Swami Brahmavidananda
The idea of being secular – the separation between religion and state came from the West to India. There was such a time, there, when religion controlled and dictated every aspect of governance to the state. They found the need to separate religion and state. Ancient India never had a problem regarding religion. There were religious leaders interacting with the government but they never dictated terms to the government. They were more like conscience keepers, advising the government to function on the basis of universal ethics not a particular religious belief. So, in ancient India there was never a need to separate religion from the state.
But, what about modern India, especially after Indira Gandhi declared that India would be secular after an amendment to the constitution? In India it is almost impossible to separate religion or at least spirituality from who you are. I have seen people who publicly denounce religion and religious beliefs as superstition. Some of these are political parties who are based on atheism and communist thinking (which are anti-God) are found to privately follow some religion. There is a need for some form of secularism.
The most appropriate one would be what Gandhiji shared – Sarva Dharma Sama Bhaava. This was reflected my own spiritual teacher, Swami Dayananda Saraswati who emphasized that every religion is a valid form of worship of relating to God and hence there can and should be mutual respect between religions. The definition by Gandhiji is something that we can follow in India. We can have our religious beliefs and not let it interfere with state functioning.
At the same time, we can treat each other with mutual respect and understanding. That will ensure religious harmony and peace in this multi religious and multi-cultural nation of ours. We don’t run down forms of worship of other religions and respect the fact that each religion will relate to the Lord in their own manner. We don’t have to call these forms of worship as alien or pagan or judge them on the basis of our culture and religion as long as they are not damaging to anyone.
