1 - Theologies of Self-reform: What Transforms the Cross?

Summary

Can you show us a single village that is based on the lofty principles of the

Hindu religious thoughts?

The question posed to Dadaji at a religious congress held in Japan 1954

One could not talk about spirituality if one had not experienced it. But we

could easily speak about ethical and moral precepts. What was even more

important than that was the ‘relationship’ that we developed with the people

when we met them at regular intervals.

Former senior leader, Mumbai 2005

While articulating their theology of self-reform, Dadaji has never placed Svadhyaya within any particular Hindu sectarian tradition but within the discourse of human welfare. The limit of the project of modernity is the starting point of Svadhyaya's self-articulation. In his speeches and writings at the time of the Japan Conference (1954), and decades later at the time of receiving the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership (1996) and the Templeton Prize in Religion (1997), Dadaji explained the aims and goals of Svadhyaya. These speeches harp on the presence of religion in civil society. They establish the view that religion has an important role to play in the matters of collective good: a role that religion has lost in the post- Enlightenment world. Dadaji points out that there is nothing wrong with the concepts of liberty and equality but they are concerned with the individual and not with the collective. Moreover, ‘While the concepts of rights and justice excite our minds, they do not automatically inspire us to work for human welfare. It is the concept of duty that makes us do so’ (1954).

Dadaji critiques the materialist philosophy of life and observes that human deprivation in contemporary times could not be redressed either by the welfare capitalist or the socialist models. Both the Industrial and French Revolutions that led to capitalism and democracy respectively are based on a materialist philosophy of life. He argues that society is not possible without ethics and morality, which materialism does not emphasize. Moreover, these concepts do not take into account that the ideals of social and spiritual wellbeing in our society are different from that of the West.