Another question from a Hyderabad youth:
Why should I choose to find enlightenment? In religion or God? Or anything for that matter. If I choose to believe/follow some religion or god, nothing changes. The sun would still rise in the east and set in the west. I wake up daily and mind my own business. I am born into a typical Brahmin family, and my parents pursue me to follow religion and do puja. My views on this matter are a little different. I don’t follow any religion or god, and I don’t pursue others to do what I am doing. Why don’t people just understand that? When someone wants to follow a religion or god, by all means, they can. I am not stopping them or against them. Why can’t people think the same way?
My Response:
Good question. But this is not new, and from time immemorial, the same question has been asked in different times by different people in different ways. We Hindus have a long tradition of Charvakas (also called ‘materialists’), and in ancient times (in Greece, I think), there were Epicureans (‘eat, drink and be merry; tomorrow you are going to die’).
The first thing we need to understand about religion is that it is not the correct word to translate ‘dharma’. It is not the correct English word for translating any of our Indian sampradayas. Similarly, ‘philosophy’ doesn’t fit our term ‘darshan’ as Western philosophy is completely different from Indian philosophy (though I am not competent to talk much deeper about this).
So I agree with you that choosing any religion and thinking about Hinduism as another religion is very difficult. At the same time, we have to live with the reality that Hinduism has also gained this new identity, and we have a place for using it in a similar way. According to our Indian tradition (and also according to our Constitution, about which I am not too familiar), following Hinduism is not following some religion. It is a worldview, culture, tradition, way of life, civilization, etc. So when you remain or follow the so-called Hindu religion, you are not following or remaining a Hindu because of its ‘religious’ identity or connotation but because of its various meanings and scope. Above all, you are born as a ‘Hindu’. Of course, you can exchange this birthright for any reason. But unlike other faiths, one cannot ‘become’ a Hindu by ‘conversion’ though this is also happening now. So you may not worship any gods or believe in any religious philosophies, but you cannot deny your ‘religious’ identity even as a Hindu as now this identity is also given by a secular Constitution to all our social needs. For example, you have to mention your religion in your passport [I think so] and cannot say ‘no religion’. That is an option, but for that, you have to fight a legal battle. As long as Hindu identity remains a social/cultural identity, you cannot say that you don’t belong to any religion. And your parents’ ‘demand’ is to give some outward expression to it as per your family tradition. But this is not the only way one has to express their identity as a Hindu. My father never did any puja, except on the day of the festival or visited any temple. He strongly remained an Advaitian. But still a Hindu.
Regarding the sun rising and everything going on routinely, it has nothing to do with religion or spirituality. (I prefer to use the word ‘spirituality’ to religion, though that too is not so simple.) It is a search for our own personal need as a ‘human being’ who is in so many ways different from the rest of the creation (provided you still believe in ‘creation’).
So with a God or without a god, you can still search for some spiritual truth that will help you first to remain a human to yourself and to others so that you can relate to them in a more meaningful and useful way for both you and others.
Regarding God, I have only one thing to say. As J.I. Packer said in Knowing God, “Your god is too small.” All our conceptions about God are our own making. I often say that if we can comprehend God or express about Him/Her/It without the limitation of our human mind, then He/She/It will still remain less than our mind. In my life, my search began from me and not from God.
Finally, I agree with you that one should not interfere in the freedom or right to choose any path or sadhana that best suits a person. But if you ask, “Why can people not think in the same way?” then you are doing the same thing you are blaming others for. What I mean here is this: you expressed your view that you don’t like others to impose their view upon you or anyone. Similarly, you cannot expect others not to do what they think is correct according to their understanding. For example, your parents have every right to teach and guide their son in what they think is best for him. But they cannot superimpose it on you. If you, as their son, expect them to do their ‘dharma’ to give all the best for you from their lives, this too is part of that package. They have every right to share their view about their tradition and think that it will be helpful for a son to follow his ‘dharma’ (putra-dharma = dharma as a son). How they do it is a different question, but as their son, you cannot question their motives, as that is their dharma as parents. So you contradict yourself by asking: Why cannot people think in the same way? But my counter-question is: Why not, and why do you impose this view on others? As long as we remain human, exchanging our views with others is normal practice. Of course, we should not ‘impose’ our view. But sharing is part of human nature. Even if one thinks that she doesn’t want to share any of her thoughts with anyone, then by ‘not sharing,’ she is also sharing this thought with others. As long as we live as social animals, we cannot stop asking questions and sharing.
More later. And here, I would like to end this with a quote that will go well with our questions on so many things:
Fish gotta swim
Bird gotta fly
Man gotta sit and say
Why why why
— Thomas McEvilley, Shape of Ancient Thought: Comparative Studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies, Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, (2002), First Indian Edition, 2008. Foreword. pp. xxxi-xxxii.
