A book by Professor J.C. Oman, published not long ago, contains a clear
and judicially sympathetic account of Hinduism. The sordid side of Indian
asceticism receives due attention; the excesses of self-mortification,
painful posturings, and equally painful impostures are by no means slurred
over by the writer. And yet the essential origin of these ascetic practices
is perceived by Professor Oman to be a pure philosophy and a not ignoble
idealism. And if Professor Oman's analysis be true, one understands how it
is that, though there have always been Jewish ascetics, at times of
considerable numbers and devotion, yet asceticism, as such, has no
recognized place in Judaism. Jewish moralists, especially, though not
exclusively, those of the mystical or Cabbalistic schools, pronounce
powerfully enough against over-indulgence in all sensuous pleasures; they
inculcate moderation and abstinence, and, in some cases, where the pressure
of desire is very strong, prescribe painful austerities, which may be
paralleled by what Professor Oman tells us of the Sadhus and Yogis of
India. But let us first listen to Professor Oman's analysis (p. 16):
"Without any pretence of an exhaustive analysis of the various and
complex motives which underlie religious asceticism, I may, before
concluding this chapter, draw attention to what seem to me the more
general reasons which prompt men to ascetic practices: (1) A desire,
which is intensified by all personal or national troubles, to propitiate
the Unseen Powers. (2) A longing on the part of the intensely religious
to follow in the footsteps of their Master, almost invariably an ascetic.
(3) A wish to work out one's own future salvation, or emancipation, by
conquering the evil inherent in human nature, i.e. the flesh. (4) A
yearning to prepare oneself by purification of mind and body for entering
into present communion with the Divine Being. (5) Despair arising from
disillusionment and from defeat in the battle of life. And lastly, mere
vanity, stimulated by the admiration which the multitude bestow on the
ascetic."
With regard to his second reason, we find nothing of the kind in Judaism
subsequent to the Essenes, until we reach the Cabbalistic heroes of the
Middle Ages. The third and the fourth have, on the other hand, had power
generally in Jewish conduct. The fifth has had its influence, but only
temporarily and temperately. Ascetic practices, based on national and
religious calamity, have, for the most part, been prescribed only for
certain dates in the calendar, but it must be confessed that an excessive
addiction to fasting prevails among many Jews. But it is when we consider
the first of Professor Oman's reasons for ascetic practices that we
perceive how entirely the genius of Judaism is foreign to Hindu and most
other forms of asceticism. To reach communion with God, the Jew goes along
the road of happiness, not of austerity. He serves with joy, not with
sadness. On this subject the reader may refer with great profit to the
remarks made by the Reverend Morris Joseph, in "Judaism as Creed and Life,"
p. 247, onwards, and again the whole of chapter iv. of book iii. (p. 364).
Self-development, not self-mortification, is the true principle; man's
lower nature is not to be crushed by torture, but to be elevated by
moderation, so as to bear its part with man's higher nature in the service
of God.
What leads some Jewish moralists to eulogize asceticism is that there is
always a danger of the happiness theory leading to a materialistic view of
life. This is what Mr. Joseph says, and says well, on the subject (p. 371):
"And, therefore, though Judaism does not approve of the ascetic temper,
it is far from encouraging the materialist's view of life. It has no
place for monks or hermits, who think they can serve God best by
renouncing the world; but, on the other hand, it sternly rebukes the
worldliness that knows no ideal but sordid pleasures, no God but Self. It
commends to us the golden mean--the safe line of conduct that lies midway
between the rejection of earthly joys and the worship of them. If
asceticism too often spurns the commonplace duties of life, excessive
self-indulgence unfits us for them. In each case we lose some of our
moral efficiency. But in the latter case there is added an inevitable
degradation. The man who mortifies his body for his soul's sake has at
least his motive to plead for him. But the sensualist has no such
justification. He deliberately chooses the evil and rejects the good.
Forfeiting his character as a son of God, he yields himself a slave to
unworthy passions.
