religion is a symbol system that is created by human beings in such a way
that it is modeled fromthe social reality and becomes a model forthe social
reality. This symbol system, he added, pervades human moods and
motivations and becomes one of the ways by which human beings find
meaning in times of crisis, such as when confronted by their own mortality
or intellectual or moral bafflement. Human beings then clothe this “symbol
system” with an aura of ultimacy to give it legitimation.
Suggestive as these ideas are, some religious people will have trouble
conceding that the idea of ultimacy or of the divine is a human construction.
Nonetheless, in both Otto’s and Geertz’ systems there is the insistence that
there is much about religion that expresses the human situation. In Otto,
for example, every perception or thought one has about the numinous is an
“ideogram,” a human perception or creation.^22 Hence, everything one says
or thinks about the divine is a human thought or expression. There is
something humbling and constructive about remembering that about our
religions – at the very least, they are a creative and fascinating expression of
the human spirit. Religious ideas, practices, phenomena etc. are not derived
in a vacuum, but do reflect the social and cultural situation in which they
arise. That is one reason it is necessary to view the development of various
religious expressions in India in their historical and social, even political
context. At the same time, we do well to remember that in all such study,
there is apt to be a “more than” that transcends our interpretations.
In contrast to Western theorists, were one to ask a Hindu as to the nature
of religion, an answer one is very likely to receive is that it is dharma. The
termdharma, derived from the Sanskrit dhr., implies a sense of reciprocity
between the cosmic process as a whole and each individual within the
cosmos.Dharmais doing that which maintains cosmic “balance.” As such, it
is a “way of life,” the fulfilling of social, legal, and ritual obligations in a way
that does not disrupt that balance. Dharmais not so much a belief in a deity
or the performance of weekly rituals so much as it is a total orientation, a
way of being in the world.
One implication of this discussion is that the study of “religion” in India
should cause us to rethink continually some of the basic paradigms and
assumptions we make. We will need to adjust our understanding of what
“religion” is, just as we will need to readjust our lenses – our images and
presuppositions. That task alone is an exciting yet challenging opportunity.
On Wearing Good Lenses 11