WHITHER WORLD PEACE?

WHITHER WORLD PEACE?

Radical religion is a major threat to world peace. Exclusive outfits proclaiming that they are the repositories of the sole truth of God and man are allowed to preach their radically perverted versions but if criticised for such hate-mongering, the liberal critics are pulled up on the dubious charge of attempting to create social unrest. Is this democracy? How can innocent civilians be allowed to be subjected to propagation of sectarian interpretations of religion when in every religion there are brighter elements to be preached? In a world divided horrendously along religious lines on account of radicalisation of politics by using the ruse of religion, how can peace obtain unless power-mongering using religion is replaced by saner policy-making and progressive people-oriented programmes? Moreover, what is the efficacy of adopting a policy of appeasement towards fanatics who subscribe neither to rhyme nor reason but follow archaic prescriptions, arbitrary and autocratic, for treatment of the maladies of the modern world?

Science is equally culpable for its snobbishness and assumed superiority in being apparently the only way to approach the problem of existence. The objective methodology is fine in so far as ascertaining the physical laws of the universe but falls short when it comes to determining the laws of the Being, of the subtler realities that escape the eye but are, nonetheless, operative . The subjective method of investigating reality is as much a valid method as the objective one and there ought to be no objection to it so long as the investigation is done along rational lines as suits psychology where the mind is the observer and the mind the observed. And as subtler realities unfold before the purified vision, the introspection takes on a finer form and its rationale also becomes redefined along inspirational channels, never contradictory to the refined reason though, but eluding perhaps the surface scientist with his equal bigotry of coarse reasoning and undue demands for empirical evidence of a Reality transcendental.

The problem of radical politics has long been a scourge of the world but when the same gets mixed with religion of an extreme kind it assumes dangerous proportions threatening the security of humanity as a whole. Radical religion is fundamentally a political movement and, therefore, shuns inclusiveness, propagates exclusive political programmes in the name of divine decree and allows only a narrow interpretation of truth as suits its earthly objective so far removed from true spirituality that cares nothing for aught of earth. Moreover, the simplistic fanatical formulations of such faiths coupled with personality and its adoration easily catch the imagination of unformed minds and so proliferate among the masses. So much for the much-vaunted theory of conversions engineered world-wide on the basis of the exclusive possession of the revealed truth of God when the reality is that enforced and enticed procurement keeps bolstering the ranks of these radical outfits masquerading as saving grace of the Lord.

The Vedanta in trumpet voice declares the divinity of man and says nowhere, on the contrary, that a saviour or a prophet is necessary to free the eternally free man. It affirms that the Self is eternally free and that it is primeval ignorance that inexplicably covers up this knowledge, so to say, to give apparent rise to the individual soul and, in the fullness of time, knowledge dawns to dissolve this hallucination, the dream breaks and the Self which all along shone unhindered, reveals itself again in resplendent glory. The mind dissolves and with it the universe and its fictitious force and over-force in the shape of an almighty God whose rise and fall are consonant with that of phenomena.

This democracy of the human Spirit, this independence from a slavish cringing before an almighty God who dispenses rewards and punishments as per the whims of humans who conceive of Him and superstitiously assign Him absolute powers over them, this liberation from a stupendous self-hypnosis and consequent debasing of the human status before archaic assumptions is the soul of Vedanta, the acme of spiritual evolution in ancient India. From the forests retreats of India, from the high hills and the river valleys of this ancient land have gone out messages of the divinity of the human soul and the clarion call to all of humanity to shake off the delusion of this phenomenal world. From India has sprung the eternal fountain of spiritual wisdom that has inundated the world again and again, fertilising the soils of the different climes and awakening the sleeping divinity of humanity. Civilisation across the world owes its debt to the land of the Vedas for its humanising influence and for the great spiritual culture that has gone out from there to the remotest corners of the globe unobtrusively, spreading the fragrance of the life eternal amidst this evanescent dream of the world. And once more the wave has arisen in the form of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda bearing the ancient message of India, the symphony of the soul, the grand harmony in our discordant world of dual dreams and diabolic destruction of human hope where to survive with independence of thought and action one has to be fortunate enough not to be born in a theocratic State or in a dictatorial regime where prescriptions of irrational faith and ideological indoctrination ruin the possibilities of poetical flights of fancy along individual lines of self-development. Once more has the individual asserted himself in India amidst the myriad maladies of the times, once more has the voice of the Atman spoken, its music reverberating across the hills and dales and sending a thrill through the nerves of humanity. Time it is to wake up and respond to the call, else it will be a trifle too late, for the forces of veritable evil, the intolerant, irrational ideologies of the world are going to take over the control of our lives and what that will mean is surely anybody’s guess---a return to the medieval dark ages.

