Well friends, today we are again spending
sometime on religion. In the previous two
lectures, I have concentrated on Karl Marx’s
theory of religion and broadly speaking, according
to Karl Marx, a religion is seen as the opium
of the working class. This opium has important
connotations. It is not just one meaning of
opium, but several meanings; one meaning of
opium is that you are not part of the reality.
For which Karl Marx, which is another term,
false consciousness; that in the Capitalist
system based on inequality, contradiction,
exploitation, capitalist class through its
state or media will use ideology to keep the
working classes in dark. And one method of
keeping working classes in dark is to promote
religion.
So, religion becomes part of false consciousness.
In that sense, according to Marx, religion
is the opium of the working classes. The moment
people realize what is reality, they think,
no, learn about reality from ideology, from
leaders, from clear understanding of the dynamics
of society, the religion will fade away. As
in the communist society, or in socialist
society, when means of production will become
collectivized, and classes will vanish, state
will vanish, religion will also vanish.
So, according to Karl Marx, religion is the
opium of the working classes, false consciousness.
But Karl Marx and many Marxist writers, including
the statesman Lenin, also believe, that this
religion serves many other purposes in maintaining,
legitimizing and developing, promoting the
capitalist system. There are different terms
for this opium,, but the meaning is same;
delusion, illusion, false consciousness. When
looked at from a positive perspective, according
to Marxists, religion prevails in a condition
of elevation, also because it is the only
hope of the hopeless world, where people are
alienated, poor, unemployed, sometime getting
job, sometime not getting job; there is a
more frequent hiring and firing of workers
in centres of industries.
We have mortality is high; malnutrition is
high; diseases are high; people live in conditions;
only some, some people, the owners of needs
a production have all the benefits of development,
and all others are alienated. In that situation,
religion also becomes a kind of hope in the
hopeless world; otherwise, the working class
has nothing to look forward; in this life,
they cannot look anything forward. They cannot
expect that their life can be improved. They
do not expect that the life of their children
will be much better than their own life.
So, this religion which tells them that, after
you, your death, you will be enjoying, you
will be having a much more pleasant life then
these rich people, the bourgeois, the middle
classes, the owners of means of production
who have access to everything; that gives
them some kind of hope and they survive. So,
it is a hope; opium in the sense, it is a
part of false consciousness, but opium also
in the sense that, it is the only hope in
the hopeless world.
So, a rickshaw puller, he struggles hard throughout
the day for minimum earnings like…We always
blame that rickshaw pullers and manual laborers
often spend their money in drinking; that
they will earn say 100 rupees in day time
and he spend 30, 40 rupees on drinking; carry
much, much less than, say 50 rupees to their
family for maintenance of their wife and children;
we blame them. But we do not realize that,
for this rickshaw puller, or a hard physical
laborer, this evening, when he is spending
25, 30 rupees on liquor, that is the only
time he looks, he looks towards… Every day,
if there is any pleasure in his life, it is
only for those 1 or 2 hours, when he goes
to a cheap liquor shop and he drinks and then
he feels happy. So, in this because otherwise,
there is nothing to look forward, compare
life of the rickshaw puller, or tempo driver,
or hard physical laborer, with life of a senior
civil servant.
A senior civil servant is enjoying his life,
even when he is working. Day before yesterday,
we called the local IG of Police, to give
a lecture to our students and he spoke for
more than one hour, presented some slides;
he was telling about his experience of corruption
and all. So, this civil servant, and B Tech
from IIT and then IPS, this person is, during
day time when he is working, when he is working
in the office, when he is taking a meeting
of SP and other police officials of the city,
or he is making a presentation in IIT, Kanpur,
in that work also, there is a kind of pleasure.
He is enjoying during the working day also.
In work, there is pleasure; all his needs…One
day, I wrote on the board, what are all the
needs of a human being, using framework of
need hierarchy.
All the needs are satisfied. On that day,
that IG sir was feeling that he is the greatest
of all those present in the audience. He felt
that he was the greatest, greater than, certainly
greater than the faculty members of IIT. Because
when I introduced him to one faculty member
of computer science, with certain degree of
pride, I said that IIT, Kanpur is one institution
where its own graduates are working as a faculty
member. In computer science department, they
have lots of opportunities for B Techs of
computer science, B Techs, M Techs, Ph Ds.
