Religion as a mere adjunct to Worldly Life

In John Bunyan's "The Pilgrim's Progress", dealing with the spiritual journey of "Christian", he meets a "Mr. Worldly Wise-Man" of the town of "Carnal Policy." Christian tells him about the burden of sin he is carrying. Mr. Worldly Wise-Man directs him to a town called "Morality", where dwells a "Mr. Legality", who will help him get rid of his burden. He has a son, "Civility", who can also help him.

However, before Christian could go on this false way, he meets "Evangelist" (True Spiritual Teacher), who guides him back to the correct way.

Later, Christian meets "Money Love" who says: To become religious is a virtue, by what means soever a man becomes so. It is lawful to get a rich wife, or more profit. The man that gets these, by becoming religious, gets that which is good of them that are good, by becoming good himself; so that here is a good wife & good profit by becoming religious, which is good.

Even though Bunyan wrote the book in 1678, its relevance is evident even now, as the function of religious leaders of all denominations is viewed as helping people in their worldly problems, rather than giving them spiritual guidance. It is sad to see them as talking like Mr. Worldly Wise-Man, Mr. Legality, Mr. Civility or Mr. Money-Love rather than as true spiritual advisors.

Two Germans with contrasting views

"The Protestant Ethic & The Spirit of Capitalism" (1904) by Max Weber, a German Protestant, glorifies economically productive hard work as a pre-requisite of Capitalism. This seminal work also influenced N.R.Narayana Murthy of Infosys. Basavanna, the 12th Century social reformer & religious leader also held similar views. He said "Work (by itself) is  Kailasa" (abode of Lord Shiva) not just a way to attain Kailasa. The noted playwright Girish Karnad attributed the prosperity during Basavanna's time to this ethic of hard work.

On the other hand, "Leisure - The Basis of Culture" (1947) by Josef Pieper, a German Catholic, propounds that it is leisure leading to culture, which makes human life worthwhile. It should be noted that Pieper, being a Catholic, places the Contemplation of God at the top of Cultural activities. Workoholism leads to absence of leisure & hence denying Cultural Life, which is the sine qua non of human existence, without which human life may self-destruct. Bertrand Russel, in his "In Praise of Idleness" (1935) also advocated a four hour workday as quite sufficient to fulfil our needs, the rest being leisure to be spent on cultural activities. Of course, Lord Russel, being an atheist, did not suggest contemplation of God in leisure!

The most pathetic sentence of the 21st Century

How many times a day do we hear this sentence "I don't have time"? Arnold Bennet, author of the celebrated novel "The Old Wives Tale", also wrote a small book "How to live on 24 hours a day" more than a century ago. 

He said that "Essentially, you do have time; you just don't realise it. We never shall have any more time. We have, & we have always had, all the time there is". He proceeds to analyse what the average man does after  work, & proves he wastes at least 6 hours before going to bed. He also adds that one can get up at least an hour earlier in the morning.

For Homi Bhabha, the nuclear physicist, the arts were not just relaxation, but as essential in life as physics & mathematics. He felt art was what made life worth living. He was an avid painter & connoisseur of Western classical music. Raja Ramanna, also a nuclear physicist, was an accomplished pianist. Sudha Murty, the busy philanthropist, just gets up an hour earlier in the morning, to indulge in creative writing. What is badly needed is not extra time but focus & mental discipline to make the best of the time available.

In more recent times, Katherine Rundell, author of the award winning "Rooftoppers", became a Fellow of the All Souls College at 21 & later produced a doctoral dissertation on John Donne. She also learnt to walk a tightrope forwards, backwards & in high heels!

Allan Rusbridger, who was Editor of "Guardian" during the Wikileaks period & was working a stressful 14-16 hours a day, also managed to squeeze in piano playing & managed to learn the fearsomely difficult Chopin Ballade No. 1.

Such being the case, the commonly used words "passing the time" & worse "killing time" assume a sinister meaning. These ways of spending time are nothing less than  criminal.

The same people who claim to have no time, will find time fast enough if there is money to be made or status to be attained! And all this to gain what Luke 16:15 says  "What is esteemed among men, is an abomination in the sight of God." The same thing was said by St.Teresa of Avila in other words. "More tears are shed over answered prayers than over unanswered ones." Because in our ignorance, we always pray for things which are harmful to us in the long run. Even in Hinduism & Islam, the only efficacious prayer is submission to God's Will.

So to conclude, the best human activity is contemplation of God, followed closely by cultural activities, to indulge in which "when there is a will, there is a way."