Religion and Belief (Based on Gandhi and Wittgenstein)

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

This study examines the importance of religion and religious beliefs in the life of an individual. Revolving around this subject there are several other questions, namely, God, immortality of the soul, afterlife, the Last Judgment, why man needs to be good during his life, etc. These are eternal questions which have been and will continue to be debated. Gandhi and Wittgenstein, two great personalities in the world philosophical thought, will be compared on the notion of religion and religious beliefs. This study goes over the alleys of the subject with a proper attitude of humility and with a submission to the eternality of these questions.

Meeta Nath took her M.A. in Philosophy from the University of Delhi. She took her M. Phil. from the Department of Philosophy, University of Delhi. She did her Ph. D. on "The study of the notion of Ahimsa in the teachings of Buddha and Gandhi: A Comparison" from the Department of Buddhist Studies, University of Delhi. She has been teaching Philosophy in Ramjas College, University of Delhi since 2001. She has published books Ahimsa (based on Buddhism and Gandhism), Delhi Vidyanidhi Prakashan, 2010 and Confucius (Ethics, Culture and Politics), Delhi 2011. She has also published number of articles in national and international journals. Some of them are "Global Terrorism" (Bodhi Path), "Terrorism, Pakistan and India" (Bodhi Path), "Forms of Obscurantism and Funamentalism" (International Journal of Multi- disciplinary Educational Research).

This study began as my dissertation for M. Phil. in 2000. Since then I have given further thought to the questions raided by Gandhi and Wittgenstein. I have tried to place their ideas and disputations in the context of the large philosophical questions which became subjects of concern for them but which have been debated by scholars for ages without conclusion.

The entire study is an attempt to find the importance of religion in one's life and how religion and religious beliefs contribute to the life of an individual. The question is not whether religious beliefs like God, Soul, or After Life are true or not, but the important question is, what contribution or guidance these beliefs give to our life and how they enable us to become better person or to lead a goodlife.

This question has been debated in all traditions of the world and will continue to be debate. It is unlikely that there shall ever be closure to this debate. It is well known that numerous traditions and scholars down the ages and right up to our own times have debated this questions, with much light thrown on the subject.

It is pleasant to be able to acknowledge me debt to some of the persons who have contributed directly or indirectly to the making of my work and in enabling me to carry it to completion.

This book deals with the subject of the greatest importance, the knowledge of the phenomenon which is know by the word 'Religion'. Dealing with this we are brought face to face with the most powerful factor that affects the life of all mankind. It is an attempt to search and find the importance of religion in one's life. We address several questions: how religion and religious beliefs contribute to the life of an individual to become a better person; how religion and morality give guidance to individual to lead a good life; how religious beliefs guide one's practical life; how a person holding a religious belief is guided better than a person not holding or practicing any religious belief. The question is not whether religious beliefs like God, Soul, and After Life are true or not, but the important question is, what contribution or guidance these beliefs give to our life and how they enable us to become better persons or to lead a good life.