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What is Religion?
The Religion Which Is Oneness
In the Jan-Nov 2019 issues, we have tried to present Swami Vivekananda’s conception of religion under this series: ‘What is Religion?’ There are at least 60 different ‘definitions’ of religion peppered across Swamiji’s lectures and writing! Each month, we took up one such definitive statement and tried to explain it using his own utterances, as far as possible. This month we will wrap up the series.
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While some people say that religion is losing its relevance in our lives, at least in our daily lives, there are others who say that religion is growing stronger in its relevance in our daily lives. Some say that religion is an historic relic, a sad remnant of the dark past, completely out of sync with the modern world. Many others say that never before in human history did religion have as much significance or relevance than it has at present. Some people say that religion will be phased out from daily life, since it has outlived its utility for mankind. Many contend that we need to urgently factor religion into our lives if we need to maintain our sanity and grow as individuals. Caught in this crossfire of opinions, man looks askance at anyone who can resolve this dilemma for him.
Swami Vivekananda provides the much needed resolution. Hidden in his lectures and writing, we find four predictions he makes about religion. We shall attempt to explain each of these in this article.
Religion will be scientific
Science rests on two principles 1 ; Occam’s razor applied to all knowledge; and the principle of perception-generalizationuniversalization of all knowledge.
If we have multiple explanations for a phenomenon, that explanation will be chosen which is the simplest. In other words, the explanation must proceed from within the nature of the things involved and newer entities must not be unnecessarily brought in to explain them. This is Occam’s razor.
All that we perceive can be categorized under two groups – things outside us, things within us. Religion has attempted to explain these two groups of perceptions. Religion has always recognized a third category – the perceiver. Science is a much better way of explaining the former two categories of perception, which are the external world and the internal world. For centuries, Religion was the only means of answering any questions that naturally arose in our minds, be it regarding the external world or internal world, or about the perceiver itself. Religion now ought to relinquish its interference, nay, hegemony on these two categories. Religion will confine itself to explaining the perceiver alone, for Science is unable to enter that area with the tools presently in its armory.
All religions speak of a divine being, God. All religions have a unique theory of how God created this universe. Now, no one in any of
these religions ever saw God in the act of creating the universe. We must realize that it is merely a plausible theory posited by the founding fathers of these religions. We are asked to implicitly believe in these theories, which are basically stories! When we apply Occam’s razor to these theories, we end up concluding that positing a divine being engaged in creation of this universe is not necessary at all. Let us have the intellectual maturity to acknowledge that if we do away with this aspect of any religion, not one religion will vanish, for such theories are indeed irrelevant to any wo r l d - re l i g i o n ! T h e theories of origin and s u s t e n a n c e o f t h i s universe are better left to the scientists. We must acknowledge that they really do a better job of dealing with that aspect of the world.
The reality accessible to us really has two distinct aspects – the infinite external universe, and the largely unknown inner universe. This world within us is really amazing. A huge portion of the inner world too, especially the body, the nerves, and many layers of our mind, is better dealt with by those ‘godless’ science guys. But there is one aspect of the inner world that will forever remain the domain of religion – Consciousness. Every religion has dealt with consciousness, although some of them couch their findings in a strange language, which is largely theistic in its syntax. Consequently, they have all become largely theologies today.
The moment you apply Occam’s razor to these theologies, something magical happens with all religions! Each of these religions will reveal an Impersonal divinity enshrined in their core teachings. The Impersonal God does not negate the personal god. In fact, the Impersonal God is the only justification you can have for all the personal gods that are posited by various religions. Thus, with the revelation of this Impersonal divinity, we come to comprehend that divinity is Personal-Impersonal. Then we apply the 2 nd principle on these theologies and lo & behold! We get another magical thing from each of these religions! We are divine!
Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Jainism, Buddhism, Taoism, and every religion that has survived ups and downs till the present, did so only because it contained these two vital ideas in its labyrinthine mass of teachings: The PersonalImpersonal God, and D i v i n i t y o f m a n . Remember that many religions just vanished from history. They did so not because of military reasons or socioeconomic or political reasons, although such may indeed appear to be the immediate cause. They all disappeared from the face of Earth only because they did not enshrine these two ideas within them. In fact, the whole of religion can be summed up in these two concepts: The Personal-Impersonal God, and divinity of man.
