Religion, Peace and Violence

Ram Puniyani

The global scenario is full of violence in the name of religion. The acts of terrorism are attributed to religious teachings at times. The local violence, the attack on religious minorities is also presented as a religious phenomenon. The last three decades have seen this tragic phenomenon where the political agenda of super power on one hand and the agenda of fundamentalist-fascist groups on the other have been given the veneer of religion. The major theory underlying the US policy in the oil zone has derived its legitimacy from Samuel Huntington theory of ‘Clash of Civilizations’. In South Asian countries spanning from Pakistan to Myanmar to Sri Lanka, the religious minorities have been on the firing line, have been facing a violence orchestrated by those practicing ‘religious nationalism’, those who on the pretext of defense of their religion, target the religious minorities. Be it the Hindus and Christians in Pakistan, Christians and Muslims in India, Buddhists and Hindus in Bangla Desh, Muslims in Myanmar or Christians and Muslims in Sri Lanka, the violence has been stalking them in one or the other form. This has increased the feeling of insecurity of religious minorities and also has eroded their rights as citizens.

What has the moral teachings of religion to do with all this? Nothing whatsoever. Still the popular perceptions and propaganda of the religious nationalist groups has been so pernicious that a ‘social common sense’ has been created, which gives credence to the role of religion in this violence.

It is in this light that three major statements from leaders, two of them religious and one political have come as a breath of fresh air, delinking religion from violence and espousing the peace making role of religion. Surely, religion is the most complex social phenomenon. It does encompass the element of moral values, values of humanism, so to say, on one side. At the same time it encompasses more visible facets of identity like rituals, Holy books, places of worship, the clergy and Holy Scriptures. At another level it has the element of faith in the supernatural power, deities. Surely, some of the religions did not talk of the supernatural power. In those religions, the prophets of the religions themselves, in due course have been given the exalted position of the God. This element of faith in supernatural is varying in degrees but is present all the same in different religions. These three statements, which struck the author all, came from people of diverse religious streams.

The first one came from Pope Francis while deliberating on the future of the church and redefining long-held Catholic doctrines and dogmas. The recently held ‘Third Vatican Council’ concluded with Pope Francis announcing that Catholicism is now a “modern and reasonable religion, which has undergone evolutionary changes. The time has come to abandon all intolerance. We must recognize that religious truth evolves and changes. Truth is not absolute or set in stone….” In a very profound manner he went on to say that “God is not a judge but a friend and a lover of humanity. God seeks not to condemn but only to embrace… Our church is big enough for heterosexuals and homosexuals, for the pro-life and the pro-choice!”

He added “because Muslims, Hindus and African Animists are also made in the very likeness and image of God, to hate them is to hate God...Whether we worship at a church, a synagogue, a mosque or a mandir, it does not matter. Whether we call God, Jesus, Adonai, Allah or Krishna, we all worship the same God of love. This truth is self-evident to all who have love and humility in their hearts!” “God is changing and evolving as we are, for God lives in us and in our hearts. When we spread love and kindness in the world, we touch our own divinity and recognize it.” 

This lengthy quote from his speech demolishes so many of the intolerant attitudes towards, ‘others’, towards those having different norms, towards those having different sexual orientation as well. We witnessed recently in India that most of the clergy of different religions welcomed the Supreme Court decision whereby same sex relations are regarded as a crime. This quote from Pope also goes against the ideology of “Clash of Civilizations”; and the media propaganda whereby people of other religions are looked down upon, and Muslims in particular are demonized by large section of people. The biggest contribution of Pope is to emphasize on respect-tolerance for those who are different from us. It also outlines that we cannot stick to dogmas which were brought in the name of religion at particular time, in the times gone by. This is an extremely welcome stance taken by the highest authority of Catholic faith, something which can be the role model for clergy of other religions to emulate.

Not to be left behind, the founding-leader and patron-in-chief of Minhaj-ul-Quran International and author of the acclaimed book Fatwa on Terrorism and Suicide Bombings, Shaykh-ul-Islam Dr. Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri condemned all acts of terrorism and said that the concept of “Jihad has been hijacked by terrorists”. He is precisely on the dot as the word Jihad has been given the dastardly meaning by the Salafi version of Islam, a version picked up by the US for trainings in especially set up Madrassas, from where the Mujahidin, Taliban, Al Qaeda were brought up. The politics of control on the oil resources took an inhuman form where United States proactively picked up the pervert version of Islam and popularized as ‘the Islam’, aided and assisted by its minions and large section of World media aping US in most of the matters. Dr. Mohammad, is in line with the Sufi version of Islam, where tolerance for others and celebration of diversity has been the norm. In the name of this Jihad; so much damage has been done to the human race, to redo which massive efforts are needed and one lauds the efforts of those scholars and clerics of Islam who have presented the human, tolerant face of Islam Worldwide. One cannot forget to mention the great Islamic Scholar, Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer, who strove till the end of his life to present the Islam in the proper light, in the light of values of amity and peace. Surely even today there are many who are aggressively promoting the intolerant versions of Islam, the likes of Dr. Zakir Naik, who are doing great disservice to Islam and human society.

