Science should not take the world
"religion" to always mean only as a set of rituals followed by a
particular "community" or as an ensemble of dogmatic norms derived
from a doctrine. There has to be a strong opposition to communal partisanship
and the spreading of stupid customs and superstitions by vested selfish
elements. But what must be kept out of any dispute is that aspect of religion,
which relates to idealism and morality, for based upon this alone man has inwardly
grown from prehistoric ages to the present status where he can appreciate the
importance of these profound concepts.
Saint Vinoba has stated -
"The era of religion and politics is over; now spirituality and science
will replace these". It has always been the rule in the world that every
object, every situation and every belie lasts only till it keeps proving itself
to be of some utility. With the infusion of distortions, even a good object of
earlier times may get spoiled and become useless. Then it has to be removed and
thrown away in a heap of garbage.
Vinoba has taken the word
'religion' to man 'community'. Difference between religion and community is
quite clear. What is meant by religion is ethics. Morality and search for
truth. Such a religion has no beginning and it has to last forever. It can not
get stale, nor can ever be spoiled. Even thieves want to employ honest
servants. A cruel person also desires soft and sympathetic treatment for
himself. A licentious individual also seeks a person of good conduct to wed his
daughter to. A person who cheats also favors transparency. This is the religion
as propounded by sacred scriptures and so it is clear that nobody can challenge
this religion. The 'religion' that is mocked at and termed useless by rational
thinkers is actually distorted communities were also created with good
intentions initially and sufficient margin was kept for modifications with the
changing circumstances. Religious fanatics disallow desirable modifications
with time and begin to accept distortions that have crept in with the passage
of time also as religious traditions. Normally such distorted fanatic
communalism is called as 'religion' by people. Vinobaji has also referred to
this 'religion', which would be replaced in coming days. Refined religion is
called spirituality. What is meant by the statement that spirituality will
replace religion in only that today's distorted communalism prevailing in the
name of religion will get replaced by installation of that purified religion which
is based on morality, good conduct, justice and righteousness. Awakened
discerning intelligence of the new era is bound to bring about such a grand
transformation.
Similarly replacement of politics
is not meant to be the end of governance or arrival of anarchy but
de-recognition of antagonistic groupism in political activity. The indication
here is on the censure of cunningness and cruelty in political activities. By
'science' vinobaji means
specialized knowledge - the discerning intelligence. Aim of science is
discovery of truth. Discerning intelligence is obtained when ground reality is
viewed with penetrating insight. Vinobaji has not taken science to men material
science.
We can understand with more
clarity what Vinobaji means by science on the basis of various definitions
expounded by some modern thinkers.
Jacob Bronowski, the author of
the book 'Common Sense of Science' has regarded science as a comprehensive
philosophy of thinking-process and has stated - "Acceptance of what works
and rejection of what does not is what science is". He further clarifies
his statement - "The inspiration of science is only that our thoughts must
be realistic, they must have capability of adapting to ever-changing
circumstances and they must be impartial. Then such thoughts will be considered
as 'science' even though they may be related any field in the world. Such a way
of thinking will always be called 'scientifeic'.
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