One Formless in All Forms
A much-debated subject is whether atheism is more useful to society than religion or otherwise. An individual atheist, leading an unstructured life, poses no harm to society so long as he follows the law of the land. Even at the collective level, atheism may not be harmful until it combines with a political doctrine and wishes to impose the doctrine on others. Such political doctrines resulted in the death of millions of people and destruction of cherished cultures in many countries.
Some argue that religion caused more damage to society than the atheistic political doctrines in terms of the magnitude of genocides world over. The most successful religions are those which committed great genocides. We may feel justifiably proud that sectarian struggles within Indian religions did not lead to much bloodshed. Polemical debates, however, existed. Soldiers rarely clashed, but scholars clashed with confounding Sanskrit expressions.
Indic religions boast of being products of the egalitarian philosophy of the Upanishads. One Reality manifests in all names and forms, says the famous Purusha Suktam. This is the underlying philosophical thought of all Upanishads. Gaudapada, the noted teacher of Vedanta, says in one of his couplets on the Mandukya Upanishad – people with exclusivist doctrines keep fighting among themselves about what they believe as the Supreme Reality; the person who sees oneness has no conflict with them (verse 3-17). Shankaracharya, in his commentary, elaborates how reasoning should be the basis for any philosophical proposition. Absence of reason results in hatred. ‘They become attached to their own views and hate others whom they consider to be opposed to them. ….Our view, viz, the unity of Atman, does not conflict with others…..as one’s limbs such as hands and feet do not conflict with one another’ (translated by Swami Nikhilananda). A person who sees oneness does not hate any form such as Vishnu, Shiva, Durga, Ganesh or any other. They are all manifestations of one and the same reality.
Indian society was guided by this philosophy for a long time till perhaps the Middle Ages, but a complacent society lost the philosophical Vigor. People found the stories in the puranas more appealing and started choosing their favourite one. Gradually, society went under the influence of different puranas which gave different hierarchies of the same names and forms which did not have conflict earlier. Philosophical vision was replaced by puranic vision. Vedanta, handed down by the Gita (Ch.10), mentions several names like Rama, Vishnu, Shankara etc., saying that all are different forms of one Reality. But people ignored this and started claiming supremacy of their own chosen name and form.
Many modern masters like Vivekananda tried to revitalise the egalitarian views of the Upanishads, but the impact is not much. It is understandable if the atheist tries to put down the religious views, but it is sad when masters of different schools get into avoidable disputes. A recent debate was whether Rama worshipped Shiva and installed a Shiva linga at Rameshwaram. Such discussions are manna for those who wish to denigrate the religion as a whole.
An interesting Sanskrit verse tries to solve the dispute by examining the etymology of the word Rameshwaram. The name Rameshwaram refers to a place where a deity named Rameswara is located but the discussion is about how the compound word, called samasa in Sanskrit, got derived. Followers of Shiva said that it meant ‘Rama’s favourite deity’ and followers of Vishnu said that it referred to ‘Shiva, for whom Rama was a favourite deity’. Sages, who had the vision of oneness, intervened, saying that a different derivation had to be given. The word meant – ‘Rama, who is not different from Iswara (Shiva)’. Should we not listen to the old saints and reclaim our vision?
(The writer is a former
DGP, Andhra Pradesh)