Swami Vivekananda is the latest icon to be hijacked by the politics of intolerance. Those who have spread hatred for religious minorities are projecting him to be their messiah. In this light Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh statement is very praiseworthy. Dr. Singh points out that “true religion cannot be the basis of hatred and division, but of mutual respect and tolerance for faiths and beliefs of all.”
 

One does note the glaring differences in the interpretation of same religion. One can note the diverse and opposite ways in which political actions take place in the name of same religion. Two or three examples are very obvious. From Hinduism one can see Mahatma Gandhi on one side and Nathuram Godse on the other. In Islam one can see Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad on one side and Osama bin Laden and the Muslim nationalists on the other. Same way one can see Pope Francis on one side and Anders Berling Brevik (Norwegian terrorist who killed 86 youth) on the other. It is the same religion in whose name such opposite stands are taken. We need to wake up to free ourselves from the ossified, intolerant views of religions and stand for humanistic teaching and tolerant traditions of religions.

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Religion, Atheism and Secularism

Ram Puniyani

Last three decades have seen an unprecedented presence of religion in social and political space. Somewhere the acts of terror, somewhere communal violence and somewhere the political influence of religious right on society and political processes, all these phenomenon have overshadowed the deeper inequities in the society, the aspirations of people for dignity and rights amongst others. Now comes a book which predicts that religions will become a minority vis a vis the practice of secularism in the decade of 2040s. The book is “Why Atheism will replace religion: The triumph of earthly pleasures over pie in the sky” written by Nigel Barber. This book relates the rise/fall of the religion with economic power and makes an observation that atheists are much more in developed countries.

The book is based on the study of 137 nations conducted by the author and concludes that in the countries; more developed the welfare system; higher is the number of atheists. The book’s crunch line is, in countries where distribution of income is even, lesser is the number of religious people. The author is a prominent psychologist. He makes a prediction that people will feel lesser need of supernatural beliefs when the tangible world is providing them for their real needs. Also in a survey conducted in America 20% people identified themselves as Atheists.

There is some terminological confusion here to begin with, while the study is a very reasoned one, and links the lack of security with the belief in god and practice of religiosity. Surely many a religions themselves have atheism as a component of their structure. Some streams of Hinduism like Charvak deny the existence of God. Jainism and Buddhism also do not talk of a supernatural power, but it’s another matter that followers of these religions converted the prophets of these religions themselves as Gods and are worshipping them. In the broad umbrella of Hinduism there are many traditions, Brahminism, Nath, Taantra, Bhakti, Siddh etc. In Hinduism itself the concept of God is also very diverse, from the polytheism with multiple Gods and Goddesses, tri-theism (Brahma Vishnu Mahesh) to the single God; Ishwar and then to the concept of formless power all these concepts are coexisting together merrily today.

In India thee atheist tradition starting from Charvak, in present times it found a strong articulation amongst communists the epitome of which has been Bhagat Singh with his famous tract, ‘Why I am an Athiest’. Also radical social reformers like Periyar Ramsamy Naicker gave the atheist movement a powerful lift. The rationalists association is nurturing the same to a great extent.

Other religions, where there is a single God, the concept of God keeps varying between the God with form and body to the formless power. Many decades ago a plethora of books debated about the existence of God. But last three decades in particular have seen a very different phenomenon i.e. gross abuse of religions’ identity by the political forces of status quo. Earlier to this, one saw in the beginning of 20^th century, in the decade of 1920s, Christian Fundamentalism was a response of the conservative sections of society to the process of social change brought about by the process of industrialization and education due to which Africa-Americans and women started coming to social space. Islamic fundamentalism makes a political appearance with the regime of Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran. Here it was the politics related to oil and the high handed politics of Western powers which foiled the popular revolution and brought in a cleric as the head of the state. It was during this period that conservative versions of Islam were promoted by some of the rulers who were scared of popular urges for democracy. Salafi version of Islam is one such which was used in Saudi Arabia to keep a tight leash over the popular aspirations so that the Saudi oil can keep flowing in to the tankers of oil companies controlled by US-UK giants.

It is the same Salafi version of Islam which was brought in to the service of US hegemonic interest to control the oil in the region.  This version was taught in the Madrassas in Pakistan. These Madrassas were set up with US instigation, money and syllabus, through which the Mujahedeen, Taliban Al Qaeda emerged and played into the hands of US designs of throwing away Soviet army from Afghanistan. In India, the insecurity of the section of middle classes in the face of rising presence of dalits and women in social space in the decade of 1980s led to the political abuse of religion’s identity by BJP when it took up the issue of Ram temple.

