Relevance: The topic is a part of UPSC CSE General Studies Paper-IV Ethics syllabus. Concepts are particularly relevant in the theory section. Aspirants will also find the article useful for their Essay paper and situation-based questions in personality tests. Moreover, the article’s essence will help aspirants professionally and in life in general.

Nanditesh Nilay writes for UPSC Ethics Simplified fortnightly on Sundays. The first article will be a concept while the second article will be a caselet based on the concept. Don’t miss the ‘Post Read Question’ below.

WEDNESDAY | Jan 31, 2024 | 6:00 PM

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From our early childhood, we have been taught about religion and belief systems. Religion means “the belief in a god or gods and the activities connected with it.” Ethics is all about righteousness. Both have only one objective and that is to emphasise truth. In an age where religion and ethics always expect to complement each other, it is better to understand the relationship between religion and ethics in the context of truth. Let’s ask the fundamental question.

Who is God?

The simple answer is ‘God is truth and truth is God’. And when we say being ethical, we mean to bring the variable of truth into the frame of religion. According to Gandhiji, truth is God, but the question now arises that God, that which is truth and its attainment is the purpose of life, is who is God? Why do we fight in the name of God? And if it is happening globally, then whether that is the truth? According to Gandhiji truth in daily life is relative but through relative truth, an absolute truth can be reached and this observation is the ultimate goal of life. Its attainment is the ultimate dharma of man and therefore he experimented with truth only.

We are living in an age where every second day truth is contested, in the home, office, and society. It’s your truth vs my truth. In the era of pandemics and war human beings are still learning to live with the truth of vaccination and hope that booster dose will save them. Here the truth becomes universal. But simultaneously some nations are fighting and selling propaganda and arms and confirming the truth lies in the barrel of a gun. Here the truth is nothing but relative. Yes, we are living in an age where truth is contested. And for that, we are ready to deceit, deny, and dodge the truth. But we must take a pause and ask ourselves, ‘Can we?’ The world is fighting to prove their truth about x religion and its community vs religion and its community. But is it ethical to harm many innocents in the name of my truth versus your truth?

In any leadership where Karmayoga or the Karmayogi image of Vivekananda is preferred and practiced, there is always a chance of releasing any country from self-inflicted bondage and dogmatic miseries and realising the truth while following a religion with ethics. What Vivekananda stood for was Hinduism’s essence, and that essentially takes the spirit of nationalism to a more human and universal level.

Swami believed that Hinduism is all about the Vedantic message of the inherent divinity of man and the unity of all existence. The spiritual path leads to truth and peace only, and Vivekananda believed in it. He said, “Do not care for doctrines, do not care for dogmas, or sects, or churches, or temples; they count little compared with the essence of existence in each man which is spirituality; and the more this is developed in each man, the more powerful is he for good.”

If adaptability to change is the truth for all those who are fit to survive, is using relations and human beings as means and thus defying the Categorical Imperative of Kant also truth? If confirming oneself for the nation first is the truth, is thinking about the nuclear family only and not serving those who are not blood relation also the truth? What is the truth in human evolution? What is the truth in the present time? Believing in war or begging for peace! Ego or humility? Greed or Need? Courage or Fear? Selfishness or Service, I or We? Love or Hate? Care or cruelty? Community or Human being? What is the truth or will be the true truth for Mother Earth, for humankind?

Human society looks confused and so is the truth. And when religion is about Dharma or Righteousness it comes near to truth. As Vivekananda reminds us, “Follow truth wherever it may lead you; carry ideas to their utmost logical conclusions. You must have a great devotion to your ideal, devotion not of the moment, but calm, persevering, and steady devotion, like that of a Chataka (a kind of bird) which looks into the sky amid thunder and lightning and would drink no water but from the clouds.”

So the truth is that we all are human beings and for our survival, we have to take care of each other. Religion and ethics are for human beings’ benefit and this is the truth. We are beyond race, religion, caste, class, regionalism. We are only human beings. Neither more nor less. And we are completely dependent on nature. Even for oxygen. It is the only universal truth. Rest is man-made.

“There is no religion higher than Truth and Righteousness.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi. What does it convey to you in the present context?

(Nanditesh Nilay is the author of ‘Being Good’, Aaiye, Insaan Banaen’ and ‘Ethikos: Stories Searching Happiness’. He teaches courses on and offers training in ethics, values and behaviour. He has been the expert/consultant to UPSC, SAARC countries, Civil services Academy, National Centre for Good Governance, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Competition Commission of India (CCI), etc. He has PhD in two disciplines and has been a Doctoral Fellow in Gandhian Studies from ICSSR. His second PhD is from IIT Delhi on Ethical Decision Making among Indian Bureaucrats. He writes for the UPSC Ethics Simplified (Concepts and Caselets) fortnightly.)

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