| RELIGION
- TODAY AND TOMORROW |
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| With the
advance of science, the old order in the kingdom of religion has changed. No one now
believes or bothers that the events of this world are ordained by the capricious will of
an anthropomorphic deity. Ceremonial observances have lost their mystic significance, and
the hierophants of every cult are no longer regarded and respected as the vicegerants of
God. The pictures of hell and eternal demnation which has terrified the pious in the past
now afford only entertainment to the scientifically trained sceptics of the modern world. |
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Religion is the internal experience
of the consciousness of the divine. It is the realization and sense of dependence on an
Almighty Power within and without ourselves. |
Today, persons accepting religion as
the their calling, are assiduously searching and re-searching the scriptures of the world
in the hope of arriving at Universal Truths operative irrespective of time, place or
nationality. |
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| The need for
religion as a vital force in the life of man is increasing recognised and the search is
going on for a true religion without outworn superstitions, traditional reverences,
fossilized customs, rigid conventionalities and empty ceremonialism. Englightened persons
are searching today for a religion without sterile formalisms, adamantine dogmatisms,
sectarian polemic, theological despotism and the most censurable law-abiding
sanctimoniousness. |
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| It is possible then
to have a religion which is satisfying, a religious consciousness without irresponsible
freedom or object dependence, without drowsy devotion or mawkish sentimentality, without
dogmatic formulae or bureaucratic discipline, without the funk of eternal damnation or
inexorable destiny, which does not veto the conclusions of science or inculcate the
unintelligent acceptance of an incomprehensible metaphysical reality. In short , is it
possible to formulate a new religion as an adventure of the soul, an inner psychic
experience? The answer to this question is the religion of tomorrow. |
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| Substance
of Religion |
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| Religion is the
internal experience of the consciousness of the divine. It is the realization and sense of
dependence on an almighty power within and without ourselves. It is the revelation of a
new world of values having an appeal to our town purified emotions. It is the conscious
experience of our individual, spiritual and sublimated selves. |
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| Religion is the
intuitive apprehension of the underlying reality of things and the sense of union with the
force guiding our destinies. Belief in and resignation to a sustaining providence, the
realization of the harmony of nature and the unity and identity of oneself with all
creation, and the realization of the supreme truth that the same Principle of Life
animates man, vegetables and animal kingdom in order to mingle our several voices in the
universal chorus and harmony of creation, constitute the quintessence of religion. |
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| This supreme
dedication of one's thought, feelings and actions to realise harmony and poise within
oneself is the religion of man. It is the view of life as a sacrament in the perfection of
the spirit by means of absolute self-surrender, a supreme dedication of oneself - body and
soul - for a cause, conviction or belief. |
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| Religious
Experience |
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The
divinity within us responds to the beauty and richness of life outside us through the joy
of religious experience. This recognition of the identity of ourselves with the source of
our vital and spiritual sustenance and of our individual life as part of the universal
life is made possible through the medium of religion. Religion is the living recognition
and spontaneous expression of the identification of the creative spirit in man and nature.
It is the identification of oneself with all life, and the response of the whole man to
the whole universe. |
Religion is identical with the sense of direction in
human life. We discover and realize within ourselves a divinity that is ourselves.
The total response of our being to the divinity that is within and without is the sum and
substance of religion. |
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| Religious
experience, which is a scientifically unanalyzable whole, is the transformaion of our
lives and the conversion of our entire being by means of taming of the passions, the
discipline of the emotions, the control of the senses and the baptism of the blood. |
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| Religious
LIfe |
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| Life is religion in
the creative vision of the artist, in the connoiseur's delight in the things of beauty,
and in the inquisitive sudent's longing for knowledge. There is religion in our wonder and
bewilderment at the order and orderliness, the regularity and rhythm of the phenomena of
Nature. There is religion in the lowly devotee's worship of the gods, in the passion for
possession of unselfish love, in the reciprocal understanding of accommodating friends, in
the merging of the soul, in the harmony of music, in the will to righteousness of the
pious humanitarian and in the compassion of the reformer for the despised and downtrodden.
There is religion in the quest of the philosopher for wisdom, of the man of action
for distinction, and of humanity for ideals. There is also religion in the courageous
endeavour of the scientist to conquer Nature herself. |
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| To realize divinity by the sense of communion and oneness
with the rest of creation and by the complete identification of our own welfare with that
of others and to realize the infinite beauty, richness and harmony of God's creations is
the religious ideal of life. |
In the attainment of poise by the
serene contemplation of the pageant of life, in the conscientious disharge of one's moral
and social obligations, in the inner solicitude for promoting peace and harmony everywhere
and in the dispassionate pursuit of truth, the spiritual necessities of one's self find
scope for abiding satisfaction.
The aim of religion, in short, is to solve the mystery of life, to discover the ultimate
purpose of human activity and to reconcile the self with itself. |
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