Here, as well as everywhere, all translations from Russian into English, submitted to your attention, in no circumstances can be considered as professional, artistic translations, and I do not even pretend to anything similar. I only within limits of my modest knowledge of English slightly redacted the "machine" translation executed by a computer program. Sole purpose of this translation - to adumbrate and give to an English reader common idea about the contents of the original Russian texts, from which the translation is executed.
-... Saneguti has screamed of unexpectedness, foreseeing how fruits of his persistent heavy labour, which were raised by young Jamabusi at the cost of huge patience and extreme efforts, in exhausting day time hot and in severe night cold, under penetrating gale-force winds and pouring thunderstorm rains, will fly away now and scatter in the air - but not a single grain of barley even budged under the lamaist's weight. Standing confidently on the fragile pyramids, proudly putting his arms akimbo, slyly and exultantly smiling, Zon Gambotuhta was looking with triumph at the young man taken aback...
- And how has it turned out, that the pyramids were not scattered under weight of the lamaist who had jumped? - Pavlushkin has interrupted the fat man with surprise.
- You see, young man, - the visitor has willingly responded to a question, -
the matter is that the monks from Lhasa wielded many innermost secrets, had ability of creating improbable, inconceivable miracles and did many unusual actions amazing imagination of common mortals. For example, glorified lamaists had a habit of traveling by air, and they thought nothing of flying in short term the remote lands, where most honored holy things were placed. The most famous "flying monks" from Shalu managed to visit the main monasteries and major spiritual centers in Tibet, Internal and External Mongolia, China, Nepal and India for as short time as eight days, what took an ordinary traveler, dragged on the ground "on foot", whole eight years. The famous lamas locked, according to their own will, for a long time in gloomy caves with bricked up entrances achieved such a state of cleanliness, easiness and transparence by meditation, that after the expiry of twelve years independently, without anybody's assistance got out on the surface through tiny apertures made in thickness of granite rocks by force of their breathing. After the long-term voluntary confinement the bodies of the ascetics, by the way, got ability to become heavier or lighter by weight at the wish of the owner and, what is most surprising, didn't throw a shadow any more even in a bright sunny day...
- Do you think it is possible to breach a rock by breathing? - has mistrustfully interrupted the visitor again Pavlushkin tired of abundant of the new information, which has fallen on him, and already partly inclined to conceive the strange and curious histories of the fat man not as stories about real facts and original events and phenomena, which really existed and occurred, but rather as "grandma's fairy tales" that is inventions and fables called up by somebody's wild fantasy and been fruits of rich imagination.
- The ascetics took a human tibial bone into the cave, - the visitor explained willingly and in detail, nevertheless not being confused at all by Andrew's puzzling questions, -
which, as you know, has the form of a tube. After many-year reading of various spells and magic words such a bone tube got wonderful properties; it was just what they blew in, putting to the walls of the cave. Though there is no a tube like that in Storehouse of Kharkov Regional Management of Heavenly Host, I was told about tests of that carried out by our Specialized Head Research Center at Resource Management. To study the tube properties two special structures of the same type reminding huge stonewalls or, more exactly, blocks of cubic form, hundred meters high, long and thick, were constructed. Each block was performed by the same quantity of identical many-layered slabs made of different high-strength materials. Structure of these most complex engineering constructions included many different elements; to be brief, I'll mention only about huge honeycomb ceramic sheets mainly made of composite plastics and fixed from inside by special fiber glass and polyester resins, and also about the strongest wide plates of steel, aluminium and titanium-vanadium alloys of shell-proof configurations, representing various kinds of combined, shielded, reactive and homogeneous armour. The latter, by the way, was strengthened also at the expense of using decontaminated uranium as one of the components. In the case of the blocks, inside appropriate armour units and compartments, were incorporated charges of explosive substances of the directed action, ensuring dynamic protection of constructed structures, and inside separate special containers in addition were also placed disks of special super-conducting materials creating the strongest anti-percussion magnetic field. On completing all the works an intercontinental ballistic missile equipped by a special fighting head carrying seven 100-megaton nuclear charges of cumulative action, capable on a repeated detonation was started from as short distance as three kilometers into the first of the blocks served as a control sample. However even exact and direct hit of the missile on normal in the constructed block and the monstrous force blast caused by it have failed to destroy the built experimental wall up to the basis (although, certainly, have turned the greater part of it into ruins) - two last layers have resisted before under onslaught of the terrible impact. And for comparison, the slightest blowing caused by breathing of a year-and-a half baby into the wonderful tube from Lhasa has turned to be enough to completely breach the entire 100-meter thickness of "heaped" armour protection of the second block being an exact analogue of the first one and "to drill" an accurate cross-through cylindrical aperture with ideally smooth, mirror surface of internal walls in it, as if by a device for oxygen-flux cutting. However, for the organizers of the experimental tests everything was finished by discomfiture. Just after a minute the baby left without supervision with the tube in his mouth unexpectedly has sneezed, and the consequences of the unforeseen "sneezing" of the rosy-cheeked chubby little boy have struck the old hand specialists and experts of Head Research Center: the second block was literally made havoc of and smashed to shreds, and only several miserable fragments of the entire huge wall remained whole by a miracle and warped beyond recognition, and even in those gaped huge holes with shredded fringed edges. Let's however return on high-mountain pass running through Ulan Daban mountain ridge of Tibetan upland, to the place of meeting of the young monks. Now it is clear for you why the pyramids of barley were not scattered under the weight of Zon Gambotuhta who had jumped on them. Being a wandering lamaist monk, the latter, apparently, up to a known degree wielded, like many glorified people of Shalu extraction, secrets of air flights - notorious levitation and could control his own weight without any effort.