While the author of the book is talking about the release of the hold of religiosity and God with rising affluence, today sitting in South Asia the scenario seems to be the other way around. In Pakistan the hold of Mullahs on the social affairs is a big obstacle to the firm rooting of democracy there. In Sri Lanka again thousands of Tamils were butchered while attacking LTTE, lately one is seeing an attack on Christians and Muslims there. Not to be left behind, in Myanmar, the retrograde political forces are attacking poor Rohingya Muslims in the name of Buddhism.

One must add that there is no contradiction between secularism and religion. The author of this book is not clear on this. With secularization process, the role of clergy was relegated to the private sphere of society but religion as such was there. God was there. It’s now that with prosperity going above the critical levels that more people are feeling less need to call upon God to help them live a secure life.  In South Asian countries a complex process had been witnessed all through. While people with great amount of religiosity and belief in God like Mahatma Gandhi and Mualan Abul Kalam Azad stood for secular state, the non practicing Muslim like Jinnah led the movement for a state in the name of Islam and an atheist Savarkar, was the ideologue of Hindu nation. Many a leaders of Hindu national politics may not be so religious but in the political arena, they create mass hysteria in the name of religion and God.

 

One wishes to agree with the authors’ prediction. Hope it is not restricted just to Western countries. What is more important is to realize is that mass spectacles of religiosity are an expression of deeper social insecurities, which are being cashed in by the politicians of ‘status quo’, who are deliberately using this religious identity to ensure that social distribution of resources to weaker sections is stalled. Today in India one can see a clear cut battle between those who stand for social welfare, and struggle to bring in measures go in that direction on one side. On the other are those political forces that resort to polarize the communities along religious lines, around identity issues. The latter have a social base amongst the socially insecure middle classes and the backing of section of big corporate houses. Seeing the pains of this battle between two paths, one turns pessimistic at times whether if at all, South Asia can get over the imposition of God-Religion in political arena and focus on improving prosperity with equitable distribution in society. In many a propaganda-claims being made for ‘development’ the factor of equitable growth is missing and that’s where the real definition of development lies. The bluff of development by communal forces has to be countered and the emphasis on the growth with concern for equity, affirmative action for the victim religious minorities and dalits-adivasis is the core around which the battle against the blind religiosity and assertions of politics in the name of religion has to be taken forward.

Western countries though far from the ideal in prosperity and growth, at least do not have the baggage of politics of religion’s identity in such a strong way as is prevalent in ‘post-colonial’ states; that is dogging South, West Asia in particular. This book gives the hope as far as prosperity and equity is concerned one hopes that this applies to the troubled countries where abuse of religion’s identity is playing havoc with the concept of human rights and survival of large sections of society. 

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Perversity of Religious Belief

It is often asserted, even in the face of contrary evidence, by the believers of course, that the ‘truly religious’ people do not do any ham to others; that the terrorists are a misguided lot; that those who incite communal violence are in the grip of momentary passion; that the believers who commit human sacrifice and those who refuse to provide proper medical assistance to their nears and dears on religious ground are illiterate people; that these ‘aberrations’ cannot be used as a yardstick to measure the true nature of religion, which is essentially spiritual and hence benign, we are told.

Well, we reproduce a news item that shows, yet again, the darker side of religion. It shows, starkly, what grave harm people inspired by ‘true faith’ in religion do to others even in ‘normal times’.

Indian woman dies after being refused abortion

(The Hindu, Chennai, November 15, 2012) 

A woman of Indian origin has died after doctors in Ireland refused to perform an abortion, telling her that “this is a Catholic country”, sparking widespread outrage and renewed calls for immediate reforms to the Irish law to allow termination if the life of the mother is at risk.

Savita Halappanavar (31), who was a dentist, was 17 weeks pregnant when she died from septicaemia, according to an autopsy carried out two days after her death on Oct 28. Her family said she asked several times for her termination as she had severe back pain and was miscarrying but doctors at University Hospital Galway refused on the grounds that abortion was illegal in Ireland.

Her husband Praveen Halappanavar said he was certain that his wife would have still been alive if the termination had been allowed.

It was her first pregnancy, he said, and she was “on top of the world” before she started suffering back pain. When the pain persisted, she asked her consultant if she could be “induced” but was told “no”.

Savita Halappanavar

“They said unfortunately she can’t because it’s a Catholic country. Savita said to her [consultant] she is not Catholic, she is Hindu, and why impose the law on her. But she said, ‘I’m sorry, unfortunately it’s a Catholic country,’ and it’s the law that they can’t abort when the foetus is [alive],” he said.

The hospital has launched an internal investigation in addition to a separate inquiry ordered by Ireland’s Health Service Executive.

Mr. Halappanavar recalled that Savita “was so happy and everything was going well” until she was admitted to hospital with back pain.

