THE  MODERN  RATIONALIST

.For millennia, human race has been getting
         civilized and informed. The key factor for this
         improvement is its scientific temper and its inquisitiveness. Its reasoning power or the word “WHY, WHEN, WHAT, HOW” solved many problems and the world remains better informed day by day. However the world was always afraid of major natural disasters like thunders, earth quake, land slide etc. This fear gave rise to the idea of “God” which led to the evolution of “Religions”.  As rightly pointed out by Thanthai Periyar, “All religions have the fear  complex of human beings as their base”. In due course, the fear complex was utilised by some selfish persons to exploit the ignorant.  The dogmas they evolved were stringent to such an extent that their veracity should not be questioned. Those dogmas were the mandates.

The religions began to grow fast and even the kings were made to obey the religious heads . This was the case in almost all the religions.
Soon ceremonies, rituals, customs and habits became more prevalent in society. The caste system crept in and people were divided and ruled by religion and caste. Superstitions were rampant everywhere.  Magic, horoscope, vastu,  witch craft  are a few among such superstitions which were also made use by opportunists to encash the situation.

Many epidemic diseases such as cholera, small- pox, chicken pox etc which were dreaded as penalties on human beings imposed by “Gods and Goddesses” were eradicated by rational thinking and scientific temper of man. Earlier people were imagining that giving birth to a child was only due to the blessing of god. Similarly giving birth to many children was thought to be due to the wishes of ”God” and the parents had no say or control in this. But with the development of science, artificial insemination, test tube babies, cloning of babies, birth control and family planning have all become true due to scientific temper and rational thinking.

But in spite of all these developments there are many superstitions prevailing. Avaricious men slaughter their own childas “offerings” to god or goddess to get imaginary treasures. There are many more unimaginable superstitions such as “Marriage between frogs, Asses, Ass with men , Ass with women , between peepul  tree and neem tree etc. to get rain, though international conferences are going on to avoid climate changes.

To worsen the situation T.Vs and News papers, though they themselves  owe their birth and existence to development of scientific temper, propagate and broadcast many programmes, serials and articles to perpetuate superstitions.  Weekly prediction for each “ Rasi” is a hot news in many News Papers and T.V.s.

How can we eradicate this calamitous situation? Constitution of India through its article 51A- (h) stresses upon every citizen to develop Urges temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform.

The 21st century is declared as “knowledge Era”. To achieve this at govt. level, departments such as Department of Innovation, Department of scientific temper should be established and made active, in addition to Departments like Science & Technology and MHRD . From the birth of the child, the parents should inculcate the sense of scientific temper and should avoid forcing on them superstitious ideas. In nursery, primary & secondary schools, the  teaches should continue to imbibe this scientific temper in their minds. The teachers themselves should be taught towards this goal. Again, the Govt. should encourage the media such as T.V.s and news Papers to publish such information as to make the people think scientifically and not to propagate superstitious ideas.

At global scenario, the Human Development Index (HDI) of India, which is a measure of the life expectancy, enrollment in education and the purchasing power of the citizen, is only 0.612 and India is at the rank of 134 out of 182 countries. So, urgent action is to be taken as suggested above to improve the situation.

Yet another index, to show that India should concentrate on developing scientific temper is that only 119 persons per million are innovators in India, whereas in China and USA this is 715persons per million and 4628 persons per million respectively.

Apart from this, even the Gross Enrollment Ratio for admission from High School to College is as low as 12.4% in India, whereas it is 13% in China, 27% in Malaysia, 49% in Japan, 54% in U.K and 81% in U.S.

A few endowed with a spirit of inquisitiveness began to doubt the dogmas of religions and raised many questions which enlightened the common man in due course. Thanthai Periyar  is described in the UNESCO citation as  “Periyar, the Prophet of the New Age, The Socrates of South East Asia, Father of the Social Reform Movement and Arch Enemy of Ignorance, Superstitions, Meaningless Customs and Base Manners.” He was the leading personality in this direction.

Though many rationalists were opposing the religious sentiments and superstitions, it was Thanthai Periyar who took it as a challenge and spent his whole life and earnings for spreading the rationalism. He did not stop with preaching, but did it as a mass movement, giving lectures to the public , in all villages and towns. The sole force which motivated him was his scientific temper, fearless expression of what he felt as right. He argued within himself and got judicious answers which made him a rationalist leader. If every statement of Thanthai Periyar is studied in depth, it will reveal one basic fact – That is all his conclusions are arrived at after careful analysis with an unbiased outlook and a scientific temper. It will also reveal his empathy towards the downtrodden people. The scientific temper Periyar expected   to instill was in the field of religion and society. Periyar was in fact allergic to religion and the havoc   it caused all through the ages. Religion was one of the five things that he shunned in his life. In befooling the masses and to make them subservient to the priestly class, religion was a major cause and hence Periyar condemned it.  Periyar’s condemnation of religion was something inborn, original, spontaneous and it never receded or gone off until the last breath of his life.

Similarly if we analyse the statements of rationalists all over the world, like Mr. Abraham kovoor,  Robert  Ingersal, we can understand, that it is the scientific temper and  the spirit of inquisitiveness that distinguishes them from others. After Thanthai Periyar, Maniammaiyar and the present leader Dr.K.Veeramani are continuing to carry forward torch of  wisdom of  Thanthai Periyar with vigour and with different strategies, all over the globe to combat the fear complex about superstitions by instilling scientific temper. Philosophies of Thanthai Periyar are now propagated with new vigour and values through the  international rationalist daily Viduthalai(Liberty), and the magazines Unmai  (Truth), Periyar Pinju (Periyar kids) and also Modern Rationalist. They are also propagated through www.periyar.org, www.webvision.periyar.org.in  and Periyar FM 90.4 Mhz  . Thanthai Periyar’s books are also translated into English, Hindi and other languages for the benefit of every human being.  Many educational and social institution Kinder Garten to University level have been established by The Periyar Self-Respect Propaganda  Institution headed by Dr.K.Veeramani with head quarters at Chennai and also  many campuses in Trichirapalli, Thanjavur and Delhi etc. Not merely for getting degree and employment and making a lively hood but to instill a sense of Self-respect and scientific temper. Efforts by stalwarts and leading personalities to translate ideas of Thanthai Periyar in various languages and to propagate them through various media in collaboration with The Periyar Self-Respect Propaganda Institution is the need of the hour.

 We may also fervently hope that the world will become a better place to live because of the scientific temperament of human beings. Let us join together in the noble task of transforming our society with utmost scientific temper whereby India will be the major global player, becoming the knowledge economy of the Globe.  Let us carry forward the torch of scientific temper all over the world.