So, I said that, we are very proud of this
fact, that in our computer science, Karkare
was from computer science and the immediate
response of IG sir was that, they must not
be B techs from this place. He made a distinction
between B Techs of this place, and M Techs
and Ph Ds of this place. And he made it clear,
that it is only M Techs and Ph Ds of this
place, who are slightly inferior breed of
graduates, who will become faculty subsequently;
B Techs of this place will not like to become
faculty. So high, so inflated was his ego.
Even during day time, when he is working,
he is conducting meetings, he is speaking
somewhere, meeting ministers.
So, or a capitalist or even as a teacher,
I do not feel in need to, as a teacher, if
I like my work, as a teacher, if I like my
work, the work gives me so much of satisfaction,
that I do not look for an evening of liquor.
Actually, sometime, I will likely say that,
these one or two hours which I spend in the
classroom are the best hours spent in day
time for me, if I like teaching; if I do not
like… But most people, most people, we expect
that in bureaucracy, middle class, upper middle
class, they like their work; and work is also
such that, it can be liked. It gives the money,
maintenance, sustenance; it gives them status;
it gives them divergence, creativity, expression
of their ideas; it provides for interaction
with like-minded people, lots of things; creativity,
divergence, challenge, whatever we expect;
modern psychological theories of motivation
tell us, we get all those things.
So, we are happy. But look at the workers,
alienated worker. What is happiness in running
a rickshaw? What is happiness, when he is
pulling 3 persons, 4 persons sitting in his
rickshaw? Or, somebody working in the scorching
sun throughout the day, for construction of
a 60 story building somewhere? There is no
happiness in work and when there is no happiness
in work, then the happiness has to come from
somewhere; it may be liquor, or it may be
religion.
So, religion is everywhere, and for alienated
workers, opium or liquor, desi liquor, something
to take them away from the miseries and wretched
conditions, hopeless conditions of this world
should be there; and as an institution of
society, religion does that job; liquor is
a bad thing; in society, it is always rejected;
in those societies where most people take
liquor, even there, a drunkard is to be used
in deviant or abusive sense. But religion
has a source of hope in the hopeless world.
If the people feel, workers may feel happy,
if a priest may go to a worker and say that,
Jesus will save you and remember that a camel
can pass through the needle, through the eye
of a needle, but a rich man will never enter
the heaven; the heaven is only waiting for
you and the workers will feel happy or a Christian
priest will come and say that, you see, you
cannot two masters; workers know only to serve.
So, priest will tell them, that no one can
serve two masters simultaneously. And likewise,
you can either serve God, or you serve materiality;
means, you can either look for material rewards
in this life, or for religious, married, or
for purity, or, or for grace of the God, or
grace of the Son of the God; or similarly,
similarly, in all religions. And Islamic will
go to workers and say that, all the talk of
this world, world has always been like that;
there have been rich and poor, more powerful,
less powerful, but this world is illusory;
we have come here to play our role and to
follow the guidance given to us by the messenger
of God. We must follow him.
The only right thing is to follow the messenger
of God, because a day of judgment will come
and on the day of judgment, your God’s decision
or what will happen to your soul, will not
depend on whether you are a rich person or
a poor person, you are educated or uneducated,
or you are a conservative or you are revolutionary.
You will be judged on the basis of whether
you truly believed in Allah or not; and whether
you truly followed what was told through the
messenger of God to you people; that is your,
that is the right thing. And the workers may
say, sometime forget the wretched conditions
of the world around. Same thing will Hindus.
And then this opium, also in the sense of
false hope; religion may create false hope.
So, in this world also, sometimes the religion
may create false hope in this world also.
So, you pray your lord, your God, your gods
and goddesses, you carry prasad with them,
you offer gold, you offer money and you believe
that your desires will be fulfilled; that
by going to temple, your desires will be fulfilled
and you feel happy; at least for some time,
till the results come.