“On the Saturday [Oct 20] night everything changed. She started experiencing back pain so we called the hospital, the university hospital... I got a call at about half [past] twelve on the Wednesday night that Savita’s heart rate had really gone up and that they had moved her to ICU. “Things just kept on getting worse and on Friday they told me that she was critically ill.” Savita died on Sunday.

Ireland Prime Minister Enda Kenny did not rule out an independent inquiry as pro-choice groups demanded immediate changes to the law.

“It would be very appropriate that we don’t rule anything out here, but there are two reports and investigations going on at the moment,” Mr. Kenny said.

Ireland’s strict anti-abortion law means that women routinely go abroad for abortion. Earlier this year, the government set up an expert group to make recommendations in response to a judgment of the European Court of Human Rights judgment that Ireland had failed to implement existing rights to lawful abortion where a mother’s life was at risk.

Left-wing MPs Clare Daly and Joan Collins, who had introduced a bill in Parliament earlier this year to allow an abortion in specific life-threatening circumstances, said that had their proposals been accepted, Savita would have been alive.

“A woman has died because Galway University Hospital refused to perform an abortion needed to prevent serious risk to her life.

“This is a situation we were told would never arise. An unviable foetus — the woman was having a miscarriage — was given priority over the woman’s life, who unfortunately and predictably developed septicaemia and died,” Ms Daly said.

We do not think that the medical fraternity who refused to extend the required medical facility to that unfortunate woman are ‘bad people’; except for their religiosity they are ‘good people’. It is their ‘true faith’ in religion inspired by their faith (not just ‘as small as the mustard seed’ as their holy book demands, but ‘enough faith to move a mountain’) in their compassionate god that prevented them from extending medical help that was well within their reach.

As Steven Weinberg said, “With or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can do evil; but for good people to do evil—that takes religion”.

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Is there a Life after Death?

Innaiah Narisetti

The majority of people believe in an after-life. If there is something after death, what is it? 

After death, the body is buried by some, cremated by some others, donated to hospitals by a few. These practices are common. When a person dies, along with other parts of the body, the brain also dies. That is the end of it. Now the question arises. If there is something after death, what is it that survives death?

Religions jump into the fray to answer this question. They say that there is a soul that is subtle, that goes to heaven or hell or takes rebirth. The believers in rebirth, reincarnation, heaven, and hell have to accept this concept. Otherwise there is no meaning in an after-life. Who decides the fate of the soul after the death of the body?  All religions have created the concept of God to sustain this belief.

Burning Ghats - Varanasi

What is soul? You can’t touch it nor is it visible to you. Where is it in the body? In the brain? The Brain is filled with neurons well connected to one another. The thinking, memorizing and related functions are done by the brain. Thus, the brain plays a vital role in the body. With death, brain ceases functioning. There is nothing to function after death. There is no separate existence for mind without brain

Then, where is the soul? It is only a blind belief. All religions survive on the believers’ blind faith in soul, god, heaven, and hell. Once the belief in soul is accepted without question, then the game starts. Stories are woven around soul, which has to be saved through prayer - how to pray, what to pray, and whom to pray. These are the monopoly of religious priests. To sustain this belief system, holy books are created. Though the so-called holy books are written by people at various ages, they are propagated in the name of god because only then the believers accept it. Priests are the middlemen to interpret the meaning of holy books on behalf of god.

Parents give their religious beliefs to children. There is no choice for children to opt for their own religion or non religion. Since birth, children are brain washed with the belief system of their parents. Hence it is very difficult for persons to come out of that belief which is inculcated since birth. That is how the children of Muslims become Muslims; those of Christians become Christians, and so on. Even the educated persons are not able to come out of this childhood influence.

The concept of soul, god, heaven and hell and life –after-death cannot stand in front of rational questioning and scientific evidence.

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Hazards of a Spiritual Pilgrimage

Apollo Hospitals opens critical care unit with ICU facility at Sabarimala 

(The Hindu, Madurai,  November 16, 2011) 

The Apollo Hospitals has set up a full-fledged critical care unit with ICU facility at Sabarimala for the healthcare needs of devotees going to Lord Iyappa temple. The seven-bedded centre at Pamba was established based on the request made by Akhila Bharatha Iyappa Seva Sangam. 

“Already there is an Apollo Clinic cum information centre functioning at Pamba for Iyappa devotees. Since there was a request for starting full-fledged unit, the Apollo Hospitals Group chairman Pratap C. Reddy gave his consent for setting up a state-of-the art critical care unit there so that a devotee in emergency would get timely medical attention,” a press release from the hospital said. 

Rohini Sridhar, Chief Operating Officer and Director of Medical Services, Apollo Speciality Hospitals, Madurai, has said that the seven-bedded critical care centre at Pamba in Sabarimala is a 2,500 square feet facility which will be fully operational from November 16. 

