. Moses did not make Christians of the Jews, nor did Christ make them Muslims. Yet they prepared the way; in their words are the first glimmerings of the way to those who have ears for other than literal meaning, to those who are not yet spiritually dead.
"As for reincarnation, too much is made of the matter of bodies and lives; this is inessential. From the vineyard of His will he has pressed the sweetest vintage. Some He keeps in golden vessels, others in silver, others in iron, and still more in earthen jars. Does He empty from cup to cup? Does this wine flow from vessel to vessel continuously? Yet the celestial drinks deeply of this world. From appearance He pours into disappearance. From separation, He pours into Union. The wine is not the cup; even a child understands this."
Aurangzeb said, "What of Krishna's teaching that all men have always been and have existed eternally in the past? If this teaching is true, then the human spirit, like God, is infinitely old and therefore God could not have created men, for how can God create something that is as infinitely old as He is Himself? This belief is a violation of tawhid."
The boy said, "No, your arguments are the violation. What Krishna reveals is consistent with the belief that God created all things, including the world, all plants, all animals, and men. Likewise, He created the spirits of men. But consider what part of man's sp
irit is truly eternal? Is it not the Spirit of God within us? You, Aurangzeb, have not always been, but the Spirit of God within you surely has. Understand this truth, Aurangzeb, and you may yet escape samsara."
Aurangzeb said, "You are clever, but I will not succumb. Still these concepts are alien to Muslims. Why this discrepancy? Surely the teaching of God is eternal and therefore ought to be consistent. Why do these teachings diverge so much from each other?"
The boy said, "Krishna found the people clinging to such notions as reincarnation. But upon that notion, Krishna founded a great belief. Thus the people learned according to their capacities and are taught according to the language of faith and righteousness that they speak. There is no error in this."
Aurangzeb said, "These are but words; such allusions are veils between men and God. Rama and Krishna are not God's servants, but Muhammad is."
The boy answered, "How has your wisdom brought you to Muhammad, or your knowledge recognized his station? That you accept Muhammad is nothing, for Muhammad rejects you. By what virtue have you believed in him? Is it the miracles you have never seen? The battles you have never fought? The judgments you never witnessed? Or the character with which you were not acquainted? Was it his voice that you never heard? Or his eyes that you never saw? Or were you simply born into this faith? Consider yourself fortunate, among the hundred faiths in the world, that you were born into the correct one. But by believing without thought or insight, you may as well believe nothing. Were the companions of Muhammad Muslims because they were born Muslims? Had Muhammad never arisen among them, would they still have shunned idolatry and embraced Islam?
"A man is alive before, now and hereafter. But without detachment, he is forever reborn in this material world, achieving no knowledge of himself."
The boy continued, "Yet these words are wasted on those who refuse to acknowledge God's unity. You confuse the secondary with what is fundamental; what is fundamental you confound with what is secondary. I have not mentioned the Buddha, who is himself the return of God among men. Let me quote to you a scrap of his truth, still preserved though his other teachings are much distorted. In the Dhammapada, he reveals that, Those who see the inessential as essential and the essential as inessential fail to grasp the essential and are lost. Those who see the essential as essential and cast off the inessential will reach the essential and are rightly-guided. These seeming differences among God's messengers are the inessential. The messengers are, in essence, indistinguishable from one another and differences are merely apparent. In the likenesses, see the face of God. In the differences, see the authority of God. In the likenesses, see the work of every messenger. In the differences, see the mercy of God and the friendship of God in every place among every people since the firmament was raised and men born in the world. The literal truth of reincarnation is inessential. The manifestation of God's authority and power in Krishna is essential. From this, all other things may follow."
Aurangzeb said, "Then why do these teachings differ?"
"If their teachings seem to differ, consider the reason. Their teachings differ because their students differ. His truth is eternal. Yet God conceals what we cannot bear and reveals what we can, according always to our capacity, and not to His ability. Does His ability not far outstrip our capacity? You may fill the cup with wine, but what cup can hold the vineyard? With so much wine, be afraid of drowning. You may fill the bowl with a little snow from the peak of the mountain, but what bowl can hold the mountain? Under so much weight, we are crushed.
"One does not teach identical lessons to children. The child must be brought along. A little knowledge becomes the basis upon which greater knowledge may be achieved, but not in a single lesson nor even from a single teacher, but from many teachers over many years. The road from here to Agra is straight, but you cannot reach your home in a single step. The temple does not appear ready-built, nor is it constructed from the top down, for such a temple would be unsteady and dangerous. Does one put the niche above the pediment, or the peak beneath the dome?
