Thus Spake the Divine - Religion And The Society

Thus Spake the Divine

Religion And The Society

In this Chapter, Poojyasri Maha Periyava strongly contests the stand of the “Reformers” who advocate some amendments in the rules of our Religion to bring in harmony in people’s lives. Maha Periyava highlights the innate aspects of our Rules of Dharma that aim to inculcate the everlasting truth in this society and which can never be modified.

Reformers are of the view that some rules of our religion create disharmony in day-to-day life of individuals; some codes of our dharma create disharmony in societal life. Hence, reformers insist on amendments and modifications in the said rules and codes prescribed in our religion. Such reformers are totally unaware of the fundamental aspects and objectives of codes of our Dharma. By ‘social life’ the Codes of Dharma do not mean life relating to an individual’s inner elevation. According to the codes, social life includes only new political systems, different sciences, business transactions, economy and different kinds of fashions. All these are, of course, subject to changes.

If the society revolves only around material life involving short-lived, worldly pleasures (laukikam) alone, then the laws governing the society might also undergo changes accordingly. But our religion does not denote social life as merely material life. It involves spiritual aspects that elevate an individual’s soul. The basic objective of our religion is to guide people towards liberation from the worldly life. In our culture, there is nothing, which is sheer worldly life driving towards short-lived pleasures. It also represents politics, social life, logical sciences, economics and arts, everything that directs individuals towards self-development. All these innate philosophies never ever change. Similarly, the Codes of Dharma are meant to inculcate within the inconsistent society everlasting truth that will never change.

If the objective of religion is only governing the worldly life of individuals, then laws governing the social life can keep changing. But when the objective is well-being of individuals, laws of the society are framed accordingly. They can never be modified. It is totally unacceptable if there is an apprehension that it is difficult to abide by the Codes of Dharma. The Codes of Dharma have never given importance to worldly life at all. The objective of our Dharma is that despite various discomforts prevalent in this world, one has to overcome them and move towards Moksha. Hence, it is unjustifiable if somebody insists on modifications in the Rules of Dharma.

But let us not blame reformers. The reason for their points of view is basically due to our education system. In other countries, there are no contradictions between their religion and education system. Unfortunately, in our country, schools that were founded by the British dissociated themselves from our religion. Since our education system was based on western culture, people lost trust in our own religion and its rules. Since we were unaware of the objectives of our Rules of Dharma, we were caught in the perception that any rules can be modified as per our convenience. How will our children ever believe in our religion when they have been brought up with the perception that all our epics are just fantasies and our religious rules are just superstitious?

All children should be taught our spiritual scriptures. They must be associated with the company of people who are leading their lives with ethical values and beliefs. Children should be made to believe that scriptures and writings elucidated by Rishis from their own self-realisation are the sole means for self-growth. They must understand that Rishis gave scriptures only to guide the worldly and social life towards individual’s self-growth. Only then will people be motivated to abide by the rules of our Dharma over and above the comforts of worldly life.

This article is a snippet from the Book Thus Spake the Divine, is available online at www.giri.in and across Giri Trading Agency Private Limited, A chain of Speciality Stores dealing in all kinds of products needed in Indian Culture and Tradition.

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