DR. S. RADHAKRISHAN ON RELIGION
Former President of India, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakishnan, was
born on 5th September 1888 and passed away on 17th April
1975. He was a philosopher
stateman. His interest in Hinduism and
for that matter also in other religions was tremendously deep, genuine and
perpetual. He was a very liberal and progressive thinker. Orthodoxy had absolutely
no place in his religious beliefs and convictions. Given below is his synoptic
view about Hinduism and the role any religion should play in human life.
In his Hindu View of Life, Dr.Radhakrishnan says:
Hinduism is not a dogmatic creed, but a vast, complex, and subtly unified mass
of spiritual thought ,so whereas its continuity with the past is maintained,
its content is very much reinterpreted
to meet modern demands. He adds: a positive attitude toward life and history
can be developed on the basis of essential element in Hindu thought and that it
can be made responsibly relevant to the intellectual and social environment of
today. Hinduism, he asserts, is a
movement, not a position; a process, not a result, a growing tradition, not a
fixed revelation. Moreover, it is non-historical in character, because it does
not depend upon any particular human founder or upon a set of historical events.
Dr. Radhakrishnan dislikes narrowmindedness and rivalries in
the realm of religion. As the world
today is moving toward more cooperation
and greater unity, likewise religions,
too, should shed their restricted visions
and contracted loyalties. One of his most beautiful statements reads like this:
“A little less missionary ardour, a little enlightened scepticism will do good
to us all.” He rightly declares : it is only the ignorant who display an
arrogant dislike of other religions. The
different religions are only aspects of the one eternal religion. What is
needed by mankind is not their fusion but fellowship.
Finally, the cardinal
tenets of Hinduism may be summed up as: the non-duality of the Godhead,
the divinity of the soul, the unity of existence, and the harmony of religions.
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20th
April 2021 G.R.KANWAL
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