Pushkarmuni Abhinandan Granth

Author(s): Devendramuni, A D Batra, Shreechand Surana
Publisher: Rajasthankesari Adhyatmayogi Upadhyay Shree Pushkar Muni Abhinandan Granth Prakashan Samiti

Page 794

Jainism : The Most Humanistic Religion
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Humanism and Religion Humanism, as a philosophical attitude of mind, is closely related to religion which is almost a universal phenomenon in human societies. One striking fact about the word religion is that we use it without hesitation ; we find it difficult to tell others what we mean by it..... The lack of agreement among students of religion is due to wide differences in intellectual orientation and basic assumptions. Religion is essentially contemplative, covering man's consciousness about the universe and the infinite. In its concern for human welfare, it deals with ethics, ihe science of action. Belief or faith has a practical and moral import assuring affection, peace and safety.
The existence of many religions is due to existence of different persons in different positions, with different powers, with different functions and duties. No two of us have identical difficulties; we cannot therefore expect identical solutions...... Life is an internal fact for its own sake, before it is an external thing relating itself to other things. The worth of internal life depends upon the self-realization of extence.
Authoritarian Religion The Oxford Dictionary defines religion "as recognition on the part of man of some higher unseen power as having control of his destiny and as being entitled to obedience, reverence and worship." This definition has reference only to authoritarian religions which require their followers to surrender themselves to a power which has created them and the world they live in. Obedience to such power as revealed through certain scriptures interpreted by saints and sages assiduously following the tenets is virtue ; disobedience of the tenets or the will of that power as required by the holy followers would be a great sin. That Authoritarian Power called God is conceived of as the creator, protector, preserver and destroyer of all the living creatures and man and the world they live in. He is conceived of as Omniscient and Omnipotent before which a human being is powerless. In authoritarian religion, God is the symbol of power and force. He is supreme because he has supreme power, and man, in juxtaposition, is utterly powerless. Though some religions consider God to be creator and mover of everything on earth, they consider him to be the very "self-essence of love". Different religions have attributed to Him different forms. While thinking about the forms of different Gods, one finds some satisfaction in what Robert Bridges said in his Testament of Beauty :
"I wondered finding only my own thought of myself, and reading there that man was made in God's image knew not yet that God was made in the image of man, nor the profounder truth that both these truths are one."
(Book I, lines 402-5)
Humanistic Rilegion Humanistic religion, on the contrary, centres around man and his strength, particularly his moral and spiritual. Such religion requires man to develop his power of reason in order to understand himself, his relationship to his fellowmen and his position in the Universe. He must recognise the truth both with regard to his limitations and his potentialities. He must develop his power of love for others as well as for himself and experience the solidarity of all living beings. He must have principles and norms to guide him in this aim......Man's aim in humanistic religion is to achieve the greatest strength, not the greatest powerlessness. Virtue is self-realization and not blind obedience.
In humanistic religions which are theistic, God is the symbol of man's own soul-powers which it is his ultimate aim in life to realize ; in such religion, God is not the symbol of force