It seems that, when one comes in contact with a religion other than one’s own, one faces a basic choice: whether to accept it in some way or another, or to reject it all together. Gandhiji’s life provides illustrations of both. The following experience he had with Coates, a Quaker, is representative of the second attitude of rejection:
‘Mr Coates had great affection for me. He saw, round my neck, the Vaishnava necklace of Tulasi beads. He thought it to be superstition and was pained by it. “This superstition does not become you. Come, let me break the necklace.”
“No, you will not. It is a sacred gift from my mother.”
“But do you believe in it?”
“I do not know its mysterious significance. I do not think I should come to harm if I did not wear it. But I cannot, without sufficient reason, give up a necklace that she put round my neck out of love and in the conviction that it would be conducive to my welfare. When, with the passage of time, it wears away and breaks of its own accord, I shall have no desire to get a new one. But this necklace cannot be broken.”
Mr Coates could not appreciate my argument, as he had no regard for my religion. He was looking forward to delivering me from the abyss of ignorance. … He wanted to convince me that, no matter whether there was some truth in other religions, salvation was impossible for me unless I accepted Christianity which represented the truth …’
Gandhiji’s own attitude towards other religions, by contrast, seems to imply a kind of acceptance. This may be in part due to his family background, for, he informs us how, as a child, he was exposed to various religions in a hospitable way:
‘In Rajkot, however, I got an early grounding in toleration for all branches of Hinduism and sister religions. For my father and mother would visit the Haveli as also Shiva’s and Rama’s temples, and would take or send us youngsters there. Jain monks also would pay frequent visits to my father, and would even go out of their way to accept food from us non-Jains. They would have talks with my father on subjects religious and mundane.
‘He had, besides, Musalman and Parsi friends, who would talk to him about their own faiths, and he would listen to them always with respect, and often with interest. Being his nurse, I often had a chance to be present at these talks. These many things combined to inculcate in me a toleration for all faiths.’
Gandhiji subsequently refers to reading the Bible … of learning about “the prophet’s greatness and bravery and austere living”, and reading Washington Irving’s Life of Mahomet and His Successors, and of also reading The Sayings of Zarathustra. Contact with Abdulla Sheth also gave Gandhi “a fair amount of practical knowledge of Islam.”
However, to describe one’s attitudes towards other religions only in terms of rejection and acceptance may be simplistic because both attitudes are capable of refinement.
The attitude of rejection for instance, may extend to an entire religious tradition or may be confined to those parts of it one considers objectionable …
Similarly, the acceptance of another tradition is not such a straightforward matter as it might appear at first sight …
DISCLAIMER:
The views expressed in the Article above are Author’s personal views and kashmiribhatta.in is not responsible for the opinions expressed in the above article. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing."
Courtesy: Times of India, Speaking Tree, 30th Jan, 2019
It seems that, when one comes in contact with a religion other than one’s own, one faces a basic choice: whether to accept it in some way or another, or to reject it all together. Gandhiji’s life provides illustrations of both. The following experience he had with Coates, a Quaker, is representative of the second attitude of rejection:
‘Mr Coates had great affection for me. He saw, round my neck, the Vaishnava necklace of Tulasi beads. He thought it to be superstition and was pained by it. “This superstition does not become you. Come, let me break the necklace.”
“No, you will not. It is a sacred gift from my mother.”
“But do you believe in it?”
“I do not know its mysterious significance. I do not think I should come to harm if I did not wear it. But I cannot, without sufficient reason, give up a necklace that she put round my neck out of love and in the conviction that it would be conducive to my welfare. When, with the passage of time, it wears away and breaks of its own accord, I shall have no desire to get a new one. But this necklace cannot be broken.”
Mr Coates could not appreciate my argument, as he had no regard for my religion. He was looking forward to delivering me from the abyss of ignorance. … He wanted to convince me that, no matter whether there was some truth in other religions, salvation was impossible for me unless I accepted Christianity which represented the truth …’
Gandhiji’s own attitude towards other religions, by contrast, seems to imply a kind of acceptance. This may be in part due to his family background, for, he informs us how, as a child, he was exposed to various religions in a hospitable way:
‘In Rajkot, however, I got an early grounding in toleration for all branches of Hinduism and sister religions. For my father and mother would visit the Haveli as also Shiva’s and Rama’s temples, and would take or send us youngsters there. Jain monks also would pay frequent visits to my father, and would even go out of their way to accept food from us non-Jains. They would have talks with my father on subjects religious and mundane.
‘He had, besides, Musalman and Parsi friends, who would talk to him about their own faiths, and he would listen to them always with respect, and often with interest. Being his nurse, I often had a chance to be present at these talks. These many things combined to inculcate in me a toleration for all faiths.’
Gandhiji subsequently refers to reading the Bible … of learning about “the prophet’s greatness and bravery and austere living”, and reading Washington Irving’s Life of Mahomet and His Successors, and of also reading The Sayings of Zarathustra. Contact with Abdulla Sheth also gave Gandhi “a fair amount of practical knowledge of Islam.”
However, to describe one’s attitudes towards other religions only in terms of rejection and acceptance may be simplistic because both attitudes are capable of refinement.
The attitude of rejection for instance, may extend to an entire religious tradition or may be confined to those parts of it one considers objectionable …
Similarly, the acceptance of another tradition is not such a straightforward matter as it might appear at first sight …
DISCLAIMER:
The views expressed in the Article above are Author’s personal views and kashmiribhatta.in is not responsible for the opinions expressed in the above article. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing."
Courtesy: Times of India, Speaking Tree, 30th Jan, 2019