- And what is levitation? -
Pavlushkin has become interested in an unfamiliar word.
- Usually tremendous and unique ability of particular magicians and soothsayers to overcoming the force of gravity without the help of wings and without using or mediation of any visible objects and mechanisms is called so.
- And are they really able to fly as a bird?
- Yes, certainly, and to soar in air for hours, and to fly even long distances as well. And such cases are not a big rarity at all. There are thousands evidences confirming the similar facts.
- Yes, it is cool! - has shaken by his head Pavlushkin with an air of an experienced connoisseur.
- There is, probably, nothing stronger than that in the world!
- I will tell you, young man, secretly, -
the fat man broke into a smile, -
there is something stronger than levitation in the world! It is a Christian prayer. I could have told here many remarkable stories narrating how even the most famous soothsayers and wizards glorified themselves by exploits and miracles were ashamed in eyes of all honour people due to force of the cross and prayer. You see, once such magicians screwed up their courage and to challenge to Christian saints, and to start an open competition, they immediately lost all their magic force. And such competitions very often finished tragically for the Magi: many of them, trying, as usual, to fly up and soar above the Earth, fell down to the ground and were broken to the death! However, let us not be distracted and let us return to a place of the meeting of Saneguti and the lamaist. The young monks got into conversation. For short time Zon Gambotuhta managed to tell many most interesting and improbable stories to inquisitive Saneguti and to let him into many secrets, but soon their roads forked. Jamabusi already hastened home, doing his best to approach a long-awaited instant of coming back into his native lands. He has honestly executed the duty and has exactly redeemed the promise he gave. Seven years of travels and wanderings on the far oversees countries pointed by the old teacher Negoro Tadasi as a trial for young Saneguti have already expired by that time, and now the young warrior and monk who has grown up and stronger, both physically and spiritually, in long journeys, could have already returned with clean conscience to mountainous lands of Iga province, which were so dear and memorable for him. Meanwhile, in Japan itself, in motherland of Jamabusi, became imminent the most important events which have played the main role in subsequent history and destinies of inhabitants of Nippon Country (as Japanese themselves called their motherland), and our hero, as occurrence had willed it, could take an active part in what was going on. To tell the truth, firstly, after young Jamabusi had overcome hundreds and thousands kilometers overland and overseas during many-day transitions, and had appeared, at last, in native province Iga, everything around was silent, anything did not break the idyllic calm yet and even the most acute and foreseeing gaze would not find out any signs foretokening impetuous events which stirred up all Japan in the near future. On arriving home, Saneguti at once, in account on expected lethal duels, found and took away with him a wonderful battle bracelet hidden in a reliable shelter under a rock. The precious relic left by his teacher Negoro Tadasi before his death shone as a new one, and it was impossible to believe even that it had been lying in the ground for seven years and was made one thousand years ago! Now Saneguti could participate in any battles and fight with any enemy! However soon young Jamabusi, not seeing serious enemies, intoxicated with grace and calm reigned around, even forgot for some time about an awesome prediction of old Dao Lu Shi who had promised him life full of dangerous adventures and battle fights. In the peaceful calm of native mounts all days and nights long Saneguti gave himself up to military trainings consisting in doing various impellent exercises and franticly perfected skills of manipulating the arms. The long physical exercises were alternated by meditation - concentrated and profound reflections. The favourite pastime for Saneguti was doing an exercise thought up by Jamabusi himself and named "lion's", which was an incredibly difficult "low battle point" - hardly accessible to someone else in all Japan of that time. And really, Saneguti's seat when doing the exercise and his subsequent movements by something imperceptible resembled the pose of a lion preparing to a jump and unexpectedly making a throw lethal for a victim. The young monk in a vestment of a common man and in a wide peasant's hat, under which the military appareling was carefully hidden, took seat, with his legs turned up, usually in a shadow of a high sakura with stretched wide vertex of long branches, and, with his head inclined and