Chapter 29
Sakaya said: I declare truly, a new thing to you, but which was old thousands of years ago:
That religion is nothing more, nor less, than rites and ceremonies in the discipline of a community. As when an army of soldiers is in training by their captains, when certain commands and maneuvers cause the soldiers to be a unit in movement; so is religion in a community, which, through rites and ceremonies, is made a unit to carry out works of charity, harmony, love and righteousness.
And every member of a community, who takes no part in its religion, is like an idler mixing in with a company of soldiers, where his presence tends to evil.
Brahmin priests go about preaching, singing and praying before audiences, making great show in the temples; yet none of these practice what they profess.
From these evils, learn to do good; first, by living only in families where all the members practice what they profess.
By worldly standards, it is easy to preach and call it religion; but the fruit must be measured by the city or the state, that is saved from sin. Who then, of all the priests in the temple, can say: Here is a community saved from sin!
If they cannot do this, then they are themselves hypocrites and blasphemers.
Satan calls out from a dark corner, saying: Remain within the wicked world, and leaven the whole mass.
Again he calls out from a dark corner, saying: Go away from the wicked world, and live as an ascetic, praying alone, living alone.
Again he calls from a dark corner, saying: You and your friends are too pure to mix with the world; go away privately, and let the world take care of itself.
Now, I say to you: Do none of these things; and, in the same breath, I say: Do all of them.
Let your community remain within the world, so that it may be a proven example that love, peace, plenty and happiness are possible on the earth. Let the community be sufficiently ascetic to attain the beatific state, which is the triumph of spirit over the flesh.
And as to the third proposition: Take no part in the governments of men, of kings, or queens. Neither fight for them, nor against them.
For they live under the lower law; but you shall live under the law of Jehovih as He speaks to the soul of man.
Neither shall you have kings, nor queens; these belong to the world’s people.
Lastly, and above all things, do not live for the corporeal man, but for the spiritual man; remembering you are not yet born, but are in embryo, shaping yourselves for the everlasting life.
Whoever does not practice the higher law, will not escape the tortures in hell; but whoever lives the higher law will pass on to Nirvania, where dwell Gods and Goddesses of endless light.
Do not flatter yourselves that you shall suddenly reform all the world. You can, at most, only reach an arm’s length.
Three doctrines have been, are now, and ever shall be on the earth; they are: First, the Faithists’, who know the All Person, Ever Present; second, the idol worshippers’, who make the Creator into a man in heaven, and not present but by proxy of certain laws; and, third, infidels’, who believe in nothing they cannot take up in the hand, and weigh.
The Faithists beget Faithists, the idolaters beget idolaters, and the infidels beget infidels. For these three conditions are only outward manifestations of the spirit within. The infidel is nearly devoid of spirit; the idolater has one grade more of spirit; but the Faithist has spiritual ascendancy.
Since the highest, best, good things done in the world, come from the order of Faithists, be circumspect as to marriage, so that your offspring incline more to spirituality than to earthliness.
But such matters come under the higher law, and can be understood only through the soul.
Also, practice has proved that the laws of a community must die with the death of the rab’bah, and that new laws must be made by the new rab’bah. And, in no case, shall the law of precedent, of things past, apply to things present. For this is making slaves of the living, to those who are dead. It is making the wisdom of the dead greater than the wisdom of Jehovih.
When a rab’bah retires from office, it shall be considered the same as a death, for it is the termination of his rule.
Nor shall a rab’bah have any privileges or emoluments, over and above any member of the community; nor any member, man or woman, above another; for there shall be no partiality, even in favor of the learned and good, over and above the ignorant and the less good. For you are all brothers and sisters; children of One Father, created by Him in His own way and for His own glory.