Hari
Om
Application - that is what 'Workings-days' are about!
Application - that is what 'Workings-days' are about!
We
are now undertaking basic technical discourse on Vedanta. The text forming the basis of these posts
is 'Kindle Life', and now we come to chapter 24 which is the 'keynote' chapter. For this, the actual
chapter will be given per the publication, as none can say it like Gurudev! It is lengthy and warrants appropriate consideration, so will be split, part two following next week.
"The indifference to religion of the apparently educated man of today is not so much due to the futility or hollowness of the science of religion as such, but his own incapacity to understand the text books of religion in the world. This is true not only of the Hindu, but also of men of every faith. This difficulty in accommodating the old ideas to the new ways of thinking is felt by the faithful of all the established religions, all over the globe.
True religion never dies; Hinduism is not dead. If on the wayside we find the extending branches of a dry tree naked of leaves and flowers, it is possible that in our hurry we may consider it to be the skeleton of a dead tree which was once gloriously alive. Now, however it spreads no shadow and protects but a few pilgrims under its thin shade. Yet, a lover of trees who knows the art of farming, discovers some parasites flourishing on the withered tree. The sight of this parasitic growth is sufficient for the scientist to have a vision of the sap that runs in the core of the seemingly dead tree. He need not cut the trunk down to see if the sap is still running.
Similarly, Hinduism is proving today that it has no wide-spreading shadow to shelter the whole community, bereft of its leafy roof, it has the inauspicious look of some grinning skeleton on the sepulchre. As the great Hindu 'tree' continues to nourish and maintain many a parasitic growth, a true cultivator of religion takes heart and cries "This is not dead; the sap is still running; this can be revived".
Just as the farmer, in reviving the dead tree would ruthlessly remove the parasites, intelligently cut down the unnecessary burden of its extending branches, loosen the soil at the roots and nourish it with regular supplies of fresh soil and food, so too the tree of our religion can be redeemed, trimmed and revitalized with the nourishing salt of understanding and the true waters of sincere seeking.
Then shall the children of the present discover through a thorough study of our ancient scriptures that modern science and ancient religion are not such strangers as they assume them to be. In saying 'religion' the claim is not alone for Hinduism; it is as much true of any other religion in the world today. Unfortunately we have come to identify the term 'religion' with stony edifices of temples, mosques, churches, synagogues, pagodas and gurudwaras; or with different sacred books, endless and varying interpretations of them, confusing rituals and how, in their name, painful quarrels resulting in hatred and violence arise. This is often the result of the colossal ignorance of what is true religion.
Religion is to be understood essentially as a science of living, so that we may cull out of it a set of desirable values of life upon which we can rebuild wisely our day-to-day existence. If the existing religion is too old, outmoded and obsolete and if the fundamental values of life preached by it cannot solve our day's problems, we shall without regret discard the whole lot and strive to discover new principles and laws of right living. If religion is but a dictatorial declaration of a scheme of living which has no reference at all our day-to-day existence and cannot solve our pressing problems, we shall banish the old religion and take to a new culture and a more desirable cult; for man is and should be primarily concerned with his life here rather than in the hereafter."
True religion never dies; Hinduism is not dead. If on the wayside we find the extending branches of a dry tree naked of leaves and flowers, it is possible that in our hurry we may consider it to be the skeleton of a dead tree which was once gloriously alive. Now, however it spreads no shadow and protects but a few pilgrims under its thin shade. Yet, a lover of trees who knows the art of farming, discovers some parasites flourishing on the withered tree. The sight of this parasitic growth is sufficient for the scientist to have a vision of the sap that runs in the core of the seemingly dead tree. He need not cut the trunk down to see if the sap is still running.
Similarly, Hinduism is proving today that it has no wide-spreading shadow to shelter the whole community, bereft of its leafy roof, it has the inauspicious look of some grinning skeleton on the sepulchre. As the great Hindu 'tree' continues to nourish and maintain many a parasitic growth, a true cultivator of religion takes heart and cries "This is not dead; the sap is still running; this can be revived".
Just as the farmer, in reviving the dead tree would ruthlessly remove the parasites, intelligently cut down the unnecessary burden of its extending branches, loosen the soil at the roots and nourish it with regular supplies of fresh soil and food, so too the tree of our religion can be redeemed, trimmed and revitalized with the nourishing salt of understanding and the true waters of sincere seeking.
Then shall the children of the present discover through a thorough study of our ancient scriptures that modern science and ancient religion are not such strangers as they assume them to be. In saying 'religion' the claim is not alone for Hinduism; it is as much true of any other religion in the world today. Unfortunately we have come to identify the term 'religion' with stony edifices of temples, mosques, churches, synagogues, pagodas and gurudwaras; or with different sacred books, endless and varying interpretations of them, confusing rituals and how, in their name, painful quarrels resulting in hatred and violence arise. This is often the result of the colossal ignorance of what is true religion.