his eyes closed, slowly shook from side to side, muttering and singing something under his breath. From aside it could seem to a rear walker, who threw a passing glance on Saneguti, that a peasant tired of hard work on a neighbourhood rice field sat under a tree to take a rest and felt asleep worn out by the sun, but, certainly, it was difficult to imagine an assumption more absurd and farther from true, than that. And suddenly, to complete unexpectedness of the casual eyewitness, the figure of Saneguti - weakly, it seems, rolled itself up into a ball, with the trunk lifelessly lowered to the ground, and with arms hanged down spinelessly, - "blew up", and improbable sight for its beauty took the observer aback and he stood still on his place with a fright. The trained body of the young warrior flew up - as if a spring straightened with extreme force or even as an arrow shot with immense speed from a bow - high into the air, nearly touching bottom edges of sakura branches, which were far from the ground, a short sword, snatched out by an imperceptible movement from sheaths hidden in pleats of clothes, sparkled on the sun, a lightning wave followed and a leave of sakura, flown away from the branch under a blow of a sudden impulse of wind, was divided precisely in two. In other time the reason of "explosion" could be a thin hair of a web, dissected immediately by a neat impact of the sword. At times even a dragonfly gaping in flight became a victim of a prompt throw, and big drops of dew sometimes scattered in parts, being cut by an acute blade. In short, no single leave of sakura reached the ground unless it was cut in two by an impact of the young warrior's sword. By such inconceivable speed of movements and mad reaction when doing the exercise Saneguti was obliged to long years of most persistent trainings and the skill produced during them to run consciously and purposefully for a few seconds into a battle trance - a state described by inconceivable concentration of mental and physical energy, when organism of a warrior functions like a precisely organized mechanism, and all parts of his body, beginning from brain and finishing the smallest muscle, work in unison and with an exclusive sharpness. However, measured, quiet and peaceful life of Jamabusi did not last long. The trainings were soon finished and unexpectedly battle everyday life began. In native lands of Saneguti unexpectedly arrived uninvited visitors - perfect armies of Oda Nobunaga - future and the first man who united Japan, who was from province Ovari by birth, an artful, cunning and severe man, cynical atheist and a sworn enemy of Buddhist antiquities. In his pressing forward to boundless power Nobunaga acted regardless of everybody and everything, and yet being a young man, after death of his father, ruthlessly cut and exterminated all his relatives. Even Nobujuki, a little brother of Oda, had not avoided bloody punishment and became a victim of the composed murder. Having subordinated everybody to his tyrannical will and having achieved one-man authority in his native land, pathological power-lover Nobunaga was not nevertheless satisfied by it, and soon, not scrupling to use any means, began to conquer the lands of neighbours. And here for him became a bone in his throat and leucoma on his eye powerful and influential Buddhist monasteries scattered on all the territory of Japan, handicapping conquer plans of a new-come despot - frantic persecutor and oppressor of ancient belief. And by irony of destiny Nobunaga himself belonged to one of Buddhist sects supporting the doctrine of ancient school Nitiren-su, but actually it was impossible to call him a man of little faith, let alone a beliver! He showed almost open disregard to objects of cult and idols, despised Buddhist ecclesiastics, mockingly laughed at prophesies and omens, publicly denied immortality of a soul and after-death life; in short, he did not believe neither in God, nor in devil, neither in spirits, nor in demons!..
- And may I ask you? -
Pavlushkin has suddenly interrupted the fat man.
- Yes, please, -
has interrupted his story the visitor.
- Well, I wanted to learn, -
Andrew has stopped short, -
I am very much interested in one question, but I do not know, whether I may ask it.
- Ask, young man! -
the fat man has encouraged Pavlushkin.
- Does the God really exist? -
Andrew has squeezed out, at last, and has guiltily looked at the fat man.
- And how do you think? -
directing a cheerful gaze on Pavlushkin, Nicolay Nicolaevich has tried nevertheless to keep seriousness, keeping with all his efforts and sticking his lips, but eventually has failed and merrily burst out laughing.
- I do not know exactly,
- irresolutely has continued Pavlushkin, -
but at school, I remember, the teacher of history spoke us about a scientist who has told that in science it is possible to do without the God.