"Consider that the potter must work with clay from the earth. Though better clays may be found elsewhere, still he is driven to use the clay at hand. Consider the blacksmith, though he may prefer to fashion the plough for farmers, if the people know only axes and consider the plough taboo because it wounds the earth, the blacksmith gains nothing by making ploughs. He will have no customers and the people will not profit by his work. So too did Krishna find the people clinging to such notions and traditions as karma, and moksha, dharma and nirvana. He invested these terms with true meaning. The clay he found was good enough. Thus the people are taught according to their capacities and according to the language of faith and righteousness they speak. There is no error in this, if one looks upon such traditions and teachings with a heart of wisdom through the eye of detachment. But in these different languages and traditions, still you will find universal truths revealed, so that moksha and samsara might be understood not merely by the Brahmin, but likewise by the monk and by the mullah. These truths are found beneath the accretions of the malicious, the ignorant, and even the well-meaning. Look beneath those accretions and find the truth of it.
"If men have painted the hull of your ship red, you should not imagine that this color inclines it to float. If your wife has applied sandal paste to her face and sweet fragrance to her breasts, she does this simply to appeal to you. Would you say that the sandal paste is her true nature? No, it is decoration. There is no sin in allurement to make herself more pleasing to you. Only the sophist calls this deception.
"Whether by spoon or needle, whether in food or drink, the doctor will prescribe medicine to cure you. He will not choose the method according to your preference, but according to your condition and to your capacity. If Krishna speaks of reincarnation, it is not the literal definition with which he is concerned, but whether, through this word, the lesson is understood. Luqman never concerned himself with whether the tortoise and the hare were in a race, and his listeners were never foolish enough to imagine that the purport of his story required that such a race must have occurred. Do not allow yourself to be more foolish than a child. As for the journey of Rama, the Ramayana is a child's story only if the reader is a child. Likewise the meaning of the words samsara, moksha, and atman are not dependent on the popular traditions that have grown up around them and the meanings that have accreted to them, any more than the boat consists of only the barnacles that have grown on its hull or the paint that has been applied to it. Look beyond the accretions of today and the traditions of the past and you may yet understand that these words have meaning and are of value; they are not mere idols to be cast down or temples to be wrecked. You believe that Islam is sufficient knowledge of God's will. But imagine how much better you might understand Muhammad if you had some knowledge of Rama and Krishna. See the teachings of our messengers through the prism of your faith and find their value and see that this is the religion of God as surely as Islam is.
Aurangzeb said, "These teachings are inconsistent with the teachings of Islam. I must have better proof than this, little Brahmin."
The boy's voice was strained with frustration, and he said, "You hesitate at this door and your hesitation betrays your impiety. Find, if you can, where my words contradict Islam. To deny the truth of these words is to violate tawhid!"
The boy paused and began again more calmly. "The illusion of the world, which is called maya in our traditions, is the chief cause of samsara. It is the veil concealing the truth from view, concealing the One from the many. It is what deceives us and perverts our reason. To adhere to His will is dharma; liberation from the illusion is moksha. Moksha is the realization of the Nirvana of Brahman, which is union with God. See through the illusion of this world and the many attachments to your body, passions, friends, and possessions, lovers and families. By knowing Rama's station, by knowing Krishna's station, you may lift the veil a little. Meditate upon them, as upon Jesus or Muhammad and you will find the One. To purs
ue only your passion and your prejudice is to obey the illusion, is to worship the veil, and not the One behind the veil. This is a violation of tawhid. To cling to your prejudices is to obey the illusion, is to continue in samsara, ever turning and never escaping. This is a violation of tawhid. To acknowledge Moses but to deny Jesus, this is a violation of tawhid. To acknowledge Jesus but to deny Muhammad, this is a violation of tawhid. How you laugh at the Christians and the Jews for their blindness; beware that you are not derided for your own. The Quran provides sufficient proof of this: God has sent messengers before you, some of them He has mentioned to you and some He did not mention to you. These messengers have brought good news and warnings so that men may not claim ignorance before God. Whether meditating upon one or the other, you meditate upon Vishnu, the One Who is at once immanent and yet transcendent, Who stands behind the illusions and above the illusions, the One Who has appeared to us under different names, living different lives speaking unnumbered languages, and offering different teachings to those among whom they arose. Such differences themselves are maya, seemingly at variance with one another, but always One. Consider my father. To me, he is my father. To his wife, he is her husband and lover. To his mother, he is her son. At work he is a priest, at leisure he is a storyteller. Alive he is a man and dead he is a corpse. To the Vaishnava he is devout, to the Saivite he is in error. Yet he is at once all of these things, but still only one and not a dozen or a hundred, or a thousand, though he is also all those others. Such is our perception of God. We break Him into the pieces by which our feeble minds might grasp Him, yet He is still One."