Spotlight

New Delhi, 16 October 2021

Religion of Man

IMPROVE SOCIETY, NOT DIVIDE

By Dhurjati Mukherjee

Religions, according to sociologists, are supposed to help us reconcile to our limited knowledge of the universe and create a cohesive community, which could be controlled by set codes of behaviour and give a purpose to life. It is in this sense that modernity as an idea could be classified as a religion too, in orderly and judicious governance of society. The new religion of life, highlighting Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy, admits the autonomy of the individual but with the sole purpose of consuming material goods and services and electing the best people as representatives to modulate society and government in the right direction with political and economic choices 

The main engine of change has been provided by science and technology. During the past 200 years, there has been amazing series of developments in our knowledge and understanding of the world. Obviously, science has emerged as the new religion that has the power to change all other religions. Humans are using technology to create a better life for themselves and society. There are also negative fallouts. It is estimated that around 40 per cent of all jobs may be lost in the coming years. The overwhelming majority of people would become, not like the new proletariat that emerged around 200 years ago but, a completely economically redundant class with possibly no skills with which they can contribute to social production.

 However, the question that remains why do we see a sharp rise in the old world religions and a desperate clinging to the past? In spite of modernity and development of science and technology, there is simultaneous growth of fanaticism among religions. In India also, fanaticism among Hindus has grown rapidly in the last few years, whose clamour for ram rajya, in the strictest sense of the term, is manifest all over the country. 

 It is indeed surprising that fairy tales that have no basis but couched in religious moorings are being propagated by the party in power. Obviously, this is a political ploy to win over uneducated Hindus, most of whom are poor and impoverished and the State has failed to provide them due socio-economic benefits except some solace in a new definition of religion. But does this new definition find acceptance among philosophers and scholars who are engaged in research on religion and human values?

 The right to a better life or the quest for human development has obviously to be the topmost priority among governments. As this quest has failed in India, the political class has started exploiting the uneducated in a non-conventional manner by inculcating a false sense of religion being linked to nationalism. This needs to be criticised by all academics, litterateurs, scientists etc. all over the world where fundamentalist religious forces are trying to inculcate a false sense of nationalism and trying to divert attention of the suffering masses. 

 The secular spirit of human beings is steadily fading away. This has been leading to fragmentation of society and disturbing human relations, which is essential for the healthy growth of society. The income inequality that is manifest in most Third World countries, including India, is finding reflection in social relations as well.

 Obviously, this brings us to the need for a universal religion as also unity of all religions that was propagated by none less than the greatest Hindu protagonist, Swami Vivekananda, who voiced this at the famous Chicago conference in the year 1917. This left philosophers and religious leaders spellbound because, for the first time, the need for universal religion and unity was being articulated by an unknown Indian priest.

 At such a juncture when uplift of humans through basic development is imperative, false notions of religions are being spread to divert attention. In fact, the nation is experiencing the political rise of the majority’s religion with its new forms of domination and subordination. Number of politico-religious gurus are ready to push the willing towards the altars of the supernatural superpower. Those who are in the business of doing such things are enemies of inclusive social growth and strong bondages that can lead to a cohesive communitarian society.

 In an age of reason, we are unfortunately moving more towards an age of blind faith. Societies based on blind faith are bound to be violent with centralised power and ancient laws that regulate everyday lives. Faith based beliefs invariably come from unchanged ancient texts which are considered holy, though these are most probably written by ancient tribesmen with very little knowledge about the physical world. Today, the texts are considered holy precisely because they are old and ancient but lack reason and justification. These are far away from practical laws of physics and biochemistry, which present logical evidence of the being of the universe and the emergence of life and its subsequent evolution.

 It is yet again time to inculcate Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy to unify religions with members of both communities working together for social development. As he himself stated: “I do not expect India of my dreams to develop one religion that is to be wholly Hindu or wholly Christian or wholly Mussalaman, but I want it to be totally tolerant, with its religions working side by side with one another”. For Gandhi, religion has no place in politics and there has to be clear demarcation between religion and politics.

 Gandhi's religion of man was not confined to temples, churches, books, rituals and other outer forms or bound by any formalities. He had said, God may have a thousand names as Ishwara, Siva, Vishnu, Rama, Krishna, Jehovah, Christ, Allah etc. according to the traditions in which a man is brought up and wondered "Is there one God for the Mussalmans and another for the Hindus, Parsis, and Christians?” He visualised only one omnipresent God, which he called Truth, for human development.

 There is need to remember Raja Rammohun Roy, whose 250^th birth anniversary falls this year. In 1830, he draw up a trust deed of Brahmo Sabha, which explicitly prohibited religious intolerance and insisted that one of its purposes was to establish harmony among diverse religious communities. Not surprisingly, Roy has been hailed as the originator of a renaissance in modern India, who saw religion in a broader sense of uniting people and society.

 Unfortunately, the present situation is completely different with religion being at the centre head of politics in the country-- a different form of exploitation of masses. Faith in India’s diversity rescues us from debilitating pessimism in the face of ferocious assaults on the expression of rational difference. There is need for propagation of the ideal of religion of man, being suggested by Ramakrishnaa Mission order i.e. building a national vision for a humane and united India. And thus, one shouldn’t follow Golwalkar’s narrow path but focus on idealogy outlined by Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore. 

 Human relationships are steadily eroding in society, and so also the value system and culture. New theories are definitely in conflict with our understanding of life, community and society and with conflicting ideas of India, and growing hatred among communities there is need to sit up. Majority versus minority, high caste versus low caste etc must be done away with. More importantly, the government must stop devising means to divide a fragmented population. Religion must be seen in broad spectrum, and efforts must be made to bring all sects and classes together for human development and welfare. Only then will human society be saved. ---INFA

(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)