Sambodhi 1989 Vol 16

Author(s): Ramesh S Betai, Yajneshwar S Shastri
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 46

Ethics :
Radhakrishnan lays emphasis on the mysterious nature of the universe which we have to understand not by reason alone but by intuition as well. Reason and intuition equally work in ethics and yield moral consciousness. When a man is faced with two alternative and conilicting situations in matters of ethics, his reason alone helps him to choose the right course. Integral visiou helps to resolve the right and wrong of any given situation. Reason educates conscience and by intuition one attains automatically the knowledge of his duty. Moral virtuc is not simply a matter of reason but arises out of the depth of souls. e.g. Socrates : 'Virtue is knowledge'; but this knowledge is not mere rational knowledge but it is knowledge which springs from the deeper leveis of man's being. Dr. S. R. says-“The deeper a man is rooted in spirit, the more he knows directly. To one of ethical sensitiveness, the path of duty is as clear as any knowledge we possess." "He, whose life is directed by insight expresses his deeper consciousness not in poems and pictures as the artist does, but in a superior type of life.”20 (e.g. lives of Buddha and Christ).
Religion :
Every true religion is based on intuition and the religious life commended by prophets, saints and seers consists in the culture of intuition through the harmonious perfection of emotion, intellect and will. Religion in its deeper aspects transcends reason. But it need not decry it. Reason does play an important role in religion also.
Otherwise it would be difficult to distinguish right faith from superstition. Reason should not be eradicated from the spheres of religion and theology. It shapes our religious beliefs and experiences. There is a level of religious life in which reason las to play a superior role. Religion finds its fulfilment in supra-rational or spiritual or intuitive experience. Creativity in cognitive, aesthetic, ethical or religious activity springs from thought which is intuitive or spiritually quickened. Radhakrislinan reverently, searches, therefore, the heart of every great religion to discover the intuitive basis from which it springs. To this purpose, he specially devotes his book Eastern religion and western thought.
Radhakrishnan thinks that the materiality of the world does not contradict the spirituality of God. As a matter of fact, spirit comprehends matter. The universe or world is the manifestation of the spirit. Spirit is not opposed to matter. If integral experience is the awareness of the universe as harmony, how do we explain the tension and discord existing