If six months before the exam, final exam,
annual exam, you tell God that, God, I will
offer you this much money, or this prasad,
you give me first division, or you do something,
so that, I top my university or board. So,
at least for six months, till the results
come, you are happy. And if result comes in
your favor, you are doubly happy and you have
to this to God; if it does not comes to your
favor, then in place of blaming God, then
you find some other interpretation, either
that you did not truly worship, or there was
some, since some disbelief in your activity
and your belief systems, or because of some
deeds in a previous births, deeds in…
In Indian society, where most of us are Hindus,
not Christians or Muslims, this deeds in the
previous birth is a very good explanation
for everything; that I did not get this, or
I got this because of the deeds in the previous
births. Sometimes, when I see in a lighter
vein, it is not true, but in a lighter vein
I am saying, when I see many of my colleagues,
very stressed in taking classes and in checking
answer books, and when they see me, so cheerful,
even when he is evaluating answer books of
hundred students, so I tell them and even
without reading their answers I give some
marks, because I know that their marks are
based on their deeds in the previous birth;
when marks, when their marks and grades are
based on their deeds in the previous birth,
I am only a nimith; so whether I read their
answers, or I do not read their answers, it
does not matter. So, religion, religion tells,
religion, religion provides explanation of
unfavorable circumstances, and religion keeps
us hopeful. In a word, Karl Marx is more concerned
about this aspect, that this world is hopeless;
this world is full of contradictions; this
world is full of inequalities, miseries, exploitation,
dominance of persons, this capitalist world.
Now, if they do not take the opium, if the
workers are not under the influence of the
opium of religion, of false consciousness,
of false hope, then they will try to understand
the world; then they will try to understand
the sociology of this world, and they will
start, on the basis of their true knowledge
of the world, they will start doing something
to change the world. Marx believed that, those
who know about the world, they are by, by
the influence of their knowledge, going to
change this world; and that means, by nature,
a subject like sociology, or the knowledge
of the world is going to be subversive; after
knowledge of this world, you cannot remain
in this world as you are. The knowledge will
force you to change the world. So, when real
consciousness, for which they will use the
term revolutionary consciousness; there is
a false consciousness and there is revolutionary
consciousness; when the revolutionary consciousness
will come, then people, the working classes
will change the world.
And in changing the world, what it means,
what Karl Marx envisions, as a society in
which there will be no exploitation operation,
Karl Marx believes that, since the private
ownership on means of production has created
all these conditions. So, collectivization
on means of production will change the world.
If you want a formula for changing the world,
the formula is collectivization of means of
production. When means of production are collectivized
and under dictatorship of proletariat, they
become the property of the state; then gradually,
the proletariats, or the working classes will
use that property, that capital, a means of
production for the upliftment of the whole
society, since there are no classes. Then
if there is a surplus, surplus in the sense
of value addition, not in the sense of labor
expropriated from the working class, by the
agents of capitalism, then this value addition
will be used for the upliftment of the all
the classes. There is no class, upliftment
of the whole society. So, whole society will
benefit from education; whole society will
benefit from political, legal, moral, all
kinds of developments in societies. This is
what Karl Marx thinks; collectivization of
means of production. Now, this was the Marxist
theory of religion, but I will be biased if
I say that, only Karl Marx has looked at religion
or that Marxist theory is the right theory
of religion.
Let us examine some other theories of religion
also. Let us see, how some other sociologists
have looked at religion, because this alienation,
or false consciousness, or opium, as a metaphor
for religion, may also have some limitations.
If there were no limitations, if Marxist theory
applied to everything and to all societies,
then the work will stop there; then sociologists
will stop working, and everybody will be talking
of Marxist theory only; then sociology will
become a religion; but sociology is not a
religion and there are other sociologists
who have looked at religion in other ways.
And today, we will look at some of those viewpoints
which are given by other sociologists. I have
also written some points from Gisbert’s
book, so that, I do not forget to cover some
major points of sociology of religion, like
family; family, we discussed; that there are
various types of family; there is joint family,
nuclear family, vertically extended family,
horizontally extended family. In state, we
have various types of states; we have anarchy;
we have state capitalism; various types of
capitalism; we have socialism, communism,
fascism, Nazism. Similarly, religions are
also of different types. And sociologists
have developed certain terms to convey that,
there is a variety of religion.