The sooner the world religions do this homework, and refine these two ideas from within their body of truths, more will those religions become relevant in the lives of their followers, just as they were supremely relevant in the lives of the people during their periods of origin. 2 Religion will be entirely personal
Historically, religion performed social, economic and political duties. Society has reached its present stage of development as a result of the contribution that religion made in all these fields. But, society no longer needs religion to perform these functions. If you remove all social, economic and political activities from religion, what remains in
The Personal-Impersonal God, and divinity of man
religion? The essence alone remains! Religion essentially dealt with the relation of man with God. Religion will continue to perform this vital function of bringing man to God. Everything else will be taken care of by secular principles of modern, democratic government. In many religions, the secular leadership and spiritual leadership are conflated. This is the root of most of the social and political problems in human history. The time has come for that to end. The democratic organizing of social life is a necessary growth which dissolves this ‘unholy’ nexus of secular and spiritual leaderships.
Once every aspect of social, economic and political life is taken care of by secular government, religion will provide spiritual leadership on a personal basis. Each individual will approach religion directly, not as part of a group, not as a community, but as an individual establishing his own direct relationship with the divinity within himself. Of course, this kind of spiritual leadership cannot be given by priests. We need persons who have established such a direct relationship in their own lives. We obviously mean realization and not just belief in dogmas. Men of realization alone can provide the leadership we speak of. And religion will become customized to each individual.
Religion will inform all aspects of human life
Once we have learnt to make religion entirely personal, we will then be able to bring religion into every aspect of our life. Making religion entirely personal means realizing the truths of religion; it means perceiving that I am divine. Once that perception has been achieved, then and then alone starts the great job of divinizing every aspect of our life. 3 Any attempt to do so before this realization will only end up in regressing to, and espousing, the social, economic and political aspects of religion. But, as humanity progresses, this is the direction all the world religions will take.
When religion will become scientific, and when religion will become entirely personal, then will dawn a glorious epoch in human history when people will be able to live truly spiritual lives.
Religion will break down barriers and bind us all together
If such indeed is the destiny of religion, if such indeed be the destiny of the human soul, does it behoove u s t o f i g h t a m o n g s t ourselves in the name of religion? Does it make sense to convert the other person into ‘our’ religion? Does even the term ‘our religion’ make any sense anymore? When religions will be based on scientific principles, when religions will mature into personal religions, customizing itself to the needs of the individual practicing it, where will different religions exist anymore? A grand consolidation of religion will occur in the world, something that is most essential for survival of the human race. Then will spontaneously dawn real brotherhood amongst the people of this world. All attempts to forge bonhomie between followers of different religions have been futile because these attempts were never informed by recognition of the scientific, personal religion, the essential religion; all such attempts retained the individuality of each religion, making one incompatible with other religions by its very nature. True harmony of religions proceeds from realizing these two truths: the PersonalImpersonal God, and divinity of man. Thus, we can foresee, through Swami Vivekananda’s eyes, a time when religion, having lost its divisive character and merged into a unity through personal spiritual experience, will really bind people together. Making religion entirely personal means realizing the truths of religion; it means perceiving that I am divine
You will certainly appreciate that this is indeed a grand conception of religion, with the most practical outcomes we can expect from religion in our lives and society. When will it happen? Will it happen in our lifetime? What is the timeline we are looking at?
More importantly, what will happen to the different religions that exist now? What will happen to the priests that make a living by peddling the opium of religion? Will personal gods not remain? What about temples, mosques, churches?
Just take another look at the religion of the future, as distilled from the thoughts of Swamiji that we have described above. Is it Islam? Is it Hinduism? Is it Christianity? Of course, it is not Islam in its entirety; nor is it Hinduism or Christianity or any of the world religions entirely.