Savage cultures of the past have had their time and it is now time enough for civilised humanity to potently respond to the challenges of the times instead of capitulating meekly to organised irrationality handed down the ages in the guise of divinely inspired communication that must by force seek to convert humanity en masse to its fold. Conversion on a global scale has long been the mission of exclusive religions and cannot be condoned at any rate. It has been in the past the seed of much violence for the victory march of these proselytising exclusive religions has inevitably been at the cost of the life-blood of the conquered cultures, often superior to the conqueror by far and so, succumbing to the might of their brutal onslaught devoid of the higher principles of piety they so vehemently seem to uphold as the essence of their faiths. In a pluralistic world this exclusive existence of a monotheistic faith can hardly be the prescription for peace and this attempt to thrust a codified culture, decadent and dictatorial, archaic and arbitrary, onto a more sophisticated civilisation is reprehensible. Unless humanity shifts from this abject submission to divine dictatorship and takes control of its own destiny, there is no hope for either progress or peace on a lasting basis. An unseen arbiter of human affairs is a dangerous proposition for it is tantamount to the abject surrender of human freedom and reasonableness to an imaginary deity who is an unconstitutional authority dictating terms to deluded, hypnotised humanity. Such surrender seems to be the essential clause of dualistic religions and it breeds horrendous harm when subscribers to such faiths harbour hatred towards those that do not belong to their denominations or when they force their cult doctrines on people who are at variance with them. Such exclusive and narrow conception of truth necessarily precipitates a fanatical mass mentality and its concomitant evil, violence and holy war. Religion which ought to foster fraternal feelings among men in effect divides humanity into warring factions vying for political supremacy which is falsely termed propagation of the faith. Gone is spirituality which is the core truth of every religion and in its place dances the devil of delusion, diabolic, dark.

The only hope then is in breaking free from this dependence on others for every little fulfilment of our needs and desires. We must strive to be independent, not merely economically and socially but more so in the mind for the fetters that bind us to this mortifying duality have their genesis there and for us to be free citizens of the universe we have to shake off the age-old delusion that the mind conjures. This is a tall order but we must begin where we are stationed now, in our day-to-day deliberations in the thoroughfare of life, in our struggle for survival amidst the myriad iniquities that threaten to crush us and in the pursuit of our aspirations and dreams that alone give a meaningful colour to our terrestrial existence. And everywhere we must carve out our destiny as free men without leaning on any shoulder, as free, self-supporting individuals with a ramrod straight spine and capable of coordinated activity where interdependence is the rule but never mere one-sided dependence. This will build self-respect and the capacity for self-sustenance which is the primary requisite for character-building and a peaceful society in its wake for society is but the aggregate of individuals and when individuals are wise and peaceful, society is so as well.

Perhaps it all sounds very simplistic and naive and I wholeheartedly endorse the view that the above-mentioned independence of spirit will not immediately bring about breakthroughs in social consciousness but the beginning will have been made. And from the simple seed planted in the heart of humanity will in time to come grow the mighty banyan of knowledge spreading its branches and afforesting the world with generations of seekers of truth who will go afresh to Nature each time to read their own Book of Revelations seated in the core of their consciousness, in the deepest recesses of their heart where the sovereign Self is seated in resplendent glory. Inspiration shall then be ever renewed and expression adjusted to the times to thwart decadence, a fresh realisation and a fresher avowal of truth in the light of newer findings in the objective world. Then the conflict between the two worlds of which man is the interface will cease and with it will end all uncharitable feelings between brothers wending their way towards the same goal. Such a harmony will be possible as humanity progresses towards higher readings of Truth with the advance of science in particular and of knowledge in general for the soul of man may not be stifled for long nor his conscience stilled for good.