There are some people who are atheist, who
do not believe in God, or atheism. Atheism
means non-believing; lack of belief in God,
or lack of, sometime also interrupted as lack
of belief in religion. Theism, atheism is
lack of belief and theism, if you remove a,
theism; theism, theism means belief in God,
or belief in religion. Now, theism is also
various types; theism may be polytheism; polytheism
means belief in multiple, a large number of
gods and goddesses.
There is some anthropological work to show
that initially, there was superstition and
animism; I will explain the meaning of these
terms. Then magic, witchcraft, sorcery and
when religion comes…If…In almost all religions,
all major world religions, Christianity, Judaism,
Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, you find references
to superstition, animism, magic, witchcraft,
sorcery, which shows…There are clear statements
in Old Testament and New Testament and in
Quran and in all Hindu books, we show magic
and witchcraft as prevailing at a time when
somebody was trying to develop some religion,
or spread some religion or beliefs and ideas.
Gradually, when religion spread, we find statements
to the effect that, before Judasim, before
Christianity, before Islam, and at least in
that part of the world where these, this Judasim,
Christianity and Islam prevailed, there was
practice of polytheism.
Polytheism means, people believing in, in
diverse gods and goddesses; poly means many;
theism means belief in God; and polytheism
means, belief in multiple Gods. Case of India
is different. In India, there has not been
a progression of this type; that polytheism
to monotheism, which under the influence of
all these religions, Judasim, Christianity
and Islam, there had been a progress from
polytheism to monotheism; but in those areas
where this three major world religions is
spread, people gradually shifted from polytheism
to monotheism. In time of Prophet Muhammad,
there was so many small small temples, religious
practices, Gods, Goddesses, people worshipping
and having so many mythologies; and Prophet
Muhammad said that, all this is superstition,
ignorance, non-religion and there is only
one God, the Allah; Allah, worship only Allah;
there is one God, Allah.
So, there was polytheism. Some people may
say that, the, in many parts of Europe and
Asia, either Buddhism or something similar
to Hinduism prevailed; because that is closer
to polytheism; and Prophet Muhammad made people
monotheistic. Actually, Islam is much more
monotheistic than Christianity, or other religions,
including Judaism; because in Islam, there
is only one God; you worship God; you do not
worship any other person; you worship only
God; Prophet Muhammad was not the son, or
friend, or anything, or family member of God.
Prophet Muhammad was the messenger of God.
So, it is a, what you learn in Quran is the
word of God; there is no one between you and
God. You should, you are not expected to bow
your head before anyone except God; God is
almighty; God is everything and God is everywhere;
monotheism. Pantheism was, pan means everywhere,
kind of. So, there are also some religions
which are based on the belief that everything
is God, or in everything, that true sense
of everything is God. God is everywhere. What
is this God is everywhere? Can you imagine,
what is this kind of belief? God is everywhere.
I think, this pantheism kind of…One thing
in all religions of, Judaism…One major difference
between Judaism, Christianity and Islam, God
is outside 
the creation; because God created this world;
the basic story of creation of universe is
believed by everyone, Judaism, Christianity;
these are offshoots; Islam is offshoot, in,
in some sense, an offshoot of Christianity,
or it, a movement which tried to rectify certain
weaknesses, or some errors which crept in,
in Christian beliefs or errors of polytheism
prevailing in those parts where Prophet Muhammad
was, and Christianity, is obviously…Christ
did not say that, he is spreading a new religion
of Christianity. Christ believed that, he
was a, he believed in Judaism. Christ, Christ’s
own religion, Jesus Christ’s own religion
was Judaism. It was not Christianity. It was
like Gautham Buddha. Gautham Buddha did not
say that, he is, he is spreading a new religion.
He followed the same practices which are followed
by Hindu seers, monks, philosophers, intellectuals;
same thing; but gradually, the Christianity
separated from Judaism. In all these three
religions, one interesting thing is that,
God is outside the creation. So, because God
created this world; if God created this world,
then God cannot be found in this world. And
we, there is again a mythology of when did
God create this universe? What is the place
of man in this universe? How did man get created?
