A WIDE CANVAS
RELIGION AS THERAPY
Life is a procession of anxieties, from the time we become self-conscious. In childhood, our anxieties are transferred to our parents, and we are blissfully immersed in other activities- 'balastavat kreeda sakta:' as the great Sankara said. But once we reach adulthood, the anxieties seize us.
The basic anxiety is about the very basic needs- food, clothing and shelter. In the traditional Hindu society and all pre-modern societies around the world, the means of livelihood were fixed- one could say in modern Indian political jargon "reserved": one belonged to a caste or community which had a definite place in the hierarchy, and had its fixed role, which guaranteed its livelihood. In India, the joint family further reinforced this, and provided insurance especially to the weak and the feeble. Modern critics would point out the numerous injustices and indignities in the system, as if modern society has banished them. Looked at as a total system, and as the ideal, it had its strengths and merits. Nothing on earth is perfect, and all human institutions and arrangements have their imperfections. But they also had merits, else they would not have survived. Why should we always think of the negatives? When we think of mangoes, why consider only the rotten ones?
A joint family of the Bunt community of Mangalore, around 1900.
The Varna or caste system removed this fundamental anxiety.Most people live at this level of consciousness, and this system serves society at large.With the disappearing caste system and its traditional occupations, every one in every generation faces the basic anxieties! Caste has gone or is going, but has left every one full of cares!
But more thoughtful people are not satisfied at this level. Once the basic needs are met, they do think about other or 'higher' things. The most important part of this relates to man's very nature and identity: What am I? Who am I? Where have I come from? Why ? Where am I going? One can say this is a sense of being baffled at the nature and meaning of existence, and man's place in this scheme of things. The universe is so vast, and man so tiny- it surely makes one uneasy, the moment he stops to think about it.
This is where religions come in. They interpret the world for him, and give some meaning and a way to navigate. In the process, they provide rites and rituals, invent philosophies, theologies, hierarchies and other arrangements. In course of time,man gets preoccupied with these things and forgets the main issue: the meaning of his life.
Before the rise of Renaissance and Enlightenment phases in Europe, resulting in capitalism,scientific materialism and individualism, religions served well or at least adequately. They took care of the soul, even if they could not provide fully for the body's needs. For, had not Christ said in the Sermon on the Mount for people not to worry about what they would eat and drink, take no thought for the morrow, etc?
This is something we have to remember before we criticise any religion. In itself, every religion is adequate and self-fulfilling, for its times and followers. ( I am not talking of the cults). The problem starts when external elements intrude, and comparisons are made, leading to 'corrections', usually on the basis of incomprehension.This is what happened to India and Hinduism when the Muslims and British came. But what happened to Christianity, with the rise of science, was different.
Christianity believed that the universe was earth-centred; creation itself was man-centred: everything had been created for man. (This was a serious departure from the pre-Christian religions which held everything in the world to be belonging to a 'Great Chain of Being'. Man was part of a greater whole.) It held that the world had been created in 4004 BC. When science showed that the earth was not the centre of the universe, and that it was millions of years old, faith in Christian doctrine was broken. And with the coming of the theory of Evolution, the biggest nail was put in the coffin. With the spread of education and scientific culture, people stopped believing in organised Christianity and its dogmas. In a sense, it does not really matter, from a strictly religious point of view, if the universe is Geo-centred or helio-centred: in religion we have to transcend the whole scheme, universe and all. But Christianity could not answer Evolution and it fell.
With the advances in communication and knowledge, nations and people have come closer and comparisons cannot be avoided. In a sense, comparisons were made even earlier, even in ancient times, but that was from a purely scholarly spirit. The British empire led to the discovery of the Orient by scholars but soon, the independent spirit of enquiry was replaced by colonial interests and Christian missionary activities. However, independent scholars also flourished. Vivekananda's exposition of Vedanta in the West had created some interest initially, but soon it faded. Buddhism and especially in its form as Zen spread fast among the more educated.
