An Iconoclastic Defiance Opens Up Spiritual Avenues

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 23 November 2024 A few years ago, a Bengali newspaper launched its first edition in Calcutta (sorry, no Kolkata). Its tagline was, Bhagobaan Chhada Kaau Ke Bhoy Paaye Na ( Barring god, scared of none). The owner got a hand-written letter from a retired professor of Philosophy who taught at the world-renowned Presidency College (now Presidency University). He wrote in Bengali. I'm translating it into English, "There's no problem, if you're a god-fearing person. Most of us are. But don't forget, you run a newspaper which is perceived to be scared of none. So, I advise you to change the tagline of your newspaper." The very next day, the owner of the broadsheet removed the word Bhagobaan (god) from the tagline. Men can break the laws of society, but not the so-called divine laws. We're perpetually in the penumbra of imaginary divine wrath and dare not question the ways of god. Whoever questions, gets a stock reply from the elders and especially from the so-called 'holy men and women' that god's ways are inexplicable to the mortals like us. This is discouraging to the hilt and leads to a defeatist mentality at the collective level. Why can't a mere mortal question the relevance of an antediluvian custom or law, sanctioned by a religion? What's the use of still sticking to a 'divine law' just because it's hoary-old? Puranmityev Na Sadhu Sarvam (Old's not always the assurance of being genuine and irreproachable). For how long will we allow the fallacy of majority and fallacy of duration to dictate terms to rationality? Man stops growing spiritually and gets stuck at the level of religion when he blindly starts following what his primitive ancestors followed in a bygone era. A soul that doesn't have the rebellious spirit fails to comprehend the mind of god, if at all it does exist. Someone said very succinctly, "God is fed up with the prostrating, genuflecting and unquestioning followers. He too wants rebels, who can challenge his divinity and defeat him in his own game." Remember, every law has a flaw, even if it happens to be a divine law. No truth is so great that it can transcend all ages and become relevant for the ages to come. That's why, among the truly religious, the (divine) law is observed. But it's never feared, nor revered. It's neither absolutised, nor magnified out of all proportion, nor exploited for one's selfish ends. Questioning a 'divine truth' is not a sacrilegious act. An iconoclastic defiance can open up a plethora of spiritual avenues. But the problem with mankind is that we're always apprehensive of unwittingly breaking a set pattern. Though the German philosopher Immanuel Kant wrote "Critique of pure reason," he too admitted that the grovelling acceptance of any belief wasn't expected of a rational being and it was an insult to his volition as well as the faculty of reason. "Fear blunts the tip of a spear." This adage is universally applicable to humankind. Our fear of god or the organizational fear of religion puts brakes on our questioning self so much that we eventually lose it and act like a sheep in the herd. And at the same time, we're also too keen to kowtow to anything that's recondite to us. We're always awestruck by supernatural phenomena and more than willing to succumb to their mysteries. This slavish attitude never allows free will to thrive and we remain in the dungeon of our own prisons, languishing there till eternity. ---- A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several languages including Persian. URL: https://www.newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/iconoclastic-defiance-spiritual-avenues/d/133794 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism