‘PHARISAIC ATTITUDE’ is a phrase that is used for describing the mindset of those who are self-righteous and consider themselves superior to others, especially when it comes to religious and moral practices. The phrase originated from the New Testament of the Bible where we find Pharisees constantly interacting with Jesus often only to point out how he and his disciples broke customs and rules that the Pharisees and other Jews of the time meticulously observed. One of the two meanings of Pharisee in the dictionary
is, “a person who is very proud of the fact that he has high religious and moral standards but who does not care enough about other people”.

Jesus, along with his disciples, was becoming quite popular among ordinary people.
The Pharisees saw this as a huge obstacle in their way to glory and fame. Once, as the
gospel of Mark describes, “when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled,
that is, with unwashed hands, they found fault because the Pharisees and all Jews do
not eat unless they wash their hands in a special way, holding the tradition of the elders.
And there are many other things which they have received and are holding onto, like the
washing of cups, pitchers, copper vessels and couches. Then the Pharisees and scribes
asked Him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but
eat bread with unwashed hands?”

The essence of Jesus’ teaching was always to free people from such external rituals
and help them discover God’s love, so quoting to them from the Book of Isaiah, which
they regularly read and were familiar with, he retorted saying, “This people honour Me
with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching
as doctrines the commandments of men’. Jesus then continued, “For laying aside the
commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men – the washing of pitchers and cups
and other such things you do”.

One could easily find the resonance of Jesus’ teachings in what Swami Dayanand
Saraswati taught. He was against many of the external rituals of the Hindu religion and
he asked people to give up those ritualistic practices and return to the purity of Vedas.
My association with Swami Agnivesh, one of the close followers of Swami Dayanand
Saraswati, has opened my eyes further to this truth. I see him often shunning the external
rituals, which ordinary people often think is necessary for their spiritual life.

It is common for ordinary folks like us to frequently believe that we can please God and
fulfil his commandments by performing some external practices. It would appear that the
words Jesus quoted, “This people honours Me with their lips, but their heart is far from
Me”, might well describe our actions. For instance, in India, we notice that in most shops,
just above where the owner sits, there is the statue of his/her Ishta Dev. And before
the owner settles down, s/he is seen praying devoutly before the god/goddess, doing
puja with agarbatti, reciting all the prayers and so on. But these would not necessarily
correspond with his business practices.

To press his point further about the futility of external practices, which were not
restricted only to spiritual matters, Jesus imparts another teaching to his disciples
saying, “Are you also as lacking in understanding? Don’t you realize that nothing going
into a man from the outside can defile him? For it doesn’t go into his heart but into the
stomach and is eliminated.” (Thus he declared all food as clean). Then He said, “What
comes out of a person — that defiles him. For from within, out of people’s hearts, come
evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, evil actions, deceit,
lewdness, stinginess, blasphemy, pride and foolishness. All these evil things come from
within and defile a person.”

Jesus certainly throws light on the root of evil which has often has serious consequences
on human behaviour and relationship, both with God and with one another. An insight
like that can take us a long way in living a good spiritual and moral life here.

(Emmanuel, Dominic. Shun rituals, just love God, The Asian Age, Monday, 21
February, 2011, p. 7.)