How did woman get created? What is the relationship
between man and woman? What should be the
ideal relationship between man and God? What
is the similarity and dissimilarity between
God and men and women, and what is the relationship,
and what kind of relationship did God expected
to exist between men and other creations of
God? But there is also a world view more prevalent
in India, that everything is God.
And, this everything is God, most religious
tendencies of India, philosophical tendencies,
most religious and philosophical tendencies
of India believe that, God is, God is in the
universe, in the creation. So, whether it
is Purush of Sankhya, or it is Brahmman of
Vedanthins, or it is Krishna of ISKCON, or
anything else, for most philosophies of India
or of Hindu origin, Hindu means, which is
not non-Hindu, everything which is not non-Hindu
is Hindu, for all these philosophies of Hindu
origin, God is in the universe only. This
is one very interesting philosophical difference
between these religions and Hindu religions;
although the practicing part of Hindu religion,
rituals, rites, belief system, many belief
systems, common belief systems prevailing
in society are not different from beliefs
of these people. So, ideally, God is…There
are distortions. There are, there are true
belief systems as given in the books and there
are practiced; practiced do not always match
with the beliefs.
In religion, belief is one thing and practice
is another; and this discordance, this inconsistency,
or incongruence between beliefs and practices
is found in all religions. According to…Just
to give one or two examples, according to
Islam, you can do, or you can bow only before
God, before no one else; and he will not ask
for anything to anyone else other than Allah.
It is un-islamic, that way, going by the fundamentals
of Islam and there are many muslims who believe
in this theory; it is against the fundamentals
of Islam to go to of Sufi saints or others,
including Ajmer Sharif. If you are a true
muslim, he will not go to Ajmer Sharif. If
you are a true muslim, then you will ask for
anything from Allah only; you will not ask
for anything from anyone else, no matter how
good or bad or great or small they are...
So, as a true muslim, you are not permitted
to visit Dargah of any Sufi saint also. And
there is no need for you to go to any mosque;
you can do or, or pay your true faith, reverence
only to Allah. So, it is un-islamic to go
to a place like Ajmer Sharif and say that,
if you get A grade in this course, then you
will come and offer a chaddar; that is un-islamic.
But a large number of muslims, do their, go
there and do, do this kind of thing. This
is an, an incongruence between true belief
and the actual practices. Buddhism, Buddhism
does not believe in God; at least, Heenayan
Buddhism does not believe in God; only Tantric
Buddhism or Mahayana, Tibetan Buddhism, that
kind of Buddhism, which developed in certain
north eastern part of India, started including
magic, sorcery, witchcraft, sanskritic tradition,
brahmanic tradition, so many things; it became
a mixture of so many things; but otherwise,
the true Buddhist religion does not believe
in God.
But you go to Saranath or you go to Bodhigaya,
or to places of importance to Buddhist and
you find that, the idol of Buddha is worshiped
in the same way, in which idols of Hanumanji,
or Ganeshji, or Deviji are worshiped in Hindu
temples, again a between belief and practice.
So, this is another interesting aspect of
religion, that, in religion, true philosophies
are one and practices are other. I was mentioning
this more in the context of, that God is in
the universe; God is in the universe. Geeta,
Geeta says, Sankhya philosophy says, Vedanta
philosophy, of, all theist and atheist, most
of the Indian philosophy, this is wrong to
say that, Hindus believed in God. As a matter
of fact, if you know about Hindu philosophies,
you will find that most of the Hindu philosophies
are atheistic; they do not believe in God;
but the Sankhya,...
And truly speaking, if there is any reference
to anything like God in Hindu philosophies,
applying that to all Hindu philosophies, including
Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism, then that will
be very very abstract, something which is
everywhere; God is in the universe; God is
not at one place, or in one temple, or in
one person, or in one river, or in one hillock,
or in one book. God is everywhere. This is
polytheism. Now, this is pan, sorry, poly;
polytheism means multiple Gods; in pantheism.
