Spreading Rationalism

Our national aim must be to make India a highly prosperous country in which our people enjoy a high standard of living, nobody is discriminated against, and everybody is given equal opportunity to develop his or her talents. This is possible only when India gets highly industrialized, and this is possible only when rational and scientific thinking is spread among our masses.

 My effort through my posts is therefore to spread rational and scientific thinking among Indians, who are presently steeped in casteism, communalism, and superstitions. But look at my uphill task. I will give a few examples.

Very few Indians eat beef, because most Hindus regard cow as sacred or as a mother. Most of my own family members do not eat beef and are conservative Hindus. I am surrounded by an ocean of people in India who would be horrified at the very thought of eating beef. For centuries Hindus have been  brainwashed into thinking that cows should not be slaughtered.

 But I have made it a principle that I will never accept anything just because millions or even billions of people believe in it. Unless something appeals to my reason I will never accept it, even if the rest of humanity accepts it. At one time almost everyone believed in witches and ghosts, but is that a good reason to believe in them ? So unless I am convinced by sound reasoning I will not accept anything said by anyone.

 I coolly reasoned with myself, and saw nothing wrong in eating beef. A cow is only an animal. How can it be regarded as the mother of human beings ?  And how can an animal be regarded as sacred ? Human beings are superior to animals because they are more evolved. How can human beings worship as a god a creature which is lower in evolution ?

Also, most of the world eats beef. Are Americans, Europeans, Russians, Chinese, Africans, etc and even some people in India all wicked people, and Hindus alone good ? It would be silly to say so.

 Being rationally convinced that there was nothing wrong in eating beef, and therefore ban on beef is irrational, and therefore anti-Indian, I spoke out against it.

 In fact I have eaten beef a few times, but usually do not eat it out of respect for my wife and other relatives and friends, but if the occasion arises I will again eat beef. I see nothing wrong in doing so.

 I knew that I would be widely condemned and abused for saying this, but what of that ? If rational ideas were not propagated there would be no progress in the world. At one time almost everyone in Europe believed that the sun revolved around the earth as the Bible said, and the contrary view of Copernicus was condemned. But today the view, initially of one man as against the rest, is accepted as true. It follows that the minority, sometimes of only one man, is correct, and sometimes the view of the overwhelming majority is wrong.

 I am therefore never bothered that the majority, or even vast majority holds a view contrary to mine. The real question is : which view is rational and scientific ?

  Similarly, I expressed my view about Gandhi, calling him objectively a British agent, for which I was condemned by both Houses of Parliament. But while I gave my reasons for my opinion, the members of Parliament who spoke against me, gave no reasons to refute my reasoning. I believe that the Indian people have been brainwashed for long about Gandhi, but now the time has come when they must know the truth.