Revised on 7-6-2024
Gurukulam
Another question from a Hyderabad youth:
Why should I choose to find enlightenment? In religion or God? Or anything for that matter. If I choose to believe/follow some religion or god, nothing changes. The sun would still rise in the east and set in the west. I wake up daily and mind my own business. I am born into a typical Brahmin family, and my parents pursue me to follow religion and do puja. My views on this matter are a little different. I don’t follow any religion or god, and I don’t pursue others to do what I am doing. Why don’t people just understand that? When someone wants to follow a religion or god, by all means, they can. I am not stopping them or against them. Why can’t people think the same way?
My Response:
Good question. But this is not new, and from time immemorial, the same question has been asked in different times by different people in different ways. We Hindus have a long tradition of Charvakas (also called ‘materialists’), and in ancient times (in Greece, I think), there were Epicureans (‘eat, drink and be merry; tomorrow you are going to die’).
The first thing we need to understand about religion is that it is not the correct word to translate ‘dharma’. It is not the correct English word for translating any of our Indian sampradayas. Similarly, ‘philosophy’ doesn’t fit our term ‘darshan’ as Western philosophy is completely different from Indian philosophy (though I am not competent to talk much deeper about this).
So I agree with you that choosing any religion and thinking about Hinduism as another religion is very difficult. At the same time, we have to live with the reality that Hinduism has also gained this new identity, and we have a place for using it in a similar way. According to our Indian tradition (and also according to our Constitution, about which I am not too familiar), following Hinduism is not following some religion. It is a worldview, culture, tradition, way of life, civilization, etc. So when you remain or follow the so-called Hindu religion, you are not following or remaining a Hindu because of its ‘religious’ identity or connotation but because of its various meanings and scope. Above all, you are born as a ‘Hindu’. Of course, you can exchange this birthright for any reason. But unlike other faiths, one cannot ‘become’ a Hindu by ‘conversion’ though this is also happening now. So you may not worship any gods or believe in any religious philosophies, but you cannot deny your ‘religious’ identity even as a Hindu as now this identity is also given by a secular Constitution to all our social needs. For example, you have to mention your religion in your passport [I think so] and cannot say ‘no religion’. That is an option, but for that, you have to fight a legal battle. As long as Hindu identity remains a social/cultural identity, you cannot say that you don’t belong to any religion. And your parents’ ‘demand’ is to give some outward expression to it as per your family tradition. But this is not the only way one has to express their identity as a Hindu. My father never did any puja, except on the day of the festival or visited any temple. He strongly remained an Advaitian. But still a Hindu.
Regarding the sun rising and everything going on routinely, it has nothing to do with religion or spirituality. (I prefer to use the word ‘spirituality’ to religion, though that too is not so simple.) It is a search for our own personal need as a ‘human being’ who is in so many ways different from the rest of the creation (provided you still believe in ‘creation’).
So with a God or without a god, you can still search for some spiritual truth that will help you first to remain a human to yourself and to others so that you can relate to them in a more meaningful and useful way for both you and others.
Regarding God, I have only one thing to say. As J.I. Packer said in Knowing God, “Your god is too small.” All our conceptions about God are our own making. I often say that if we can comprehend God or express about Him/Her/It without the limitation of our human mind, then He/She/It will still remain less than our mind. In my life, my search began from me and not from God.
Finally, I agree with you that one should not interfere in the freedom or right to choose any path or sadhana that best suits a person. But if you ask, “Why can people not think in the same way?” then you are doing the same thing you are blaming others for. What I mean here is this: you expressed your view that you don’t like others to impose their view upon you or anyone. Similarly, you cannot expect others not to do what they think is correct according to their understanding. For example, your parents have every right to teach and guide their son in what they think is best for him. But they cannot superimpose it on you. If you, as their son, expect them to do their ‘dharma’ to give all the best for you from their lives, this too is part of that package. They have every right to share their view about their tradition and think that it will be helpful for a son to follow his ‘dharma’ (putra-dharma = dharma as a son). How they do it is a different question, but as their son, you cannot question their motives, as that is their dharma as parents. So you contradict yourself by asking: Why cannot people think in the same way? But my counter-question is: Why not, and why do you impose this view on others? As long as we remain human, exchanging our views with others is normal practice. Of course, we should not ‘impose’ our view. But sharing is part of human nature. Even if one thinks that she doesn’t want to share any of her thoughts with anyone, then by ‘not sharing,’ she is also sharing this thought with others. As long as we live as social animals, we cannot stop asking questions and sharing.
More later. And here, I would like to end this with a quote that will go well with our questions on so many things:
Fish gotta swim
Bird gotta fly
Man gotta sit and say
Why why why
— Thomas McEvilley, Shape of Ancient Thought: Comparative Studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies, Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, (2002), First Indian Edition, 2008. Foreword. pp. xxxi-xxxii.
Revised on 7-6-2024
Gurukulam
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