Sarva dharma8230;if only

Indians like to intone sarva dharma sambhava 8212; 8216;equal value to all religions8217;. But equal value to all is possible only in spe...

Indians like to intone sarva dharma sambhava 8212; 8216;equal value to all religions8217;. But equal value to all is possible only in specific circumstances: when each occupies its distinct 8216;space8217; without intruding into the space of others; and when there is a hermetic separation of the religious and the secular.

The adherents of different religions must keep strictly to their separate selves in matters of religion, their only interaction with others being in the secular realm.

Such a separation is near impossible, for no religion recognises the religious-secular distinction. Each regards itself as the larger construct called 8216;a way of life8217;. If we imagine religions placed in separate bags, then we see that these bags bulge and split open, their contents spilling out into the secular environment.

Religions can coexist only when the religious confine their faiths to their homes and temples and mosques and churches. But if they are to be faithful, they must also be unwilling to accept such a confinement: for no religion recognises any space as not under its control.

But, given the havoc that religions have begun again to wreak across the world, we need to accept that the secular is infinitely greater than the religious.

Nature itself, as seen in the evolution of the species and its social arrangements, has created what we call the secular. The bedrock of Nature is the secular.

Religions must be seen for the human creations they are, devices forged at different times for different purposes. Ironically, these purposes have been in defence of principles which fall squarely in the area of the secular: one should not steal, one should not kill one8217;s neighbour, and so on.

Story continues below this ad

Think about it for a moment. The moralities of different religions are only formal ways of stating the principles which go towards maintaining social balance and preventing violence in society.

Such principles are purely secular 8212; but, over time, the child has become the parent. A thing created by humans is regarded as far larger than humans themselves. The Sangh Parivar representatives have the temerity to say that they speak for all Hindus, while they are not themselves Hindus except in a purely nominal way. They never speak of 8216;sarva dharma sambhava8217;. In their construction of Hindu rashtra, other religions simply do not have the right to exist. Those who speak of it are the real Hindus, good people who are as tolerant as their social circumstances permit them to be but who do not see that any faith, when blind, inevitably closes the door to those who are humans just like them but who follow other faiths.

It is this lack of clarity among most Hindus that has allowed the Sangh Parivar to grow. They have not reacted yet, although to them a life of peace is desirable and the rape and burning and killing of other humans are unspeakably wrong.

The sane majority can yet exert its will on society, if only it does not allow to a perversion of religious faith such an importance that it tears asunder the very fabric of our society.