It was man that first discovered the truths of religion. It was man to whom revelations were made. Revelation or otherwise, it has always been man who has been at the centre-stage of things. To give priority to revelation and inferior status to man who was the perceiver of such revelation is, to borrow a religious term, blasphemous for without the perceiving system, such revelation would have never existed. It will be impossible to prove the independent existence of revealed truth beyond the cognition of some individual who came back, so to say, to report it whether such truths are there or not. Likewise, the existence of God is man-dependent and not the other way round in a sense although, philosophically speaking, it depends on how terms are defined. It all boils down to the simple fact that in the plane of human vibration, all knowledge is based on sense perception and that which lies beyond the senses may not be conveyed in linguistic terms or translated to the sensory mode. Thus, no scripture can claim that it possesses the Ultimate Truth or that its formulations accurately describe the inexpressible Truth which is transcendental. Nor can any scripture be held inviolable for being the perfect Word of God as scriptural revelation to any particular person is bound to be coloured up by the person’s cultural background, evolutionary status and circumstantial need. Neither can any religion claim exclusive possession of Truth and that it is its final formulation for the Book of Life is an ever-revealing text that brooks not such heresy but keeps on delivering afresh the children of Light who read into it higher and higher meaning till the very book falls and life itself is transcended. In scientific terms it is somewhat akin to the breakdown of the laws of physics in the heart of a singularity.

Liberalism cannot overcome fanaticism through dialogue or discussion for fanatical elements are conditioned into believing that the liberal-minded are heretical elements who are devoid of character and therefore do not subscribe to their codified dogma. So long as this sense of theocratic self-glorification is there, meaningful dialogue is a far cry. This sense of scriptural certitude which makes scepticism taboo is not conducive for investigation into Reality nor is a superficial scepticism bound for any reasonable understanding of Truth and this leaves the field open to diametrical opposition between parties lacking in  sympathy for each other’s views. When a middle-ground is sought by those that strive to bridge the distance created by this lack of appreciation of opposite views of opposing parties, a dialogue is necessary. Even if the sceptics argue on the basis of rational principles for they are willing to debate, it is difficult to bring in the religious bigots to the discussion table for their very dogmatism brooks no opposition in debate or deliberation and they rigidly hold on to their bigoted stance and maintain their insular status. Such refusal to communicate on a civilised basis with others who differ from them ideologically keeps the lurking fear of the befalling of all that is the child of fanaticism and the world has only to suffer for it. So, where is the chance of peace?

Education is the panacea but even accomplished scientists are bigoted in their beliefs and this is a strange revelation about the multiple reference frames obtaining in the mind of a single person. No wonder Walt Whitman had declared, “I contain multitudes.” This apparent dichotomy within the mind of a man of science throws human society into sharp focus as being a conglomeration of divergent beliefs which are so antithetical to each other that civilised co-existence has become a challenge today and the outcome of it all is violence, war, desecration and destruction and the endless streaming of tears off innocent eyes who are neither privy to the policies of politicians that trigger off war nor are they in control of their own destinies which they have under circumstantial pressure surrendered to their malevolent masters.

The prospects are bleak for peace now or in the near future. But I am no doomsday prophet and hold firmly the belief that humanity will see through this dark night of despair and desolation and the sun will rise on the eastern horizon once more with a thousand-fold effulgence to carry civilisation ahead till humankind will be one under the banner of the universal religion of man which will be not a codified doctrinaire cult but an open book of the divinity of all that exists, whose God is Man and whose holy book is the Book of Life unfolding every moment, carrying all of phenomena towards the final goal of liberation. Such a day indeed will come in the fullness of time when man will have fought with brother man to satiation and, war-weary, will be seeking salvation in peace.