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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