Apollo clinic which was started in the year 2000 at Pamba had now grown to a 24-hour unit with ICU facility and it had provided timely care to nearly two lakh patients during the past 10 years. This unit will be connected with other major centres through telemedicine facility in order to get expert opinion for emergency cases. 

Besides free consultation and ICU care, the Sabarimala devotees are also given medicines free of cost as a part of the Apollo Group's corporate social responsibility, she said. 

Explaining about the critical care unit at Pamba in a simple function held here, the hospital's Senior General Manager T.N. Sekar had informed that lakhs of people travel to Sabarimala during the pilgrim season every year and some of them face health problems due to unaccustomed exertion. Blisters on the feet and diarrhoea due to unsafe food are the common minor complaints while some devotees get serious ailments. 

The total number of outpatients was above 37,000 last year. P. Boopathi, General Manager (operations), Apollo Speciality Hospitals, Madurai, spoke on the latest devotee-oriented initiative of the hospital.

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Pushpa Yagam to Save the Mother Earth from Earth Quake!

Carvaka

Mountain of flowers for the Lord

(The Hindu, November 4, 2011)

The annual ‘Pushpa Yagam' festival was held on Thursday at the famous hill temple of Lord Venkateswara amid religious fervour.

Over seven tonnes of a wide variety of bright and aromatic flowers were used in the festival. Earlier in the morning ‘Snapana Thirumanjanam' was performed to the ‘utsava' deities of Lord Malayappa and his two divine consorts inside the main temple complex. 

Immense importance is attached to the festival, which according to scriptures is observed to pray to the Lord to save the earth from natural calamities such as earthquakes, cyclones and epidemics.

The floral festival, Pushpa Yagam, at Tirumala Tirupati is an annual affair and the temple has been conducting it every year without any interruption for decades or centuries. Tonnes of flowers worth lakhs of rupees are used to conduct this puja, which according to the news report quoted above is observed “to pray to the Lord to save the earth from natural calamities such as earth quakes, cyclones and epidemics”

Earth quakes, cyclones and other natural calamities however continue to wreak havoc with human life in various parts of the world. According to Wikipedia not less than 40 major earth quakes involving hundreds or thousands of fatalities are reported in the current century.

In India, more than 20000 people died in the earth quake that visited Gujarat in 2001.In the 2004 Indian Ocean Earth Quake, over 2 lakh people were perished,  out of which more than 18000 were in India alone. In the recent earth quake that rocked Sikkim on September 11, 2011, 111 people were killed.  No amount of pushpa yagams came to the rescue of the people or the land. If we have succeeded in controlling epidemics, it was not because of any expensive pujas offered to any deities. 

Courtesy: http://peopleforanimalsindia.org

It is not that the wealthy devotees whose well or ill earned contributions fill the coffers of the temple are completely unaware of the real cause of earth quakes, cyclones and epidemics. They are aware. The temple however continue to perform them as as ritual handed down to them from the hoary past.  And the devotees do not question them as they hesitate to challenge a tradition. It could also be because the devotees still harbor a fatalistic attitude towards unpleasant things in our life - such as natural calamities.

But that does not mean that they should continue to do it. A number of practices which were earlier considered divine and hence unalterable have been done away with because of progressive movements among the devotees themselves or as a result of legislative measures. The revolting animal sacrifices performed in many a temple has thus been banned in a number of states (though the practice continues in certain places clandestinely) as a result of both the people' agitation as well as the subsequent government orders banning them.

La Tomatina

But, how can we compare floral offering with animal sacrifice? You may protest. It surely is a legitimate question. A pushpa yagam is definitely not as revolting a ritual as animal sacrifice. However, apart from the fact that both  tend to instill  and perpetuate fatalism among the people, it is also massive waste of resources. This can be compared to the recent attempt (in September 2011) by some people in Bangalore and Mysore to enact a 'tomato fight' mimicking the Spanish festival La Tomatina. It was legitimately criticized and the State Government banned the event saying that tomatoes should not be wasted. Similar argument can be advanced against pushpa yagam too. An alternate and more ethical event could be a Flower Show open to the public.

While one tries to understand the psychological need of the people visiting religious places seeking mental solace, the massive amount of money spent on worthless offerings to deities is unacceptable. Despite the Tirupati town being the richest pilgrimage city of any religious faith in the world (Uma Sudhir -13 September 2007 – “Tirupati Oust Vatican, Reigns at Top, www.NDTV.com Retrieved 6 November 2011), in terms of Human Development, the state of Andhra Pradesh where the Tirupati temple is situated ranks (with a score of 0.416) at a low 10^th in comparison with all other Indian States (Human Development Report 2007).

Why cant the temple authorities spend the money to improve the living standard of the people of the state, instead of wasting it on worthless pujas?

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Faith versus Universal Compassion - Part III

P L Rao

(Part I and Part II of this Essay are here)

Flourishing field of Religion

                

Religious field is flourishing today due to the vast scope of earning fame and power.  Scandals and Babas sail together. But the institutions survive due to political patronage enjoyed by the community as a whole. None bothers if the stated objectives of these institutions are flouted as people are just pigmies.