Actually, in, what are you, it appears quite
strange to me and may be, here, lie the role
of social scientists to explain this problem,
that, if you look at philosophies of Hindus,
then Hindu philosophy is, to some extent,
atheistic, or pantheistic; Brahmman, brahmman
everywhere; if I remember, when I spoke of
Geeta, referring to yagna, metaphors of yagna;
everything is brahmana; a person who is giving
aahuti is Brahman; aahuti is also Brahman;
the yagna in which aahuti is given is Brahman;
the goal of aahuti is, everything is Brahman;
in Upanishada, everything is Brahman; it is
the same Brahman which manifests in everything;
men, women, plants, animals; same thing is
said by Nanak; same thing is said by Buddha;
same thing is said by all almost all philosophies
of Hindus.
Sometime, they make a distinction between
Purush and Prakrithi, or monism and qualified
monism. But essentially, they all believe
in pantheism. So, either you can say, pantheism
can also be interpreted as atheist, because
if everything is God, you are God; I am God;
everything, chair is God; in everything, there
is manifestation of God, you can call it pantheism,
or you can call it atheism; but like anywhere
else, among Hindus, in our society also, there
is lot of disjunction between beliefs and
practices. So, when it comes to religious
philosophy, in everything is manifested Brahman;
Brahman is manifested in everything; but in
daily life, a Brahmin is a Brahmin; a scheduled
caste is a scheduled caste; OBCs are… A
laborer is a laborer, IAS officer is IAS officer,
then then we forget that IAS officer is also
only Brahman; he is not more than Brahman;
and the servant, or the sutra, or the untouchable
or the unseeable is also Brahman; we forget
that. Actually, it would be great, if some
of such philosophies can be put in practice;
but philosophies remain only at the abstract
level, and in this world, daily world, we
are governed more by the social forces than
religions or philosophies.
So, this is atheism, non-believe in, non-belief
in God, multiple Gods and goddesses, one God,
God everywhere, God in the universe. This
is a major difference between this group of
religions and Hindu religions; that in all
Hindu religions, if you make a deep analysis
of all Hindu philosophies, including Buddhism,
Jainism, Sikhism, Vedanta, or Sanantana dharma,
or in Arya Samaj, God is in the universe.
And then in all religions, there is disjunction
between beliefs and practices. Let me also
spend 10, 15 minutes, then I will come to
some more interesting sociological ideas and
writings of other people. Let me also make
a distinction between these words, mostly
drawn from Gisberts; superstition, animism,
animatism, fetishism, mana, totemism, magic,
sympathetic contagion. Superstition, the definition
of superstition that he gives is, the superstition
is the conviction, a belief, a conviction,
belief that, something will happen owing to
causes utterly disproportionate to the event,
unrelated or disproportionate to the event;
as for instant, the belief that, business
transacted on Friday will be unsuccessful,
because it is an unlucky day or that the finding
of a horseshoe will bring success; if you
find a horseshoe somewhere on your way, when
you are walking, and you find a horseshoe,
you consider it to be auspicious.
I can see that, many of you believe in such
things; you believe that, certain days favor
you more, or certain times favor you more,
or certain colors favor you more; or the belief
that you are going somewhere, and a black
cat crosses the road before you, then it is
inauspicious, or you are unlikely to succeed.
This is superstition, unconnected things.
Actually, I would even say that, much of this,
many of you may be wearing some precious stones;
many people believe in precious stones. And
this, this precious stones show that, if you
wear this stone, say pearl, pearl will give
peace; somebody is mentally disturbed, anxiety,
depression, stress, and somebody will, some
astrologer, or somebody dealing in stones,
and your astrologer come and tell, you have
problem; you have depression, anxiety; I know,
I could see by just looking at your palm,
or I could just know from numerology; you
tell me your date of birth and I will tell
you what kind of problems you are suffering;
you were born on this day and this is your
date of birth.
