Can Religion Survive?
The following article is from an essay by Ms. Rajeshwari Patel when she was a student at the Sathya Sai College at Anantapur. Presently she is a faculty member at the Anantapur campus of Sathya Sai University.
The human child cries when it is born; it protests and pleads with God not to cast it on the world. The man cries when he dies, protesting against the call of death, pleading for a few more years of life. This is the lamentable state of many a mortal on earth. To save man from this sad tale of lamentation, sages have sought and discovered remedies. God has limited himself to human frames, descended upon the earth, and lived among men. The parents and elders of every generation are infecting the next with bad morals. Elders feel themselves incapacitated to help the children. Pollution in society has become acute and widespread. Most children face a future that holds that youth is a blunder, manhood a struggle, and old age a regret. That is the tragedy. If man diverts his energies toward God, even failure would be noble. Instead man’s goal seems limited to sensual success.
Science, which today threatens to overwhelm religion, is concerned only with the how of things, and not with the why. So long as questions like, “Why must there be pain and sorrow, why should one be truthful and tolerant, what exactly are truth, goodness, and beauty, wherefrom did time begin, and whence does space end?”, haunt man, religion must survive to help man discover the answers. Science can only speculate in the realm of the senses. It has no finality in its judgments. Every new discovery of science opens the door to many new mysteries. Religion discloses the eternal and the infinite, whereas science stops short (and has to stop short) with the measurable and calculable. The knowledge which religion brings is as infinite as the truth it preaches, whereas science deals only with a partial segment of our lives and experiences.
We believe in the existence of the cause, and its mere effect. X‑rays, atoms, and electrons are believed for the effect produced by them. To an ordinary man, the table appears as such; but the atomic physicist sees it as a set of electric charges; it loses its illusion of solidity. We cannot say that the physicist is wrong, simply because we have not attempted to go through the sadhana [spiritual exercise] to understand atomic principles. Quite a few spiritual masters have spent more time and energy than D. Sc’s and Ph. D’s in delving into the whys and wherefores of things and they have posited a creator or God, whom we cannot deny. Just because we have not experienced the divine presence, how can we say that they have not experienced it?
Intellectuals deride religion because some followers of some religions have behaved most irreligiously. Religion has held aloft the ideals of love, trust, humility, brotherhood, service, and self-control. Even today, religion is the only lamp that can illumine the dark hearts of man. They [the intellectuals] ask us to define God if It exists. But they agree that words are not effective tools to describe everything. A `point’ is defined as an entity with no dimensions and God is beyond all dimensions. Swami Vivekananda has said that God is an infinite circle whose circumference is nowhere but whose center is everywhere.
The skeptic says that if he is morally right and engaged in social benefaction, he has no need for God. Jesus said, ‘He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake, will find it’. Note the words, `for My sake’. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa told a questioner that good works have to be prompted by faith in God, to whom they are dedicated as offerings, ‘or else they lose the sweetness of love.’
Sai Baba says, “People laugh cynically at the God‑intoxicated man, and the God‑intoxicated man considers worldly man mad and blind. But, has not the world suffered enough at the hands of mad rulers and blind politicians? Of all the types of madness that harass men, God‑madness is the least harmful.” The religious man is not narrow‑minded and selfish. Those who identify themselves with the body and follow their own whims and fancies, regardless of the trouble caused to others are the narrow‑minded. Religion is concerned with liberating man from bondage; it is not interested in binding man to rules and regulations, unless they help the primal aim. Outer freedom with no inner control is the nature of those who deride the religious life.
The first message that holy men proclaim to us is, ‘peace be unto you.’ Religion is our only refuge and comfort in this era of chronic anxiety. Religion can achieve a lot in ensuring mental peace. Prayer gives courage and consolation, and draws God’s grace. It is our only resort and comfort. If we take a careful look at the world, we feel that the religious man is happier than the worldly man who has no faith in God or prayer.
Fears and anxieties that dominate us today will clear away if we have more faith in God and in ourselves who are created in His own image. It lies in our own hands to enfold ourselves more fully into the infinite power, wisdom, and love of which we are a part. Dr. Alexis Carroll has said that the influence of prayer on the human body and mind is evident in ‘increased physical buoyancy, greater intellectual vigor, moral stamina, and deeper understanding of the realities underlying human relationships.’
Once a poor woman appealed to the Sultan of Turkey for compensation for the household goods she lost. The Sultan interrogated her as to how she lost them. She replied that robbers came in and stole the goods when she had fallen asleep. The Sultan asked her why she had fallen asleep. She replied calmly, “I slept because I was sure that the Sultan was awake.” We suppose that our government is always vigilant, and would protect us. But, the government officials too are liable to fall asleep. But, God never falls asleep; His protection is ever available.
The problem before man, in every age and in every clime, is how to uplift himself, integrate his senses, his intelligence, and his inner urges for fullness, freedom, and love. The Grecian says, ‘Man ! Know thyself;’ the Roman says, ‘Man! Rule yourself;’ the Chinese says, “Man! Better yourself;` the Buddhist said, ‘Man! Annihilate yourself;’ the Hindu says, ‘Man! Unveil yourself;’ the Moslem says, ‘Man! Submit yourself;’ the psychologist says, ‘Man! Be yourself;’ and the psychiatrist says, ‘Man! Cure yourself;’ but, God says, “Trust Me. Without Me you can do nothing.” This means with the bounteous Lord, we can win everything.
Source: Sanathana Sarathi, July 1977
