My mother, for instance, is a very righteous woman. She is very truthful to God and worships Him in truth and spirit. She has always believed in Krishna and literally felt Him work in her life without believing in Christ. Even some of the people, who lived before Christ was born, were good believers of other faith. Weren’t they closer to God? So, why Christ?—SS.
“Closer to God” is a relative term and each one can fix her own criterion and also respective scriptures give various lists. If one reads Gita alone, about the mark of a true ‘yogi’ (sthitahprajnata) spread over several chapters from 7 onwards, no one can claim to follow them all to call oneself a ‘yogi’ or ‘righteous’ person and thereby come closer to God. Also according to Muktiveda ‘no one stands righteous’ either by the standard that it given by the scripture or based on one’s own standard (Romans chapter 2 & 3). ‘All have sinned and gone away from God’ is its universal claim: ‘janami dharmam na cheme pravrthi; janami adharmam na cheme nivriti; kenapi devena hrdayas thithena; yada niyuktosmi tata karomi’—I know what is dharma, but there is no advancement in it; I know what is adharma, but there is no deliverance from it; whatever god has put in my heart (viz. my nature, pravarti), I act accordingly. [Mahabharata]
However, if one feels that she is righteous then it is left to her to believe and continue to live up to that righteousness. At the same time we have to accept the fact that ‘no one ever lived above her (own) creed’. So if you believe that your mother is a very righteous woman, I respect your opinion about your mother and I have no issue about it. But whether your mother can declare the same is a thousand dollar question. And if she believes so, then again I respect her faith in her and I have no issue about it.
Everyone has the right to believe in any particular deity and trust Him/Her as true in her life. That is the way faith/bhakti works in religious world and every one need not and could not believe in Muktinath. But both God and my conscience is not going to ask account for others faith/bhakti or even righteousness but only about mine. So according to Muktiveda faith is both personal and collective. And each one has to stand before God for her own faith/bhakti and life and none can become an interlocutor for others to God. That is why all the people on this earth—past, present and future first has to give account to God the way She works first through their conscience. God has revealed Her righteousness in their conscience first and each one is accountable for that all the time.
So to the question about good believers in other faith and their closeness to God is left to them, I have no right to judge them in any way. Here Christians quote from the Muktiveda and point out the eternal condemnation outside their faith/church/community and I respect their view. However according to me, my answer is: ‘I don’t know’. Thankfully God is not going to ask my view about it at any time, though based on Muktiveda I am have the responsibility to share the ‘subhsandesh’ in the Lord to everyone. I am first responsible to me and then I have a debt those around me and I cannot avoid it by arguing about certain issues on which I have no right or control—here about the good believers in other faiths and those who lived in the past or will in future.
Regarding my response to those who strongly believe in other deities, I would say, ‘Good. Keep that faith and bhakti as you like. But if any time in your life if you feel that you still lack something within you to ‘know God and also known by Her’, then give a chance to Muktinath and He will never fail you. Or, still keeping your personal faith on your ‘ishtadevata’ give a chance to Muktinath also and if you feel that He can help you in every way in the life both for here (on earth) and hear after (eternity), then decide according to your conviction’. One can bring the horse the pond but none can force it to drink the water.
So to the question ‘why Christ’ to such good people in other faiths of past, present and future. my answer is: by giving Him a chance you are not going to lose anything in your life. And if He proves Himself worthy to be followed, you have gained a simple and a natural way to ‘know God and known by Him’. And if He fails, the loss is not His.
This is the way I too took this decision, when I came to know about the Lord. I said, ‘well, all these days I tried various ways and let me give Him a chance. And if He proves to be the guru whom I seek, then I gain. And if He fails, at least I would have gained some knowledge about Muktiveda and Muktinath.’ So taking some risk for a worth and noble cause is not wrong. As Jim Elliot said: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” And in that gamble there are only two players: God and that individual and no third person can do anything more than encouraging the individual to take that risk. Once God gives that chance to every individual, no excuse on the part of the individual will work further. One has to sincerely try even before give up. But arguing on some other issues which is not relevant to her decision on hand about the Lord won’t help. God accepts our weakness but not excuses. Once she is convinced about her need and commits to the Lord, then God will work slowly to reveal all Her plan not only for her but also about others—past, present and future. When one cannot understand about oneself completely, then where comes to the question of demanding the answer for everything under the Sun? And even if one demands the answer for everything before finding personal answer, a wise person has to say, ‘sorry I don’t know’. And only an arrogant person will try to give all kinds of answers which will convince no one.
So, my answer to your this question, ‘I don’t know’. But once you try to find the answer to the question of your personal need, then God will give answers to other questions. ‘Dharma and dharmikta angan me suru hotahai’—faith (bhakti, religion, duty) and righteousness first begin at home. Here the ‘home’ is oneself first.
Regarding my point of ‘simple and natural way to “know God and Known by Her”’, my experience is that, in Muktinath, to know God and also to known by Her I need not do anything physically or mentally beyond within my reach. Neither by karma (rituals, religious observances, vows, alms, pilgrims and name anything that one can do or has to do physically) nor by jnana not even by bhakti I have to do anything to find out that ‘simple and natural way’. God in Muktinath has already done everything for me (on the cross) and I simply have to believe and accept it. But this is the serious point of contention among faiths. ‘If one can simply believe this and could be saved, then you people made salvation so cheap’ was my father’s response when I shared the subhasandesh to him. Of course what looks foolish to the wise God revealed to the humble? For those who believe this is not a religious formula but both a historical fact and personal reality. However those who try to understand or argue over this ‘formula’ first and then ready accept it won’t get success. But those who first accept this and then try to understand based on their need will find the ‘natural and simple’ way that God has prepared for the humble. FAITH STANDS BEYOND REASON, but never remain UNREASONABLE for those who believe.
The relationship between parent and child, husband-wife; among friends, brothers/sisters, relatives all works well when we first accept that relationship and work it out slowly in life than after having a clear intellectual understanding about the relationship. The same is with faith/bhakti. Even if it is an imaginary theory that God through Muktinath reconciled us by offering Herself as a prayaschitta for my sins, then those accept it by faith and try to work it out slowly within first and then try to understand it through other scriptural, historical etc. evidence found that it was not an imaginary theory or formula but a historical fact, however it was interpreted variously throughout the history. At least it worked that way well for my life and million others around the world. And if others like your mother believe the same about Krishna, Rama, Siva, Allah, Buddha etc., I respect their faith and bhakti. But the assurance of that bhakti, faith and even mukti is the final test for every individual to further proceed in her chosen faith or to seek further as per the chance given by God. And here Muktinath gives that assurance in a different way than the claims of other faiths and deities.