Friday, January 2, 2009

Religious Harmony

The discussion on headgears turn interesting when some people agree that there should be no religion- an incredible and justifying solution, though far away from reality. And also why only to blame religion- don’t we differentiate each other on the basis of color, gender, economic class, countries, continents and many more. The problem is human greed and lust of power- a tribal manifestation of kill and die, what makes us to think only from one aspect. We tend to think if A is not B, either A is superior to B or vice versa.

Most of Indian religions (Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism) started as spiritual movements and address the social issues in those times. Though I am Hindu, but not sure how this oldest civilization or religion started? Some of us are book followers (Veda, Gita, Upanishads and Ramayana), some love chanting and some are happy with rituals. Different people offer different theories of Indigenous Aryans or invader Aryans or existence of Aryans. I seriously doubt that Hinduism has anything to do with Aryans manipulation. Both groups South Indians (Dravidians) and North Indians worship same Gods and chant Mantras written in Sanskrit. Buddhism and Jainism revised the concepts of ‘Karma’ and meditation of Gita, above than rituals. With his command on both sword and spirituality, Guru Gobind Singh gave Sikhism a new identity while saving Hindus against forceful conversion to Islam during the rule of Aurangzeb. All of these religions rely on the spirituality of the soul or self, exist in everyone and achievable by everyone.

Think about all the existing religions from the year of origin to next five thousand years (Though I doubt, we will survive so long if we continue in the same ways). Which religion is or will be free from the taboo rituals and internal divisions? People attach feelings with the book covers, idols, places or dress codes instead of the essence and tend to forget wisdom of saints and charismatic figures.

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