The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1958-05-16
Pagan India
Respect For Sdnctity Small;
ReincarnatiOn Belief Exists
by Erik v. KuehneIt-L eddihn

by Erik ". Kuehneit-L eddihn
Probably no country's religious situation is as
difficult to imagine as that OF India.
There is only one trait in common between
modern India and the rest of Asia: the fairly rapid
collapse of institutional pagan religion among the
educated classes, where atheism and agnosticism are
making Roadway, although a large number within
their ranks preserve a strong feeling for a more or
less personal God and for the supernatural.
They have ceased to believe in Vishnu, Kali,
krishna, but are not strangers to the metaphysical.
There is, in India, a general respect for sanctity and
morality, yet all this is too thin a religious diet to
stand up in the long run against materialiSm and
also against Communism (which, at the present time,
continues to be fairly weak as a real v~ocation).
India still is swarming with gurus, holy men,"
swamis, and fakirs. Some OF them are adept in clever
tricks, but am personally convinced from expsri-
enees with other races in other parts Of the world
that the forces of nature can be harnessed by. man
in a miraculous" way-after alt am q modern man
and not the product Of the loth century. Whether
these miracles are based on the Intervention of angels
or demons do not profess to know.
A Sikh fakir who caught me outside the Red
Fort in Delhi, for instance, gave me a piece of white
paper which | had to clutch in my fist. | then had
to tell him my wife's name, my birthday, and a few
similar facts, all of which | found written on the
paper in my hand when | opened it. Besides that he
knew astonishing details about my past.
Having told this TO a group Of Indian civil snsi-
neers in Jaipur found Them s~insuIar!y unimpressed.
"Just q 't~eIetyper,' not a bad one" they remarked.
Their fee is usually S ruppes plus. It's better than
thought reading, anyhow, which you can get any.
where"
In the ensuing conversation / learned that two
of the group of five men believed in reincarnation.
What real paganiSm sometimes amounts to, however,
| found in the third one, a highly educated man with
very balanced views about the English, although he
berated their prohibition of suttee, ]. e., the burning
of widows. Seeing my establishment he enlightened
me: There's nothing more natural in the whole
world" he explained, "a good wife would be delight
ed to throw herself on her husbands funeral pyre.
The pain does not last long and there is a good
chance that she will be reunited with him in another
stage of reincarnation."
"You might approve of that in theory -"
And in practice he added. '"Take the case of
my sister. Her husband had a frightful row with his
father whereupon he first took poison and then hang
ed himself. The next day my sister did exactly the
same. And she was quite right. Who, in his right
mind would marry a widow !. ?"
And the children?" !.
What, after all, are families for? Naturally they
Knowing the totally different religious bent of
his mind, | neither tried to argue with the man nor.
did l doubt that the respective families actually would
do everything for the orphans.
There is tremendous altrulSm In India, the most
amazing meeting ground of avarice and generosity.
Gratitude for help received, on the other hand, is
unknown because material aid is considered an abso-
lutte duty; one of the special virtues of Brahmins
is the graceful acceptance of gifts"
Within the framework of this short piece it is
quite impossible to impart even a notion of lndia's
religious system which, at its center, has a kernel of
~"selfness" and philosophic nothingness, while it pre-
sents itself to the masses as a genuine polytheism
complete with gods and %goddesseS.
Still, as Christians we must beware of being
overimpressed by the disturbing power of fakirs and
yogis who, only too frequently, are masters of
natural () forces without necessarily achieving true
sanctity.
have seen 'holy men, quarelling and almost
coming to fisticuffs, and fakirs practically climbing
with their eyes into open wallets all Of
which does not mean that one does not encounter
again and again people of tremendous virtue, if not
holiness, but without supernatural power.
Even sexual morals in India are, by and large,
far stricter than we assume. Sex forms an integral
part of the religious life of most Hindus and dis
cussiens about sex are frequent since they have a
religious character. &
Hindu Temples like those of Khajurao) show
details which would shock the average Christian, yet
dirty jokes are rare because they would be con-
sidered b~lasphemous.