"It is the same with the worldly man, who lives only for sordid ends,
such as wealth and the pleasures it buys. He, too, utterly misses his
vocation. His pursuit of riches may be moral in itself; he may be a
perfectly honest man. But his life is unmoral all the same, for it aims
at nothing higher than itself."
Thus Professor Oman's fascinating book gives occasion for thought to many
whose religion is far removed from Hinduism. But there is in particular one
feature of Hindu asceticism that calls for attention. This is the Hindu
doctrine of Karma, or good works, which will be familiar to readers of
Rudyard Kipling's "Kim." Upon a man's actions (Karma is the Sanskrit for
action) in this life depends the condition in which his soul will be
reincarnated.
"In a word, the present state is the result of past actions, and the
future depends upon the present. Now, the ultimate hope of the Hindu
should be so to live that his soul may be eventually freed from the
necessity of being reincarnated, and may, in the end, be reunited to the
Infinite Spirit from which it sprang. As, however, that goal is very
remote, the Hindu not uncommonly limits his desire and his efforts to the
attainment of a 'good time' now, and in his next appearance upon this
earthly stage" (p. 108).
We need not go fully into this doctrine, which, as the writer says
elsewhere (p. 172), "certainly makes for morality," but we may rather
attend to that aspect of it which is shown in the Hindu desire to
accumulate "merits." The performance of penances gives the self-torturer
certain spiritual powers. Professor Oman quotes this passage from Sir
Monier Williams's "Indian Epic Poetry" (note to p. 4):
"According to Hindu theory, the performance of penances was like making
deposits in the bank of Heaven. By degrees an enormous credit was
accumulated, which enabled the depositor to draw on the amount of his
savings, without fear of his drafts being refused payment. The power
gained in this way by weak mortals was so enormous that gods, as well as
men, were equally at the mercy of these all but omnipotent ascetics, and
it is remarkable that even the gods are described as engaging in penances
and austerities, in order, it may be presumed, not to be undone by human
beings."
Now, if for penance we substitute Mitzvoth, we find in this passage almost
the caricature of the Jewish theory that meets us in the writings of German
theologians. These ill-equipped critics of Judaism put it forward seriously
that the Jew performs Mitzvoth in order to accumulate merit (Zechuth), and
some of them even go so far as to assert that the Jew thinks of his Zechuth
as irresistible. But when the matter is put frankly and squarely, as
Professor Monier Williams puts it, not even the Germans could have the
effrontery to assert that Judaism teaches or tolerates any such doctrine.
Whatever man does, he has no merit towards God: that is Jewish teaching.
Yet conduct counts, and somehow the good man and the bad man are not in the
same case. Judaism may be inconsistent, but it is certainly not base in its
teaching as to conduct and retribution. "Be not as servants who minister in
the hope of receiving reward"-this is not the highest level of Jewish
doctrine, it is the average level. Lately I have been reading a good deal
of mystical Jewish literature, and I have been struck by the repeated use
made of the famous Rabbinical saying of Antigonos of Socho just cited. One
wonders whether, after all, justice is done to the Hindus. One sees how
easily Jewish teaching can be distorted into a doctrine of calculated
Zechuth. Are the Hindus being misjudged equally? Certainly, in some cases
this must be so, for Professor Oman, with his remarkably sympathetic
insight, records experiences such as this more than once (p. 147). He is
describing one of the Jain ascetics, and remarks:
"His personal appearance gave the impression of great suffering, and his
attendants all had the same appearance, contrasting very much indeed with
the ordinary Sadhus of other sects. And wherefore this austere rejection
of the world's goods, wherefore all this self-inflicted misery? Is it to
attain a glorious Heaven hereafter, a blessed existence after death? No!
It is, as the old monk explained to me, only to escape rebirth--for the
Jain believes in the transmigration of souls--and to attain rest."
Other ascetics gave similar explanations. Thus (p. 100):
"The Christian missionary entered into conversation with the Hermit (a
Bairagi from the Upper Provinces), and learned from him that he had
adopted a life of abstraction and isolation from the world, neither to
expiate any sin, nor to secure any reward. He averred that he had no
desires and no hopes, but that, being removed from the agitations of the
worldly life, he was full of tranquil joy."