Frontline
December  1999
Special Millennium Issue

‘In times of religious decay, the God of love is turned into a
demon of hate. Atrocities on fellow human beings become
the preferred offerings to God’

Valson Thampu

Nowadays we hear a lot about religion and culture. Indeed these two have become, of late, the foremost
theatres of sectarian violence. The truth, however, is that its perpetrators care neither for religion nor for culture. We have to be particularly naive to measure the depth of religious devotion by the yardstick of the noise generated by these self–appointed saviours. Wondering silence, rather than blundering eloquence, is the hall-mark of true devotion.

People’s understanding of their religion is inversely proportionate to their sectarian volatility. It is a symptom of decadence that religions contradict the faiths, the core values that correspond to them. The shell is idolised, and the life–nourishing kernel is discarded. The resultant spiritual bankruptcy is exploited by the vested interests that colonise the religious establishments. They have an uncanny knack for inventing external enemies in order to deflect attention from the true enemies within. As a rule, religion and culture rarely collapse before their external enemies. They crash because of their contradictions, their inner corruption and decay.

Consider the case of culture. Those who raise the bogey of "culture in danger" do not tell us what they mean by the Indian culture that they are out to protect. So it becomes a vague, and convenient, term of reference by which to stigmatise whoever is inconvenient to their gameplans. Spreading literacy among the tribals or making them aware of their dignity and rights, for example, is caricatured as subversive of Indian culture.

According to the Wadhwa Commission Report, Dara Singh felt the urge to liquidate Graham Staines, a friend of the lepers in Baripada, for becoming a threat to "our religion and culture". But we know nothing about what Dara means by religion or how serving lepers or attending the religious festivals of tribal Christians becomes a "threat" to Indian culture or Hinduism. Especially so, when the tribals are not Hindus, but animists, by religion.

When religion and culture decay, people misuse their resources to contradict their purposes. Godliness, for example, must bridle our individual and collective self–centredness. The divine is a call to self–transcendence, the duty to love all people beyond the labels of friend and foe. The essential attributes of God are love, justice, holiness and compassion.

But in times of religious decay, the God of love is turned into a demon of hate. Atrocities on fellow human beings become the preferred offerings to God. And compassion is mistaken for weakness; an anti–value from the perspective of militancy. Religion, which is meant to be the school of love, peace and justice, becomes a call to hate oppression and cruelty. Militancy parades itself as revival. And those who corrupt the soul of their religion are hailed as its saviours. This has happened in the history of all religions.

It is obvious that communal violence has registered a quantum leap in recent times. And it is necessary to understand why. The fact of the matter is that a paradigm-shift is taking place in the architecture of Indian religiosity. The comparative peace that was obtained for long in the inter–religious sphere was, from a spiritual perspective, a spurious one. Religions were confined to their separate constituencies, averting close interactions or meaningful mutual engagements. They were situated in the caste model, as it were: free to do business in their allotted space, but forbidden to venture beyond their fixed boundaries. But a host of developments, particularly communication explosion and globalisation, have brought religious communities physically closer together. They now find themselves suddenly confronted by the pains of proximity. Differences need not hurt at a distance, but they do as distance diminishes and nearness increases. This tests the fibre of our religiosity severely.

Contrary to popular belief, the role of religion is not to foster the "herd-instinct" but to train human beings in the art of coping and living creatively with differences. This is a necessary strength because creation is a spectacle of the one–and–the many, the song of the One through the many. If it were not for the deeper unity that underlies the diversity on the surface, creation would have degenerated into chaos and anarchy; its beauty would have turned into a burden.

To the spiritually enlightened, diversity is a source of enrichment rather than an offence. They know the difference between unity and uniformity; and know, further, that uniformity is a contradiction of unity. Spirituality is the vision that delights in the variety that flourishes on the surface because it is able to look beyond the surface and see the unity that undergirds diversity. Once this spiritual vision fades, surface differences become all–important. People get worked up about what is different and divisive. And their mistaken zeal is misunderstood as religious devotion.

This religiosity of the surface goes berserk when it is possessed by hegemonistic cultural loyalties. Culture too, like religion, begins as a stirring in the deep, from where it surfaces as blossoms of creativity. Creativity is a projection of the sublimity within. Over a period of time, the inner fountain springs of cultural creativity dry up. This brings about a shift from creativity to consumption; and consumption, incidentally, is also a metaphor of destruction. The prestige shifts from the inner world of mystery to the outer world of mastery. Domination, the denial of identity–space to the different, becomes the strategy of cultural preference. At this stage, there comes about an unfortunate collusion between religion and culture, driven by the passions and preferences of the surface.

