India is the only country which is the storehouse of ancient
knowledge provided by godly saints, rishis and maharishis.
This knowledge, if shared among all the peoples of this
World, we would be promoting universal peace, brotherhood,
amity and cordiality in the age of globalisation.
The four Vedas, known as the first books in the world,
promote Global spirituality without discriminating humanity
on the basis of caste, colour or creed. While most of the
religions divide the humanity between believers and
non-believers, the Vedas proclaim “Vasudhaev Kutumbhkam”
(The Whole World is One) and every human being, good or bad,
is the excellent creation of God.
Every person is a walking book. We may not learn
substantially from books but from people around us. Every
person has some qualities worth imbibing. Let’s not ignore
any one on face value. Let’s talk. Let’s interact. We will
discover that we can learn something from every body. If
you’re more read, travelled or have interacted with maximum
number of people, you’re the lamp post to guide others.
The demand of this millennium is that we have to co-exist
despite our difference of opinions. We must celebrate our
differences. Let every body has the privilege to differ but
without losing temper. If we respect dissension, we become
democratic, tolerant, give recognition to the people and
promote diversity which brings unity in the society
automatically. Reciprocity from the other side would be
matching even if delayed. Indian society is the fine example
of this diversity and multi-cultural society.
India never believed in mono-culture. Those who promote
mono-culture based on religion or culture believe in their
(religion’s) superiority over other faiths, resort religious
conversion, thus creating tension is the society.
Christianity and Islam believe in institutional
proseyletization. The jehads and (counter) crusades have
bloody history in the past. If there’s regimentation in one
religious camp, it will have automatic regimentation in the
other camp, shutting out the communication channels and thus
creating misunderstanding and suspicion between each other.
Religious fundamentalist, empowered by money, power-lust and
overzealousness, has given rise to terrorism. Partly to
blame for the rise of terrorism is the arrogance of western
imperialism and non-reconciliation between Islam and
Christianity. After 9/11, Islam has come under greater
scrutiny by intellectuals. Debate among non-Muslims on the
need for reforms in Islam is noteworthy. Let the liberals in
Muslim world take initiative on this issue to reinterpret
Islam to project it as relevant to the modern times and
removing obscurantism. .
On the other hand, in the western context, and particularly
since the dawn of modernity, the understanding and
propagation of the biblical faith has been radically
corrupted by the domination of power, resulting in the
rejection of love as the shaping paradigm of western
culture. This summary rejection of biblical culture was
overlooked in the glare of power, control and wealth; and
the Way of Jesus Christ ceased to be the Way of the Cross.
Biblical texts were deployed to cover up the nakedness of
western triumphalism and religious expansionism, resulting
in the coinage of laughable slogans like the "Globe for
Christ by 2000 AD," "India for Christ by 2000 AD" and so on.
Ironically, these expansionist slogans began to emerge
proportionately as the western world ceased to be Christian.
Midway through the 19th Century, the European religious
constituency was stung by Soren Kierkegaard, the foremost
Christian philosopher of the times, who lamented,
"Throughout the Christendom, there is not a single
Christian!" The more Europe ceased to be Christian, the more
Europeans wanted the rest of the world to be Christian.
The continuous trend of religious conversion has been
controversial in India and has resulted in in demographic
threats that are posing a grave social tension. We must
consider banning both conversion and re-conversion. Let’s
not bring constitutional aspects of freedom of propagation
of faith into this matter. The culture of proselytisation
cuts into the roots of other religion. Mono-culture
societies are having more social tension, including ethnic
violence, despite belonging to the same religion. This calls
for establishment of multi-cultural societies by emigrating
people from different nationalities and religions or
promoting inter-religious and inter-caste marriages.
Lack of proper education, parents’ neglect and degradation
of traditional values lead to insecurity and fear among
individuals. It has been proved wrong that money and power
would give security and stability to individuals. To be
spiritual, one has to have faith in God, mind his or her own
karmas (deeds) and vow to behave responsibly in every
act and every day. Just see whether your action is going to
harm anybody. If it’s so, rethink on your decision. Blame
yourself or your karmas for the wrong things happening to
you. Non-spiritual people always find fault in others and
blame others for their misery. Belief in God and vow to
perform good karmas will remove the fear among people.
