Religion vs. Utilitarianism

Swami Vivekananda's letter to a boy in Alwar has often cited by various sources, esp. the organizations that help others - "Be good and do good, that is the essence of all religions." Swamiji said this in specific context, to a boy who was interested in spiritual life and yet who was groping in darkness. It was person specific and was not general. A spiritual giant like Vivekananda knew very well that religion and spirituality extends far beyond the Western popular notion of being good and doing good. Those are good values no doubt for the beginners, but with certain advancement, being good and doing good does not seem to suffice. Being good does not ensure mental peace, doing good does not conquer ego and doing good with an eye on results is counter  productive.

Worldview accepts everything with a utility. If there is utility then the action is accepted, else it is rejected. Without utility there is no meaning or significance attached to the action. Of course from a pure worldly view point the utility is in material sense, one that confers material benefits has certain utility. The value of the service or the work is measured by its utility, i.e. the benefits it provides. Swami Vivekananda once had an interesting conversion with Robert Ingersol, the great American agnostic of 19th century. Ingersol was possibly attracted by Swami's popularity and personality and told him that had he come to America 50 years back people would have stoned him to death. Its only through the effort of Ingersol and the like that people had become liberal in their thoughts and actions. Ingersol also told Swami, when asked how he considered the world, that he thought it to be an orange from which he would be extracting the juice for the purpose of consumption. Swamiji replied with its characteristics humour that he too considered the same, only he considered it to be a different fruit, the mango and had a better means of extracting juices and he could extract much more juices through his way of spirituality. The exact bit of conversation in Swamiji's own language is to be found here - http://www.vivekananda.net/SwamiOnHimself/OnRobertIngersol.html

How much did this statement impress Ingersol nobody knows, but here we are concerned in showing two different approaches to life that is present today and their impacts. When we consider anything with utility it essentially leads to a divide, that between utility and non utility. When on the other hand we talk of spirituality and religion we are basically talking of unity. Anything that runs contradictory to the idea of unity, anything that results in division is nothing but politics. Therefore even in religion, sectarianism is nothing but politics. Utilitarianism and materialism therefore has its root in politics. In fact the entire social structure and fabric with its various components is based on politics, this division in various ways. The caste system is a representation of political structure, not a religious structure, because it is based on division. Religious leaders who speak about the inherent superiority of their own religion are doing nothing but politics, be it the Pope or the imam in the local mosque or the sadhu who is supposedly a staunch Hindu. Conversion is politics, so is reconversion, because again they are based on utility, the difference, the division. Utility lies in increasing the number of converts or the strength of the sect. Intellectuals who are extremely concerned about intolerance and therefore are forgetting the fact that intolerance is a way of life from time immemorial, that suddenly the whole country has not become intolerant, that it is going on as usual, are, ironically intolerant themselves. This is because they see utility in attacking the fabric of India and portraying Indian society as intolerant purely from political reasons, disguising politics as noble intention. They are supported by media which is again, from political motive hell bent on portraying India in a nagetive light. They are aided by a section of the politicians who see utility in either supporting one fanatic group over others. Therefore this is entirely politics and on a similar vain eating beef or not eating it has nothing to do with religion because it divides. Religion by definition binds, dharma by definition carries and therefore all terms associated with religion essentially stands for unity, for forging a bond among humanity, not for tearing it.

That present society, irrespective of its affiliation tends towards this utilitarianism as the way and mean for progress, a very wrong and fallacious step which is evident in the way fabric of the society is being torn apart day in and day out through violence, brutality, selfishness and cowardice. There are few who see the truth in its on light, all so called truths are relative because they represent one dimension over others. Human progress cannot be made by this way. The whole journey of mankind is to raise itself from the status of brute to human and from human to god, that is the purpose of evolution in different planes. From lowest worm to the highest mankind, all living beings have progressed in this manner and therefore the society has to progress in a similar way. However extreme selfishness that is rooted in utilitarianism has to be rejected for this to happen, and religion is the antithesis of extreme selfishness because it teaches one to become selfless in degrees. Its time the society and human civilization does an introspection of where it is heading to.