The surface is a domain of differences; and, when alienated from the inner light of spirituality, becomes a sphere of conflict and confrontation. Religion and culture complement each other in their malevolent potentialities. The religious mission becomes synonymous with the cultural project. The two in tandem comprise the cauldron of communalism wherein to brew the hell–broth of fascism.

Even as this happens, religion and culture become abstractions insulated from the human predicament. The business of religion and culture is to enrich and ennoble human life. Instead, religion becomes a burden and culture a source of corruption.

Unspeakable cruelties are then unleashed in the name of culture, especially by those who are unlettered in it. It strains one’s credulity, for instance, to think that a Dara Singh or those who patronise his pogrom care a rap either for Hinduism or for Indian culture. Religion, which is a call to righteousness (dharma), becomes a theatre of adharma.

The heady cocktail of demonic religion and decadent culture appeals powerfully to the base instincts of those un–reached by the light of true spirituality. This betokens spiritual myopia. It defines the energies of a nation negatively, crippling development and undermining the collective destiny. Unfortunately, however, the wisdom to see that those who pretended to be saviours were indeed the latter day Trojan horses dawns on us, as a rule, only too late in the day.

Surely, there is no profit in repeating the mistakes of the past. Nor can we afford to do so, especially at this time. Every society reaches from time to time stages in which it has to take stock of where it is headed, and effect the necessary mid-course corrections. The refusal to do so proves too costly for its collective destiny.

What dilutes the sense of urgency in this regard is the fact that social dynamics is organic rather than mechanical. Wholesomeness in the organic context has a range of permissibility. Sickness endangering the vitality of the organism results only when this organic range is exceeded. The level of sugar in the blood, for example, can vary within a range without amounting to ill health; whereas a part malfunctioning could bring an automobile to a halt. This organic resilience makes people apathetic to the need for social reform and spiritual regeneration. And our country, as B. R. Ambedkar argues so passionately in The Annihilation of Caste, has a particularly poor track record as far as social reform is concerned. Arguably, this allergy to objectivity and self-examination has been the main reason for our past ills. This has aborted our potential greatness, which still is excitingly great.

The advent of globalism adds unprecedented urgency to this task of social and spiritual regeneration. The reason is simple. Situated as we now are in the global arena, we can no longer bury our heads under the sand of subjectivity and escapism. The unforgiving emerging world order may not leave any margin for non–performance and wilful social paralysis. Abraham Lincoln’s warning, that a nation divided within itself cannot stand, is truer today that it ever was before. We need to focus all our energies on building a nation that is vibrant enough to face the challenges as well as exploit the vast opportunities in the unfolding global scenario. A nation is as great, even in economic terms, as is the character of its people. And it is in this respect that we seem to be manifestly weak.

The principal frontiers of the social and religious reform that need to be addressed are:

The imbalance between

religion and spirituality

Religion is the body and spirituality the soul of a faith tradition. Every religion degenerates when the balance between the two is upset in favour of religion. The religion concerned then becomes a contradiction of its underlying faith as embedded in its scripture and traditions. In a practical sense, the role of spirituality is to counterbalance the centripetal pull of religion that excludes non–members from the zone of love and compassion. Religion excludes whereas spirituality includes. It was a rare glow of spirituality that made Jesus of Nazareth teach that enemies, not less than friends, need to be loved. It was a similar mental culture that urged Gandhiji to work tirelessly for Hindu–Muslim unity and also to insist that the untouchables and outcastes have equal worth with the rest of the society. When the light of true spirituality dims, the ability to cope with differences weakens and people begin to behave no better than "birds of the same feather" that flock together. When this mentality takes hold of us, we begin to see those who do not belong to our flock as class or caste enemies. Differences become all–important and our shared destiny irrelevant. Most regrettably, this pathological outlook is misrepresented and mistaken for religious and cultural revivalism; whereas it is an alarming sign of collective sickness that imperils our social and national dynamism. As a nation we need to move on from narrow religiosity that is allergic to those who are different from our respective clans and religious clubs to an appreciation of our essential unity in the midst of diversity, if we are to remain united and dynamic as a nation. Those who care for the future of this country should countenance no religious advocacy that cripples us in this quest for collective fulfilment. This is the bottom–line patriotism that needs to be urgently fostered in the people.