                     

B Premanand

The usual ‘’miracles” performed by these Babas to allure masses are ‘producing’ scented ash (vibhuti), wrist watches, gold rings, faith healing and selling sacred stones etc. The well-known skeptics, B Premanand, and Narendra Nayak, have for last 30 to 50 years been exposing their tricks and the skeletons lying hidden inside their cupboards. The former had toured extensively in India and abroad, advising people not to get cheated by Babas. He brought out many books, CDs and Videos spreading Scientific Temper and Skepticism. Professor Narendra Nayak is now heading the Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations. Both had thrown open challenges offering one lakh Indian Rupees to anyone who could perform any miraculous feats. But have found no takers.  Prof Nayak’s challenge is still open. Thus all the seers and Babas preaching on faith walk on clay foot. .  

There is another class: Gurus and Matajis who deal with only top CEOs, company bosses, foreigners, government officials and Country Heads. Elegantly attired Guru walks out at steady pace to the dais of Ashram set in extreme luxurious style. The back ground is enough to hypnotize any business tycoon. After all, he is just a commoner, least heard of spiritual salvation etc. He needed a Stock Exchange to convert his shady assets into white, cleanse his soul for once and gain respectability. One more version of yoga, yet another variant of a breathing practice, meditation and stress relief techniques are enough to fool them.  

A recent trend is the rise in number and status of Indians abroad and the consequent increase in the number of temples and religious platforms. Affluence of the younger community and nostalgia (opportunity for gathering with Indians or outing for weekend) are the two factors responsible for this. Religious awareness spread here is braided with modernism befitting the sophisticated elite class, thus lacking depth and seriousness. No contribution towards analyzing the trend or deriving a meaningful interpretation of religion is possible from these entities.

Thus, in the ultimate, God and faith are the most exploited aspects in today’s life world over. If He really ruled, He would have been the most detested One. Stripped of commerce, the entire Institution of Faith would crumble to pieces. Faith today is not a free standing pillar, but is propped up by commerce. The end result is the fundamentalism and the religious strife now prevailing all around in the World. 

Faith in Divinity: an obstacle to uplifting of mankind:

A common question frequently asked is why this concern about Divinity? Why not work for human reformation directly? The fact is that the term Faith ‘exists’ in life of man as dog in the monger. Priestly community still demands of its disorganized followers to stick to rituals and customs. The educated youth is too engrossed in accumulation of wealth to seek solution to this largest evil. Instead, to atone for their sins, they would donate liberally to any cause of religion and wash hands off. 

But transformation of man is feasible only when every man thinks. Not when a few think for all with their concept of betterment of society or self as the case may be. Each brain has infinite capacity if the self-imposed veil of conditioning is shed off. Thus the first task of one is to transform oneself by deep introspection - then seek that of others, not by confrontation, but by showing with self practice and pursuance. Transformation of society starts from oneself.  

In effect, Faith, now focused towards Divinity, should get re-focused as concern towards all animate and inanimate beings in Eco system. The task is to change common man’s outlook, rather than expect rescue operation at every crisis of one’s life. A holistic approach to problems of society helps; that is, if one sees ‘Brahman’ in everything around us and develops universal compassion. There are near to ideal examples around us showing that this is not an Utopian idea.  

Action plan:

One begins by asking oneself: “Do I get pricked by the violence in Kashmir, the Naxalite movement, worldwide terrorism, exploitation by powerful, deaths due to poverty, abnormal rise of disharmony within family life and the dragon of corruption and superstition  embracing all walks of life?”’. One dispassionately looking around sees that the Truth, in reality, lies not in Heaven, is not an alien concept, but is in the Earth around us amidst the joys and sorrows of life. Eco system is the greatest inheritance to us, which we are bound to preserve and deliver intact to next generations.

Mark Twain

If one still has reservations on implementation, listen to Mark Twain: “Let us so live that when we die, even the undertaker will be sorry”. Some one else said: “Imagine your own funeral, and you will realize what kind of impact you have created on those around you”. An easier solution, if one opts to get liked by everyone around, it is not a very tall order for the neo-rich of today - Just adapt 4 slums. But in the process, he would have created an army of beggars for perpetuity. Hence one can leave sustaining impression (his consciousness) on Earth only by working for permanent solutions to problems of mankind, by raising others’ confidence level. This brooks no compromises or half measures, each of which can puncture it easily.  Thus caution against distraction of energy is important.
     

The best dictum “From cradle onwards, interfere the least in the physical actions of a child. NEVER   dictate in psychic field. Encourage in it, at all ages, the faculty of self discovery and decision making befitting its age. Never pamper. Thus brought up, a child grows as a useful citizen of Earth” .Here again we have the poser from Swami Vivekananda to society: “Give me hundred people committed (as me) towards mankind and I will transform the whole World”. From his achievements, we see that his was not a hypothetical notion. 

