Sunday, December 10, 2000		Lead Article

WHEN a friend quoted this Urdu couplet, it set us thinking. Is it really true that religion created divisions in society? The very mark of identity that should normally be nothing more than a psychological reinforcement can become a symbol of strife and hatred. Have religious places stopped providing solace to humanity? Are we making a mistake somewhere? We often tend to take religion and spirituality as synonyms. But do they really represent the same concept?

Religion has played a pivotal and multi-dimensional role in almost all human endeavours. Be it material pursuit, the quest for mental peace and spiritual uplift or boosting one’s morale while facing adversity, religion has provided an anchor.

It is said that American astronauts often carry a copy of the Bible with them on their space missions. In ancient India, the temple used to be the centre of all human activity. Travellers from distant places would get boarding and lodging; and traders would transact their business with outsiders in the holy precincts. It was also the centre of learning, community life and various other socially beneficial activities.

In modern times, early settlers from Europe found the New World sparsely populated. Settlements were scattered over vast areas of land. In order to socialise, they found the Church a convenient place. Thus people belonging to the same denomination would come together, build churches and found communities based on identical interests.

It was in this manner that Mormons, Quakers, Catholics, Protestants, Jews et al strengthened their intra-community bonding. The same is true of the present day immigrants, be they Sikhs, Hindus or Muslims from the subcontinent. No wonder the present-day American skyline is dotted with the domes and minarets of mosques, gurdwaras and temples, and of course synagogues.

While religion enables us to strengthen our social relationships, it also helps one to establish a spiritual bond with the Almighty. There is that intangible emotional tie that makes one feel a part of the gathering. While participating in bhajans, or even listening to them in the temple one forgets all worldly worries — even if temporarily — and joins the rest of the gathering in communicating with the divine. The experience can be emotionally cathartic and spiritually enlightening for some of us. This caters to one’s yearning for enduring bonds, especially when one is lonely, or among strangers in a foreign country.

The same is true of nuclear families where the emotional space is sought to be filled by religion-related activities. Social scientists find it remarkable that more than joint families, it is nuclear families that are getting increasingly inclined towards religion. Perhaps, this explains the popularity of mythologicals on our television screens among even the so-called westernised Indians. There is increasing attendance in temples even on non-festival days, and pride of place is given to the mandir in even those upper middle class homes, that once used to sneer at such a practice. Where the mornings used to resound with hard rock music, now are invariably welcomed by devotional renderings based on classical ragas. The evenings find even the neo-rich youth divided between a jig at the disco and a visit to the temple. More often than not, the temple wins. Funnily, despite the rising attendance in the temple, today’s young are less inclined towards blind faith. As one of them says: "We pray to God, but prefer to work hard for our success."

However, there is a downside too. Saints and seers agree that religion is a set of rules that enable a society to function in an orderly manner. These rules were formed to meet people’s needs under certain circumstances, for a specific period of time. Prayers and rituals form a part of it. Religion is doctrinal in nature and rituals and symbols associated with a particular faith give its followers a distinct identity.

Unfortunately, the form often becomes more important than the content. We blindly follow the outdated tenets of our respective creeds, whether they are relevant any more or not. With the passage of time, we begin to give more importance to ceremonial or formal aspects of our cult than to the humanitarian ideology that it actually seeks to spread. This is what breeds fundamentalism that eventually degenerates into fanaticism. This, in turn, invariably leads to serious conflicts. Crusades and Jehads of the Middle Ages were manifestations of this malady, as are today’s communal riots.

Myths and foibles become an essential part of any religious denomination and help in perpetuating a belief-system that keeps the flock loyal to the creed. Since it is run as an organisation, the material aspect becomes important. This gives rise to the need for funds. Donations and contributions are solicited in the name of piety, thereby introducing an element of chicanery. The faithful is promised an exalted rank in the other world — with attractive perks thrown in — in return for his lucre in this world. An unsavory result is the battle for power and pelf that manifests itself in holy precincts.

