Vaishali Institute Research Bulletin 1

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

Page 262

RELIGION AND SECULARISM1
NATHMAL TATIA
Religion is generally associated with belief in God. But there are religions, such as Jainism and Buddhis:n as also some branches of Hinduism, which do not believe in God, but are satisfied with postulation of individual selves as intelligent substances or series of moments capable of infinite perfection and exaltation. And consequently religion qua the path of perfection finds expression as worship of G bhaktimarga or pursuit of a moral code, called karma-mărga. But a more fundamental principle of Indian mind is the consistency between thought and action and action and the basic attitude which determines the thought itself and is called Samyag-darśana in all branches of Indian thought. This samyag-darśana is the starting point of religious and spiritual life. We find many wandering teachers in the time of Mahāvīra and Buddha who were in search of the basic ideal which should determine spiritual life. The orthodox society wedded to Vedic ritualism was in the background. There were free thinkers who did not believe in ritualism, but were anxious to find a way out of the sufferings of worldly life. Vedic ritualism holding out future prospects was dharma for the orthodox people while the way out of worldly sufferings was the dharma for the new society that was struggling to emerge. The term dharma thus had two different connotations which were the two different ends of human life, technically known as abhyudaya and nihśteyasa. Eventually, there emerged an integrated conception of dharma which was the cause of worldly prosperity as well as spiritual elevation. It is in the context of this concept of religion as dharma that we have to discuss the subject of religion and secularism.
Secularism is a belief that the state, morals, education, etc., should be independent of religion. But here religion has a very narrow connotation. The Indian concept of religion, which is identical with dharma, however, includes all activities of social welfare, statecraft, state polity, education, moral training, etc. Even the intellectual pursuits such as Logic and Metaphysics are considered dharma, Dharma thus stands for the basic principle that is the condition and also the justification of how one thinks and acts. Consequently, secularism, in order to be significant in this context, must have a special meaning,
1. Read at the Seminar of Scholars or April 3, 1966,