Religion and Politics in India

I revisited an old blogpost published Sep 2008. Found the contents to be relevant even today. So, an updated version follows. 

In India, religion and politics are generally intertwined. This is ‘what is’, and it is probably one of the strength,or weaknesses, of South Asian polity, depending on how one views it.

In my opinion, the only purpose of religion is to help the individual achieve his or her long-term spiritual goal. How? Religion, like all else in life, has its own primary education based on rituals, which is reinforced by the secondary education based on mythology. Eventually, depending on his or her personal motivation, each individual must go through the university education of philosophy if the final goal, the understanding of the Unity of all Creation, is to be realised. 

That, to me is the essence of what each Prophet had in mind, when He propounded His vision, whic later took the shape of a new religion.

Practiced religions differ in their rituals and mythology, but are remarkably similar when it comes to philosophy. Every Prophet has propounded that this Universe, and everything in it, are His Creations. Looking at the disagreements that are based on religion, it is sad to state that this philosophy never reaches a large mass of human beings, of most faiths.

Philosophy is the most important part of religion and helps each individual evolve according to his or her own understanding. Once you reach the summit and look down, you will find any number of paths, both charted and uncharted, that can lead to it. All paths can eventually reach the summit if you keep climbing. 

Each individual has his or her own perception of the Creator, irrespective of religion. Even within the same religion, we may follow the same rituals and have been fed the same mythology, yet we will still have our own perception of the Creator in our minds. It will be different from everyone else’s. Rituals and mythology provide us with the basis to develop the faith needed to move on to greater things in the spiritual field. Yet there is little motivation, either on the part of the religious teachers or the followers themselves, to go beyond rituals and mythology. 

The pandits, mullahs, granthis, priests and the like have little reason to take an individual beyond what they themselves are expected to teach. And for most followers, rituals and mythology are enough to keep them engaged, and sometimes even worth defending and fighting for. Few have either the inclination or the knowledge to explore what lies beyond them. These rituals and mythology are taught and learnt through pandits, mullahs, granthis and priests.

They would, in all probability, be inadequate guides to help an individual progress towards a doctorate in spiritualism. We need to understand this important difference: a primary or secondary school teacher cannot guide one at the doctoral stage. Only someone who has ‘been there and done that’ can show the way. The trudging, however, still has to be done by the individual. This is the spiritual realm, and it has little to do with politics and democracy.

Politics, on the other hand, has to do with our needs to live a purposeful and fulfilling life in the physical world. Human needs are common, irrespective of religion. We all need certain facilities, freedoms, laws that fairly regulate our rights and responsibilities, and the like. In a democracy, any good politician, irrespective of religion, should be able to provide us with these, as long as we can hold him or her accountable.

However in India, or for that matter in the entire South Asian region, vote banks are often created on the basis of religion, caste and other identities, and this does little to serve anyone other than the politician and his or her coterie. The only way out, I believe, is through a separation of the physical world of politics from the spiritual world of religion. Education and the strengthening of our democratic institutions are probably the only answers. We Indians, irrespective of caste or religion, need to understand this basic distinction.

Once this happens, there will be no majority or minority vote bank to woo, and politicians will have no choice but to concentrate on providing good governance.

WORK IS WORSHIP!

While replying to a comment on my last blog, I was suddenly reminded of an incident that took place in 1985, the year our son was born.

Our son was born on 18 May 85. That year, I was posted in Gorakhpur, but deployed in Leh since April. I had come to Delhi for his birth and went back to Leh on the next day. I finished my tour in June 85 and came to fetch my family - my wife, daughter - 5 years, and son - one month plus, and our dog - Tootsie, a Lhasa Apso. I came to Chandigarh, and bought my first car - the good old Ambassador. We had a lot of luggage and we had to travel from Chandigarh to Gorakhpur, via Delhi, where my in-laws lived. The summer was at its peak and car ACs were not so popular. So we decided to travel early mornings. Chandigarh to Delhi was a short trip and was thus no problem.

From Delhi my sister in law vounteered to come with us to help us with the settling in phase. We left Delhi in the early morning with our luggage loaded in the dicky and on the carrier on top of the car, and three adults, two children and one dog inside the car. The journey from Delhi to Kanpur was uneventful. A little after leaving Kanpur, we hit a pothole and the right leaf spring of our heavily laden car gave way. We somehow managed to reach Lucknow, sometime in the afternoon, and stopped at the first mechanic we found who could do the job. I told the gentleman that we had a one month old baby and wanted to reach Gorakhpur before dark. Chaitanya, our son was crying non stop, as we were having problems with his milk, water etc. and the heat, of course. The mechanic assured me that he would do his best and help us leave at the earliest. He immediately started his work and was straightening the leaf spring, when it came time for namaaz. All the neighbouring shops were promptly shut down and the people started leaving for namaaz.

A number of people, on seeing this gentleman still at work, would stop and tell him 'namaaz ka time ho gaya'. He would hear them, and still continued with his work.

Finally one gentleman stopped and said to him, 'kya paison ke liye namaaz bhi bhool gaya'.

He replied, 'yeh bhi to namaaz hi hai, inka chhota baccha roye ja raha hai aur inko Gorakhpur raat se pehle pahunchana hai'. This angered the other gentleman and he said something which upset the mechanic. He got up and left for namaaz. We were delayed for about half an hour, the time it took him to come back after namaaz. He apologised and completed the job at his earliest, to our satisfaction. On my asking him, he assured me that the car would not give me any trouble till Gorakhpur. I paid him and left after thanking him.

This illiterate mechanic had understood what most of us never seem to fathom. But look at the irony, even after having understood this final truth, he had to bow to lesser mortals for fear of being outcasted by his own friends. We finally need friends and relatives to survive in this world, unless you are willing to renounce all.

This incident has stayed with me ever since. Who was right? The mechanic who understood our predicament and who could empathise with us, and knew that Allah would also have wanted him to offer namaaz in this fashion on that day, at that time OR the other gentleman who was the custodian of everyone else's faith? God only knows!!!