The Panel Conference

The Poison and the Nectar

Dr Karan Singh, Minister of Health & Family Planning, Republic of India, inaugurates the fourth panel

After hundred of thousands of years of evolution on this planet, the human race has finally reached a decisive crossroads in its destiny. On the one hand, science and technology has given man power, if he uses it wisely, to eliminate poverty and suffering and ignorance and disaster from the face of the earth; on the other hand, the same science and technology, if misused, will end up by eliminating not only the human race itself, but all other life on this who went. They left the rest of the earth behind. But if man ever goes. He may well take with him all life on earth. He will leave nothing but a planet so polluted and spoiled as to be totally uninhabitable I think this is symbolic of the difference between the human race and other creatures who have inhabited this planet.

The special capacity of man lies in his ability to transcend himself. All other creatures are bound within the confines of their own evolution; but man is the first of his kind – a very special creation on this planet. He has the capacity to rise above himself and come in contact with what may be called Spirit or may be called God. What ever name we call it, we have to be very careful with words, particularly when speaking about religion. Certain words can have certain meanings for a particular religion and when used by other religions, can be misunderstood.

The basic point I want to make is that the old is dying and the new is coming. There is no doubt about it. Old customs, old formalities, old ways of behaviour, have totally collapsed, that is, died; and the new is struggling to be born. Ourselves in a very precarious position.

Now what is the role that the great religions of the world are to play? They have played a marvellous role in human history, resulting in great creativity and inspiring millions. On the other hand, it must also be recognised that in the name of these very religions many terrible atrocities and cruelties have been committed by man upon man. There has been much exploitation in the name of religion, and many questions can be put as to whether religion in any way can help mankind to overcome these present difficulties of this nuclear age. I think this is a question to which we must address ourselves, and the theme of this particular panel is extremely important in this context – The essential Unity of Religions.

Quite frankly, the time has gone when religions fought with each other for the allegiance of mankind. I think that is a thing of the past. The position now is, whether religion as such is to have meaning, or whether religion as it is has to disappear from the face of the earth. It is a question of trying to discover what Essential Unity means.

There are lots of rituals and different interpretations, and each religion had its followers. But it seems to me that the major point: that every religion seeks to bring about in its followers a direct relationship between human and something that is superhuman or divine. In other words, it is the capacity of man to transcend himself into the Divine that lies at the root of religion – what is called mysticism.

Every religions has stressed this point between man and the Divine. To my mind, it is this fact – that it is essentially indefinable, it cannot be put into words that is important.

I am reminded of story about a Zen Master and his disciple; the disciple was reporting to the Master, and the Master realised that the disciple had had the experience before he could say the words. So the Master went and banged the gong.

The disciple said,

But Master, I have not said a word.

The Master said,

Exactly. Don’t say.

The difficulty arises when we try to put into words that which is essential; when we attempt an intellectual formation of an experience that is beyond words. Because words are unable to pinpoint or experience which lies, and I see it, at the root of all religions, whether it is Christianity or Sikh Gurus or the great Hindu mystics of the Vedas and Upanishads; there is something that they are all talking about and it is the same thing. They may say it in different ways and in different languages, but nevertheless it is the same.

I am not saying that rituals and Spiritual Descriptions are not important; they have their place. What would philosophers do without them? But the real essence lies in the indefinable experience.

Another thing is that this experience is not incompatible with activity in the world. This is very important because there is a tendency in some disciplines too, once this experience is attained, try and withdraw from active involvement in life.

But this is the basic point made in the Gita:

it is the comprehending of both the way of Krishna and the way of Buddha. Both have got to be comprehended, but they must be put into a single experience if a person if to make any sense whatever of the human predicament.

So today there is a need for churning the Ocean of Consciousness, as in the ancient myth. But remember that before the nectar comes the poison. If you recall the myth of the churning of the ocean, you will remember that the nectar came after dreadful poison in the great mouth of Shiva. That day immorality came to man. So today the Ocean of Consciousness is being churned. The poison has now got to be integrated within human consciousness if we are to break through into a new level of consciousness, a new awareness of the tremendous potentiality of man. And in this lies the Unity of Man. Therefore it seems to me that what a conference of this type should address itself to is the task of refocusing the attention of the human race upon this indefinable quality of transcendence and, if you are able to do this, I think you will be able to meet the tremendous challenges that face us.