Justice, equality, and quality of life for all people

The goal of religion and cultural awakening is to reveal the intrinsic human worth of all people. This is a precondition for creating a just and equitable society. That all human beings are of equal worth, though different in the accidents of birth and wealth, is visible only to those who are spiritually sensitive. Ascribing unequal worth to different sections of the society to the extent of denying the worth of millions is the crushing karmic debt under which the soul of India still remains oppressed. This has frozen for long our enormous social and human capital. This we can no longer afford to. The nations of the world that have progressed are those who accepted the social, economic and cultural responsibilities arising from an egalitarian vision based on the equality of human worth. This is the spiritual renaissance we need to undergo if we are to create a society based on just developmentalism, true liberty and unfettered fraternity. The alternative is the preservation of a caste–ridden, communally cancerous society of systemic injustice and exploitation. It is obvious that such a society will lose out and become an anachronism in the coming millennium. And its consequences will not be confined only to the miserable wretches of our land, but also afflict the elite who bear the moral responsibility for this self–infliction.

Work culture

It is not an accident that with the advent of globalism, and the dismantling of the walls of protectionism, the awareness of the need to develop a dynamic work culture has been growing on us. Shri Vajpayee himself issued a call to this effect a year ago. But he did not spell-out what it takes to develop such a culture. The time has come for us to realise that so long as the caste mentality prevails, our work culture cannot improve. There are two reasons for it. First, caste is incompatible with the idea of dignity of labour, and it breeds an outlook that sees work as undignified. Second, it de–links work from well being. Those who enjoy the maximum privileges are those who do no work at all. Conversely, those who work are looked down upon. We need to develop an outlook and a spirituality of work that are conducive to dignity and creativity at work. This also mandates a culture of fraternity, as a spiritual approach to work involves seeing it not only as the means for one’s own livelihood, but also as the expression of one’s concern for others and for the progress of the nation. The fact that this is woefully lacking is obvious from the fact that Indians who shirk work at home prove excellent and enthusiastic workers overseas. This is a deep–rooted spiritual and cultural problem and cannot be wished away by issuing some well–meaning but ill-informed public exhortations.

Spiritual vigilance

about religions

Today anything and everything, including violence, injustice and inhumanity, passes under the label of religion. The wisdom of the Constitution that stipulates the provisos of "public order and morality" should be deemed the bottom–line requirement. The irony today is that this is being invoked only to disadvantage the minorities. The gross violations of public order and morality unleashed by the fundamentalist forces in the garb of Hinduism under pretext of defending "public order and morality" from the atrocities of minorities are overlooked, even approved. Religious authorities, moreover, resort to communal advocacies and fall short of the values upheld by their scriptures.

Religion has been turned into a stumbling block rather than a stepping stone to human well–being. Religious communities have come to lack the capacity for self-criticism. The merit of issues is decided, for that reason, by the assertiveness of organised violence and orchestrated noise. This degeneration of religion is the seed of the over-all chaos that prevails today.

Religious authority in a democratic society should not be entitled to theocratic privileges, but held accountable for what they advocate first to their own communities and, also, to the society at large. Religious leaders who endorse communal politics should be tried under the same provisions as political candidates are and divested of their religious accreditation. Above all, there must be a sharing of views among religious communities about common concerns and an objective inter–religious forum for addressing national issues truthfully.

National debate on culture

The present situation in which ideological blocs define Indian culture arbitrarily to legitimise and reinforce their partisan interests will not do. The funny thing is that while the stockists and retailers of Indian culture continue to flex their muscles against hypothetical enemies, the real enemies of our culture are having a field day nation–wide.

The extent to which the very flavour of our cultural scene has changed in the last five years is truly astounding. But that does not seem to bother the Black Cats of Indian culture. While we cannot afford to be insulated from the global cultural wind blowing from the West, it would be suicidal to squander our precious cultural heritage, which holds great treasures that can enrich the global community.

The task is no longer to fossilise and preserve Indian culture. It is, instead, to regenerate and propagate what is valuable and enduring in our cultural treasure house with the world as our cultural mission field. It was such a vision that gave wings to the words of Swami Vivekananda. The best of the religious and cultural minds need to participate in this process. It would be fatal to leave it in the hands of those who see culture in terms of destruction rather than creation.

