Approaching the West — Page 101
A pproaching the West—101 relationship with the Divine. The Buddhists call it kelisa, which means impurity and defilement through harmful thoughts and evil emotions, which tarnish and pollute the mind. It is a deviation from the path of spiritual contentment and clarity of mind. Sin is caused by the craving for earthly possessions; this desire to cling on to earthly goods is within everyone, and it needs to be avoided at all cost. There are many kelisa—sinful pathways, such as killing, greed, anger, delusion, jealousy, stealing, sexual impurity, and lying, etc. , and these are all poisons for the soul. By getting rid of these sinful thoughts and impulses, the soul gains happiness and contentment, and the mind becomes free of pollution and darkness. Historically, if an established perception of a particular sin needs to be changed, then some religious or spiritual authority has to either abrogate the existing view, or modify the previously upheld parameters concerning that sin. In the history of world religions, new faith movements were created by charismatic personalities with strong convictions who departed from old sets of rules defining sins. For example, Siddharta Gautama and Mahavira both reacted to Hindu Brahman traditions and they established new religious parameters in the forms of Buddhism and Jainism. Same was the case in Christianity against Judaic laws. Christianity came into existence as a departure from the Jewish organized religion or way of life. First, Jesus himself neglected some of the Jewish rituals, and then Paul took exception and made several additional changes, at least for the Gentiles, in the Mosaic Law. Jesus and Paul did not try to do away with all of the Jewish rules of moral conduct; in fact,