I must begin with a preamble about a boy of 7 or 8 years of age, studying in a school I was heading. His father was a priest, and I helped the boy with fee waivers, etc., to enable him to continue his studies. One fine day, he abruptly stopped coming, and I learned that his father had inducted him as an assistant in his handsomely earning priestly business. I was angry, but I could do nothing. Each time I see the boy, now an adult, I lament how peer or parental pressure influences an individual’s right to choose his way of life. Thankfully, the father-and-son duo has flourished, not adding to my agony.
Be that as it may, it is difficult and often dangerous to write anything remotely connected with religious practices, even if they are utterly reprehensible or even declared illegal, like the Dalits rolling over the plantain leaves and leftover food of higher caste Hindus. The ritual was performed during the three-day annual celebrations at Kukke Subrahmanya in the South Canara district of Karnataka and was declared illegal. Superstitious beliefs and silly practices have no place in today’s world and do not offend the Vedas or any gods.
A recent news story that caught my attention was about an nine-year-old girl, the daughter of a diamantaire, who embraced monastic life in Gujarat two days ago. She was from the Jain community, and it is not uncommon for the community to renounce the world and embrace monastic life, etc. Such renunciations have happened in the past too, involving similar young children. I do not know if the act calls for commendation or condemnation, as at that young age the child is guided by external forces and competent to decide on her own.
What makes such renunciation newsworthy? Is it the glitter and shine of the diamonds associated with the family, or is it the exceptional qualities of the Jain community, which believes in ascetism as a way of life? The answers may be varied, but it is time that religious practices that induce children to do the undoable, like renunciation, etc., be debated. I may have missed stories of elders, mothers in particular, renouncing and taking diksha, renouncing their family and children. It is not a question on the beliefs, but its impact on unassuming, innocent and ignorant children. It is the consecration of the children that worries me the most.
I laud the thriving Jain community and their way of living. However, I staunchly believe that religions must evolve, like everything else does, to be compatible with humanity and its newer standards and to remain relevant.
I write this with the utmost respect towards the Jain community and the scores of my Jain friends and without meaning the least offence towards religious practices. Yet, I thought I must write this, have we, elders, faltered somewhere that the children renunciate?
Sampath Kumar
Intrépide Voix
