Gaining the World vs. Losing the Soul

In the Hindi movie "John Day", John is a banker who lives a peaceful life until his serene life is disturbed by a tragedy that kills his daughter followed by another tragedy that leaves his wife in coma.  John goes on a rampage to destroy his enemies.

As the movie ends, the screen is filled with these beautiful words from Mark 8:36

Mark 8:36

What good is it if someone gains the whole world but loses his soul?

These are words that appeal to any Indian.  I was moved by these words.

All Hindus are instantly moved by these words, for selflessness is taught to them as the stepping stone to moksha or liberation.  However, we cannot impose Hindu or Indian ethos on a Christian text.  To understand what those words in Mark 8:36 mean, we need to dig further.

Promptly I went to look at Mark 8 to understand the context.  Mark's gospel quotes these words of Jesus spoken to his followers.  In what context does Mark's gospel use these words?  We need to look at verses further back to really understand what these words of Jesus mean.


Mark 8:31-38

Jesus then began to teach his disciples. He taught them that the Son of Man must suffer many things. He taught them that the elders would not accept him. The chief priests and the teachers of the law would not accept him either. He must be killed and after three days rise again.  He spoke clearly about this.

Peter took Jesus to one side and began to scold him.  Jesus turned and looked at his disciples. He scolded Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You are not thinking about the things of God. Instead, you are thinking about human things.”

 Jesus called the crowd to him along with his disciples. He said, “If anyone wants to come after me, he must say no to himself. He must pick up his cross and follow me. If he wants to save his life, he will lose it. But if he loses his life for me and for the good news, he will save it. What good is it if someone gains the whole world but loses his soul? Or what can anyone trade for his soul? Suppose you are ashamed of me and my words among these adulterous and sinful people. Then the Son of Man will be ashamed of you when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

Jesus is saying that matters of this world do not concern a person who is interested in saving his/her soul.  If you are focused only on this-worldly matters, your soul will not be saved.  Humans can save their soul by one and only one thing: "Picking up the cross and following Jesus".  Trying to save his life in any other way will only lose the life (i.e., cannot save his soul).

Jesus is talking about Selflessness as in shunning interest in worldly matters as far as saving one's soul is concerned. Shunning them not because they are distractions or lead to bad vices but because they are useless as expedients in saving one's soul.  There is no discussion of employing these less-worthy worldly goods to the benefit of others in the society.  There is no discussion of shunning them because they are distractions from the goal of salvation.  Instead, the focus of the individual is always on saving one's own soul.  Given that, in the Christian theology, soul has separate identity from one person to another, seeking nothing more than saving one's own  soul is nothing but selfishness.

For all schools of Dharma, Hinduism, Buddhism or others, reducing cravings in worldly matters is an important matter in itself in bringing about the right state of mind.  For Buddhists, doing so is essential to enlightenment.  For Hindus, such a state of mind prepares them for Moksha.  For Christians, worldly matters are a non-issue - only belief in Jesus as savior can bring about salvation.