Turnover through Religion

Religion has been raising human consciousness for centuries. Whatever man is now, whatever little consciousness he has, the whole credit goes to religion. Politics has been a curse, a calamity; and whatever is ugly in humanity, politics is responsible for. But the problem is that politics has power; religion has only love, peace and the experience of the divine. Politics can easily interfere with religion; and it has been interfering all along, to such an extent that it has destroyed many religious values which are absolutely necessary for the survival of humanity and life on this earth. Religion has no mundane power like nuclear weapons and atom bombs and guns; its dimension is totally different. Religion is not a will to power; religion is a search for truth. And the very search makes the religious man humble, simple, innocent. Politics has all the destructive weapons — religion is absolutely vulnerable. Politics has no heart — religion is pure heart. It is just like a beautiful rose flower: its beauty, poetry, its dance give life meaning and significance. Politics is like a stone, dead, but the stone can destroy the flower and the flower has no defence. Politics is aggressive. Religion cannot be allowed to be dominated by stupid politicians. The situation is as if sick people are trying to dominate physicians, directing what they should and should not do. Accept it — sick people are in the majority, but that does not mean that the physician should be dominated by the majority. The physician can heal wounds, can cure the sicknesses of humanity. Religion is the physician. Politicians have managed to create enough destructive power to destroy all life; and they are piling up more and more nuclear weapons. Politicians could take lessons from religion for unless politicians have something of religiousness, there is no future for humanity. Yes, i understand that politics and religion should be separate in the sense that religion is higher. And the politician is in need of psychological and spiritual treatment. In ancient India, the king would go to religious people for advice... Kings used to touch the feet of those who had realised themselves, because even their blessing can transform you. Politics is functional; it is utilitarian. But it has no way of transforming man into higher consciousness. Religion should have a higher status, and religious people should be listened to. Parliament should continually invite religious people to give them some ideas on how to solve the problems of the country, because they themselves seem to be absolutely impotent in solving anything. Problems keep growing. The ego of the politician wants nobody to be higher than him. But whether you want it or not, the religious person is higher than you. You cannot bring transformation into people’s consciousness — he can. Religion is a star in the sky and the politicians are creatures crawling on the earth. Without question, they are separate. But politicians should remember that they are functioning in mundane matters. And that is not the true goal of humanity. Religious people are making every effort to raise humanity — its consciousness, its love, its compassion — to a point where wars become impossible, where politicians cannot deceive people, where their lies and their promises can be exposed. This is not interfering with politics — this is simply protecting the people from the exploitation of politicians. The separation is already there. The contrast couldn’t be more striking. On the one hand, the Pakistani government readily acceded to a truce with the Taliban in Swat, allowing the state’s authority to wither in the face of organised banditry from the Taliban. Islamabad also responded to a compelling body of evidence linking 26/11 to terrorists on Pakistani soil with a mix of legalese and dilatoriness. But on the other hand, the government has cracked down swiftly on lawyers and opposition activists intent on taking out a ‘long march’ to Islamabad. It has placed hundreds of them under arrest and banned any gathering of more than four people in Punjab and Sind. To be sure, Nawaz Sharif and other opposition leaders have been addressing rallies calling for a ‘revolution’ to dethrone President Asif Zardari. But Zardari’s tactics suggest uncomfortable parallels with Pervez Musharraf, who accumulated extraordinary powers around the presidency when he held the post. Presidential powers such as the ability to sack parliament are unconscionable in a parliamentary system and lead to systemic weakness and instability in Pakistan’s political institutions. Zardari promised to rescind those powers but hasn’t delivered. His government’s order banning rallies will also invite comparison with Musharraf ’s imposition of emergency in 2007. New Delhi has no leverage, whatsoever, in Pakistan. But the world, at large, must stand behind a return to constitutional and democratic processes in Pakistan. Although there are strong rumours of an army coup General Kayani, the current army chief, has stayed out of politics so far and may not be too keen to return as another Musharraf avatar so soon after Musharraf flamed out. In case he is keen, he must be severely discouraged from that line of thinking. The world must also stop trying to pick winners in Pakistan. Sharif has poor relations with the army as well as with western powers. The US, in particular, sees Sharif as suspiciously close to the Islamist parties. But the Swat surrender is evidence Zardari hasn’t been strong either in terms of taking on fundamentalists. Anyone who comes to and retains power through a democratic process, on the other hand, would have to be accountable for public welfare, which provides the international community with enough pressure points to work with that person. Sharif, at this point, seems more popular than any other leader in Pakistan. But policy cannot be person-specific. It shouldn’t give the impression of playing favourites but engage whoever comes out on top through a constitutional process.