The fat man has laughed more loudly. The unexpected Andrew's retorts, by everything, extremely amused Nicolay Nicolaevich, bringing him a great pleasure.
- You see, young man, you probably hint at the famous words of Laplas, the author of "Heavenly mechanics". If my memory does not fail me, in responce to the question of Napoleon, why the name of the world Creator was not mentioned anywhere in the above-stated astronomical research, Laplas, it seems, not without pride has declared: "I did not have a need for this hypothesis". In due time we studied and analyzed the similar cases in details in Ecclesiastical Seminary. This phenomenon is rather curious (our experts call it syndrome of life trivialisation), it has rather complex and rich symptomatology, it is displayed in diverse forms, and at times even really outstanding persons, unfortunately, become its victims. For long years of service in Department of irregular units, volunteer guards and people's volunteer corps of Kharkov municipal government of Heavenly Host I repeatedly had to meet people having certain, if it is possible to be expressed so, pseudo-rational and mechanistic type of consciousness. Such persons - even being excessively hardened and burdened by a load of useful, extensive and versatile knowledge - suffer from a strange and incomprehensible absence of spirituality, from a distinctive and inexplicable impotency of mind and spirit. They usually wave away from idea of the God, as if from supposedly banal and deprived of sense one; all human religion (extremely sated by the deepest ideas and generously represented by the ministers of really outstanding mind, titanic spirit and fiery temperament!) and the richest human convictions seemed trivial and unnecessary to them. It is possible, without any exaggeration, to ascertain presence of some version of a strange spiritual malaise at these "earned poor creatures" and to make a rightful conclusion that such people were overtaken by a great misfortune; you see, they, by the way, are very difficult to get out of trouble and the trap of unbelief they have got into or even drove themselves into. The superficial learning here sooner makes them harm, than helps; it does not make them wiser and does not bring them nearer to true. As a matter of fact, it is the notorious Faust "scientific rubbish", which strong natures dump eventually from themselves like motley cloths. Just the core of the problem has been revealed and noticed by famous Bacon of Verulamium, in whose reflections we find a wonderful idea that deep minds sooner or later come to the God while superficial minds usually aspire to atheism. It is definitely possible to conclude and to make a conclusion arising by itself: the men of science who are not trusting in God, are the people prejudiced and deprived of something; they are similar to the persons with organic defects of vision, and they are possible, figuratively speaking, to be called spiritual daltonians and thrytanopians. They try to reduce the essence and sense of human thinking to simple physical processes and to explain it by usual chemical reactions! Their peculiar "night-blindness" causes sincere pity. You see, these poor creatures of science see only motion of waves, but do not see the wind setting the waves in motion!
- And is not it impossible to show them in some way?!
- - Alas, it is very difficult to do that! To be clear I shall show you an example from other field: however true judges of art laid themselves out, say, about merits of Rafael's brush or about beauty of Rublev's icons - for country bumpkin and ignoramus - great masterpieces will remain boards and pieces of painted rags! Here it is necessary both time, and inspiration, and internal growing! Here is a vivid example from life: about thirty years ago I used to know well one most capable beginning physicist, candidate of science - materialist to the marrow of his bones and convinced atheist. And what do you think? I met him recently - he had already been an academician and a winner of various premiums who brought a great contribution to development of the newest theories and made a lot of outstanding discoveries. We had a sincere talking "about life" with him, and suddenly after a next small glass of vodka - our "venerable atheist" burst into tears like a child and confessed to me "secretly" that without idea of the God - all his physics would fail as if a house of cards! For a long time he still talked to me about "the moment of true" that had come for him, assured that no surrogate mechanisms and ideas will replace the God. He repeated and stated as a spell the word's of Einstein: "the most beautiful and the deepest emotion we can feel is a mystical feeling - a source of all true science, and the one, to whom this emotion is alien, is better in no way than a dead man". And at the end of the conversation he also had presented a cardinal conclusion made for him by himself: really scientific occupations do not prevent and do not interfere at all to deeply religious disposition of a scientist! That's the way!..
- And does the God punish those who do not believe in him? -
with an interest, perhaps, not played one, has addressed Pavlushkin to the fat man.
