Hari Aum.
When I was at university about 15 years ago, I was interested in reading the holy books of various religions. I had friends from various faiths, including Buddhists, Christians, Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and used to discuss and exchange ideas about religion with them.
In India, we are fond of saying that 'all religions are the same'. Yes, all religions are the same- in a way. In the sense that they all preach being good. And being good leads one to God in one way or another. The externalities may be different but the message is the same- 'be good and do good'.
The sad reality of the world today however, is that although all religions have the same essential core message, of 'be good and do good', they are not all being practised in the same way.
There are violent members of all religions today. Religion and violence are inherently incompatible. There can be no real religion where there is violence. Yet different religions have been hijacked by violent elements within them to different extents.
This violence extends across the full spectrum- from a sense of intellectual superiority over others to full-blown killing of those who have different beliefs. There are also those who feel the need to 'save' others by converting them- by money, force or other means. There are others who feel that people of a different religion are all doomed to hell anyway and dehumanise them.
There is an increasing divide between 'modern' and 'orthodox' ways of living, particularly with regard to religion. Some religions appear to be 'evolving' and adapting to modern life in the present century, while others seem to be stuck in the past.
Religions also involve varying degrees of control and freedom. There are some religions where a high level of freedom is given to think as one likes, to analyse and live in a way that makes sense to one- within an ethical framework of course.
There are other religions which give one very little space to think or have any opinion of one's own. These religions also involve a high level of moral policing in society- where other people in society control what one wears, what one can eat or drink, who one marries and so on. Frighteningly, there are people of some religions who believe that it is appropriate to kill members of their community who say they wish to leave that religion.
The lives of women in particular are greatly affected by the religion that they are born into. Those women born into orthodox traditional families where religion is effectively 'forced' upon them have little freedom to think, to dress how they want, to work, to live as they like. There are entire countries in this world where women are not allowed to work, to drive, to think or live freely because of the religion that is practised there. It is quite extraordinary.
It is important to recognise that one can interpret religious texts in any way that one likes. The same book can be read and interpreted peacefully or with violence. One example of this is the holy Quran. There are certain groups who read the holy Quran and live very peacefully on Earth with others- an example are the Sufis. There are other groups who read the same holy Quran and interpret this with cruelty and perpetrate great violence upon others- we hear about them in the news all the time these days.
Recently I had an online satsang with a Swami at the Sivananda Ashram in Rishikesh. We were discussing various religious books and I happened to ask him if he had ever read the holy Quran. He said that he had not. I was surprised to hear this and suggested that he may wish to read this sometime. I feel it is very useful to read the holy books of various religions to have broad knowledge of philosophy and also to understand people from other religious backgrounds.
I am sharing below links to the holy books of some of the main religions in the world today. I strongly recommend reading at least a few chapters of these books even if one does not belong to these religions to have some idea of the philosophy that is being taught.
The holy Quran of Islam:
https://quran.com/1
The holy Dhammapada of Buddhism:
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/dhp/dhp.intro.budd.html
The holy Bhagavad Gita of Sanathana Dharma (Hinduism):
http://www.dlshq.org/download/bgita.htm
The holy Bible of Christianity:
https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bible?lang=eng
Hari Aum Tat Sat
When I was at university about 15 years ago, I was interested in reading the holy books of various religions. I had friends from various faiths, including Buddhists, Christians, Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and used to discuss and exchange ideas about religion with them.
In India, we are fond of saying that 'all religions are the same'. Yes, all religions are the same- in a way. In the sense that they all preach being good. And being good leads one to God in one way or another. The externalities may be different but the message is the same- 'be good and do good'.
The sad reality of the world today however, is that although all religions have the same essential core message, of 'be good and do good', they are not all being practised in the same way.
There are violent members of all religions today. Religion and violence are inherently incompatible. There can be no real religion where there is violence. Yet different religions have been hijacked by violent elements within them to different extents.
This violence extends across the full spectrum- from a sense of intellectual superiority over others to full-blown killing of those who have different beliefs. There are also those who feel the need to 'save' others by converting them- by money, force or other means. There are others who feel that people of a different religion are all doomed to hell anyway and dehumanise them.
There is an increasing divide between 'modern' and 'orthodox' ways of living, particularly with regard to religion. Some religions appear to be 'evolving' and adapting to modern life in the present century, while others seem to be stuck in the past.
Religions also involve varying degrees of control and freedom. There are some religions where a high level of freedom is given to think as one likes, to analyse and live in a way that makes sense to one- within an ethical framework of course.
There are other religions which give one very little space to think or have any opinion of one's own. These religions also involve a high level of moral policing in society- where other people in society control what one wears, what one can eat or drink, who one marries and so on. Frighteningly, there are people of some religions who believe that it is appropriate to kill members of their community who say they wish to leave that religion.
The lives of women in particular are greatly affected by the religion that they are born into. Those women born into orthodox traditional families where religion is effectively 'forced' upon them have little freedom to think, to dress how they want, to work, to live as they like. There are entire countries in this world where women are not allowed to work, to drive, to think or live freely because of the religion that is practised there. It is quite extraordinary.
It is important to recognise that one can interpret religious texts in any way that one likes. The same book can be read and interpreted peacefully or with violence. One example of this is the holy Quran. There are certain groups who read the holy Quran and live very peacefully on Earth with others- an example are the Sufis. There are other groups who read the same holy Quran and interpret this with cruelty and perpetrate great violence upon others- we hear about them in the news all the time these days.
Recently I had an online satsang with a Swami at the Sivananda Ashram in Rishikesh. We were discussing various religious books and I happened to ask him if he had ever read the holy Quran. He said that he had not. I was surprised to hear this and suggested that he may wish to read this sometime. I feel it is very useful to read the holy books of various religions to have broad knowledge of philosophy and also to understand people from other religious backgrounds.
I am sharing below links to the holy books of some of the main religions in the world today. I strongly recommend reading at least a few chapters of these books even if one does not belong to these religions to have some idea of the philosophy that is being taught.
The holy Quran of Islam:
https://quran.com/1
The holy Dhammapada of Buddhism:
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/dhp/dhp.intro.budd.html
The holy Bhagavad Gita of Sanathana Dharma (Hinduism):
http://www.dlshq.org/download/bgita.htm
The holy Bible of Christianity:
https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bible?lang=eng
Hari Aum Tat Sat
No comments:
Post a Comment