• Know how the Roman Catholic Church views Divorce. Protestants allow divorce. Know about malafide Tantric misrepresentations of marriage.  

Roman Catholicism, centred in the Vatican, is primarily an ascetical religion. It draws its inspirations from the Bible and the infallible, or unerring teachings of the Popes. The Holy Roman Catholic Church has from the beginning and, to date, held that marriage is an inviolable sacrament. That is, it is a direct mark of God or, YHWH on the couple.

For, it is God who calls them in the first place to be man and wife and what God has put together, the Church declares, ‘let no man tear asunder’. Therefore, the Roman Catholic Church does not permit divorce.

If one divorces and marries another person, then the person who divorces is anathema to the Church. The Church teaches that such a person is living in mortal sin. If that person were to die in that state of sin, then s/he will be damned forever in hell. It is in this context, that long ago in England, a king wanted to divorce his wife and he was not permitted to do so by Rome.

In anger and defiance, he separated from the Roman Church and began, what is known as the Church of England. That Church is a Protestant Church since it protested against this strict rule, against divorce, of the Roman Catholic Church. Today, most Protestant denominations allow divorces. But the Roman Catholic Church does not allow divorces. This is a non-negotiable of the Roman Catholic Faith.

Why Marriages are Important 

The Roman Church is firm on the point against divorce and we Hindus should learn from this affirmative and felicitous inflexibility. In a divorce the most affected are often children. Parents can and do carry on with their lives. But it destroys the lives of children. The very foundation of society is shaken.

Good and strong families make for robust future communities.

If a child is brought up in a disturbed and violent family, then that child will grow up to be an equally insecure and disturbed person who then cannot commit to one person. Children of divorced parents often, not always, cannot trust their partners when they grow up.

Divorce, the Roman Catholic Church rightly affirms, is one of the greatest threats to our civilization. Marriage, contrary to the brainwashing that is done in our institutes of higher education, is not a social contract or a licence for unfettered lust. It is a sign from God that two people, of opposite sex and gender, are to live in communion through thick or thin and not part till their deaths. The sacrament of marriage is an exclusive act --- in a marriage the woman is the man’s best friend, and the man is the woman’s best friend. Every other human being on earth is secondary to this relationship of the man and wife in the eyes of God. This too, is the traditional teaching of our Dharma.

Misrepresentations of Tantra 

Online on YouTube and elsewhere on Tantra it is shown that so called sadhakas are entering into illicit relationships with Yakshini mothers and other supernatural beings mentioned in our Tantras and Agamas. For instance, there now is the theory of the Karn Pishachini Yogini.

According to this theory, this Mother wants to have an unending erotic relationship with the sadhaka. In return, the Mother will reveal the past, and the future of whoever comes to the sadhaka. This and other concepts now imputed to Tantra are so perverted that it seems to this author to be the handiworks of some cosmic evil force out to destroy Tantra.

First, if these Mothers who are all without exceptions, part of Shakti, were to be deviant then why would they have been mentioned in our Shastras? It is the perverted mind which seeks eroticism from supernatural beings. This same so called Karna Pishachini Mata seeks the pure devotee to warn her or him of future catastrophes. But the devotee has to be chaste and look at her as a Mother and not as evil as being portrayed by YouTube Tantric influencers. How can one be chaste if one’s marriage is not built on a solid conjugal foundation to begin with? 

If divorce is an option, then Telegu serials like Yakshini will continue to draw huge audiences by misrepresenting Yakshini Mothers to be polygamous and lustful. This does not reflect on the reality of either Yakshini Mothers or the so called Karn Pishachini while it reflects poorly on unrestrained men unhappy with their spouses. These men impose their perversions on Deities who appear to us as women. Calling a more powerful and authoritarian Deity, Pishachini is deplorable. How can anyone call his mother a demon? 

The Roman Catholic doctrine of the indissolubility of marriage is a necessity in our own community. According to Catholicism this doctrine is a universal truth and hence civil courts throughout the world upholding divorce prove that the world is just samsara, and eternal things are best left to holy women and men.

Divorces are intrinsically against the laws of natural justice; they are a violation of the sacred theo-anthropological cradle of the family and against the Majesty of God.

Dr. Subhasis Chattopadhyay is a theologian with special interests in Shakta Tantra and separately, in Roman Catholic theology.

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