Now consider implementing immediately a few simple actions for which you need take permission from nobody. 

• Re-script your Faith as concern towards all species on earth. Always keep pondering what lasting help you can render to the needy rather than expecting from others.  Have a holistic approach in all your dealings. 
•  Never expect or owe anything of others. If one is mentally of this frame, physical field will take care of itself, exceptions not withstanding. 
• Live sincerely, always inquiring before every action, using your best judgment, least annoying others in process. 
• Pre declare donating your vital organs to worthwhile causes after death.  
• In the will, advice against any religious rituals, which are all waste. Those who remember you will anyway assemble on their own. One need not worry the least of the post death scenario except from the angle of his pending responsibility to others.     

Reference:      

  

1. ”The ethics of Belief and other essays”: by W K Clifford  
2. “The complete works of Swami Vivekananda” by Advaita Ashram, Mayavathi Memorial edition. 1972

Inspiration: Teachings of J Krishnamurthy.

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Faith versus Universal Compassion - Part II

P L Rao

(Part I of this Essay is here)

History of growth of "Faith" in some important religions

Faith as an entity is the backbone of any theology. We now examine how true this statement is by taking example of few religions. Hinduism was born in about 2000 BCE as a blend of emigrant Indo Aryan and earlier existing Dravidian culture. The latter were basically nature worshipers and the Aryans brought in a cult of assigning each such natural event as sunshine, flood, rain, wind, sickness, fire, water etc  to a different Power. These gods were then appeased by performing sacrifices, Yagna etc. Hinduism was thus ritual based, worshiping a large phantom of gods. In this process, gradually castes other than Brahmins and Kshatriyas felt themselves alienated as second class citizens. As a reaction, by the 6^th Cent BC, Buddhism rose up, focusing on sufferings of common man and stress on nonviolence. The declaration of Buddhism as State religion and the Missionary movement started by Emperor Asoka (4^th Cent BC) resulted in the spread of Buddhism to Central and East Asian countries. This continues to be popular with the Dalit and other castes in India even today. While Hinduism professed faith in multi powers, Hinayana Buddhism, the original version, advocated total humanism.   

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Sufi Islamic Sect Warns Against Hardline Wahabi Extremism

The All-India Ulama & Mashaikh Board (AIUMB), a Sufi Islamic branch claiming to represent 80 per cent of Indian Sunni Muslims, has come out strongly against hardline Wahabism, holding the ideology responsible for radicalisation of young Indian Muslims. The AIUMB counts itself among the significant Sufi Khanquahs in India, among them Ajmer Shareef and Dargah Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya.

“Wahabi-influenced terrorism has taken a section of Indian Muslim youth in its grip,” said Maulana Syed Mohd Ashraf Kachochavi, AIUMB general secretary at a press conference here. He said the AIUMB would hold a Muslim Maha Panchayat at Moradabad (on October 16) from where a call would be given to the masses to rescue Islam and Muslims from the clutches of Wahabi extremism which was sustained largely by (Saudi) petro-dollars. “Peace-loving Sufi Muslims are in a huge majority in this country but regrettably the major Islamic institutions, including the Waqf Boards and the Madrasas, are under the control of cash-rich organisations practising hardline ideologies. We want to reclaim Islam from these elements and turn our youth away from the path of extremism and towards harmony and co-existence,” the Maulana said. “The Wahabi hardliners are spending billions of dollars to hurt the democratic and secular fabric of this country built over centuries through peaceful activities of the Sufi saints.” 

(The Hindu, October 14, 2011)

xxx

Churn in Muslim community over Wahabi charge

Vidya Subrahmaniam [The Hindu,October 20, 2011]

 

Maulana Syed Mohammad Ashraf Kachochavi is the General Secretary of the All-India Ulama & Mashaikh Board (AIUMB), a Sufi sect that came from nowhere to take Moradabad — and the Muslim world — by storm last week. Soft-spoken and gentle, with long robes and a flowing beard, he fits the part of the Sufi cleric to perfection. 

Yet on stage at the Sufi Maha Panchyat, he roared like a lion, hurling charges against institutions that Muslim intellectuals hold in awe. At the centre of his accusations was the venerated Islamic seminary of Deoband which he held guilty of spreading hard-line Wahabism: “Hamey Wahabiyon ka na Immamat kabool hai, na kayadat Kabul (We reject the religious and political leadership of Wahabis”). Maulana Kachochavi went on to ask the gathering to rebuff overtures from Wahabi preachers, saying, “If anyone knocks on your door with the message of extremism, hand him over to the nearest police station.” 