So, I am sure that, you are suffering from
mental depression, and the, the client is
surprised; how does he know. Actually, everybody
is suffering from depression, but when somebody
comes and tells you, because your date of
birth is this, and because your day of birth
is this, and you feel that, great, like that,
I could meet this great yogi, or this great
person of knowledge, Sir, then why, what should
I do; he will say, he will say, you better
you put on in some way, in the form of a garland,
or some way, or ring, you take a moti, because
moti will cure all these things. But remember
that, ordinary pearls which are available
in the market will not help you, because they
are duplicate; if you are really serious,
then I am going to Haridwar, and I will bring
a real pearl for you; it will be a bit more
costly, but that will solve all your problems;
and our client is happy, and the pearl dealer,
after one or two weeks, will come with the
pearl costing 10000 rupees.
You wear it in your ring and if you will peace,
my stress has gone; this is superstition;
disproportionate to the event. Or, if you
believe that, you offer a piece of bread,
because you do not cook and you are not living
in your home, so but you have access to pizza,
if you believe, if somebody tells you that,
before going to exam, you give a loaf of,
or a piece of pizza to a dog of this color,
you will perform well in exam and if you believe
in these things, then you are a superstitious
person. All of us are superstitious. Actually,
when knowledge fails, or our knowledge of
scientific, technical causes of something
is absent, then we become superstitious.
There is a place, Jwalaji is a place in Himachal
Pradesh, where from somewhere, from some unknown
source, something like fire comes out; it
is not fire; it is, it is some kind of light,
because if you touch that fire, it is not
hot; it is very cool; but people believe that,
this is the Goddess Jwalaji and there are
stories, mythologies about several pieces
made of the dead body of the Goddess Parvati,
by Shivji, which fell in different parts of
the country, where temples devoted to Goddess
have come up.
So, you believe in Jwalaji and there are many
people who will believe that, if you go for
darshan to Jwalaji, then this Goddess of fire
will solve all your problem; this can be superstition;
no connection, no scientific, no rational,
technical connection between event and what
you do to influence the event. But it is interesting;
it is sociological problem, a question, how
is that, in the scientific age, superstitions
are not weakening; superstitions are increasing;
superstition, superstitions are not weakening.
We expected that, in the scientific, rational
age, with knowledge of science, superstition
will fail; but actually, superstitions are
increasing and you open TV channel, you take
any newspaper; I found that, even those magazines
and journals which were published by leftist
organization or where the editors at one time
had philosophies more tilted towards leftism
and Marxism, even those magazines and journals
have started showing your weekly predictions;
that if your date of birth is this, if your
rasi is this, then this week will be like
this. Superstitions are increased; animism
and animatism, Gisberts makes a distinction;
animism is, animism is belief in spirits.
In, in more detail, they have given the explanation
of animism that, this arises from intellectual
curiosity of man; what happens to man after
death, and what happens to man in dream.
We see all kinds of dreams. What happens to
us in dream, and what happens to a man when
he dies. And the intellectual answer may be,
one of the possible intellectual answer, which
the primitive man, or the unscientific man
gave to man, other men, society was that,
in our body, there is a body and there is
a soul. So, in dream, soul departs our body,
though temporarily, goes here and there, does
many good things and meets friends, enjoy;
sometimes has bad experiences also, and then
comes back, and when we are awake, then our
soul is within us; and when a person dies,
actually, it is the soul which has left the
body.
So, the idea of soul, this is what animism
means. Gradually, in book, there are two different
concepts: animism and naturalism. Animism
he says, is because of the intellectual response
to cognitive sense. Naturalism, when man sees
around him, powers of nature, floods, famines,
fire, hailstorm, thunder, lightning, epidemics,
earthquakes; when man attributes power to
certain components of nature, gradually, he
starts believing that, these components of
nature have their own soul; animatism. The
difference is, animism is the general idea
of soul, body and soul, and animatism is the
idea that, the natural objects have their
own souls.
So, there is a soul of river and in Hindu
religion, the Goddess Ganga, Ganga, Ganga
becomes a movement and she can be made happy.
She can be prayed; she can be made unhappy;
she can bless you; she can harm you, if you…So,
people start believing in souls of natural
things and also they believe that, the souls
can be made happy, unhappy; they can be satisfied,
or they can be made dissatisfied; they can
help you; they can be malevolent; they can
be benevolent. And it is all depends on your
treatment of theirs.
