THE CRISIS OF INTELLECT - Part 5 of 5

The crisis of intellect – Part 5 of 5

Two thousand and odd years ago, Jesus called upon man to undergo a second birth and allow the current of universal love to flow through him. But at no time has the need to heed this call been more urgent than today, when we have the power to destroy not only ourselves but everything which sustains us – to achieve the greatest feat of adharma. Dharma is that which sustains us and when we knock the earth from under our feet, when we blow it up, adharma could go no further.

The ancient Hindu scriptures have always talked of the earth as a tiny island in an immense universe of life. Today we can see that tiny island from a distance and feel the vastness that surrounds us. We must feel close to each other when we know we are very near to destruction. We cannot any longer afford to persist in the folly of misunderstanding religions other than our own. It has probably been rightly estimated that believers in God have killed more people in the name of religion than all the tyrants and invaders the world has ever seen. Half the troubles among religions are due to the rigid misconceptions concerning God.

Cooperation is one of the most fundamental lessons that religious persons have to learn from the practitioners of modern science. Our task should be to search diligently and patiently for the best principles of all the religions of humanity and, with the help of science, spread them throughout the world emphasizing their unifying and humanizing aspects, and thus make amends for the failure of science to promote these values.  If irrational dogmas which are contrary to facts are eliminated and if the enabling and unifying principles of religion are highlighted, religion will be rid of its deadweight and become an elevating force in the lives of people all over.

Our time being finite we don’t have to apologize for spending it on the best. In our study and practice of religions let us emphasize only the good things. In this matter therefore let us be more interested in values, not history. Take note of the currents of thought and aspirations of humanity as a whole. Let us not discard the canons of social justice. Let us not overlook the fact that God finds something of Himself in each religion and probably not fully in any one of them. Let us accept, as Hinduism has been maintaining, that all religions and sub-sects of religions are only several images on the different faces of a kaleidoscope, of the One Truth that is God Absolute and that is Love. Let us be iconoclasts therefore, not by decrying or breaking the idols and icons of other religions, but by ending the subtle form of idolatry in the shape of fanaticism that refuses to see any virtue in any form of worship other than one’s own.

None of the spiritual acquisitions of humanity can be set aside. Just as we appeal to those who think that science is the be-all and end-all of human endeavour and tell them they have another side to see, so also we must appeal to ourselves as followers of different religions or schools of religious philosophy that we should not waste our energies in discussing at an intellectual level as to who is right and who is wrong. It is only a misguided intellect that will discover a difference between one name of God and another. True religious life must express itself in love and respect  for all humanity and aim at the unity of mankind. A Sanskrit verse whose source is unknown says: Neither bead necklaces, nor the holding of Tulasi leaves, nor wearing the three-line mark, nor ashes, nor pilgrimage, nor holy bathing, nor ritual sacrifice, nor meditation, nor visiting temples nor having beatific visions of the divine – none of these can purify man ultimately.  What purifies him is his love of humanity and his pleasure in doing good to other humans and non-humans. Here is the solution for the crisis of intellect within each religion.

Every religion is a blend of macro-principles and micro-setting.  The macro principles speak to man as man. They are usually understood and appreciated though not easily followed. But the micro-setting in which each religion flourishes is a rich compound of mythology and ritual and it can never make its way into the emotional milieu of an outsider.  But to say that only the macro-principles are important is not right.  The tree is not more important than the sun and soil from which it draws its sustenance. Here is the crisis of intellect among the religions.  Each religion has therefore to be understood with reference to the soil in which it has been nurtured without any attempt at invidious comparisons.  However this emphasis on the micro-setting should not lead one to develop an aggressive pride in one’s culture and nationality. Certainly, pride in one’s culture and nationality is legitimate. But this pride, to quote the words of Huston Smith from ‘Religions of Man’, ‘should be an affirmative pride born of a gratitude for the values he has gained and not a defensive pride whose only device for achieving the sense of superiority it pathetically needs is by grinding down others through invidious comparison. His roots in his family, his community, his civilisation will be deep, but in that very depth he will strike the water table of man’s common humanity and thus nourished will reach out in more active curiosity, more open vision, to discover and understand what others have seen.’