Karthikeya 2 vs PK Logical approach to religion done right and wrong?

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Hare Krishna, Kartikaya two versus p k. Logic done right and wrong in understanding religion and spirituality. Recently, the Kartikeya movie, which has become quite popular, depicts a skeptic’s journey to appreciation with respect to in India’s tradition specifically centered on Krishna and not just his divinity, but his historicity, his wisdom, his multifaceted expertise. In contrast, PK depicts an alien who comes to Earth and is skeptical about the various religious practices of people on the Earth.

While PK seems to be critical of all religions, It is the Hindu religion that is singled out for the most scathing criticism. With respect to Islam, all that is depicted is that he takes some wine inside the mosque to offer to offer to God there, and he’s driven out. So that only shows his insensitivity, not the that religion in the bad light. And Christianity is shown to to that they are using money to convert people. But beyond that, it is the Vedic tradition, deity worship that is mocked.

The religious teachers who are portrayed as hypocritical and exploitative and self serving, and all the rituals are portrayed as irrational expressions of, blind faith. Yes. Superstitions and blind faith can creep into any tradition, but the singular criticism directed towards Hinduism is an example of logic being used to serve an agenda. And even then, actually, it pretends to be logical, but it doesn’t it isn’t logical. So for example, one key theme in the romance associated EK is that, the right wing Hindus who are influenced by religious leaders, they are all bigoted, and they see all Muslims as bad.

And that’s why the Hindu religious leader tells this, girl that, you know, that Muslim boy betrayed you, and that’s how Muslims are. And then it turns out that there’s been a misunderstanding, and she was not betrayed by that boy. So the message is that don’t generalize all people in one category. Well, that’s a valid message. But then what does PK itself do?

While saying that we shouldn’t generalize, it generalizes about holy men and those who follow the holy holy teachers and those who follow the holy teachers. It depicts all holy teachers as bad, and it depicts all the followers of such holy teachers. And, again, only from the Vedic tradition it depicts this way. All these people as gullible. So why generalize over there?

Couldn’t it have depicted at least one thoughtful, religious teacher within the Hindu tradition? Couldn’t it have depicted one thoughtful follower? Is it that among the billions of millions and billions of people who follow? Is it only PK and Alien has a monopoly over logic and intelligence? In contrast, what we see in is that yes.

The protagonist, the hero, Kartikeya, begins as a skeptic, but then he meets his thoughtful professors, who who actually points out the wisdom, the glory of the tradition, from which the modern Indian civilization has emerged. And he gets appreciation through that, through both such encounters with people and experiences. Some many of them extraordinary, some of them, mystical. But the point is, logic leads one towards appreciation, not rejection. And in general, if we consider the we could come compare the philosophy and the rash rational wisdom that is there in, in the Indian tradition.

That is like science, more pure science, theoretical science, and the culture and the religious practices, what is negative sometimes called as rituals, all that like technology. Most people who use technology, they use it because it benefits them, but they don’t really always know how it works. So if somebody uses the Internet, how many peep who use the Internet actually know how the Internet works? How many people use a mobile know how the semiconductor technology works? And just because they don’t know how it works, does it mean that the whole technology is bogus?

Oh, so so so culture is like that. Philosophy and culture are like science and technology. Many people who follow culture may not necessarily know the exact reasons why their culture is being followed. But the point is that there are people who know, and it’s those people who need to be asked. It’s like how Internet works, how semiconductor technology works.

That is something we try to ask scientists. So there are spiritual teachers. There are holy wise people, leaders who can answer those questions. And it is that balanced approach that is missing in PK and that is required for and show in card PK. That is what is required if we are genuine in our search for knowledge.

Otherwise, it is not a search for knowledge. It is it is actually logic used to serve an agenda. And the last point is, yes, there is an element of faith in every tradition. Even in science, there is an element of faith for that matter. Because when science proposes a particular theory, it has only a finite amount of evidence, and future observations may turn may prove that theory to be not valid, or if not invalid, at least incomplete.

Just as faith is required in every area of life, faith is required in in the domain of religion and spirituality also. Now among the various religious traditions of the world, reason is it is in complements faith, and reason is especially emphasized in the Vedic tradition. In the Vedic tradition, there are no commandments. Do this and don’t do this. There are instructions, but there are no central commandments.

Actually, if there’s any commandment, that is to inquire, ask questions. The Upanishads are all filled with questions. Even the Puranas, which may not be meant for people with that high intellectual portion, even they are filled with question and answers. The central book of the broad any tradition or the Hindu tradition, the Bhagavad Gita, is a book of question and answers. And even when God, Krishna, gives some answer that doesn’t make sense, Arjuna doesn’t hesitate to ask questions.

So the logic is very much recognized, valued, and utilized in the search for reality, in the search for understanding that as is characterized in the Vedic tradition, and that is to be portrayed properly. So in terms of the entertainment value, yes, entertainers can create various stories to entertain. But when they are drawing stories which are depicting things that are highly respected or narrated in a particular tradition, then it is their responsibility to portray those things accurately. Otherwise, they are not helping people understand. They’re only serving their own agenda and sometimes propagating misunderstanding.

So it is, again, encouraging to see that logic is being used constructively in movies like Kartikeya. And for those who seek to use logic to gain deeper understanding in religion and spirituality, the Vedic tradition offers abundant resources for furthering their search by answering questions logically and reasonably. We just need to find the right teachers who can explain their wisdom to us in a way that is logical, rational, intelligible, and transformational. Thank you. Hare, Krishna.