While writing this article, I am very cautious as it is related with the sentiments of the people. Some may feel happy and satisfied after reading it and may look forward to quench the thirst; others may get offended due to narrow mindedness and leave it midway. I request you to read it with an open mind and if you have more queries, you are most welcome for further discussions also. Thanks for your cooperation......
We often heard the word Religion every day. I was talking to a colleague when he told me that he prays Namaz as he belongs to Muslim Religion. I asked him about his understanding of the Religion and he was point blank except some rituals that he follows. I was surprised but again the bigger surprise arrives when we see Religion printed on the various forms we fill when joining an organization or institute. It is mostly asked on the forms as which religion do you belong to? And.... very proudly we write we are Hindu or Muslim or Christian or blah blah blah. There is a lot of confusion in society regarding Religion and Communities. To add to the surprise, these days the biggest fight amongst the people of the nations is for religion and communities. This seems to be the root cause behind all hatred amongst people world over. Western countries eyes Islam/Muslims as their enemy and the threat to the existence of the world and vice-versa. This fight amongst the communities is the costliest affair of the world as hundreds of millions have been spent on wars. Forget about the money or infrastructures, hundreds of thousands have paid for their lives for this particular community hatred. Nobody has any answer for that; nobody seems to have any solution for that also. Even worse, only a few think for the solution. When and how will this hatred end?
While discussing with a saint in New Delhi, I came to know about certain things as there is a huge difference between Religion and Communities. Communities may be defined as a group of interacting people following common rituals and customs in one or different parts of the world. Communities may be many and entirely different from each other. On the other hand, Religion is always one and is base and the foundation for all the communities. Religion is wider and Communities are narrow. In fact all communities are the part of the same religion. We can take an example to understand this. If religion is the house with a common door, communities are the rooms in it. A room is the part of the same house which is wider and spread all over the land. Different rooms may have different wall colours, entry doors, exit doors, living rules etc. Different rooms may have different width, length and height also. Different people may live in different rooms and still they are the part of the same home. Similarly, Different communities have different rituals and customs as followed by different people in different parts of the world, still it does not mean that they are the part of different religion. It is only the difference between the communities and not the difference between religions; in fact the word religions should not exist. Religion is always one, its ultimate aim is to help achieve all human beings their ultimate goal of life. Religions cannot be many. It is simply not possible. As all communities are based on scriptures and there are different rituals and customs described in different scriptures, yet there are same roots and foundation upon which the walls of the communities stand tall. We will understand Religion from a few clarifications based on authentic scriptures of all authentic communities. Some of the basic commonalities amongst different scriptures/communities are as under:
- GOD is one.
- GOD is light and in him there is no darkness at all.
- GOD can be seen.
- GOD cannot be seen by the two physical eyes of the human beings, HE can be seen through the third eye or the divine eye.
- Third (Divine) eye is located in the centre of the brain and in the middle of the eyebrows.
- Third eye is closed by birth and it needs a Perfect Master to open the third eye.
- Perfect Master is always the one, who has seen GOD and has the power to show you GOD instantly on the spot, by opening your third eye.
- Religion is the realization of GOD
From the above, we may conclude that different rituals and customs make different communities while religion is always the same and is the one. Communities were formed because of the particular relevance of that time and these were always need based. At different times, these communities could have been dissolved, merged or modified depending upon the need of the society. In fact all the Perfect Masters or Incarnations have done that in the past. In doing so, all Perfect Masters in the past have faced a strong criticism initially but now society salutes them. All Perfect Masters reminded human beings of religion while changing the then prevailing customs and rituals. They helped us know Religion and GOD. Unfortunately today also, we have forgotten Religion and remembered rituals and customs of the communities. A person may be called Religious if he is on the way to realize GOD. Again, the path of religion starts when someone has seen GOD. In today's world people do not care about realization of GOD but they do care about the rituals and customs which are not everlasting. Rituals and customs are the walls of the communities and they were formed to protect and strengthen human mind, body and soul. They were made as a shield to humans but unfortunately, today these are being used to show the difference between people and ultimately there is a huge fight amongst communities to widen the walls of the communities. They want to see more space being occupied in the rooms as it fetches money from the people also. Community leaders eyes people's pockets and of course more people in the community means more power worldwide. PURE SELFISHNESS!!! On the other hand, Religion teaches self less service. Communities divide whereas Religion unites. Religion makes human beings who otherwise are not much different from animals.
There may be many communities worldwide. All communities have their features, strengths and way of teachings through scriptures. All authentic scriptures guide us towards the same path. We can learn from all communities and scriptures. Hindu Community being the oldest and the root amongst all has the richest of knowledge in it. It has the vast information about Religion. There are numerous scriptures like Vedas, Purans, Upnishads etc which are rich in the religious info. The best thing about the ancient Hindu Scriptures is that these are very practical and based on eternal science, but the sad thing is that it is often misinterpreted. People who usually follow the rituals and customs of it are called Hindus, which is not right. Hindu scriptures are vast and wider than the mere rituals. The current circumstances have arrived because of the misinterpretation of the scriptures. In order to read any subject, one must understand two languages. One is the basic language e.g., Hindi, English, Arabic, Gurumukhi etc. and the other language is the technical language of the subject e.g. Periodic Table in Chemistry. Now, Periodic table has same alphabets of English but only a Chemistry student can understand the meaning behind it. Same words/letters may have different or more than one meaning in different subjects. One may know or learn the basic language from schools. To learn the technical religious language, one needs to find a specialist teacher and as far as the Religion is concerned, only a Perfect Master of the time can be a true teacher to help understand Religion.
So, Religion is the realization of GOD who is the source of the eternal bliss. We should not assume community same as Religion. And to know about Religion, we must have a perfect master in life without which we will fail to understand the meaning behind the words and further a Perfect Master help us know GOD, the practical way.
This awareness of difference between community and religion may help decrease the tension between people and nations. As more and more people look forward to be a religious person, the lesser they will be attached to the particular communities and slowly and gradually they may have a wider vision to make this world a better place to live. Yes, I am talking about World Peace!!!
Now, there is a problem in spreading the awareness about difference between a community and religion, as it is written in English and many people do not understand English. May you help translate this article in different languages and forwarding it to the people of different countries?
