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CHAPTER IV
RELIGION
The social and economic life of a country considered apart from religion, constitutes a sphere of collective existence in which 'human activities are directed to the twofold pursuit of kāma and attha, i.e., of worldly pleasure and advantage. Religion, on the other hand, constitutes a sphere of collective or individual existence in which human activities are directed to the twofold pursuit of dhamma1 and mokkha, i.e., of perfection of conduct and perfection of personality. By its definition, religion is essentially a system of faith and worship implying as it does human recognition of a personal God entitled to obedience and its effect on conduct, etc. As pursuit of dhamma, religion seeks to mould and remould, adjust and readjust human life, individual and collective, as expressed in various ways in conduct. It either sublimates the grosser elements in human nature or sanctifies all that is normally considered right, proper, good, noble, pure, refined, beautiful, appreciable and enjoyable. As pursuit of mokkha, it implies self-alienation
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1 E. J. Thomas, History of Buddhist Thought, p. 78.
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