No religion is safe from this inner decay. And the pathology
of religion can be seen both by what it does and by what it
fails to do. Religion holds considerable spiritual resources
for transforming individuals and societies. The goal of
spirituality, in the Vedic tradition, is the ennoblement of
all human beings. This calls for the creation of social,
economic, political and cultural conditions conducive to
such a goal. The Vedas offer a comprehensive, universal
vision for humanity. Unfortunately, the ascendancy of
Brahmanical vested interests distorted the pure light of the
Vedas, misinterpreted and degraded it into an apology for
caste domination.
The greater need is to evolve Global spirituality, drawing
good things from all the religions and by drawing a global
school/college syllabus to promote inter-religious goodwill
so that every child in every part of the world is connected
with the world. The hallmark of spirituality is
responsiveness to the given context. This is what
distinguishes spirituality from religion in its common
practice. As a matter of fact, religion in itself is meant
to be a source of empowerment for human beings in their
effort to make sense of, and cope with, their life-world.
This has four major spheres of search, struggle and growth.
(a) First, every individual needs to relate to the divine,
and live by the discipline that goes with it. Questions
pertaining to the nature and being of God belong to this
order of human preoccupation.
(b) Second, there is a need to understand oneself, where
questions like who we are, what is the meaning and purpose
of life, what is the scope of human destiny, what are the
means for human fulfillment etc. become important.
(c) Third, we need to relate wholesomely to the given social
context where the dynamics of living together with others
assume profound spiritual significance. It is in this
context that the dynamism of our spirituality finds
practical expression. The spiritually enlightened person
cannot remain indifferent to the problems and sufferings of
others. Justice becomes the most authentic expression of
spirituality in the social context. This entails a sense of
responsibility for the kind of society we create and the
human predicament that prevails in it.
(d) Fourthly, every human being needs to maintain a healthy
relationship with the material world, the order of creation
all around him. He needs to practice justice in the way he
relates to the total order of creation, taking care of the
world around him, respecting the integrity of creation as an
important aspect of our human vocation. When this is
forgotten and creation is exploited in violation of its
sanctity and sustainability, we precipitate the
environmental crisis.
The polarization between religion and spirituality
Spirituality needs to be distinguished in the light of these
observations from the practice of religion, though
spirituality is subsumed in religion. Over a period of time,
as religion gets institutionalized, there comes about a gap
between the two, which thereafter tends to widen. This
polarization between religion and spirituality results from
the degradation of religion and further contributes to it.
In the end a stage is reached in which religion becomes a
contradiction of spirituality. So it happens that religious
rituals and sacraments become an escape route from the
challenges and responsibilities of the world around us. It
even happens that religious concepts are employed in
justifying and perpetuating the practice of injustice.
From this perspective, our Vedic heritage presents two
contrasting faces. On the one hand, we have a rich and
commendable religious and philosophical tradition, unrivaled
in its sophistication and subtlety. No other religious
culture has scaled the heights and depths of subjective
spirituality (the subtle understanding of the self) as we
have done. On the other hand, the Indian religious outlook
has progressively tended to close its eyes to social
realities where gross aberrations continued to thrive.
Consider the idea of Dharma in the Vedic tradition.
Understood properly, Dharma is essentially a spiritual
concept that pertains to the foundation and sustenance of
the created order in its natural, social and political
dimensions. Dharma is that which undergirds the wholeness of
creation and social life. It is possible to understand this
principle either in a "status quoist" or in a dynamic way.
Seen only in a status quoist perspective, Dharma is that
which rationalizes and preserves the existing order with all
its strengths and weaknesses, beauties and blemishes,
intact. Dharma in other words is a preservative. But in its
dynamic paradigm, Dharma becomes a principle of
transformation. It aims not only at supporting the existing
scheme of things, but also to bring out the ideal potentials
in the order of creation, which is not yet revealed in all
its scope.
From such a dynamic perspective, two categories of spiritual
tasks become clear. First, there is a need to reinforce what
is good and righteous in the given context. Second, there is
a need also to resist and reduce the aberrations and
distortions in the given socio-economic order. It is because
of this that Swami Dayanand Saraswati emphasized that a
sense of mission is basic to the practice of religion when
it is healthy and dynamic. But when the spiritual fire
within a religion dies out, the first casualty will be this
sense of mission, which embodies the dynamism of that
religion.
The problem with us today is that we have too much of
religion but little of spirituality. And our religions seem
to be vying with each other in justifying Karl Marx's
indictment of religion that it is "an opium of the people".
