By Promod Puri,
Editor Progressive Hindu Dialogue
Seeking the divine spirit is a spiritual pursuit. And within that pursuit is the social aspects of the divinity which impact the Hindu mind to develop a personality of goodness.
Divine or divinity relates to all those aspects coming from God or god which are basically understood as heavenly and transcendental. But in social divinity it has attributes of humankind relating to ethical conduct of life toward an ultimate goal of perfection in every possible way.
The praxis of social divinity goes beyond the rituals, customs and beliefs. Also cardinal in Hindu theology is the induction of divinity in thoughts, words and deeds. Hinduism encourages spiritual believability based on knowledge and rationality. And that is where the divine spirit finds acceptable residency in every moment of life.
In creating the divine residency in an individual’s mind Hinduism offers liberal environment guided by disciplined and righteous karma.
Karma is biased by rituals, customs and beliefs. What matters most that karma is also influenced by Hindu epistemology seeking rationality in an action. And when the reasoning is established in all its sincerity Karma develops into prayer. For a practicing Hindu Karma is dharma.
Assembly of good karmas from earnest deeds over a long period can lead to moksha. It is a stage when material satisfactions are not attractions anymore. Rather in austere and ascetic life transcendental consciousness develops toward oneness with the Supreme-being.
Societal Reconstruction
The execution of karma in Hindu thought has an impact on the society as well.
Societal reconstruction is part of karmas’ obligations to clean up the religion from discriminatory and inhumane practices. An all inclusive full empowerment of women and annihilation of castes as envisioned by Ambedkar are part of these needed corrections to institute human rights traditions in Hinduism.
Whereas religion started as management of the society, at the personal level religiosity of karma implies management of the self. This governance of the self is conducted by virtue of conscious and divine living.
Consequent to Hinduism’s democratic framework the management of self is what we call as a way of life.
From rituals to murti-puja, mantra and metaphysics, karma and moksha, to meditation and yoga, and all its recreational aspects like music, dance and drama, Hinduism in its management of individual is a disciplinary as well as a comprehensive experience of spiritual development in liberal and progressive regime.
Excerpts form Hinduism Beyond Rituals, Customs And Traditions
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