There is deep appreciation among independent scholars about the truth of Vedanta, but its drawback is that it is an attitude, not a settled or standard practice. Whatever our people may say about its merits, Vedanta, especially Advaita Vedanta, cannot be directly practised: it ends up as idle talk or arm-chair philosophy. Patanjali's Yoga Sutras do prescribe methods of practise, but they are not strictly Vedanta. It is here that Zen Buddhism scores. It does not teach any doctrine or theology, but only different systems of meditational practice, which suit the Western psyche best.
Nietzsche
For three centuries, Western social and family life has been under assault. Science has brought material comforts, but the materialism associated with it has deprived life of all meaning. The feeling of anxiety, dread or worry (what the writers call 'existential angst") that arises when one contemplates life and its uncertainties is not silnced by any dogma.
Soren Kierkegaard and Nietzsche had held that this was something which had to be addressed by each individual, who had to find a meaning for himself."The setting is inwardness in existing as a human being", Kierkegaard wrote.
Kierkegaard.
The foregoing gives us a clue to look at religion in a new light. The problems of life that face us may be taken as illnesses. Our philosophy says that our birth- taking body- itself is a disease. Then, true religion should give us a practical remedy, not just consolation. Vedanta says uncompromisingly that birth is due to karma, karma is caused by ego, and the only solution is Jnana- to understand one's true identity. This is the only true solution. This is also what the Buddha said in effect, using different terminology. Everything else is like a toy to keep babies engaged for the time being. But this stark solution does not appeal to or suit everyone. Hence the prescription of other methods, which in the end lead to this. Those methods themselves, except genuine Bhakti, do not constitute the ends.
Jnana does not mean climbing a mountain, retiring into a cave, joining some Ashram etc. In these days almost every one of us has to work for a living even in advanced age (this itself is a source of anxiety) and any method that advocates retired contemplation on the mysteries of life is bunkum. There are many gurus and courses, promising happiness, prosperity, health, wealth, etc. But no religion or philosophy which cannot act as therapy for the basic anxiety of living can be a real solution. Theodore Roszak wrote about what Alan Watts had written in this connection:
Buddhism could be thought of as a form of psychotherapy and not just as a religion. Neither Hinduism nor Buddhism, he says, can be classified as a religion, philosophy, science or mythology or even as an amalgamation of all four "because departmentalisation is foreign to them, even in so basic a form as the separation of the spiritual and the material."
From: Theodore Roszak: The Making of a Counterculture.Faber, London, 1970.
The tradition of "skeptical , secular intellectuality, which has served as the prime vehicle for three hundred years of technical and scientific work in the West" has only added to our anxieties, and has ended up as "Higher Superstition". We can escape from this only through Buddhism and Hinduism, but interpreted and consciously practised as therapy.
NOTE:
It is a sign of the failure of organised Christianity in the West that psychoanalysis and various forms of psychological counselling have risen and are flourishing. However, one cannot say they have succeeded, either. The patients (or victims?) of psychoanalysis have to submit to the process for years, (like church attendance) they depend on the therapist (instead of the priest) and the end result is uncertain. These therapies became so threatening that ordained priests had to be trained as therapists and the methods had to be integrated into the theological courses.
In India, we have a mind-boggling variety of ways to deal with life-problems- like astrology, numerology, propitiatory exercises, Vedic and Tantric rites,consulting oracles, visiting spcifc temples for specific purposes, etc. Experience differs as to their effectiveness, but there is always something to satisfy someone!
What I mean by therapy is not these. The greatest problem or biggest fear is about Life itself- its meaning and purpose: "mahato bhayat", as the Gita says. True sastra is one which answers this. It is remarkable that in our stotra literature, this aspect of God is specifically stated:
eg. Sri Rudram:
Ya te Rudras Shiva tanoo: Shiva vishvaha: bheshaji
Shiva Rudrasya bheshaji taya no mruda jeevase.
Oh Lord! Bless us that we may always behold your auspicious form, ever unseparated from Shakti, which is the supreme medicine for the disease of birth and which grants us the blissful state of non-separation from You!
Vishnu Sahasranamam:
Nirvaanam Bheshajam bhishak.
O Lord! You are that medicine which grants us the state of non-forgetfulness of Self (where the ego in the form of 'I' and 'mine' are absent.)
You are also the best physician who administers this medicine!
We only have to keep the meaning in mind whenever we recite them.
N
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