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embraces all this, who never speaks and is never surprised, he is myself within the heart.' This Supreme Self is
called by many names, one of the most common of which is Vishnu or Hari. Thus in the Agni-Purana it is said: 'The
1 person who departs from this life with his or her mind absorbed in the contemplation of the god Hari
ascends to heaven and attains salvation.'
The truth which underlies all this mass of error is that God has implanted in man's heart the desire for eternal
happiness, and that, as God does nothing without a purpose, and as He does not desire to deceive men by implanting false
and baseless hopes and unattainable yearnings in their nature, man is capable of attaining that happiness in the way
which God has appointed. Eternal happiness cannot exist except through union with God, who is alone the only source of
life and of all good. That union, however, is not material but spiritual, for God is a spirit, and union with Him is
possible only in a spiritual sense. That is to say, harmony and agreement between man's will and God's will and
heartfelt love of and devotion to Him are to be sought; and, when they are found, then the creature has attained the
only union with his Almighty and All-loving Creator which is possible for him to attain. This is possible only through
the new and spiritual birth brought about by the influence of God's Holy
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Spirit, of which the Gospel 1 tells us. Loss of personality would not give true happiness, but would
rather mean extinction and the loss of even that degree of happiness which existence itself gives.
(4) Monism. The Hindus hold that life or spirit in the lower animals, in men, in their many deities, and in
the supreme self, is one and the same. But this theory is contrary to reason and experience. Animals have a certain
degree of reason, no doubt, but they cannot learn to converse in any one of men's numerous languages: Nor can they learn
to read and write. In the same way, man's powers of mind and body are necessarily finite, while our reason itself tells
us that God's power and wisdom are infinite. But the strongest proof of the error of this Hindu doctrine is the
following fact. If man's spirit were identical with God, then all the evil deeds which man does would be really God's we
take refuge in God from this blasphemous suggestion. God would then be guilty whenever any man committed a crime, such
as murder, theft, or things even worse than these. But our reason and conscience tell us that God is All-Holy, and this
is confirmed by the word of God.2 The existence of conscience, which judges our very motives and pronounces
God's sentence on all evil, shows that there is a vast contrast between good and evil, and that both cannot be in
accordance with the will of
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