You may point out that it is Vedanta, but is Vedanta a recognized religion, independent of its mother-religion, Hinduism? Despite the complete blossoming of Vedanta, hasn’t Hinduism retained all its various forms starting from the grossest animistic ideas of religion? It is indeed a wonder that some of the greatest brains of India applied the a b o v e m e n t i o n e d principles of Science to H i n d u i s m , m a d e Hinduism utterly personal a n d c a m e u p w i t h Vedanta. But never before did anyone appear, in India or elsewhere, who had the heart to broadcast such a scientific, personalized religion to one and all! This same exercise that Hinduism performed on itself, as a result of which Vedanta came out of it, will now have to be performed by all other world religions, in order to bring out their own equivalents of Vedanta hiding now within their bosoms. And when that happens, all the religions, will regain their relevance for mankind.
All of these religions are as good a starting point to reach here as any other religion of the world. We all will have our freedom to start from any point and forge ahead to culminate in our experience of this solidarity of all existence. Note that once we render religion as scientific, and make it personal, and start incorporating divinity in every action and moment of our life, the natural outcome will be a perception of the Oneness of all existence. If this entire world is divine, and if I too am divine, doesn’t it naturally follow that there is no difference in essence between anything here? This perception of Oneness has tremendous ramifications for human society. But, the ramifications arise only from spiritual perception of Oneness, and not from an intellectual or conceptual understanding of Oneness. Swamiji says, It is here in India that Hindus have built and are still building churches for Christians and mosques for Mohammedans. That is the thing to do. In spite of their hatred, in spite of their brutality, in spite of their cruelty, in spite of their tyranny, and in spite of the vile language they are given to uttering, we will and must go on building churches for the Christians and m o s q u e s f o r t h e Mohammedans until we conquer through love, until we have demonstrated to the world that love alone is the fittest thing to survive and not hatred, that it is gentleness that has the strength to live on and to fructify, and not mere brutality and physical force. 4 The spiritual perception of Oneness is immediately associated with a tremendous boost of strength in personality. This is not strength that The spiritual perception of
manifests itself as violence. It is strength that manifests as gentleness, yet, is capable of protecting one’s temporal existence from the onslaughts of barbaric manifestations of strength that may emanate from others. Not just protect oneself, but it can transform the barbaric manifestations on others into benign forms of strength. Notice that Hinduism, which is a non-proselytizing religion, has the strength to build mosques and churches for Muslims and Christians, while Islam and Christianity lack that strength, in the sense, you don’t find Muslims and Christians building places of worship for other religions. These things will change in the future as a result of Swamiji’s contribution to religion.
Things of the past will indeed remain. Islam, Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism, and all the other religions will remain. Temples, churches, mosques and other places of worship will remain. Newer ones will be added. Puja, Mass, Namaz, Roza, festivals, Vrata and other rituals will remain. Newer ones will be added. Personal gods will remain. Innumerable more personal gods will be added to the existing pantheon. Then, what new change did Swamiji bring into religion?
Each religion will come to recognize that they all have two distinct phases – the lower religion, and the higher religion. People will perforce start from any one of the existing religions. They will utilize the resources that belong to their religion – places of worship, scriptures, personal gods, rituals, etc. Each religion will inaugurate and herald a higher echelon in itself, into which each of their followers will graduate. All the rudiments of all religions will be understood to serve one and only one purpose – bring spiritual realization to each of their followers. Religions will be ranked and graded in society not according to the number of followers they boast of, but by the number of followers who have graduated into spiritual realization. Religions of the world have to accommodate these persons whose eyes have opened into the perception of Spirit. Unless religions produce such persons, the existence of those re l i g i o n s w i l l h ave n o relevance.
All the religions of the world will come to recognize that the higher echelon of all religions is actually the same. While there will always remain tremendous diversity in the lower religions, the higher religion will be one. It may be likened to the education system we have in the world today. The millions of schools all over the world are engaged in preparing its multitudes of students to qualify for higher education. The cutting-edge research institutions all over the world are melting pots of the very best from all countries, all cultures, all races, and all geographies. Similar developments are already occurring in business and governance all over the world. While each country is sovereign in its own right, the political and business policies of the world are now decided in international forums. The formation of UNO and WTO has not undermined the sovereignty of any nation, has it? Something similar will be the outcome in religion as a result of Swamiji’s contribution.
