RELIGION AND THE UNITY OF MANKIND
Azure blue waters, pristine blue skies with occasional wafts of silken white clouds floating over them, plush greenery all around, a fresh and refreshing gentle breeze, bright and invigorating sunshine, a calm and serene atmosphere — the picture perfect setting for the grey matter to get functional and the mind to gather its thoughts. Before everybody starts wondering as to which utopian situation I am talking about or write me off as someone possibly on the path of dementia, let me tell you that these words actually describe the verdant surroundings of Bay of Islands in the upper reaches of New Zealand where I had gone on a vacation sometime back.
It is in these surroundings that the mind got to work in the context of the communal/religious strife that has manifested itself in a rather unseemly, unpleasant and ungainly manner in various parts of the world in recent decades and even a perfunctory analysis of the same laid bare the futility, uselessness and, I dare, say, stupidity of it all. The phenomenon of religious strife has , in recent times, not spared even the most peace -loving, tranquil and geographically remote locations of the world and its tentacles threaten to destroy its somnolent peace, if not annihilate the world.
Delving on the issue further if one were to look at some basic features of all the religions -whether it is “Zakat” or the form of obligatory alms — giving and religious tax in Islam coupled with a spirit of compassion, gentility and care for the poorer brethren in society; the Jewish practice of “Erev Yom Kippur” asking for forgiveness from fellow human beings immediately preceding the prayers on “Yom Kippur” seeking forgiveness of sins from God; the Hindu Philosophy of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” inculcating an understanding that the whole world is one family; the Christian belief of there being only one God who is omnipresent and omniscient — indeed the list is endless — and if one work to carry out even a basic research of the other numerically less but nevertheless intellectually and otherwise significant religions/sects such as Sikhs, Jain, Buddhists, Zoroastrians etc — the list would only multiply rapidly.
One may hasten to add however that the above analysis is based not on extensive research, but a primary and basic analysis of various religions and one can stand corrected if it needs augmentation or any clarification. But the basic belief remains unchallenged that all religions/sects and their sub-sects are only based on a spirit of compassion, generosity, goodwill and brotherhood towards one and all without any exception of caste, colour, religion, region, creed, nativity or any such useless/artificial discrimination.
It is in this context that the need to adopt a spirit of tolerance, compassion, gentility and non-discrimination in dealing with all people that we come across in the course of our working and personal life becomes paramount. Our dealings with all people that we come across in the course of our life, whether family( immediate and extended) colleagues at work, friends, acquaintances, service providers, business associates or any other member of the society should be based on a spirit of fair play and objectivity and devoid of any discriminatory or extraneous factors, including in particular but not limited to considerations of religion, region, colour, caste, creed etc. Let us begin to evaluate people on the basis of their character, capability, intellectual and creative worth and similar rational and logical criteria/characteristics and stay away from extraneous and, need we say, foolish exterminating factors. Such a step initially appearing to be infinitesimally small, if accompanied by a chain reaction with respect to the people that we are dealing with, has the power (surpassing that of even the most powerful nuclear reactor) to transform global functioning and drastically reduce societal tensions .We may add that the above suggestion is not based on any specific event/happening but on the general direction that societal discourse has tended to follow in the recent past, specifically the global rise of terrorism.
The need is to internalize our religious beliefs and talk, think and breath about the unity of mankind. The essential teaching and goal of any religion can only be the welfare of mankind, bereft of any distinction of any form whatsoever. Carrying on from my earlier blog, religion can only act as a unifier — a thought again highly utopian, perhaps rudimentary, but the need of the hour, if societal, communal and religious tensions are to be curbed. The widely propagated concept of universality of religions should be the precursor for the unification of all mankind, if we wish to prevent the world from plumbing to the depths of anarchy.
