Login Register
Follow Us

Against the tide

An ominous scenario is unfolding across India, in which the assaults on dissident voices of journalists, whistleblowers, academics and writers are on a disturbing upward trend.

Show comments

Shelley Walia

An ominous scenario is unfolding across India, in which the assaults on dissident voices of journalists, whistleblowers, academics and writers are on a disturbing upward trend. In order to safeguard the virtue of the intellectual independence, we need to doggedly defy the bedlam generated by the right-wing lumpen militants, liable for the killings of radical scholars in the country. Narendra Dabholkar, the anti-superstition activist; Govind Pansare, the CPI trailblazer; and MM Kulburgi, a Sahitya Akademi Award winner, have been victims of vicious slaughter. Their only crime was to subject the conventional tyrannies of faith to a rational inquiry. We are in the midst of a psychosis directed at those intellectuals who are resolutely challenging the closure of a free space to underscore a culture so blinded by dogma and bigotry.

To promote the spirit of enquiry, Narendra Dabholkar has, through his writings, given an impetus to a case for rationality, a full-throated criticism and the need for an open deliberation accommodating and accepting of various interpretations, a feature inherent in Hinduism and its rational approach to analysis of sacred texts. Translated into English by Suman Oak, Volume II of The Case for Reason opposes the basic fear that underpins all superstitious behaviour. Though murdered by assassins in 2013, his voice against the irrationalism prevalent through human history lives on in his work grounded in the unveiling and analysis of the mysteries of God and creation, belief and religion.

The concept of God and the role of religion have been a driving force behind human history and more often than not, a force both destructive and disintegrating. The development of human thought through progress in the areas of education, agriculture and technological advancements has aided in countering some of the serious social fallouts of blind belief. The “sharping of reason and morality”, argues Dabholkar, has to a great extent helped to evolve a robust system of secularism, “an awakening of the faculty of discernment” which is often at loggerheads with the parochial mindset of the public leading to the diminishing of a broad-minded vision.

Citing Vaman Malhar Joshi’s Neeti Shastra Pravesh, Dabholkar stresses the illogic of considering Ram, Krishn, Jesus or Muhammad as divine. It is their deification that has caused deep-seated differences and ruptures within society at large. Humanity undoubtedly has learnt substantially from their preaching and actions, but it has also given rise to sectarianism and intolerance. He refers also to Dharmakirti, the philosopher head of Nalanda, whose preaching considered the Vedas as only a text with little cogency. 

Also, that it was deeply flawed to cogitate on the idea that God created the universe and that all sins can be expiated through fasting or taking a dip in the Ganga. It must be borne in mind that “God, angels, Heaven, soul and other concepts were born in the course of evolution of the human race and captured the imagination of the people at large.” Dabholkar makes one exception of the “shrewd and culturally powerful who used them to exploit the unsuspecting”. Whereas the gullible fell to the trappings of chicanery and charlatanism, the intellectuals like Charvak, Dignag, even or Bhagat Singh and Periyar shunned the idea of God. 

On the other hand, thinkers like Guru Nanak, Jyotiba Phule or Ramji Shinde believed in the idea of truth and “opposition to exploitation and suffering” as the real meaning of God. Ignorance, however, remains the prevailing factor in society underpinning blind belief inculcated through a mindset steeped in tradition and the mores passed down through conservative families. Atheists pitched against the believers, scientific temperament rejecting the psychological school of thought preaching the human need for strength and peace through God, or the holy scriptures disallowing logical thinking and reason— these are the polemics that remain at the heart of the ongoing debates on causality, ontology, and on the possibility of visualizing a better world than the visible real arguing in favour of the great design behind a symphonic cosmology.

Behind the theory of “intelligent design” lies the absence of causality which science focuses on to elucidate the natural laws with objectivity, hypotheses and experimental evidence. “There is no need to credit an invisible entity for it” proclaims Dabholkar. Moreover, the “desire to boost happiness by appeasing god is nothing but consumerism.” Eternal bliss cannot be achieved by visiting a temple. It is only through action and efforts that one can derive a feeling of satisfaction. Fearlessness, reason, wisdom and knowledge give “joy everlasting”. 

The fostering of a scientific disposition was topmost in Dabholkar’s mind till he breathed his last. Living in an ambience of social decadence and technological and political upheaval he called for an education system based on humanism and scientific inquiry and a culture of critical engagement with the vital transformative issues of our time.

Chanting mantras is counterproductive to engendering a broader social outlook that would be a robust collective voice against racism, unchecked neo-liberalism and short-sighted xenophobia. We remember Dabholkar not for any antidotes that he offered for aberrant violence or malicious misinformation, but for his profoundly engaged intellectual activism and enthusiastic defense of truth and rationality as a bulwark against the evil perpetrated by regressive superstitions and falsehood. 

Show comments
Show comments

Top News

Most Read In 24 Hours