Swarajya, June 20, 1959
God’s form is incomprehensible. He exists but we do not know Him. A name is as good as any mental shape that we give to Him.
These observations may seem superfluous to those who missed reading a part of the Prime Minister's recent speech in Nepal wherein he stressed the need for hard work-which he could have done without giving his high authority to the neglect of prayer or spiritual contemplation, and a contemptuous reference to beads and rosaries.
It is time the Prime Minister appeals to the people of our land which he seeks to uplift, to repent and lead an honest, compassionate and just life, to give up dishonesty and greed and laziness and be, prayerful and lead lives of hard work with God in their hearts so that we may prosper and be happy and value the things of real value.
It appears as if the Prime Minister believes with the communists that religion is the great opiate that keeps men away from work and it must be discarded. America has not suffered under the opiate. This false proposition has damaged the communist states. It would be a pity if our Prime Minister is unable to rid himself of this fear of religion.
When a Christian, Hindu, Muslim or Buddhist counts the beads in his rosary he does not seek to know the number of beads in the string, for he knows it already. He utters the name of God as taught to him and seeks to feel the Divine proximity and realize His presence- He prays for strength and purification.
The alternative to a rosary is not a hankering or labouring for worldly wealth or visiting a steel factory or textile mill, but some other form of human effort to realize and remember spiritual values over and above material values and their vanities.
God’s form is incomprehensible. He exists but we do not know Him. A name is as good as any mental shape that we give to Him.
These observations may seem superfluous to those who missed reading a part of the Prime Minister's recent speech in Nepal wherein he stressed the need for hard work-which he could have done without giving his high authority to the neglect of prayer or spiritual contemplation, and a contemptuous reference to beads and rosaries. Does he not know that the greatest obstacle in national life and national progress today is the fall in moral standards and the widespread diffusion of dishonesty with consequent distrust, and therefore failure of mutual co-operation? We have had enough of destructive forces in the moral field. The need of the hour is a revival of integrity and moral values without which even authoritarian schemes will miserably fail. Does the Prime Minister believe that his own sermons can be as effective as the teachings of ancient faiths and the words of holy men, and be a substitute for the rosary? The rosary and the counting of beads have made man into the human being that he is. Not all the policemen we can put up in the field can match the strength of religion or be a substitute for it. May the Prime Minister's power and influence be used to raise our people's nature and not to lower it, and reduce them to busy godless serfs, hating and envying one another. It is time the Prime Minister appeals to the people of our land which he seeks to uplift, to repent and lead an honest, compassionate and just life, to give up dishonesty and greed and laziness and be, prayerful and lead lives of hard work with God in their hearts so that we may prosper and be happy and value the things of real value.
It appears as if the Prime Minister believes with the communists that religion is the great opiate that keeps men away from work and it must be discarded. America has not suffered under the opiate. This false proposition has damaged the communist states. All the difficulties they meet with by way of distrust in international efforts to reach agreements can be traced to the proclaimed denial of God and religion on which the communists have anchored their ship of State. It would be a pity if our Prime Minister is unable to rid himself of this fear of religion.
