World Religions Conference November 1957

Author(s): Sushil Muni
Publisher: Achal Singh Seth

Page 15

Background who comes into the world brings with it, its own endless series of problems; so does every religion and we should not feel despondent because of these. So long as the world lasts, it is but natural that we should ceaselessly try to Improve the world's conditions and of its denizens. If Man cannot but degrade religion, it is also given to Man to upgrade religion as well.
History tells us in plain and clear words that degeneration and regeneration is the lot of life. The vedas, the Upnishadas, the Smritis, and the various schools of religious thought and belief, bear ample testimony to the continuous struggle that has been going on between the two. Shri Krishna, Gautam Buddha, Lord Mahavira and Shankar and all the saints of the Bhakti movement and the leaders of religious thought--one and all kept unextinguished the torch of Truth through times of storm and stress. The human mind like the human raiment, can fall an easy prey to various kinds of diseases and disorders. As for bodily ailments we take recourse to various kinds of medicines so also for mental ailments and moral delinquencies, we should not hesitate to do the same, and make a continuous research in this direction as may help to have a sound mind in a sound body.
Just as it is necessary to make use of various kinds of medicines for ailments of the flesh, so it is imperative to take the aid of Dharma for all mental, moral and spiritual disorders. There is a great need, for intense research in this direction as in the other, for stagnation in society and Dharma brings in its wake, loss of vitality and vigour. The work of purification and improvement in Dharma, has been going on through-out the ages and shall continue in future as well. But, strange as it may seem, the fact is that while everyone is eager to make an advance in the various walks of life, no o ne is prepared to take a single step forward in the field of Dharma, with the obvious result that we see the thorns and thistles of ignorance, apathy, disorder and in harmony growing wild.
While a peasant strives to look after his fields, nourishes the young and tender saplings and weeds out the unwanted undergrowth and so does every individual by washing his dirty linen from time to time, but in Dharma no one ever thinks of these.
Religious Leaders
Religion too has its triumphs and one of them is that wherever and whenever religious leaders appeared on the scene of life, they were held in great esteem and even deified. But this ought not to have been the case, in as much as, every such leader when he tried to weed out the defects in the then existing religious thought and belief and to purify and systematise the prevailing popular ideas about religion, the so called orthodox religious people of the time did not hesitate to dub them Irreligious and even called