We must note one more important thing here: All this violence that this world has seen, in the name of religion – how will this ever end? Who will listen to whom? Will any religion be able to establish its superiority over others? Is it not clear that the only way religions can live in peace with one another is by discovering common elements amongst their constituents? But, at the lower levels, can common elements ever be found? When the differentiating elements in the religions are exactly what (Continued on page 52...) Each religion will come to recognize that they all have two distinct phases – the lower religion, and the higher religion
Sri Ramakrishna and the Pilgrimage Mindset
SWAMI CHIDEKANANDA
Introduction S ri Ramakrishna first arrived in Kolkata in 1853 at the behest of his elder brother to assist him in starting a Sanskrit tol school. From 1853 to 1886, apart from intermittent visits to Kamarpukur and other places of pilgrimage, he remained in the Kolkata city (earlier spelt as Calcutta) his whole life. During this period, he visited over 100 places in the Kolkata. These places can be grouped into 6 categories: 1) places celebrating festivals of various Hindu religious denominations, including different branches of the Brahmo Samaj and other denominations like Vaishnava or Tantric sects; 2) diverse non-Hindu places of worship including churches and mosques; 3) various temples of Mother Kali and other aspects of the Divine Mother; 4) numerous places associated with Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu; 5) residences and institutions of prominent personalities like Ishvarchandra Vidyasagar, Bhagavan Das, Keshab Chandra Sen, and other Brahmo devotees, etc.; 6) residences of devotees who had intense bhakti, or hosted religious festivals, pujas, etc.
In the next few issues, we will explore in detail these and other hidden or lesser known places sanctified by Sri Ramakrishna.
We can begin with a fundamental question: Even though scriptures claim that
Sri Ramakrishna visited numerous places in the city of Kolkata. Many of them are now teertha kshetras for thousands of devotees. Beginning with this article we will explore these places sanctified by his foot-dust. visiting holy places associated with saints can deeply transform one’s spiritual life, why does this transformation happen so rarely even for serious spiritual aspirants?
The answer is that we fail to follow Sri Ramakrishna’s systematic preparation and approach prior to, during, and after visiting places of pilgrimage. He not only preached these principles but practiced them in his own life. He repeatedly warned that merely visiting places of pilgrimage—or even witnessing his own spiritual ecstasies—was not sufficient to bring about transformation in spiritual life.
This article series focuses on Sri Ramakrishna’s teachings and the necessity for the pre-pilgrimage mindset. It will attempt to answer the questions: What do the scriptures say about the sanctifying power of teerthasthaanas or places of pilgrimage? What are Sri Ramakrishna’s warningsabout visiting places of pilgrimage without cultivating a “spirit of bhakti?” How can we cultivate this spirit of bhakti? What are the kinds of external and internal distractions that we may encounter at the teerthas? And how will the spirit of bhakti help to overcome these distractions? Scriptural support for pilgrimage
Sri Ramakrishna often eulogised the spiritual significance of teertha-sthaanas:
“Throughout the ages many monks, devotees, and perfected souls have visited sacred places to see God and call on Him wholeheartedly, shunning all other desires. That’s why there is a special manifestation of God in those places.” 1 As the scriptures claim that God is allpervading (sarvavyaapi), then what is the necessity for visiting places of pilgrimage? Anticipating this argument, Sri Ramakrishna— in the very next sentence—provides a simple analogy (digging for water) to explain that though God exists everywhere, the spiritual aspirant need not put in much effort in teerthasthaanas: “God exists everywhere equally. If one digs deeply enough, one can find water in any place. But one does not need to dig for water where there is a well, a pool, a pond, or a lake. One can get water there at any time.” 2
In the Srimad Bhagavatam Yudhishthira eulogises Vidura and describes how great souls enliven holy places:
“O Great One! Lovers of God like you, having risen to the height of holiness, sanctify the holy places you visit, by bringing the presence of Narayana who resides in you.”
Swami Vivekananda further explains that “sages and holy persons, who have much of this sattva quality, can send it out and exert a tremendous influence day and night on their surroundings. A man may become so pure that his purity will become tangible. Whosoever comes in contact with him becomes pure.” 3 Such is the case with the places visited by Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother, and Swamiji.
