The Two Popes - Dharma, Life Events, and Women

Image courtesy: Netflix.com, theconversation.com 

Recently, I began watching The Two Popes on Netflix, and found particularly interesting the conversations between the Cardinal Archbishop of Buenos Aires and the Pope - on the Catholic Church's dogma and position on marriage, divorce, etc.

People who look at religion superficially may conclude that if a Western religion was archaic, the older Eastern or Indic religions must be even more so, especially when fed on half-baked knowledge about the Hindu or Indic way of life.

There really isn't much Hindu or Indic dogma - of the 'thou shalt, or else' variety. The Vedas and Upanishads themselves make it amply clear that what is right or wrong (i.e., dharma and adharma) must change with the times. That certain communities tried to enforce voluntary practices such as Sati on unwilling widows during certain times in our history is very unfortunate.

You will see hundreds of prescribed samskaras, poojas, prayers, etc., but none that says you are banned from institutions if you don't do any of them. Institutions such as temples, mutts, etc., themselves are are very recent inventions (increasingly important, no doubt) to guide individuals who may not have the tools themselves. Still, if one particular Indic school of thought's institutions do indeed close their doors on you, there are always others that will open theirs. So, Indic institutions must not be compared to Western and or Islamic organized religion.

Note that the Ishavaasya Upanishad, for example, would rather have you do nothing than do a samskara or worse urge others to do it too, if you do not know what it is for. You are in fact warned about hell if you were to do that.

About the status of life events and in particular women, I heard in a recent lecture by a scholar that the Puranas actively recommend that men and women care about women's happiness, that men and women both be well educated (not necessarily in the same things), that men and women be disciplined and monogamous, and that men forgive their women even if they were to have carried out an affair. You might be surprised to hear that the Puranas actually go to the extent of recommending that a man even raise as his own a child that might have been born out of his wife's affair. I certainly did not expect to see such 'liberal' ideas expressed thousands of years ago in a tradition that continues to live on. Marriage itself, as an institution, was primarily intended to help the two individuals grow and evolve mentally and spiritually. Whether we hold the same ideals today or not is a different matter for our present generations to introspect. With our current lifestyles, we seem to focus more on who shall do the chores, making money, enjoying the moment, etc., with mental and spiritual fulfillment at best an afterthought.

The Indic way of life does not require you to give up your individual goals, ambitions, career, happiness, or fun. It just urges you to pursue them within some parameters laid down to suit your times and in keeping with the well-being of your community and future generations. Aspiring to higher ideals are recommended too, of course. e.g., aspiring for knowledge and the happiness that comes from contentment instead of wealth or fun, not showing off whatever wealth one has, etc.

If Indic communities rigidly hold on to practices that were more appropriate in earlier times, they run the risk of actually not adhering to Dharma, despite their best intent.