Though all religions have taught ethical precepts, such as "do not kill, do not injure, love your neighbor as yourself, " etc., yet none of these has given the reason. Why should I not injure my neighbor? To this question there was no satisfactory or conclusive answer forthcoming until it was evolved by the metaphysical speculations of Hindus, who could not rest satisfied with mere dogmas. So the Hindus say that this Atman is absolute and all pervading, and therefore infinite. There can't be two infinities, for they would limit each other and would become finite. Also, each individual soul is a part and parcel of that universal soul, which is infinite. Therefore in injuring his neighbor, the individual actually injures himself. This is the basic metaphysical truth underlying all ethical codes.
It is too often believed that a person in his progress toward perfection passes from error to truth-- that when he passes on from one thought to another, he must necessarily reject the first. But no error can lead to truth. The soul passing through its different stages goes from truth to truth, and each stage is true. Its goes from lower truth to higher truth. This point may be Illustrated in the following way; A man is journeying toward the sun and takes a photograph at each step. How different would be the first photograph from second, and still more from the third or the last, when he reaches the real sun! But all these, though differing so widely from each other, are true, only they are made to appear different by the changing conditions of time and space. It is the recognition of this truth which has enabled the Hindus to perceive the Universal truth of all religions, from the lowest to the highest. It has made the only people who never had religious persecutions.
