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| Mix of Spirituality, Religion and Politics | | | NIKHIL GUPTA
Religion and Politics are opposing ideas. As Karl Marx said, "Religion is the Opium of the people." This is very true. People are always on the lookout for a savior and something to give justification to their lives, and Religion provides for this. Politics, on the other hand, is about real people, real laws that are justifiable in the court of law . Politics is about social and economic relationships and the powerplay involved in it. The spirituality is about the inner upliftment of the soul that always urges to meet with Divine . In this materialistic world the spirituality is losing and religion and politics are in the forefront . The spirituality and religion are the two defining factors in the determination of the higher values of life. These two functions of the inner call of a human being correspond to life in this world . Religion and spirituality are often mistakenly understood as synonymous terms. Spirituality is a concept that involves an increasing openness to exploring a relationship with an intangible and pervasive power or essence or center of value that exists beyond human existence and rational human knowing . It is the process of deriving meaning, purpose, and direction in one’s life. On the other hand, Religion is a concern over what exists beyond the visible world and it operates through faith and intuition as opposed to reason .
Religion is a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects . The evolution of religions in India give a beautiful picture of the evolution of the humans . The evolution of Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Christianity etc became possible only when the people felt inner need to meet with Divine. The basic concept of all religions is highly spiritual i.e. Religion provides path to know the unknown truths like "why this world was created by God ", "What is the role of positive and negative powers in this world " etc. Hinduism doesn't have any set of commandments i.e. there is total absence of any code of conduct. A Hindu can live his or her life as he or she deems fit and the Hinduism gives atleast theoretically total control over one's actions. The most important aspect of Hinduism is the strong belief in the "Karma Theory" which is based on the principle "As you sow, so shall you reap". By adhering to this principle one can be successful in this life as well as in the "After life i.e. Life after Death". Apparently Religion provides for spiritual upliftment but as soon as the religion is bound by various binding rituals, the differences between religion and spirituality come in the open. Religion is a private affair and if it is allowed to appear in public affairs it will corrupt politics. So if we want to consolidate democracy and give firm foundations to it and make its working successful, it is necessary that the people should keep religion apart from politics. It is wrong to think that with the help of laws it is possible to divorce religion from politics. Till the attitude of the people is changed, and till they rise above the petty considerations it is not possible to keep religion and politics apart. By keeping them independent of each other, we can retain democratic set-up. Mixing of religion with politics is a dangerous trend because religious attitude is diametrically opposed to democratic feelings. Religion encourages fanaticism and suspends our reasoning power and we repose full faith in leaders. We are prepared to make sacrifice because sacrifice will be considered martyrdom. This mental attitude is directly opposed to democratic spirit. Democracy demands open mindedness, universal brotherhood and thinking based upon reason and capable of taking its own decision. In such cases, there is no herd tendency and the person is liberal in outlook. Religion and politics are entirely different from each other. Religion is the faith and belief where as politics is a mind game that is played for power and authority. Some play it for the welfare of the society and some use it for their own welfare. To talk about religion some use it to bring the good in a man but some use it as a key to play politics. Its better not to mix religion with politics, as it may doom the faith and belief one has and it may increase violence that is against the humanity.
The Liberhan Commission that probed the Babri Masjid demolition suggested against mixing politics and religion. The Commission said that the Constitutional scheme to separate religion from politics was intended to insulate issues of governance from those of theology. The Commission said "while it may be useful and indeed desirable to import certain aspects of ethics and morality into the political arena, the use of religion, caste or regionalism is a regressive and dangerous trend capable of alienating people and dividing them into small sections." Justice Liberhan has rightly and logically suggested the prevention of religious agenda within political manifestos or electoral promises so as to contain religious fervor. Religion and Politics may be considered as two different banks of a river which can';t meet. But people always try to mix both. Religion separates people from one another in terms of the belief and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or Goddess. Being the largest democracy in the world won';t mean anything if it is not run without any prejudice. The Government therefore respects feelings of people of all the religions. In fact, Government is religion neutral and the Indian constitution vide its articles 25,26 and 27 provides for religious freedom to the Indians. It says that the State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them. Article 25 of Indian constitution says that all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practise and propagate religion.
The best for a human being is to try to overlap spirituality and religion and not mix politics in this because no one can fool the GOD. Politics if used for good of a nation or for good of humanity is good but politics if used for division and destruction is bad. The Sprituality, Religion and Politics are enshrined in the human psychology and cannot be totally separated but effort should be made by all humans to keep a healthy difference between these three components. The contents have no bearing on any person or any organization and the author is guided by the motto "THE ROYALE GUPTA WARRIORS NEVER FIGHT FOR THEMSELVES BUT FIGHT FOR A BIGGER CAUSE" VANDE MATRAM and JAI HIND |
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