Vaishali Institute Research Bulletin 1

Author(s): Nathmal Tatia
Publisher: Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology & Ahimsa Mujjaffarpur

Page 226

THE ROOT OF RELIGION : INTUTION AND REASONING 215 than the pleasure accruing from the satisfaction of the demands of physical senses. Spirituality rather consists in the , cultivation of super-personal values, goodness, beauty and truth. Love of truth is one of its exponents. Now morality cannot entirely account for this spiritual life. Morality is concerned with struggle of good and evil and the ultimate triumph of the good over evil is the aim of religion. Swāmi Vivekananda has defined religion as consisting in drawing out the spiritual majesty of the soul. This definition fits in with the theistic and the so called atheistic religions both.
If this evolution of spirituality be the essence and purpose of religion there is no cause for antagonism and hostility to it. But in its external manifestation religion takes the form of ceremonies and rituals which differ from one another. The average man attaches supreme importance to these external factors and thinks that a person who follows different observances and liturgies is mistaken. Herein lies the conflict and clash of one religion with another. To crown all, religious communities have their relative political and economic interests which are not all reconcilable. To identify religion with politics becomes a natural transition. In the medieval age religions were faught with fanatical zeal between the Moslims and the Christians and the result had been huge bloodshed and forcible conversion. This has been unhappy consequence of formalistic and institutional religion which must be deplored by every cultured man. Fortunately India has saved herself from the pursuit of this calamitous aberration, and this has been possible because of her philosophy.
India's philosophical culture is characterized by a sincerity of purpose and seriousness of outlook which cannot fail to extort the unstinted admiration of all but cynic. Another characteristic of Indian speculation is the unfettered freedom of thought which was unknown in other climes. There was no state persecution for philosophical opinions, and censorship of thought was unknown, provided it did not instigate the subversion of the moral order. The same was true of religions, India has been the land of freedom of religon, which is however a recent growth in the west. This was made possible in India for the reason that Indians did not seek to make political and economical capital out of their religious persuasion. They never confounded things of Caesar with things of God. Another reason seems to be the perfect agreement and unanimity on the necessity of moral discipline, Indian thought was agreed on the moral condition that the animal in man was to be supplanted by the divine. There may be some truth in the contention that