Eternal Morality

(The Truth Shall Set Us Free – 1)

This is an oft-repeated expression taken from the teachings of Christ (John 8:32). Essentially Christ was exhorting his followers to understand his teaching in order to know the truth that as a consequence would set them free from all kinds of bondage. Freedom is what life is about. There is no life really without freedom. And freedom is not capricious license to express one’s unrestrained financial or sensual or sexual impulses. When freedom and truth originate from the region where God in the form of conscience shapes humans as co-creators with him, and gives them a job,  the powerful ministry, nay, the privilege of service to the whole of creation, while celebrating life fully, freedom and truth become a powerful combination for the common good of humanity. All the power and authority needed to live a magnificent and fulfilling life also come from a conscience guided by the divine spirit. This truth needs to be liberated from the current human and religious bondage bent on creating new idols to replace the true God of the Kingdom of God within us. Even as I write this I can hear the old programmed scripts of caution  about the concupiscences of the flesh resulting from original sin ever so feebly playing in my head and censuring me and telling me: “Stop, do not trespass, you are treading into the dangerous territory, the  exclusive holy preserve of the elect of God”. Well, I have news for them: “Kindly yield the way; we are the elect of God; join us if you think you are also the elect of God; there is enough to do for all in God’s wide creation;  We can work things out; we now have a new world order, a new dispensation; the old is passing and giving way to the new; the old has not succeeded  in ushering us into the life of God and the unity of humanity; you have had your chance; now it is our turn; or rather let us all do it together ”. 

Recently I came across a news item (John Allen, National Catholic Reporter, October 13, 2012) wherein a Vatican authority (Archbishop) criticizes the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (nuns) in the United States for not respecting revelation and its essential elements. The only response to that would be that the Vatican authorities have not yet learnt from the numerous costly mistakes made in the past all in the name of God entrusting the correct interpretation of scripture and tradition to them. This kind of arrogant and armchair thinking and exclusivism coming from autocrats shielded from ground realities not only lacks sound theological support but also is fraught with serious consequences.

The peace that comes from the life of a person living in utter truth, as one knows it, is priceless and beyond what words can describe. There is another oft-heard saying: “Honesty is the best policy”. Sathyameva jayathe (truth alone wins) taken from Mundaka Upanishad is inscribed on  the national emblem of India. The age-old Vedic verse beginning with satyameva Jayati is so powerful that it requires at least a brief parphrasing: ‘Truth alone prevails not the untruth; through the divine path of truth the sages whose desires have been completely realized reach the abode of the Supreme Truth’. The constant prayer of a seeker is: Asatoma sat gamaya (Lord, lead me from truth to untruth). How to speak one’s truth is well expressed in the beautiful Vedic teaching: Satyam bruyat, priyam bruyat, na bruyat satyam apriyam // Priyam ca nanrutam bruyat, esha dharma sanatanah. A brief pharaphasing of the verse will give us: ‘Always speak the truth without offending others; Never speak untruth to please others; this is the eternal morality (religion)’. Religion at the time meant righteous living. Now it looks like religion, that is divorced or separated from morality, is given the portfolio of rituals, superstitions, and pilgrim centers calculated to raise money in ingenious ways. (To be continued).