Even incarnations—such as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Sri Ramakrishna, and Sri Sarada Devi—were eager to visit places associated with previous incarnations as an opportunity to engage in the sadhana known as Leelaacintana. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, along with his disciples, visited Vrindavan and revitalised it as a place of Krishna Bhakti. Similarly, Sri Ramakrishna visited places in West Bengal associated with Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and sites in Vrindavan sanctified by the leelas of Sri Krishna. Sri Sarada Devi, spiritual consort of Sri Ramakrishna, too journeyed to Vrindavan to assuage her grief after her husband’s passing.
Nonetheless, Sri Ramakrishna repeatedly cautioned spiritual aspirants that merely visiting a holy place without devotion will not be spiritually beneficial: “Look, one who has it here (in the heart), has it there; one who has it not here, has it not there either….For one who is endowed with devotion, devotion increases with the influence of holy places. And as for one who does not have that, what can be derived?” 4 This is further supported by the Sri Jaabaala Darshana Upanishad:
“One who, having forsaken the teertha of the Self, merely visits the external teertha is a person who, having forsaken the invaluable jewel in hand, goes in search of mere glass.”
In this regard, Sri Ramakrishna went to the extent of stating that “without this spirit of devotion,” witnessing his spiritual ecstasies will not bring much benefit. On 14 July 1885, Ratha Yatra was being celebrated at Balaram Bose’s house (a close householder devotee of Sri Ramakrishna). It was a day full of spiritual festivity and divine intoxication. Girish Ghosh had “brought with him a bespectacled friend” who had witnessed first-hand all of Sri Ramakrishna’s ecstatic moods amidst the singing and dancing of the joyous devotees. At the end of the day Girish’s friend remained unmoved and “quietly left the place without comment.” Sri Ramakrishna then said to Girish, “I say this to you and to everyone: Please do not force anybody to come here. Nothing happens except at the right time.” 5 (emphasis added).
Why does Sri Ramakrishna place so much emphasis on cultivating a “spirit of devotion” prior to visiting places of pilgrimage?
Some spiritual aspirants may believe that their spirit of devotion is already sufficient, and that further preparation is not necessary prior to visiting places of pilgrimage. However, in the Gospel, Sri Ramakrishna emphasises that the spirit of devotion includes not only love of god but also vyakulata or spiritual yearning. He repeatedly says, “Nothing whatsoever is achieved in spiritual life without yearning.” 6 He further emphasises that this yearning for the divine is not a fixed quantity and must be constantly intensified through prayer and other spiritual activities. In other words, whatever may be the spiritual aspirant’s level of bhakti, it must be given further momentum and a particular focus prior to embarking on pilgrimage or going to an isolated place for tapasya. For this reason, before visiting a place of pilgrimage Sri Ramakrishna would cultivate a “specific mood” (this will be discussed in a subsequent issue).
External and internal distractions in places of pilgrimage
One of the reasons why Sri Ramakrishna placed so much emphasis on cultivating aspirit of devotion prior to visiting teerthas is that there are many distractions—both external and internal—in places of pilgrimage which have the potential to hijack a spiritual aspirant’s mind and prevent him from utilising time in a proper way at the pilgrimage site. One of the common external distractions which pilgrims encounter is that they must devote an inordinate amount of energy and time planning and organising the minute details of the trip from start to finish, including the mode of transportation, lodging, clothes to carry, etc. Sometimes for weeks or even months together before the actual pilgrimage, pilgrims will direct all their energies into planning to the exclusion of everything else. Hence, when they finally leave and arrive at the holy place, their minds will remain occupied and active in this planning mindset. They will have difficulty turning off this planning mindset and thinking of spiritual things. Sri Ramakrishna often said, “If a man thinks of worldly things day and night, then his words are coloured by his thoughts.” Similarly, if a spiritual aspirant’s mind is constantly preoccupied with worldly thoughts prior to visiting holy places, then his/her mind will naturally drift toward mundane things even in a spiritual setting.
