21st century!
The time of modernization of human civilization with utmost rapidity. Look at it
from a century back, and you’ll find we achieved those heights which people didn't even imagine then. Today in the 21st century, men have reasons enough to
be proud for their unique achievements. From stepping on the moon or cloning
genes, there has been a long list of tremendous success of science and
technology.
Now, let’s dive a little
deeper and try to understand what drove us into building whatever we call
modern. “What were the basic goals of humanity in the last century?” is the
first question which quite obviously gushes into our mind. The simplest answer to
it comes in succession with the question itself, it is ever-known, that, we
humans had been in the eternal quest to know how to overcome suffering and attain
universal peace and happiness. “How can we have a sustainable life on this
planet?” always topped the chart. 20th century, being a 100 long
years of experimentation from great to sometimes horrifying results. We've experimented with Communism, free-market Liberalism, Fascism, Nazism, Direct
and Representative Democracy, Capitalism, Genetic Engineering, hyper-consumerism,
the culture of consumerism and entertainment provided by our modern capitalist
society, medicines, and what not? All of these, trying to overcome the human
suffering and to achieve permanent peace and satisfaction.
And, a hundred years
later, the scientists reported last year to be the hottest year in the entire history
of humanity. So, after a hundred years of all these we’re beginning to see, that
not only we’ve not succeeded but in actuation we’re ruining our habitat, hence,
destroying any chance of our future success, by our attempts to extract
happiness out of consumption from the external materialistic world.
Traditional religion is
on its way out, that’s quite for sure! We've tried to replace it by priests and then by therapists. Alternatives, it seems came in every generation for
religion because it was never perfect, otherwise it is hard to believe why
humanity would seek something else and better in its place. Off late, we tried
to deal our problems in a much secular way, you have a mental problem, go to
the therapist. Just look at the history of therapy in the past 100 years, it is
now the need in every nook and corner of the world.
In the advanced
countries of the west, as development is on the steep rise, people are slowly losing
faith in religions. As communities become developed, there is high job guarantee,
people are safe and they can fulfill their materialistic goals, which bring mental
peace and satisfaction to a certain level. Hence, people tend to lose interest
in religion, i.e., dropping attendance in churches and so on and so forth.
Now comes the major
striking point. I believe, this is rather the best argument for real spirituality,
because, when we've got a perfect society, everything is stable, our
materialistic needs are fulfilled, we no more have to go to god and beg money;
when our health needs are fulfilled, we need not go to a church or a temple to
beg for a good health, because we've a highly developed medical system already (though
most of us doubt our healthcare systems even today).
Basically there are two kinds
of problem –
- Problem of poverty,
- Problem of plenty.
In the west we’d see the
latter leads while the prior is still found in a great number of our eastern
countries. Both are problems, I agree, but problems of plenty are always logically
to be preferred over the problems of poverty when the chips are down.
After all these, having
a life surrounded by technology, money, physical well-being and a civil
society, we find we are still not satisfied. People are still unhappy, they are
lonely, and they still have this meaninglessness and a strange vacuum in their
lives. Reasonably speaking, what more can the world give us? Whatever we’re
experiencing here and now is beyond the dreams the whole of our humanity ever
saw. Whatever the world could give us, we’re experiencing it here, especially,
in the advanced countries of the west. At this point, if we’re not satisfied
and still seeking something more, then I’d say this is rather the strongest
argument in favor of spirituality and religion and this can be concluded as the
core reason behind why the ancient spirituality had been coming down since the
time immemorial to the times of utmost modernity, changing its shape and size
and fitting into different societies as per the need of the hour and silently
transforming lives of people in millions, if not billions.
To conclude, just like I
am a Hindu, I wear a Panjabi whereas one of my Muslim brother may wear a Pathani
suite and a Christian brother may wear a blazer over his shirt. Hence, the
outer appearance may look completely different, but we are made of the same blood
and flesh inside the clothes, there is no distinction on that. Religion and
spirituality are just the same. A religion or the other may fade off to
nothingness (just as we can shed our clothes to wear a new one), but the core
essence of any religion is the same spirituality, which cannot ever vanish from
this world due to something ends only when it begins, that cannot die which is
not born. Different religions are the different manifestations of the same
spirituality. So, we need not bother about a religion’s death or birth of a new
one, because the change in time ensures the changes in the societal requirement
and as I've already mentioned, spirituality will take a new shape in every new
society being created, which we should accept with joy unequivocal.
Let all beings be happy, let all beings be peaceful.
Thanks,
Aakash.
