Kailash-2

As I was driving by today, I saw a bus-stop hoarding about a program by an Islamic Scholar on the topic “Islam; is it a religion of love and compassion” An immediate question that came to mind is; what is religion? Religion is that which takes us nearer to our origin. What does that mean? The Indian word for religion is Dharma; that because of which a thing is what it is; is called Dharma. For instance the Dharma of Fire is heat and so on in the case of other elements also. Without that Dharma, the thing ceases to be what it is. Such being the philosophical explanation, how then does one reconcile to the use of the term “religion”?

The only religion in the world is called “Sanatana Dharma”, i.e. Universal Religion, which is more than 5000 years old. This is the religion of humanity, without any distinction of caste, creed, gender or any other differentiation. As time evolved, at different geographical locations in the world, at different points of time in history, depending on different socio-political climate prevailing at those places and times, some messengers of God must have prescribed certain acts of goodness that assisted the people populating those regions, to reach God, by whatever name they called Him. These prescriptions and practices evolved as “organized religions”. But the innate teaching in all of them, without distinction, was “love, compassion, peace and happiness. So, we can vouchsafe that every religion preaches the same qualities in every heart, irrespective of which language is used, or which name or form or ideal is worshipped.

Without going into any specific religion, I want to give an example of how religions evolved in time. Some of you may, but many may not be aware, of a practice called “Freemasonry”. The motto in this is; “brotherly love, relief and truth”. This was a practice established some 300 years ago, by masons who were employed in constructing some temples, during the time of some kings in Israel. The practices, using geometrical tools and implements, were used to extol virtues of goodness of heart, love for one and all, provide succor to the distressed and aid in realizing God by explaining the ultimate physical experience of humankind; i.e death. In time, these practices gained the importance of “religion” for the followers. Today, those practices may or may not be relevant, but the moot point is, they taught to the people following the religion at that time, nothing but “love and compassion”.  All organized religions have thus evolved for the same purpose.

Therefore in answer to the scholar’s question, we can say that, the practices may be time, location and people specific, but the ultimate destination is the same in all religions; i.e. “peace and happiness”.

A story that I learnt as a child, to which many of you may relate, is that of Kannappa Nayanar. Kannappan was a hunter who hunted animals in the forest, but he was an ardent Shiva devotee. His practices were unacceptable to the norms that we follow in our society, but his devotion for the Lord was pure and unsullied. I will share that story with you in my next post.