Another external distraction is the common problem of encountering worldliness at pilgrim centres. For instance, pilgrims are often accosted by avaricious priests who will not allow them to have darshan in peace until they extract a large sum from them. Even an incarnation like Sri Ramakrishna acknowledged these external distractions in teerthas. During his visit to Varanasi in 1868, he was deeply anguished by Mathur Babu’s worldly mindset as well as the general preoccupation with “lust and greed” of the people there. Despite his spiritual experiences in Kashi, Thakur nearly regretted having visited Varanasi at all. Afterwards he lamented, “Mathur Babu had taken me with him on pilgrimage. We stayed for many days in Raja Babu’s house in Kashi. One day I was sitting with Mathur Babu in the drawing room. Raja Babu was also there with his men. I noticed that they were talking about worldly things: so much money was lost, and so on. I began to weep, ‘Mother, where have you brought me? I was so well off in Rani Rasmani’s temple. That I should hear of lust and greed even in holy places!’” 7 Nothing whatsoever is achieved in spiritual life without yearning 49 The Vedanta Kesari January 2020
Internal distractions: The dichotomous nature of the human mind
External distractions like lust and greed in teerthas become even more problematic because of the dichotomous nature of the human mind. The idea is that all human minds, including those of a spiritual aspirant, possess opposite tendencies (spiritual and mundane), and that environment dictates which samskaras are activated. Sri Aurobindo explains this in detail: “… everyone possesses in a large measure...two opposite tendencies of character, in almost equal proportions, which are like the light and the shadow of the same thing. Thus someone who has the capacity of being exceptionally generous will suddenly find an obstinate avarice rising up in his nature, the courageous man will be a coward in some part of his being and the good man will suddenly have wicked impulses. In this way life seems to endow everyone not only with the possibility of expressing an ideal, but also with contrary elements representing in a concrete manner the battle he has to wage and the victory he has to win for the realisation to become possible.” 8
An interesting example of the emergence of “two opposite tendencies in almost equal proportions” in places of pilgrimage is found in the life of Mathur Babu during his visit to Varanasi with Sri Ramakrishna. As we have already mentioned, Sri Ramakrishna lamented Mathur Babu’s worldly talk in Kashi. On the other hand, Sri Ramakrishna praised Mathur Babu’s wonderful generosity during the same trip. He recalled, “Mathur spent more than 1,00,000 rupees on the pilgrimage to Varanasi. After arriving at Varanasi, Mathur arranged a feast for the local brahmin pandits; [on] another day he invited their entire families, fed them sumptuously, and gave a cloth and a rupee to each one of them.” 9
Unfortunately, since Sri Ramakrishna’s visit to Kashi more than 150 years ago, the external obstacles at teerthas have multiplied. In addition to money-minded priests, worldly-minded tourists, and travel companions with varying temperaments, there are now modern distractions such as mobile devices and internet. These technologies further prevent spiritual aspirants from going inward and upward. In her book Rapt, Winfred Gallagher accurately describes the explosion of external stimuli in the 21st century internet age: “At any one moment, your world contains too much information, whether objects, subjects, or both, for your brain to represent, or depict clearly for you. Your attentional system selects a certain chunk of what’s there, which gets valuable cerebral real estate and, therefore, the chance to affect your behavior. Moreover, this thin slice of life becomes part of your reality, and the rest is consigned to the shadows or oblivion.”(italics added) 10
To counter these external and internal distractions and make a spiritual pilgrimage as fruitful as possible, Sri Ramakrishna teaches that three mindsets must be cultivated prior to, during, and after completion of the pilgrimage: 1) the pre-pilgrimage mindset, 2) the pilgrimage mindset, and 3) post-pilgrimage mindset. This three-fold methodology will be discussed in subsequent issues. (To be continued)
1) Sri Ramakrishna and His Divine Play. [hereafter Divine Play]Swami Chetanananda. p. 605 2) Ibid. 3) The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda. 1:252 4) Divine Play. p.606 5) The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. p. 809 6) Gospel, p. 86 7) Divine Play. p.119 8) Integral Education. Sri Aurobindo 9) Divine Play. p.608 10) Rapt, p. 9 References
