Fundamentalism and the Sikh Religious Tradition by T.N. Madan
Fundamentalism and the Sikh Religious Tradition by T.N. Madan
Fundamentalism and the Sikh Religious Tradition by T.N. Madan
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he believed without a doubt that <strong>the</strong> results of his work were wholly beneficial. Since<br />
1945 he has begun to wonder whe<strong>the</strong>r his professional success may not have been a<br />
social <strong>and</strong> a moral disaster." He pity is that ultimately whe<strong>the</strong>r it is an Einstein, an<br />
Oppenhauer or a Sakharov, he is obliged to be <strong>the</strong> instrument, not of God, nor of his<br />
conscience, but of <strong>the</strong> parochial state or <strong>the</strong> political master about whose ethics <strong>the</strong><br />
mounting misery in <strong>the</strong> world is a st<strong>and</strong>ing monument.<br />
There is little doubt that Marxian goals for <strong>the</strong> social salvation of man were<br />
unexceptionable. That is why in <strong>the</strong> first two quarters of <strong>the</strong> century, <strong>the</strong>se invoked <strong>the</strong><br />
sympathies of many a thinking person. However, in <strong>the</strong> general euphoria science <strong>and</strong><br />
social sciences had created, <strong>the</strong> warning given <strong>by</strong> men of religion, that <strong>the</strong> class struggle<br />
contained <strong>the</strong> seeds of self-destruction <strong>and</strong> dehumanisation, was ignored. Soviet Russia<br />
grew into an unchallengeable giant that had not only kept many states of Eastern Europe<br />
as its colonies, but had also reduced its own citizens to be just soulless numbered units of<br />
life. While outsiders had not a clear conception of <strong>the</strong> fast deterioration of internal<br />
cohesion in this Leviathan slate, Eduard Schovardnadze, <strong>the</strong> Soviet Foreign Minister,<br />
emphasized in 1990 that "Universal ethic should have priority over regional or class<br />
interests or morality. Ultimately, as we have witnessed <strong>the</strong> Soviet Empire, cracked up<br />
because of its lack of internal cohesion. The collapse, as critics of Secularism see, was<br />
due to <strong>the</strong> fact that whereas <strong>the</strong> moral sense <strong>and</strong> its internal discipline which Christianity<br />
had given to <strong>the</strong> Russian life, had slowly worn out or been deliberately eroded,<br />
Communism had simply failed to create an alternative ethics that could sustain <strong>the</strong> Soviet<br />
society or give <strong>the</strong> individual his moral brakes.<br />
But, while recording what is felt to be <strong>the</strong> inevitable fall of Communism, as a<br />
secular system of production, we do not in any way seek to eulogise <strong>the</strong> life of unbridled<br />
Capitalism <strong>and</strong> its cut-throat competition. Its problems of ethics are equally chronic, <strong>and</strong><br />
grave, <strong>and</strong> for that matter, could prove equally dangerous for <strong>the</strong> social life of man. It is<br />
significant that while <strong>the</strong> West was seriously collaborating with <strong>the</strong> Soviets, Soizhenitlyn<br />
gave a clear warning that it was making a dangerous mistake, <strong>and</strong> was virtually betraying<br />
<strong>the</strong> very facet of man that had been giving <strong>the</strong> Christian West its cohesion <strong>and</strong> hope.<br />
Similarly, <strong>the</strong> dismal 'disarray' in <strong>the</strong> moral life of man was plaintively voiced <strong>by</strong><br />
Schumacker, when he wrote that nothing was in greater disruption <strong>and</strong> confusion than <strong>the</strong><br />
moral life of man."" Quite <strong>the</strong> same was <strong>the</strong> diagnosis of <strong>the</strong> report of <strong>the</strong> Club of Rome,<br />
when it wrote :<br />
"Short of world effort, today's already explosive gaps <strong>and</strong> inequalities, will<br />
continue to grow larger. The outcome can only be disaster, whe<strong>the</strong>r due lo <strong>the</strong> selfishness<br />
of individual communities that continue lo act purely in <strong>the</strong>ir own interest, or to a power<br />
struggle between <strong>the</strong> developing <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> developed nations. The world system is simply<br />
not ample enough, nor generous enough lo accommodate much longer such egocentric<br />
<strong>and</strong> conflictive behaviour <strong>by</strong> its inhabitants."<br />
While decades have elapsed since <strong>the</strong> above warning was calegorically given <strong>by</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> <strong>the</strong> authors of Limits of Growth, man's egoism continues to run amuck unabated with<br />
<strong>the</strong> inevitable increase in wide gaps between <strong>the</strong> rich nations <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> poor nations, <strong>and</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> rich of a nation <strong>and</strong> its poor. We do not believe that our reading is, on <strong>the</strong> whole wide<br />
off <strong>the</strong> mark. It is undeniable that since 1947 <strong>the</strong> percentage of Indians living below <strong>the</strong><br />
poverty line has been steadily mounting to <strong>the</strong> present about 50%. The increase in<br />
population is as rapid as is <strong>the</strong> increase in glamorous, vulgar <strong>and</strong> wasteful living of <strong>the</strong>