Thoughts continued…
Eleven months ago, I wrote ‘Thoughts…’ in response to a question asked by a friend: ‘Do you call yourself a Hindu?’
After much introspection, I had answered that question: ‘Yes, I do call myself a Hindu, when I do call myself anything.’
Today, my answer is different. I do not, will not identify myself with any religious label, not for any purpose. I do not base my identity on any religious beliefs or upbringing, nor do I wish to take on and live under a label. My religious beliefs are, at best, amorphous. I am interested in the dynamics, practices and mythologies of belief systems, and in observing their effect on people. But I do not believe as others do in a God, a Divine presence, in prayer, in puja, in rites and in rituals.
Religions, or belief-systems as I would prefer to refer to them, are rich in human experience, human wisdom. They are also rich in symbols. Understanding these symbols is important for a true understanding of any belief-system. Sadly, more and more of us are unable or unwilling to do so, and are taking literally much that is metaphor for a greater truth.
Religion divides and separates. He is Hindu, she is Muslim, that belief is Sikh, this is Jewish. Why do we let this happen? Why have we lost sight of the human spirit that runs through all cultures, all societies, everywhere on this earth? From the penthouses of New York and Mumbai to the forest dwellings of the tribes of eastern India, human beings are moved by the same passions. They love, they hate, they weep, they laugh. They have dreams and aspirations. They have their daily struggles. The details, of course, differ, but the fundamental emotions, needs and drives are the same all over the planet.
I am moved equally by the story of Jesus, the story of Karna, and by Shakespeare’s King Lear. Mortal men, all of them, great in their time, their lives ending in tragedy. I don’t know if Karna ever existed, or if a Lear ever walked this earth. All three stories are metaphors for aspects of human existence, aspects that all of us experience in part or in whole, in some degree or manner, during our own lives. Yes, we need such stories to live by. Each culture, each group of people even, has its heroes. But why must we make gods of them, and then go to war in their name? It makes no sense to me.
Sometimes what is called religion is often only a matter of birth, and of familiarity. I am more comfortable with the Hindu and Jain rituals that attend birth, marriage and death. I know I would prefer to be cremated, not buried, when I die. Ideally, I should be able to rise above such considerations. Maybe I won’t be able to. Yet that will not make me a Hindu or a Jain, not unless I am willing to let myself be so labelled. Which I am not.
All around me I see the selective use of Vedic, Brahmanical, Hindu thought and philosophy to condone and encourage exploitation and discrimination. In recent months, I have met people who have succeeded in turning that most gentle of faiths, Jainism, into a vehicle of anger and intolerance.
The terror attack on Mumbai, again in the name of God - that leaves me shaking with grief. Right now I don’t have the distance to be objective or the words to describe what I feel. Only one thought comes to mind, again and again - what kind of people are these, to have given themselves a faith and a god that lets them do such things? How low has mankind fallen? Perhaps the stories that tell of fallen angels - those stories were prophetic. We couldn’t read the metaphors. We still can’t.
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November 29th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
You echo what I feel - and what many others like us feel. It is deeply tragic too, that this blind religious zeal permeates the echelons of “normal” people - the lady at the cocktail party, the man at the book club, the young man at the coffee shop. Religious opportunism surrounds us everywhere - almost as a security blanket for those too deluded to emerge unencumbered by a religion that alienates by its exclusivity. I am desperately hoping we are not anomalies because of the way we feel?
I am going to forward this to my eleven year old - so she can make some sense of the many contradictions she struggles with daily - as she studies world religions in her sixth grade class in middle school. She may not understand it all. But she deserves to know - there is such a way of thinking.
You keep writing.
Urmi
November 29th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Interesting read.
Lucid, sensitive and absorbing.
There is a strange statement, though. You say that Jainism has turned into vehicle of anger and intolerance.
Has it?
Maybe you know one or two angry young Jains, but does that make Jainism should take the blame?
One would not blame Islam for the terrorists who take its name as an excuse for killing. The Qur’an does not teach violence, instead it teaches brotherly love.
Similarly, Jainism does not teach anger and intolerance. Jainism teaches kindness, tolerance, generosity and forgiveness. Jain philosophy is underpinned by non-violence. Not harming others is its central tenet.
So how can Jainism be turned into a vehicle of violence?
Please ponder on this.
Perhaps it might be helpful if you read up on Jainism and familiarised yourself with its central tenets.
best wishes
M
November 29th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Manish,
Read again what I write. Jainism is not a vehicle of anger or intolerance. But it is being turned into one.
I am not talking about one or two angry young Jains here. I am talking about the anger and intolerance that an increasing number of people are feeling, even in the Jain community, and which is translating into a refusal to let people live their lives their own way. Whether we like it or not, intolerance is growing in every single community in India, no matter what their faith or belief.
November 29th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Rohini, you summed up what I feel. From being merely indifferent to religion, I have become completely anti it. I don’t buy the common argument that the religion didn’t say do this or that, it’s people who distort it. Can we really separate those few fanatics from the belief-system that inspired them?
Like you I don’t want to paste more and more labels on myself. We know that division of any kind can eventually lead to hatred and intolerance. Obviously not everyone goes to that extreme, but the few who do so inflict a disproportionate amount of suffering on everybody else. Liberal religious people live in this beautiful bubble - “all religions are equal, let’s celebrate each other’s festivals, let’s show compassion etc” - but that seems like a myth to me. First we divide ourselves into separate entities and then try to patch them all together in an illusion of unity - how convoluted is that? Why separate ourselves in the first place?
While I do feel ethics and spirituality are entirely possible without religion, I am not saying nobody should have a religion. Faith may be meaningless to me, but I don’t want to become fanatical about my beliefs either: that would make me no different from what I am opposing and I would simply end up with a new religion. I think the solution is, religion should be a completely private matter, something you follow in the privacy of your home and leave behind when you step beyond your front door. What I oppose is the public display of religion. The brainwashing of children. I believe there are other people who think like me, why are we Indians so embarrassed about expressing this viewpoint?
November 30th, 2008 at 9:59 am
I totally agree with Rajashree that religion is a private matter and must be restricted to the home.Public display of religious fervour only complicates with an increase in showmanship displayed by followers of each religion. Our country tiptoes on all matters of religion even when rules are blatantly subverted.In an attempt to please all everyone ends up unhappy.I personally am religiously indifferent because it just doesn’t work for me - but it seems to work for many others and that’s fine.