Context of Some World Religions

In Kannada there is a saying ಮನೆಯೇ ಮೊದಲ ಪಾಠಶಾಲೆ, means, Home is the first school. The education we get at home is immensely impactful in our life. And religion plays a major part in our home environment. Most people in the world are religious. In India majority of the population follow some religion. Very few question god’s existence. And yes religion is about god but definitely not only about god. So the education through religion is essential in man making mission.

Religion is a very vast subject and one can have only limited knowledge there. And writing about it is a bit of arrogance only. So I apologize for my arrogance. But I have to write what I know of. And being a proud Hindu, my writing will have that flavor or view.

Prakruthi in Religion

Gayathri manthra is one of the most potent manthra in Vedas. Every child who starts his intellectual journey is taught Gayathri Manthra in Hinduism. Gayathri is the embodiment of the entire Prakruthi. Vedas call upon the gods of elements as most potent gods. Every elemental God like Agni, Vayu, Varuna, Indra, Rudra, Vishnu, etc., are revered as the most powerful gods in Vedas.

Later Upanishads and Puranas came upon to define the concept of “Supreme God”, probably initiating Shaivaites, Vaishnavaites and other sects, where one God is Supreme. Like for Shaivaites, Shiva is the supreme god.

Hinduism originated with the exploration of the worldly elements and wondering of its strength. Pancha Bhoothagalu – Land, Air, Water, Sky & Agni form the basics of exploration. It is the beginning. Each of them have so much to study and wonder about its strength. That’s how the study of Khagola (Astrology), Ayurveda (Health Science), Yoga, Pranayama etc., started and is continuing. The nature is all powerful and meets all needs of man, animals and other forms. But man is the only enemy for man & other forms. Man instead of exploring the strengths of the nature in harmony with the nature, is involved in exploiting it in pursuit of something called luxury which is elusive.

Sandhyavandana is a daily ritual stipulated for all Hindus. In that we pay reverence to all the elements of the nature from earth to sun & beyond.

The nature worshipping extended beyond the basic elements in our civilization. For example, in Mahabharatha, Krishna lifted the Govardhana Giri, indicating, it is the life giver and saver for the Gokula community. Thus, very diversified, vibrant, beautiful culture & tradition developed through worshipping various forms of nature like, Mountains, Rivers, Forests, Trees, and different animals in different forms. For example fishing communities eat & trade fish. The richness they have is due to fish. Everything they can get for their life depends upon fish. So Fish becomes their God.

The religion encourages the communities to protect their richness, thrive their generations upon the nature’s peculiar gift to that community in that region. For many millennia’s, they have extracted the wealth without destroying it, but harnessing it. They have lived in harmony with it. Naturally they worship it as God. That’s how we got crores of Gods in India.

Sociology in Religion

Most of all the other religions in the world originated in that day’s sociological context. It is the sociological context which is the origin of many of these religions rather than a holistic universal view to begin with.

Man is a social animal. He needs society to live in. An enlightened man from the society emerges and questions the order. He questions the authority of that present day ruling system or living system & revolts against it. He creates followers. And then it is the followers who create a separate religion under him or his preaching.

Gauthama Buddha originated Buddhism. When he encountered poverty and despair outside his palace, the reality of the world hit him hard. He went for penance and was enlightened under the Bodhi Vriksha. He found that the “Desire is the cause of misery”. He called upon renunciation to attain moksha (Salvation). In that social context, the sociological class divide compelled him to run away and find answer to the cause.

Jainism started mainly in the social context of propagating nonviolence. Their doctrine is “Ahimso paramo dharma” which means the Nonviolence is the righteous path. Mahavira is one of the most revered 24 thirthanakara in Jainism.

Jesus is the author of the Christianity. The Judaism precedes the Christianity. And Jesus is one of their prophets. The social divide between the kings and the subjects were stark in those days. The prophets of Judaism tried organizing the oppressed slaves. The famous journey to the Promised Land started. The infighting amongst the subjects broke the peace. Then came the Ten Commandments to discipline them. The commandments being very rigid, made every man a sinner. And lord was not supposed to be forgiver for the sinners. And people remained sinner. In that social context, there came the great prophet, Jesus Christ to release the sin of the sinner. His simple message touched everyone. He said the “Lord is a forgiver”. His social message was simple and crisp. It was very appealing. The Bible is a holy book of Christians mainly from his preaching.

Prophet Mohammad is the messenger of God in Islam. The sociological context in that present day was marred with tribal conflicts. The conflicts used to conflagrate to bloody wars causing lot of loss of lives. His doctrine was that of “Universal Brotherhood”. He struggled to bring all humanity to accept one God calling him – Allah, The Great. Different tribes worshipping different forms and idols was discouraged by him and called upon all of them to accept and worship the formless God, Allah the Great. The peaceful message in the Holy Book of Quran of Islam helped coercing the warring factions to come under the universal brother hood of Islam. The Holy Quran is the book of his preaching. The followers of Islam are carrying out his example of Jihad on people to adopt Islam through various means which are not necessarily peaceful.

Sociology in Hinduism

“Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” is a popular phrase in Hinduism signifying the entire world is one family. The Ramayana and Mahabharatha are epic stories depicting throughout the sociological conflicts between different styles of living clans. While Rama is Maryada Purushothama upholding the rules & abiding by it very strictly at the expense of personal agony, Krishna is at ease while breaking the rules in vogue to keep up the “Dharma”. So what is Dharma?

Dharma is simply Manava Dharma. That is to be compassionate towards another human being. “ದಯವೇ ಧರ್ಮದ ಮೂಲವಯ್ಯ” is a famous saying from the 12^th century social reformer Basavanna who started the Lingayat movement in Karnataka.

Every human being has personal liberty. But personal liberty often comes in conflict with the social well-being. Then the social well-being takes importance. It should take importance. That is what Dharma is. And through story telling technique, the righteous path was being taught in the ancient Gurukula system. The Ramayana & Mahabharatha are full of stories of such conflicts and underlining what is Dharma, Nyaya & Neethi.  

Because, through stories, you get into the lives of both the affected and the affecting people. So the listener will be able to judge the righteousness throughout the story.

Today's Sociology Study

But unfortunately today, in the schools and universities, the Subject of Sociology is very bland and boring. It is restricted to only in BA. Other important degrees like, MBA, BE etc., are about Business management, technology. For whom? For self. Not for people. Student coming out from BE, MBA is made to think for himself only and not for people at all. But shouldnt the masters degree student study both benefits and impact of technology on society as a whole?

Even sociology is deduced to numbers. Through numbers you really cannot understand the people’s lives and resonate. Policy decisions are based on sociological assessment. But sociological assessment in today’s parlance is only numbers & not people’s lives. Dharma is taken back seat. In fact in today’s milieu of politics Dharma is not Manava Dharma, instead it indicates “which god’s follower”? And hence Dharma is wrongly construed as religion.

Isn’t it wrong?

In the next blog we’ll discuss “The Death of Debate Culture” through religions.