Now, fetishism is very similar to animatism,
but animatism is more in relation to souls
of natural things. Fetishism is belief in
powers of something, fetish; the gems, precious
stone is also an example of fetishism. If
I believe in, if I believe that, this bottle
is very helpful to me, whenever I carry this
bottle with me, then all my desires are fulfilled;
and I also believe that, if I do not carry
this bottle with me, when there is a court
case, or I meet the director, I meet some
distant relative or in different situations,
then this is, this belief is a kind of fetishism.
Fetish can be anything; it can be piece of
stone; it can be anything; it can even be
a mike; it can be a; it can be anything; it
can be a chair; it can be a ring; it can be
a specs, a watch also, book; anything can
be. If I believe that, there is some special
power in something, then it becomes a fetish.
And that special power is mana; the term for
that, special power.
Sometimes, it happens; you may feel that,
something in which you believe, it, it may
be anything; say, a saligram; many Hindus
believe in saligram; saligram can be an example
of fetish; or a trishul, a brass trishul,
some of you may keep a brass trishul with
you, and that may give the confidence and
keeping that brass trishul with you may solve
many of your problems. But a time may also
come, when keeping the brass trishul does
not help you; that time, you believe that,
now, the essence of that trishul or the mana,
or that special power of the trishul has vanished,
because special powers can come to the fetish,
or they may vanish from the fetish.
Totemism. Totemism is very similar thing.
The main difference between this and this
would be, the totems are communal; communal
belief systems. Fetishism can be personal.
This is communal, from which will develop
an interesting theory on religion. I will
come to that in the next lecture. Totemism
is communal and totem can be anything, plant,
animal, anything in which people believe that,
there is a special power. Magic is also a
kind of superstition. Usually in literature,
we make a distinction between magic and religion.
The major difference is that, religion is
collective; magic is personal, or individual.
Magic is further divided into two, three components.
Sometimes, when magic is done to promote goodness,
to do, to achieve something good, that is
called magic; magic. Magic is usually, or
should normally, we use for positive things;
to get cured, to get money, to get long life,
for education of your children, for employment.
You go to a magic man, and magic man will
do something, and you achieve all these things;
that is magic. But magic, like and taboos;
taboos are negative things; is a general term.
So, magic that way is to…Magic is more of
a positive term, though sometimes, it is also
a general term. Negative part of magic is
called witchcraft, or sorcery; witchcraft
or sorcery, witchcraft focusing more on internal
powers of the witches. You must have heard
about in rural areas, in various parts of
the country, and in, in Bihar particularly,
we often learn through newspaper that, certain
women will be declared; they will be killed
by the villagers or tortured; that, that is
witchcraft; witch; dayan means witch. So,
which is the negative. Due to witchcraft,
people die; become sick; do not have son;
some, somebody was going to have a son, but
some witch does something, and he has a daughter;
negative thing, to have a daughter is a negative
thing in Indian society. So, magic promotes
positive things. You go to a magic man for
positive things, for long life, for cure,
for education, for wealth, for happiness,
so that I feel more relaxed, more happy, that
is magic.
And, witchcraft and sorcery, they are negative
things; negative thing means to kill somebody,
to ensure that somebody dies, or somebody
becomes sick, or somebody does not have a
son, or somebody lose his wealth, there is
theft or dacoity in somebody’s house; for
all those purposes, you will go to a witch,
or a sorcerer. So, witchcraft and sorcery
are negative aspects of magic; but they are
all superstitions. We cannot say that, religion
is not superstition; religion is also, religion
contains so many things; but religion, that
major difference between religion and magic
would be that, magic is individual and religion
is collective. Religion has collective beliefs,
collective practices, which may be called
rituals, or rites. A common belief, in some
text book, in, in some text, it may be Ram
Charitha Manas, or it may be Guru Granth Sahib
or it may be Quran, or it may be Bible; common
belief, common reverence towards a book, or
towards one person, some, some God, or some
saint or seer or some Rishi, a person or some
sign, symbol; but it is, religion is collective.
Religion also gives you identity. So, this
lecture, we stop here. We will take up these
theories in the next class.