(The sense in which Marx used this expression is,
incidentally, different from what is popularly derived from
it. But that is another matter.) It is important to take
cognizance of the alarming signs of religious decay in our
times. Our religiosity is not imbued with a passion to
resist the forces of evil. It is not ablaze with compassion
for our fellow human beings and for the rest of creation. We
watch mutely the shameless abuse of religion for political
profits, using it as a blanket in this process for all sorts
of atrocities and frauds. If this lamentable trend is not
arrested, religion will be seen by the coming generation
only as a liability, reinforcing the current secular
prejudice.
Those who subscribe to the Vedic World View, as I do, have a
lot to answer for themselves vis-à-vis the
institutionalization of injustice and systemic oppression in
the name of Hinduism. In one sense, our society has been a
peaceful one. Different religious communities have been
living, at least till recently, in remarkable amity and
harmony with each other. But in another sense we are one of
the most violent societies in the world.
No other society has kept as many millions for as many
centuries in a state of subhuman subjugation and
exploitation as the low caste people in all religious
communities have been in this country. Even today, fifty
years after the attainment of freedom, millions continue to
suffer under the yoke of caste oppression and bonded labour.
Millions exist like living ghosts under the epidemic of
poverty and avoidable diseases. 46% of our people today are
illiterate. They outnumber the total population of India at
the time of our Independence.
The tragic thing is that what makes suffering, enslavement
and exploitation so endemic in our context is also our basic
strength: our resilience as a people. Ironically we have
been weakened by our strength. People put up with a lot in
this country. They have the patience of mountains. They
endure mutely on the edges of extinction. For far too long
we have romanticized this slow suicide only because it
served the interests of the status quo, of those who had
everything and did not want to share the available resources
with their neighbours. All religions have done it.
Christianity turned the fierce biblical ethics into a tame
and toothless thing, understandably castigated by Nietzsche
as too mild and humane to be useful. The Church has had no
use for the Jesus who exploded with indignation at the site
of exploitation and overturned the tables of vested
interests in the Temple premises. Instead, all through, the
Church has been preaching self-denial while practising
tyranny and opulence.
The point in making this reference is to emphasize the need
to radically re-value our orthodox ethical dogmas and
assumptions. To do this meaningfully, we need to strike a
balance between our habitual otherworldliness and the need
for dynamic this-worldliness. The dishonest practice of
selling the hope for a better birth or heaven in lieu of
minimum human dignity and personal fulfillment in this world
needs to be questioned. Those who cannot extend a helping
hand to those who suffer and wither in this world have no
moral right to insult them with the mockery of "a pie in the
sky when you die". This needs to be seen as the bottom line
for evolving the contours of social spirituality.
Fundamental to the question of social spirituality is the
distortion of ethics affected by the religious
establishment. As the religious establishment gets stronger
and stronger and as class or caste vested interests
supersedes the spiritual ideals of a religious tradition, we
find the revolutionary aspects of religious ethics being
diluted. Ethical principles begin to be re-oriented in the
direction of preserving and propagating the status quo.
Ironically, it is the establishment, both religious and
secular, that is keen to preach ethics. The willingness to
practice ethics in this connection is inversely
proportionate to the eagerness to preach it.
A few illustrative cases here :
This pro status quo nature that is imparted to religion is
incompatible with its true vocation, which is to transform
individuals and societies. Transformation is not just any
change. It is, instead, change directed towards the maximum
fulfillment of human beings as human beings. Fulfillment in
the human context, in other words, is a great deal more than
mere material possession, indulgence or consumption of
pleasure. In its social context, transformation acquires a
revolutionary character. It implies the 'spiritual' duty to
engage and reform institutions, systems and practices that
are subversive of our humanity. This is the essence of
righteousness in its dynamic sense. Dharma is not merely a
state of having some nice sentiments. It is an active
orientation that refuses to compromise with forces of evil.
It excludes indifference to the suffering of one's fellow
human beings.
At this point we need to reckon with a basic aspect of
spirituality. The spiritual is different from the material
in this respect that to be authentic the spiritual needs to
be embodied. The material object is there whether or not it
is used or invoked. A man who has a million rupees in the
bank balance is rich, even if he maintains the lifestyle of
a pauper. Not so in the case of things spiritual. If someone
says he has love in his heart, but never cares to express it
in his life time, he is a liar. It is, hence, integral to
the logic of spirituality that it needs to be embodied in
the given context. In that sense, we do not have to say
"social spirituality"; for spirituality is also 'social' by
definition.
