The >article by Devdutt Pattanaik that appeared on the Editorial page on January 14 was brilliant. It clearly brought out the similarities between hurt caused by physical and intellectual (?) actions.
One must be intelligent enough to understand the limitations of human intelligence and logical enough to understand that there is an entire field of knowledge that exists beyond our intelligence and beyond the realm of logic, yet is not illogical, that can be proved neither logically right nor logically wrong.
Understanding the fact that our intellect can gather direct knowledge only through our five sense organs (instruments of knowledge) and only from the exclusive fields within which each one of them operate in, is important to understand and appreciate the limitations we have without external instruments of knowledge. (The microscope, the telescope, and so on, enhance the capability of our existing instruments of knowledge and are not to be confused with external instruments of knowledge.)
The five sense organs in our body that help us gain direct knowledge, operate only in their exclusive fields; one cannot substitute for the other. We have to be intelligent enough to appreciate the fact that none of our five sense organs, be it the eyes (sense of colours and shapes), nose (sense of smell), skin (sense of touch), ears (sense of sound) or tongue (sense of taste), operate in the field of knowledge of the creator, the relationship between the creator and the created (apparently created or otherwise), laws governing our actions and rewards/punishments, why good things happen to bad people and vice versa, what makes some happy at all times irrespective of external happenings, and so on.
Acknowledging the fact that none of our five instruments of knowledge operate in this exclusive field of knowledge will make us humble enough to appreciate the need for the faith/shraddha (faith until experiential validation) based scriptures, and accept it as the sixth sense organ to reveal knowledge not revealed by the five others.
The only sources of knowledge to get answers for these important questions that all of us search for are the religious scriptures, which are either purely faith-driven or shraddha-driven.
Having faith in the scriptures and practising the religious way of life certainly give a certain comfort to the devout. Questioning the logic without knowing that it is beyond logic, yet is not illogical, and when no logic is found choosing to cause hurt by ridiculing scriptural teachings, is certainly not inkitham , which, loosely translated, means the appropriate response or choice of words with an evolved understanding of the impact that words or behaviour can have on the sensitivities of the other people.
Some religious scriptures ask one to go beyond the religious/ritualistic way of life and intellectually challenge the first part of the scriptures that teach a religious/ritualistic way of life and guides one to discover the ‘self’. This part of the scriptures acts like a mirror that helps the eyes see themselves and helps the ‘self’ as commonly (mis)understood, see its ‘true self’.
These texts that challenge our intellect, and the religious, ritualistic way of life, do it without causing hurt to the hitherto religious/ritualistic person who looked upon the Lord as an external entity, separate from him. It actually presents the religious/ritualistic way of life, as a necessary/desirable stepping stone, a necessity until ‘self’ discovery happens. This is similar to the scaffolding that is used to hold the roof until the concrete sets, not quite useless or meaningless.
Causing hurt to religious/faith-based sentiments without the knowledge of our limitations, the limitations of our intellect, and not acknowledging the sixth field of knowledge that exists outside the five exclusive domains from which alone our body is equipped to gain knowledge, is neither an intelligent thing to do nor good for harmonious living.
It would become intelligent to ridicule the scriptures only when we can truly claim that with the five instruments of knowledge which we are equipped with, we are able to find answers to all questions. Until then, it would be wise to accept our scriptures faithfully or with shraddha .
An evolved society that wishes to live in harmony needs to see all forms of violence as violence. You cannot agree more with Devdutt Pattanaik.
