Boost Religious Tolerance

Parmeshwar Devkota

Among all things, human life is the most precious one. The god gives birth to a person with telos, or purpose, said Aristotle. Such a valuable lives are being destroyed in the Middle East (ME) these days. Two groups of people are committed to obliterate one another in blatant disregard for rules of war and modern day established values. 

The Bhagavad Gita, the sacred book of Hindus, explains such annihilation attempts symbolically. In the book, Lord Krishna has explained three dominant qualities of a person to Arjuna: raja guna, tama guna and sattva guna. According to Lord Krishna, if raja guna becomes dominant in a person, s/he becomes leader and rules the community. If tama guna takes the leading role, s/he creates trouble in the community. Unlike above two qualities, if sattva guna is strong in a person, s/he stands for social harmony, cultural diversity and religious tolerance.

In the present day situation, this teaching from the Gita can be applied for whole humankind.  The spread of tama and raja guna have negative implications in different parts of world. 

There is no denying that the western world had played an important role in ensuring democracy, human rights, rule of law, value-based politics and established them as parameters. But they are so cleaver people. There are also instances where they have undermined religious values, cultural barriers, and used the established parameters for their own ease and interest, which is a stark representation of raja guna. 

Unlike the westerners, the easterners have been encountering countless hurdles, such as social disparities, religious variances, language barriers, and cultural and economic differences, among others. But, the people of this part of the world, being full with sattav guna, are leaving in social harmony and religious tolerance. It must be understood that we are living in vast diversity. 

For example, Hindus have six religious sects contrasting each other.  Some consider Vedas as ultimate guideline; whereas, others do not and some others are atheists. Buddhism and Jainism do not consider Vedas as Pramana, guiding principles. But, amazingly, we visit the temples and stupas of each other and bow to the gods of each other with equal respect.

On October 7, 2023, one group of people attacked on the merrymaking programme and killed hundreds in Israel. Similarly, another group pounded on the hospital killing hundreds. In the name of protecting land and religion, such barbaric attacks and counter-attacks cannot be justified on any pretext. Human life is far precious than land, culture and religion.  

Therefore, it is time to promote the sattav guna and stop dividing and killing people in the name of religion. The Middle Easterners, on the other hand, should try to discard tama guna, and learn co-existence and compromise from the people of the East who have been living peacefully amid vast differences.