Rather than recognize and develop the transformative
dimension of religion - that is, the spiritual dynamism of
religion - the priestly class in all religions prefers to
promote its escapist aspects. Religious obscurantism is born
out of this outlook. 'Obscurantism, as the word implies,
involves disengagement with the world of realities. It
obscures the element of human responsibility and the need to
respond in practical terms. Rather than take the policy
decision, for example, to wipe out illiteracy from India and
pursue it vigorously through administrative action, we could
go on chanting Saraswati Vandana. We could go on worshiping
the goddess of wealth, and yet not develop a healthy work
culture or sense of disciplined management of our material
resources. Instead, we could improvise all sorts of rituals
and practices by which the gods could be coaxed and cajoled
to overlook our lapses and continue to bless us in spite of
ourselves!
It is because of this that we face an embarrassing
contradiction today. India is a land of profound
spirituality. It is also a land of extreme inequality,
injustice and dehumanization. The sublime philosophical
reach of the Indic soul has not found its social
expressions. Social realities have gone almost in the
opposite direction from the flight of this Indic soul. The
Indian religious traditions, more than the Semitic
religions, recognized the spiritual value of the female
principle. But the plight of our women, especially of the
widows, has continued to be lamentable all through.
Hospitality has been a great value with us, but the dalits
have never found a place in the architecture of our social
outlook. It is here that the seed of our all-round poverty
lies.
There are at least three major reasons why we need to
develop social dimensions of our spirituality.
(1) Our country stands in need of social empowerment. A
country in which millions are socially enslaved and disabled
cannot hope to progress and attain its fulfillment. In this
context, issues like endemic illiteracy, poverty, disease
and inequality need to be seen as spiritual challenges. The
caste system is a patent violation of social spirituality.
Dismantling this oppressive, inhuman practice is a
pre-condition for the fulfillment of our destiny as a
nation.
(2) We need to create a rationale for our unity and oneness
as a people. Disunity and social tensions are unavoidable
when social justice is overlooked. The true index to the
healthy status of a society is its commitment to social
justice. Unity and dynamism are its by-products. Today we
are a lamentably fragmented society, wherein ironically
divisive manoeuvers are being made to promote artificial
unity! That is why the Hindu fold is sought to be united
using various hate objects, improvised from time to time.
(3) We need to build a participatory culture of development
within which the total human energies and resources
available to us are deployed in nation building. The extent
to which the 400 million illiterate people in this country
can participate in or contribute to nation building is
minimal. From the point of view of active participation or
resource sharing the population of India must be reckoned in
terms of a few millions. This in itself is a massive finger
pointing to the levels of social injustice prevalent today
in our context.
The need to create a dynamic social order has become all the
more compelling in the context of globalism. Egalitarianism
and people's participation have been major factors in the
socio-economic dynamism of the developed societies. Today
they are in a position to derive the best out of the
emerging global order. The Market is not a place of
sentimentality, compassion or charity. We have to deliver
the goods to be taken seriously. Gimmicks like exploding
nuclear devices will not cover the nakedness of our social
underdevelopment by which we shall continue to be judged and
condemned.
Those who claim to be spiritually enlightened cannot any
longer shut their eyes on the weeping wounds of our society.
The situation today is such that we have to launch a new
"Liberation Movement" in India. For vast segments in our
country, the attainment of political freedom has not meant
much. Millions await to be liberated from bonded labour,
child labour, illiteracy, poverty, ill-health, exploitation
and conspiratorial neglect at the hands of the State.
Millions more need to be liberated from superstition,
religious obscurantism and fundamentalism. Above all our
society needs to be liberated from the prison house of
communal hatred and hostilities and the inevitable
dissipation of energies and resources this involves. The
rise of religious fundamentalism is made possible only by
the dilution of our commitment to social justice.
One of the foremost needs in the Indian context today is to
reform the very idea of religion. Our tragedy is that we
have too much of religion and little of spirituality.
Religion without spirituality, especially in its social
dimension, tends to be a system of oppression and
exploitation. It was against Christianity without a
commitment to social justice that Karl Marx issued his
informed indictment. Human history, including the Church,
has been the richer for that.
It is time that a similar spiritual ferment took place in
our context too. But that will not happen as long as this is
left in the hands of professional clergy and the hangers-on
of the religious establishment. People whose hearts are set
ablaze with compassion and truth need to devote themselves
to the task of impacting our society from a spiritual
perspective and produce the fruits of the resultant
transformation so that the religious establishment is forced
to take note of it. While religion can be the exclusive
preserve of the religious, spirituality is under nobody's
monopoly. He who gives a glass of water to quench the thirst
of another is spiritually more evolved than those who chant
their scriptures with their eyes closed on the giant agony
of our world.