The cleric had done the unthinkable and unsurprisingly there was a rush of reactions. Retaliation came swift and strong from the adherents of the Deoband school. The Mohtamim (vice-chancellor) of Darul Uloom Deoband summoned a hurried press conference where he countered the charge and questioned the credentials of the AIUMB. And yet, alongside the loud protests — and blogs that sprang up overnight denouncing the Sufis and calling them non-Muslim — there were also gentler voices urging Muslims dispassionately to examine the message from Moradabad. Interestingly, the Sufi strains were picked up in neighbouring Pakistan with some energetic tweeting of the Moradabad Panchayat news by liberals who saw the Indian challenge to extremism from their own perspective — a perspective of fighting a long and losing battle against intolerance and bigotry. 

The AIUMB, which claims to represent, among others, the Sufi Khanquahs of Ajmer Shareef, Dargah Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya and Barelilly Shareef, made three broad points at the Maha Panchayat. First, Indian Islam's roots are in peaceful, inclusive Sufi traditions which have historically been followed by the largest numbers (80 per cent according to the AIUMB) in the community. Second, over the years, the Sufis have lost their voice and prominence to hard-line Deobandis who have taken control of key institutions like the Wakq Board and the Madrasas, besides acquiring enormous political clout. Third, influenced by Saudi petro-dollars, the Deoband ideology has slowly morphed into a form of extremist Wahabism which has taken sections of the young into its vice-like fold. The AIUMB did not directly link the spread of Wahabism to terrorism but said terrorism drew sustenance from ideologies like Wahabism and Salafism, etc. At his press briefing, Darul Uloom rector Maulana Qasim Nomani, was unsparing of both the AIUMB and the English press that covered the meet. He said no one claiming to be Sufi could use the defamatory language that the AIUMB had used against fellow Muslims. “Why did the English media front-page this news?” he asked. 

‘Funds are fully audited'

 

Later, Maulana Nomani told The Hindu that the Sufis were malcontents out to spread disaffection among Muslims. There was no Saudi influence as Deoband's funds were fully audited and the institution did not accepts grants from any government, domestic or abroad. The Maulana also rebutted the extremism charge, saying Deoband had held a huge anti-terrorism rally on the campus two years ago. 

The Urdu press, which all but boycotted the Maha Panachyat and blanked out the speeches made there, however, gave full play to the reactions of Maulana Nomani. There were also individual statements of outrage. Masoom Moradabadi of Jadeed Khabar saw a foreign hand behind the Sufi sect. He also accused the Sufis of presiding over huge sums of money collected at the dargahs for which there were no accounts. 

Social activist Tanweer Alam argued that the Sufi sect was welcome to seek political power but it had no business to tarnish Deoband which had played a stellar role in India's freedom struggle. Mr. Alam was furious that the AIUMB saw no difference between Deobandi and Wahabi ideologies which were themselves in conflict in some areas.” 

Islamic scholar Sultan Shahin however fully backed the Sufi conclave saying it marked a milestone in Muslim politics: “It is for the first time that mainstream Ulema have come out so strongly against Wahabism which is slowly but determinedly spreading in this country.” Mr. Shahin cited the example of Pakistan where extremism not only took liberal lives but toasted and celebrated the killers. “Islam on the subcontinent has always had a syncretic, local flavour. Islam spread in India through the Sufi saints. But all that changed with the infusion of Saudi petro dollars. For me the most worrying example is Pakistan. Everything that happened there a decade ago is happening here today.” 

Mr. Shahin admitted that the space for extremism had been created by the Indian State which far from showing sensitivity towards Muslims, prematurely accused them of terrorism whenever there was a bomb blast:” When from the very first minute you talk of Muslim suspects when there have also been instances of Hindutva terrorism, that would distress any Muslim.” Mr. Shahin, was however emphatic that the answer to injustice was not extremism: “You cannot deny that injustice has been done. But if you turn to extremism, you destroy yourself.” 

‘Lack of tolerance'

 

Faizur Rahman, Secretary-General of the Forum for the Promotion of Moderate Thought Among Muslims, attributed the “unnecessary” Sufi controversy to “the lack of tolerance among Muslim organisations for dissent.” He said it was within the Sufi group's Islamic and democratic rights to “censure the so-called Wahabi school of thought” adding that there was enough evidence in Wahabi writings and homilies to justify the AIUMB's charges. “There are books of fatwas written by Saudi clerics which contain such abhorrent ruling as those that declare a Muslim who does not pray five times to be a ‘kafir' and say that he must be killed and ‘buried outside the graveyards of the Muslims' if he does not repent.” 

But Mr. Rahman was unhappy with the sweeping nature of accusations flowing from Moradabad. He found the charge that Wahabi hardliners turned up at homes to propagate extremism particularly over-the-top. “There is no evidence for this.” 

There is no doubt that the Sufis set the cat among the pigeons last week; they have pitted ideologues against ideologues. But whatever the Sufi group's larger interests, they have done a service by setting the stage for a debate on extremism.

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