It can also be interpreted as whether the higher religions are self-perpetuating cancers (a view to gladden the heart of Richard Dawkins!) or a Chrysalis to evolve humanity to higher mutants.
One of the earliest religions, Hinduism, evolved from the rituals for well-being in the Vedas to the inquiry into the nature of Soul in the Upanishads.
The Semitic religion of Judaism, while propounding the Universal Ten Commandments, also advocated the not so desirable concepts of "An Eye for an Eye & a Tooth for a Tooth" (which are being put into use by Israel against the Palestinians!) & also the concept of "The Chosen People" as if God had favourites.
The advent of Jesus Christ was the first to bring the concepts of forgiveness & mercy as civilising influences. But probably later evangelists propagated the hard to accept theory of "Jesus is the Only Way."
Islam's Prophet adapted the teachings of both the earlier Semitic religions with modifications to suit the Arabians. But here also the stultifying concept of the Prophet being the best & the last crept in. But curiously, though he was not aware of Hinduism, the Hindu practice of cleaning oneself & going unshod into a place of worship was incorporated into Islam.
The Universal Idea of a continuously evolving time cycle bringing the Chrysalis into a Divine Butterfly was mooted in the four Yugas of the Hindu belief which satisfies the rational & scientific mind.
After the implied intolerances of the Semitic religions, it was refreshing to note the Hindu reformer Saints, who appeared after the advent of the Semitic religions, promptly taking them on board as alternative ways to reach the Godhead, which is so obvious to an unbigoted mind. These were Shirdi Sai Baba in the western India, Sri Ramakrishna in the eastern part & Ramana Maharshi in the southern part.
As an interesting side light, Dr. S. Srikanta Sastri, in his Kannada textbook on World History, notes that though the Moors invaded & conquered Spain in 8th Century, the Islamic Culture propagated there was superior to the Christian Culture at that time. The Moors established Universities also. But when King Philip II of Spain drove out the Moors many centuries later, he destroyed the artifacts of the Islamic Culture in a fit of religious fanaticism.
To end with Prof. Toynbee again, he has also mentioned Islamic Tolerance as against Christian Intolerance in his magnum opus.
No comments:
Post a Comment