Re-examine secularism

Secularism as a way of life is basic to a multi–religious society like ours. But secularism as the mere separation of State and Church or the privatisation of religion is an inadequate paradigm both for wholesome public life and for democratic culture.

The problem is that secularism tends to look at religion through coloured glasses, and sees it mainly as a sphere of communal and disruptive loyalties. It sees religions, besides, in terms of their history of mutual conflicts and the danger this holds out to public order and people’s welfare.

But this is to mistake religion for the caricature it has become. Intellectual charity demands that people and possibilities be assessed not only in terms of what they are now but also in terms of what they were meant to be and what they might well be. Religion is much more than the passions and preferences of a community with which it is associated. It is, more fundamentally, a set of values and ideals that can enrich our humanity and ensure the health and wholeness of public life.

It is out of religion that the moral demand emerges, seeking to bridle the excesses of individual and group self–centredness. Communalism is a caricature, rather than a true image, of religion. True religion, or spirituality, urges its practitioners to rise above selfish and communal passions and to discover the hidden oneness and worth of all people. This is the guarantor of justice and peace in a society. The decline of spirituality frees the powers that be from all moral restraints and legitimises the law of the jungle even in the name of religion.

It is instructive to ask why the secular experiment in India threatens to peter out into majority communalism. Unfortunately, what has been gradually excluded from public life, in the name of secularism, is the more precious part of religion: its core values and spiritual discipline. Even as this happened, the resultant vacuum was filled by the spectres of casteism, communalism and religious obscurantism.

It is doubtful if popular religiosity of the obscurantist kind has ever done better in the past. Surely it is not an accident that caste reigns supreme in the political formations and electoral exercises today. Greater violence and injustice are perpetrated in the name of religion and politics today than ever before, and the appeal of communal parties has grown substantially.

All these, and much else besides, point to the need to audit secularism and democracy in our context with an open mind. It could well turn out that we threw the baby and retained the bath water in the name of secularism. Isn’t it naïve to assume that human beings are only political animals and that religion can be totally excluded from public life?

Perhaps we are spiritual creatures first, and political animals only thereafter. On the contrary, if we want to be only "political animals" we may not fare even as well as natural animals do. Empirical evidence gives us only cause to alarm in this regard.

India and the global destiny

Finally, we need to look beyond our survival in the context of globalism. The irony of history is that a strategy centred only on survival takes the value even out of survival. The dynamic that underlies our humanity is that we are not designed for mere survival, but for fulfilment. And our fulfilment involves a great deal beyond the hedges of our own personal or familial world.

The human situation is designed in terms of inter–dependence, which makes it unwise to live as though we are in a self–help cafeteria. We are sailing together on the perilous sea of time and we cannot afford to be indifferent to what happens to the ship we have boarded. The more we progress, the larger needs to be our vision. Till the other day, only regional and national forces affected us. That is already a thing of the past, and the global players are here in our neighbourhood.

This provides the ideal setting for a global fulfilment of humanity’s collective destiny. Ironically, such a pattern underlay also the empire–building and colonial enterprises of the past. But they were shaped by the paradigm of physical and material power; and so proved oppressive and exploitative. The emerging global order will be no better in this respect, unless its gigantic body is animated by the cosmic soul of universal spirituality.

The question arises as to from where this initiative would come. Going by historical precedence as well as common sense, we can hardly expect this to come from the powerful and affluent nations of the world. The moral and spiritual renewal of the human context is the basic concern of the powerless and the poor. India, with its enormous religious heritage and spiritual capital, can address this crying need if only we prepare ourselves for it.

Lamentably, we took a wrong turn in going nuclear, situating ourselves thereby within the materialistic paradigm of the West. This amounted to an abdication of our spiritual responsibility, the reason why most well–meaning and spiritually sensitive people placed themselves in opposition to it. Despite Pokhran II, all is not lost. India’s contribution to the global culture, as well as the avenue of its own uniqueness and greatness, lies in imbuing the emerging global order with the spiritual capital it needs to remain hospitable to human aspirations on a truly global scale.

The empty rhetoric of jingoism and nuclear muscle–flexing that seem to appeal to some quarters, on the other hand, could slap the label of a "rogue state" on this land of the Mahatma and Mahavira, of Rama, Gautama and Ashoka; a land so important in the mind of the Asiatic Jesus that none other than St. Thomas was sent here with the message of love. The choice is ours to make, and the luxury of debating interminably over it does not seem to be affordable at the present time.

(The writer is a member, Delhi Minorities (Pr.) Commission).


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