- You see, young man, you have asked rather a difficult question. First of all, atheists already punish themselves by unbelief. It is known and proved (and confirmed statistically during numerous observations), that with other things being equal spiritual and physical health of unbelievers is already initially undermined; they are frequently both tormentingly sick and die early. Figuratively speaking, it is possible to tell even so: atheism is, perhaps, the most delicate and refined form of voluntary giving up the life and of suicide. And though atheists wave away in every possible way of agonizing and damned questions driving them deep into their subconscious minds, consensually stifling wails and groans of their spirit exhausted and eaten by the terrible belief in an extremity and limitation of their existence (and hence harassed by absence of a slightest sense in life!) - but all this, you see, does not disappear anywhere and does not fly away. These questions nag unbelievers from inside, gradually and imperceptibly. As a result the vegetative nervous system of the poor people suffers of affliction, nine times of ten various latent "diseases" and a whole bouquet of psychosomatic infringements are observed. It is pertinent to recollect here the remarkable words of Alexander Pushkin about the man who became a victim of unbelief: "who in the world will sweeten the tortures of his soul?!" The internal nature, you see, does not forgive mistakes, and you can't deceive yourself! Subconscious mind is the most delicate thing, and unbelief, I replicate, is not a completely harmless phenomenon! It will nag out, like a wolf, an unbeliever's soul and will reduce it to ashes, will push it out by a bloody side, will get out as if a black and dead like hernia, will make life a burden to it completely and will be the death of it by existential emptiness! And, by the way, according to the information of one of our major structural subdivisions - Department of Registration and Observation of Heavenly Host that have been conducting careful observations over various groups of the population already for about seven thousand years - it is distinctly clear that real and complete believers, depending on concrete-historical conditions, live on average from 20 to 50 years longer, than their atheistic relatives; besides it is noticed everywhere that the people with the God in their souls are sick much less often, and die, as a rule, without torments. As to the question of punishment for unbelief itself, here it is necessary to mean the following: people do not trust in God and are against him in different ways. It is possible to understand, say, God-fighters - Thracians shooting arrows into heavens to tame and pacify the furious God; it is possible to understand the king of Franks Clovis and other spunky and renegade proselytes similar to him, burning what they worshipped to and worshipping to what they burnt; it is possible to understand the agnostics and sceptics walking in darkness - passionately looking for the God and not able to find; it is possible to understand frantic fury of Holbach and other exposers of religion; it is even possible to understand, for example, specifically and supposedly unbelieving followers of various Utopian, Chiliastic and Messiah political and public tendencies (the bright representatives of which were, by the way, fanatical builders of "light future" who created their false-scientific and pseudo-atheistic, not similar to anything, "belief in communism"); at last, it is even possible to understand, but, certainly, not to accept blind folly of Satanism and Deviltry - you see, even in sacrilege and blasphemy there is certain diabolical ardour and belief. But it is impossible to understand and to bear a betraying and little unbeliever-atheist who has nothing sacred in his soul and reduces Man - this immortal creation of the Lord - to a level of nutrition for worms!..
- And what will be with such atheists after their death? How will they be punished by the God? -
was not appeased Pavlushkin, trying to get an answer to his interesting question.
- The situation here is the following: if someone did not trespass in his life and did not soil himself with different blemishes, and unbelief is, as a matter of fact, is the only his sin before the God, this man, certainly, will not be rescued in life to come; but our merciful Lord has prepared rather soft and, I would even tell, most refined punishment for such people (though I shall tell you frankly, that in opinion of some my colleagues there is no more severe retribution than that). At once after their death the atheists, "loyal", if it is possible to be expressed so, to the God, run into eternal deep hibernation. They will not see neither paradise, nor hell and anything that is on the other side of physical world. As they say, what they struggled for is just what they run up...
- And they never will learn about existence of the God?! -
with sincere worrying has interrupted Pavlushkin the fat man.
- No, why not! The God is gracious! Before running into the hibernation forever, such died people will learn the True! For one or two minutes they are allowed to see the Shining light outgoing from the Lord.
- And can I see the God just now? -
unexpectedly has asked Pavlushkin.
The fat man has widely smiled in response, his voice has warmed:
- My lad! Dear, I perfectly understand, that you would like to contemplate the light face of our Lord, and sic et nunk (that is here and now!), but it is impossible to see the God by physical vision. Generally, it will be necessary, probably, to acquaint you whenever at a convenient case at least with beginnings of Formal Theology. Knowing this discipline, you would already independently find answers to many questions. I, for the kind of my present practical activity, already for a long time was not engaged in theoretical and speculative aspects of the case in point, and generally in any scientific problematics, but as far as I remember from the appropriate course of the program of our Ecclesiastical Seminary, there is a series of fundamental Laws working inevitably and is irreversible and strictly regulating those or other processes on Earth. According to Formal Theology, in the physical world, in particular, the basic Law of Belief Regeneration acts. I do not remember literally the exact statement of it (it is rather volumetric - only the text of preamble to the Law occupies three quarters of a page of complete format typed by a close font!), but in brief the essence can be represented by the following words...
