What is True Religion? - Col. M S Krishnamoorthy

Every man in the street today talks about ethical values having disappeared from the land of its birth. Incidence of corruption at high places, in fact at all levels, is the talk of the town. Often we hear people talking about religion having lost its hold. Most men today think only about themselves and their families. We find people who will even sacrifice the interests of their nearest kith and kin for achieving their own material upliftment. Newspapers carry reports of the husband killing the wife or wife murdering the husband or domestic help joining hands with robbers or doctors raping the patients or politicians of all hues, including ex-prime ministers, bureaucrats, sportsmen, bankers etc., being charge-sheeted or summoned to courts or jailed and the like.

People keep on complaining that the society is progressively taking away the privileges that were enjoyed by their ancestors. Have we ever heard of men wanting to know why their ancestors were respected beyond the levels of human expectations? Have we heard of people enquiring as to whether there are duties prescribed for them and assessed whether they were living up to the ethical values expected of them? Does the average man understand the true meaning of religion and the role it has to play in shaping his life without disturbing the health of the society as a whole? We have to enquire into these and associated matters before we can dispassionately analyze as to where things have gone wrong, the extent of damage that has been caused and the reasons for the same. Once we get some answers for these questions we may be able to work out a strategy for retarding and later arresting the rate of fall of moral standards in the first instance. After achieving this, we can think of measures for improving the moral fibre of the man and through him the moral standards of society.

Let us first try to understand the meaning and purpose of religion and the role of the average man in trying to keep the society of which he forms a part, in a satisfied and happy state of peace. Is religion synonymous with rituals or is it something more than that? What is the role of rituals? Is there something higher than rituals which man must move to if he has to start on the path of righteous living, leading to spirituality and make some progress on that path? We must find answers to these questions also.

© "Dilip" (January/March 2002) published by Sudakshina Trust (Regd.) 126A, Dhuruwadi, AV Nagvekar Marg, Prabhadevi, Mumbai 400 025. Reprinted with permission.

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