To condemn or not to condemn?
Start with your own and the others’ you’ll never get to.”
We all know the Gospel words:
“Judge not, that you be not judged.
For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.
And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?” (Matthew 7: 1-3)
“He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” (John 8: 7)
There is a deep gulf between the knowledge of the words or proclamation and practice that Christians in vain have been striving to overcome for two millennia.
They condemn everyone and everything, from close relatives and neighbors to nations and the whole world.
And everyone believes that he has the right to be a judge.
William Judge, in one of his letters, excerpts from which are included in the article "The World Knowth Us Not," wrote:
“Every time we think someone else has done wrong we should ask ourselves two questions:
“(1) Am I the judge in this matter who is entitled to try this person?
“(2) Am I any better in my way, do I or do I not offend in some other way just as much as they do in this?
“This will settle the matter, I think. And in . . . there ought to be no judgments and no criticism. If some offend then let us ask what is to be done, but only when the offence is against the whole. When an offence is against us, then let it go. This is thought by some to be “goody-goody”, but I tell you the heart, the soul, and the bowels of compassion are of more consequence than intellectuality. The latter will take us all sure to hell if we let it govern only. Be sure of this, and try as much as you can to spread the true spirit in all directions, or else not only will there be individual failure, but also the circle H.P.B. made as a nucleus for possible growth will die, rot, fail, and come to nothing…”
“Let me say one thing I KNOW: only the feeling of true brotherhood, of true love towards humanity aroused in the soul of someone strong enough to stem this tide can carry us through to the close of next century and onward. For Love and Trust are the only weapons that can overcome the REAL enemies against which the true Theosophist must fight.”
If we call ourselves Theosophists, then we must follow the most important objective of the Theosophical Society, namely, to form a nucleus of the universal brotherhood of humanity without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste, or colour, which is our primary duty, that we must reach with pure intentions, avoiding lust for power, greed, without expecting any reward.
Besides we have duties arising from the law of karma. We must distinguish between them so as not to do other people's duties.
As the Bhagavad Gita says:
“It is far better to discharge one's prescribed duties, even though they may be faulty, than another's duties. Destruction in the course of performing one's own duty is better than engaging in another's duties, for to follow another's path is dangerous.” (3:35)
We make judgments about a person based on external actions, without taking into account his inner nature, which has developed as a result of many past lives, without knowing his relationship with other people in past lives.
Here we should recall the words of Jesus in the generally accepted translation: “and a man's enemies are his household.”
If we translate this phrase from the ancient Gospel or Peshitta, written in Aramaic, which was then spoken in Galilee and throughout Palestine, we get the following:
“A man's enemies will be children in his house (bnei bayta, ביתה בני).”
In Greek, it looks like this: a man's enemies are his household.
This phrase leads to deep reflection. Doesn't this sentence mean reincarnation, namely, that a person's enemies in the next life can be his children?
Now let’s consider condemnation from the esoterical point of view.
Helena Petrovna Blavatsky said the following in “Conversations on Occultism” recorded by William Judge:
“Sage. – There is a very important thing you should not overlook. Every time you harshly and unmercifully criticize the faults of another, you produce an attraction to yourself of certain quantities of elementals from that person. They fasten themselves upon you and endeavor to find in you a similar state or spot or fault that they have left in the other person. It is as if they left him to serve you at higher wages, so to say.”
And Elena Petrovna also said the following about the elementals:
“Skandhas may produce elementals by unconscious Kriyāśakti. Every elemental that is thrown out by man must return to him, sooner or later, since it is his own vibration', they thus become his Frankenstein. Elementals are simply effects producing effects; they are disembodied thoughts, good and bad; they remain crystallized in the Astral Light, and are attracted by affinity, and galvanized back into life again when their originator returns to earth-life; you can paralyze them by reverse effects. Elementals are caught like a disease, and hence are dangerous to ourselves and to others; this is why it is dangerous to influence others. The elementals which live after your death are those which you implant in others; the rest remain latent till you reincarnate, when they come to life again.” “The Inner Group Teachings of H. P. Blavatsky” (Meeting No. XVIII: April 1, 1891)
There is something to think about for all condemning and criticizing people, especially for theosophists who are familiar with the teachings of karma and reincarnation. Don't you know that if you dislike Jews, for example, you will be born into this nation in your new incarnation. Why should we create new karma?
With the help of the esoteric doctrine of the elementals, it is possible to explain not only the general condemnation, but also other spontaneous social and supposedly spiritual phenomena, for example, the phenomenon of Glossolalia in the evangelical Pentecostal and charismatic churches, when people begin to speak in an incomprehensible imaginary new dialect. This phenomenon is contrary to common sense. After all, even a parrot can be taught to speak clear words. The reason for this is the pursuit of innovations, so that without much effort, without painstaking research, someone can stand out among others. Now is the era of quick action, superficial knowledge and blind faith. Theosophists, on the other hand, should serve as a researcher and interpreter for those who want to know and seek, but only on the basis of utmost selflessness and sympathy for other people.
Therefore, keeping in mind the doctrine of the elementals and other similar beings, the problem of condemnation becomes very serious and dangerous. If you have entered the path of purification of actions, speech and thoughts, then during condemnation you again get thoughts polluted, and through them everything else, so you start “flowing down the stream”.
So, firstly, do not rush to conclusions without knowing all the karmic knots and their consequences, and secondly, do not infect your mind with harmful thoughts, so that they couldn’t “turn and tear you in pieces.”
Let us, first of all, tirelessly, tensely and constantly monitor our thoughts, striving to realize our own duty in order to do it as conscientiously as possible, thereby becoming a suitable instrument for transmitting theosophical teaching.
However, not to condemn does not mean not to have a sense of discrimination, which appears from within through maximum effort and study.
No wonder they now say: “Tell me what you read, and I will tell you what kind of person you are.”
And to prevent the above contamination through the elementals, constant vigilance and common sense are needed when examining the motives of the speaker or writer.
Our task is to “flow up the stream” in order to create balance or harmony in this world.
"Iti maya srutam," so I have heard.