TRUE RELIGION CAN’T BE MISUSED. We are living in a world of extremes. On one hand, there are people like Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Theresa who mobilized humanity for the cause and welfare of humanity by taking inspiration from the religion. On the other hand, there are people like Osama Bin Laden, Hafiz Saed who brought destruction to the cause of humanity in the name of God and religion. Should we jump to a conclusion that whatever the former followed is a true religion and the later followed is not? Or does the argument that “True religion can’t be misused” suffers from the flaw of circuitous reasoning? Religion is a belief in a way of life. Seen within the spatial and temporal context, all the major world religions taught something which is more profound, more humane and more ethical in dealing with oneself as well as with the others. Inspired by the message of the messengers to lead a good life, followers would begin to increase in number. These followers would soon create symbols and an identity to differentiate them from the rest. Soon, the message loses its spirit in the sands of time and identity becomes an end in itself. The identity gives a false sense of pride and superiority. This feeling in turn affects the way with which they treat others. This is what happened with all the major religions of the world with no exception. Detachment spirit of Hinduism, Kindness and Forgiveness spirit of Christianity, Surrendering oneself to God spirit of Islam, self enlightenment through meditation in Buddhism were lost in all the cases where religion was misused. The atrocities against Rohingya Muslims by radical Burmese Buddhists, the atrocities against Muslims by radical Christians in Congo, the atrocities against Pandits of Kashmir by radical Islamist fundamentalists are case in points. This raises the question – if there ever can be a true religion which can never lose its spirit nor can be misused. In other words can spirit become more important than symbols? The caste system in Hinduism was regressive, divisive and exploitative in nature. Mahatma Gandhi took such a religion, revived the spirit of it with more vigor and more dimensions, without altering the symbols of Hinduism. He opposed the hierarchy in caste system. Through his actions he spread the same across the country. He demolished the negative spirit of caste system, what it stood for, by opposing the hierarchical nature of caste system. For the first time in history, he had the audacity to say that Bhagavad Gita is a dialect within oneself while the fight between the five senses and the evils was going on within oneself. He converted the idea of war between groups as a war within oneself. This issue gains prominence when seen in the light of the idea of Jihad (struggle with oneself) is made a symbol of war in the modern era, by some Islamic fundamentalists. Mahatma Gandhi had brought in the spirit of Christianity i.e. appealing to the moral side of even enemies through sacrifice, forgiveness and kindness – into Hinduism. Such was the magnanimity of Mahatma that he revived a religion that was on regressive path into a progressive one – with no alteration to the symbols of Hinduism. Then why is that some people are able to touch with the chords of the spirit of humanism in a religion while the others are stuck with the symbols of religion as an end in itself? Religion taking the shape of goodness or evilness depends on the person who interprets it. No religion can inherently be completely good regardless of the person who follows it or interprets it. Religion exposes people to the life stories of various historical as well as fictional characters, characters actions and the consequences that they had to face. An emotionally healthy person on exposure to such individuals would generally tend to imbibe the goodness in those personalities. For instance, Mother Theresa is an embodiment of Kindness and forgiveness. But because of various socio-economic factors, cultural factors, unhealthy familial relationships, biological disorders – not all would have circumstances which are conducive for healthy emotional growth. Religion in their hands would inevitably lead to destructive consequences depending on the extent of negativity they had already faced in life. In general people are good barring few exceptions. There is overwhelming empirical evidence that religious people lead happier lives, longer lives. Religion brings in discipline to one’s life, gives the strength in facing the traumatic events like losing an intimate family member. However, there are small a section of minority who do not attribute things and events in their life to God and yet lead a healthier and happier life. Ramana Maharshi and Jiddu Krishnamoorthi were case in points. They didn’t believe in any known religion or God and yet they lived a blissful life. It is widely accepted among the elite that the depth of understanding they had towards life is much superior to that of any religious persons and some may even say higher than Prophets like Jesus and Mohammed. It is the spirit of inquiry, courage to face the darkness within oneself head-on, scientific temper in applying the same logic and reason that they employ to understand the external world to understand oneself --- makes a person interpret even a regressive religion with a progressive outlook. The emergence of God Free Morality i.e. the idea of equality, the idea of liberty is a result of such inquiry. The doctrine of separation of powers is a result of an understanding of how can absolute powers turn even a good person into a bad one. Such understandings had no known roots in religion. There is absolutely NO true religion which can’t be misused. Had it been there, the progressive nations would have had religious doctrines as the governance framework instead of Constitutions whose tenets have no direct relationship with any known religion. Religions are bound to be misinterpreted, misused as the teachings were hundreds of years old and many of the teachings were not applicable to present day settings. Even a generous interpreter would have to deliberately ignore certain aspects of religion as non-existent. Aswa Medha Yagam of Ramayana, in which the wife of Dasaradha in order to bore children - had to sleep with dead horse, imagining that the dead horse as her husband for the whole night is ridiculous to say the least. No modern man can justify that action! What we need is not a true religion but someone who can choose what is good and what is bad for himself as well as the society around him. In the end, it all depends on our ability to create a conducive environment for which space for self exploration and self awareness is possible. The better self aware a person is, the better interpreter he is – in the interest of humanity.
Posted on: Sat, 05 Apr 2014 21:09:29 +0000
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