I was
amazed to see the inroads that Hinduism had made during my absence from
Christianity. It may seem odd that I discovered these changes all at once. This
was because my guru held dominion over my every action and all this time I was,
quite literally, "cloistered," even in the world. The Swami's severe
injunctions kept me from reading any Christian books or speaking with
Christians. For all their pretentious talk that all religions are true, the
Swamis know that Christ is their nemesis. So for twenty years I was totally
immersed in the study of oriental philosophy and in the practice of its
disciplines. I was ordered by my guru to get a degree in philosophy and
anthropology, but these were only avocations that filled time between the
important parts of my life: time with Swami and time with the teachings and
practices of Vedanta.
Swami Vivekananda's mission has been fulfilled in
many particulars, but one piece is yet to be accomplished. This is the
establishing of a Universal Religion. In this rests the ultimate victory of the
Devil. Because the Universal Religion may not contain any
"individualistic, sectarian" ideas, it will have nothing in common
with Christianity, except in its semantics. The World and the Flesh may be
fires in the stove and the chimney, but the Universal Religion will be a total
conflagration of Christianity. The point of all this is that the Jesuit priest
Teilhard de Chardin has already laid the foundation for a "New Christianity," and it is precisely to Swami
Vivekananda's specifications for this Universal Religion.
Teilhard de Chardin is an
anomaly because, unlike traditional Roman theologians, he is highly appreciated
by scholarly clergy who, in charity, I believe don't have any idea what
he is talking about. Because Teilhard's ideas are to a great extent plagiarisms
from Vedanta and Tantra gummed together with Christian-sounding jargon and
heavily painted with evolutionism.
Let me quote one example from him: "The world
I live in becomes divine. Yet these flames do not consume me, nor do these
waters dissolve me; for, unlike the false forms of monism that impel us through
passivity towards unconsciousness, the pan-Christianism I am finding places
union at the term of an arduous process of differentiation. I shall attain the
spirit only by releasing completely and exhaustively all the powers of
matter... I recognize that, following the example of the incarnate God revealed
to me by the Catholic faith, I can be saved only by becoming one with the
universe." This is outright Hinduism. It has a little bit of everything in
it — a recognizable verse from an Upanishad and pieces
from several of the philosophical systems along with their practices.
In a press conference given by Father Arrupe,
General of the Society of Jesus, in June of 1965, Teilhard de Chardin was
defended on the grounds that "he was not a professional theologian and
philosopher, so that it was possible for him to be unaware of all the
philosophical and theological implications attached to some of his
intuitions." Then Father Arrupe praised him: "Pere Teilhard is one of
the great masters of contemporary thought, and his success is not to be
wondered at. He carried through, in fact, a great attempt to reconcile the
world of science with the world of faith." The upshot of this
reconciliation is a new religion. And in Teilhard's words: "The new
religion will be exactly the same as our old Christianity but with a new life
drawn from the legitimate evolution of its dogmas as they come in contact with
new ideas." With this bit of background let us look at Vivekananda's
Universal Religion and Teilhard's "New Chrisitianity."
Second, its foundation is evolution. In Teilhard's
words: "A hitherto unkmown form of religion - one that no one could yet
have imagined or described, for a lack of a universal large enough and organic
enough to contain it — is burgeoning in men's hearts, from a seed sown by the
idea of evolution." And again: "Original sin... binds us hand and
foot and drains the blood from us" because "as it is now expressed,
it represents a survival of static concepts that are an anachronism in our
evolutionist system of thought." Such a pseudo-religious concept of
"evolution," which was consciously rejected by Christian thought, has
been basic to Hindu thought for millenia; every Hindu religious practice
assumes it.
Third, the Universal Religion will not be built
around any particular personality, but will be founded on "eternal
principles." Teilhard is well on his way towards the impersonal God when
he writes: "Christ is becoming more and more indispensable to me... but at
the same time the figure of the historical Christ is becoming less and less
substantial and distinct to me." "My view of him is continually
carrying me further and higher along the axis of hope!) orthodoxy."
Sad to say, this non-historical "Christ" spirit is Hindu orthodoxy,
not Christian.
Fourth, the main purpose of the Universal Religion
will be to satisfy the spiritual needs of men and women of diverse types.
Individualistic, sectarian religions cannot offer this. Teilhard believed that
Christianity did not fit everybody's religious aspirations. He records his
discontent in these words: "Christianity is still to some extent a refuge,
but it does not embrace, or satisfy or even lead the 'modern soul' any
longer."
Fifth and final, within the Universal Religion (or
New Christianity) we are all wending our way to the same destination. For
Teilhard de Chardin it is the Omega Point, which belongs to something that is
beyond representation. For Vivekananda it is the Ofm, the sacred syllable of
the Hindus: "All humanity, converging at the foot of that sacred place
where is set the symbol that is no symbol, the name that is beyond all
sound."
Where will it end, this deformation of
Christianity and triumph of Hinduism? Will we have the Om, or will
we have the Omega?
Return to the first page
