Man may be a political animal or not, but he sure is a religious animal. Be he a saffron-clad sadhu or an yellow towel-rationalist, God dominates his thought, in devotion or denial. Indeed, religion is a natural impulse for homo sapiens while secularism, atheism and the like are either afterthoughts or habits wrought by external compulsions or simply fads. But in the algebra of humankind’s myriad problems where God plays the ubiquitous ‘Mr X’, often remaining unsolved, even those diehard ‘God-less men’ look skyward for solace and succour. In such cases, the return of these prodigals to the realms of the holy happens with greater gusto or, shall we say, godspeed; scriptures of many religions also certify that such people, in fact, get greater benefits from ‘Him’, even over the claims of ‘His’ unquestioning loyalists with unwavering faith from birth. Whatever, the point is that, the pull of the divine is so powerful that it ultimately overwhelms all other emotions and earthy considerations. God sure knows how to keep himself in power!
During the last few centuries, when the western nations were at their industrial and imperial peak, God was virtually sent on a sabbattical. It was the heyday of Darwin, Adam Smith, Freud and Marx, often dubbed as ‘bearded god-killers’, whose material dialectics and rampant rationalism carried much weight with the masses as well as the rulers. But now, the western media is awash with stories of religious revival, written, surprisingly, with reverence instead of the scientific skepticism and the cool, indifferent objectivity that normally underline such reports. An act of God, probably. Be it born-again Bush’s religious proclivities or the Pope’s political sermons, God dominates the debates as much as the prime protagonists themselves. For instance, Bush’s belief in the imminence of Christ’s second coming and his efforts to clear the decks down here for that celestial event are common knowledge with several takers in the US establishment itself. And the Bible is quoted profusely to back Bush’s beliefs, not just from pulpits but in the Pentagon too. And when the Pope talks of violent Islam, history and myth are combined to concoct a religio-political cocktail that is paraded and peddled not just in public places, but European Parliaments also.
Now one is not bemoaning the spurt of spirituality in what were hithertofore secular domains, but the reversals are quite dramatic. And make no mistake, it is not just jihadi Islam that has caused this transformation, though it could be an immediate agent provocateur. Western thinkers, rather, attribute the changes to increasing disillusionment with soulless secularism and unmitigated materialism besides the demise of godless communism. Also leading the charge are the immigrant communities whose increasing religious assertions in their adopted countries of the west are provoking backlashes which too are obviously religious in character. But to be fair to the west, it must be acknowledged that, in tune with its liberal traditions, it is not just evangelical Christianity that is making a comeback; there is also a great surge of interest in oriental faiths like Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism. Islam too is spreading fast and Quran-reading is on the rise, not just with the curious western public but also the paranoid security establishments!
In our good old Bharatvarsha, that is now secular India, religion never left the people’s midst in the first place for it to make a comeback. This, despite it being taboo in political discourse and looked down upon in cocooned media newsrooms. Rather, the secular exhortations of the political class and press are wasted on Indians. The people of the country are secular and tolerant, not because their Constitution ordains them to be or due to the vigil of self-styled secular torchbearers. Most of us have not even read the Constitution, in fact. The tolerance of Indians arises from their cultural ethos that is etched in their genes from time immemorial and reinforced by a rich heritage of religious teachings and texts whose antiquity is as unfathomable as its validity is for posterity.
This tolerant world view has withstood persecutions and provocations over centuries and is unlikely to wither away, a bit suicidally at that, even when jihadi bombs go off in our midst. Again, while Islam and Christianity are also political movements, Bharath’s Sanatana Dharma has always maintained a cool distance from hardcore politics, something modern secular governance lays stress on. Had our people mixed religion with politics, Mata Amrithanandamayi would now be the Kerala CM. And Bangaru Adigalar would be in the TN Assembly, if not as CM, at least as a member. And the BJP would never have lost.
So if our religious heritage is so strong and eternal with an expansive worldview, why then does India present a general picture of cultural, ethical, political and social decay? In the Afzal issue, the court has delivered a judgement, but justice still remains undelivered. A foreigner makes a bid to rule the country, not by conquest, but through perfectly acceptable parliamentary channels, but the country sees no offence, neither to its self-respect nor to its security. Any number of legistlation and scores of champions have failed to render true social justice. A thousand arms of the law are individually and collectively incapable of bringing to book the corrupt and the criminal. Indeed, it is a moot question if the much sought and fought for Independence has really brought freedom to the masses. But, if the modern concepts of jurisprudence, democracy, secularism and freedom have failed to deliver, should not our much worshipped gods have come to the rescue? After all they have been propitiated no end through rituals and festivals since yore and is it not pay-back time for the devout? Or is it going to be an extended Kali with Kalki putting off his visit, for whatever reasons?
The fault clearly lies with the individual. A combination of cultivated ignorance, mental laziness and indifference to anything other than self has resulted in the average Indian getting cut off from the invigorating and purifying traditions of the land. And that tradition, a true understanding will reveal, is not just about gods and rituals, but advocates a much higher and much subtler concept called Dharma. While at a lofty level it is God’s cosmic law or nature’s law, at the practical plane, Dharma is righteousness of spirit and action. In modern parlance or in the context of day to day living, it could be taken to mean ‘doing the right thing’.
Hindu spiritual tradition, unlike other congregational faiths, lays much store by the individual. Again, in contrast to other faiths based on dictum and doctrine, a sanatana dharmi can choose his own path and pace in his pursuit of the divine. There are no exhortations or injunctions but only guiding posts. At the end of Gita, Krishna finally tells Arjuna: I have said my bit, it is upto you to decide. No other religion or god offers such a lattitude to an individual. The purpose is that dharma should reside in every heart through conviction. Indeed, the failing of the country, therefore, is actually the failing of every one of its citizens in their dharmic duties.
Taking the law into one’s own hands, though tempting at times, is not what is meant. For starters, dharma can manifest itself in each one of us as a minimal sense of civic and political consciousness and voicing of indignation at the wrongs going on around. That may not be enough to hang Afzals, but would certainly enable us deal more effectively with the Narakasuras who abound in society and politics and even within us. And trust Mr X to do the rest.
Happy Deepavali.
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