Emphasis on maintaining distinct identity is another aspect of a religious function. The priesthood goes to any extent to see that its followers maintain external marks of their identity. Even religious discourses, ignoring the spiritual content, begin to dwell upon the importance of visible signs of identity, quoting the scriptures out of context.

A fanatical approach to the written word often makes us blind to the spirit in which a particular scripture was written. This makes us intolerant towards other faiths, leading to violence in the society. Often the innocent believer’s gullibility is exploited to trigger off communal riots. However, religious intolerance is not peculiar to our society. Palestine, Bosnia, Northern Ireland are examples of what havoc is wrought if spiritualism is removed from religious practices.

Spiritualism is the main content of religion. It enables one to shed all man-made identities, rise above all tenets and look upon all creation as a divine gift that needs to be cherished. Prejudices disappear, enabling us to live in harmony with fellow living beings. Spirituality is more than a mere set of sacramental gestures. It is a science involving rational analysis of various natural and para-natural phenomena.

Though it does not negate miracles, the science of spirituality tries to give a scientific explanation of such occurrences. It is above all dogmas and gives a dynamic structure to our thought processes. It helps us understand fellowbeings better, leading to harmonious coexistence. Dr S. Radhakrishnan describes spirituality as, "...a reliable means of making the lower sensuous self yield to the higher rational self. The senses are a bar to morality and religion, yet they are to be not destroyed but controlled. By life according to reason the Vedanta ethics does not mean a passionless life but in which passion is transcended. The individual has to develop a character out of the lines laid down by his nature and ordained circumstances. To realise the oneness of the self with the Absolute is the goal of Vedanta ethics."

Let us go back to the days when ashrams of various rishis used to function as learning institutions for young scholars. Apart from imparting the received wisdom, the rishis used to encourage their wards to keenly observe all objects and activities around them, think rationally and come to conclusions independently. Research work on such subjects as medicine, statecraft, military science, astrology and astronomy was undertaken with an unbiased mind. Here, spirituality helped to inculcate a sense of discipline and dedication among pupils. Superstition was eschewed as it was considered tamasik.

Other religions too have evolved their own modes of attaining spirituality. The church and the religious system, also called Church of Christ, founded by Mary Baker Eddy, emphasises healing through spiritual means as an important element of Christianity and teaches pure divine goodness as underlying the scientific reality of existence.

Today scientists agree that when we do good unto others or think positive thoughts, our overall health improves. Spirituality is a scientific process that enables us to imbibe the habit of positive thought and positive action.

The Italian philosopher Giambattista Vico once remarked, "But the nature of our civilised minds is so detached from the senses, even in the vulgar, by abstractions corresponding to all the abstract terms our languages abound in, and so refined by the art of writing and as it were spiritualised by the use of numbers, because even the vulgar know how to count and reckon, that it is naturally beyond our power to form the vast image of this mistress called Sympathetic Nature."

Spirituality is not a passive philosophy. The ten Sikh Gurus, through their teachings, helped to rejuvenate a moribund community and fight oppressive forces by inculcating spiritual discipline.

The concept of miri piri combined the temporal with the spiritual. This added steel to the soul and fire to the spirit of the Guru’s followers. As the French writer, critic and scholar Ernest Renan rightly observes, "He whom God has touched will always to be a being apart. He is, whatever he may do, a stranger among men; he is marked by a sign."

The idea of positive action was also experimented successfully by Gandhiji — another "stranger...marked by a sign". Through spiritual self-improvement, he inculcated fearlessness among the masses. They learnt to resist injustice in all its forms. Through peaceful means, Gandhiji achieved not only a moral victory over the British, but also won us our long cherished freedom.

At the more mundane level too religion is as relevant to our needs today as it ever was — as a psychological prop, a spiritual ladder and an instrument of social bonding. It covers a wide spectrum of our existence, ranging from the sublime to the profane.