Reverend Lawrence was driving
to the charity home run by a group of aging nuns. It was his duty to say the holy
mass that Sunday morning for the nuns and the hundred-odd inmates of their
charity home. On the way, right in front of his car, a scooter skidded and the
rider fell down. It was obvious that the rider required some help. Rev Lawrence
looked at his watch. He had no time. It was his duty to begin the mass at the given
time in the charity home after which he had to attend a solemn meeting at his
monastery, again at a given time. He ignored the man lying on the road and
concentrated on the sermon on kindness that he would be delivering soon during
the mass.
“Even if you
speak the language of the angels, but do not have kindness in your heart, you
are only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal,” his sermon began. The
fundamental message of Our Lord is kindness. Be good even to your enemy. The
sermon went on.
Rev Lawrence
was not a wicked man. Far from it, he was a very religious person who followed
the rules and regulations of his religious order meticulously. But sometimes
the law can stifle kindness. In fact, in religion, it often does. That’s why we
find so much violence being perpetrated in the name of the very entities which
are supposed to promote love and kindness.
Even our gods
are not kind. They are created in our own images and so how can they be kind?
They are jealous, violent, lustful, greedy… Look at their various incarnations.
They were all meant to destroy some evil force like Ravana or Mahishasura or
whatever. It had always remained beyond my comprehension why the all-powerful
gods couldn’t just put an end to evil altogether instead of attempting to do it
by instalments until I realised that evil is as much a part of ourselves as the
good. Gods have nothing to do with it.
Rev Lawrence’s
god, Jesus, sought to replace the law with love. He failed, of course.
Miserably too. His followers, millions of them today including Rev Lawrence,
keep failing him. I once knew a man who used to pray to Jesus to forgive his greed
and other vices and in return he would construct a marble cross for Jesus to
lie on. Jesus should continue to lie on his cross and not come down into the
hearts of his followers. In other words, Jesus should not disturb the hearts of
the faithful. More plainly, religion is just a cover-up.
That is the
primary reason why kindness is a rare virtue among human beings. I have noticed
that non-believers are far kinder people than believers. Non-believers don’t do
things to please any god; they do things out of certain convictions. Gods strip
people of convictions and personal obligations and act as convenient excuses.
Courtesy flickr
Have you ever
wondered why crimes and acts of hatred have multiplied after Modi became India’s
Prime Minister? The reason is now Indians have their religion to justify their
foul deeds. When you do things for the gods, they have to be right even if they
are cruel. After all, our gods loved all kinds of sacrifices in the olden days.
So many animals and even human beings had their throats slit on the gods’
altars. Then why not lynch some people today for the sake of gods.
Kindness is
not religion’s bed-mate. Kindness comes from compassion which is a
psychological attitude rather than a religious virtue. Kindness is the fruit
and compassion is the root. No one will learn compassion by looking at a god hanging
on a cross or a spear-wielding goddess standing on a man’s body.
Religious leaders and politicians like Modi and Yogi should learn that goodness can be promoted only by encouraging people to do good. For example, start initiatives to help people in the neighbourhood and you’ll see how rapidly a friendly ambience spreads in the locality. Kindness can be cultivated easily. People like to be kind if only religions and politics let them be.
PS. Written for Indispire Edition 396: Kindness is an often used
word... what according to you is kindness? #kindnessday
It's funny when they do all religious stuff and forget the point of all this.
ReplyDeleteExactly. Very few people seem to get 'the point' right.
DeleteHari OM
ReplyDeleteCompassion can indeed be cultivated; Kindness is a universal currency. YAM xx
Hmm... I'm not going into the subtle differences between compassion and kindness.
DeleteThis is what is so intriguing about religion. It is always a convenient excuse from being kind, say, to stop to help a man suffering from injuries on road. Yes, obviously the non-believers follow the religion of compassion and kindness.
ReplyDeleteReligion will cease to be intriguing the moment we realise that it belongs to humankind's infancy.
Delete