Of God,Religion,Sin and Virtue

A lot of people would have heard the joke below but I would like to start this post with the joke and here it is:
One day a young boy got up in the middle of his biology class at school and said to the teacher - "My father says that we have descended from the monkeys." On hearing this, his teacher replied - "After this class, we will discuss your family's problems!"

There has been a lot of research and talk about the origin of mankind and about how we seem to have evolved from the apes. I, for one, am very sceptical about this theory of the evolution of man from monkeys. If we really have evolved from them, why are so many monkeys still around? Why haven't all the monkeys evolved into human beings? This brings us to a very simplistic way of looking at the existence of life on out planet - it was created by the entity - God, call him by any name - Eshwar or Allah or whatever name you want to give to him. It is my firm belief that all these different names refer to the same, single entity, commonly known as GOD.

And as far as I can say, all the different religions existing in this world, if followed in their true spirit, take you closer to that supreme being known as God. For me, religion is a man made thing. Most of us follow some religion or the other, depending on our beliefs and try to adhere to its basic philosophy. But the very fact that there are so many different religions corroborates the fact that religion is a man made thing. There are dozens of ways in which you can know and worship God and each one of these ways has given rise to a religion. It is my assumption that religions exist so as to put some discipline in our lives. Just as a child has to follow some discipline at school and at home too, grown up individuals also need to follow some discipline in life. And when I say discipline, I mean that discipline which teaches us not to commit a sin. Somebody might want to ask - what is a sin ? As far as I can say, a sin or a sinful act is one that harms other living beings around us and creates pain (physical and/or mental) in them. The purpose of each and every religion is to prevent its followers from harming other living beings around them. NO religion in this world asks its followers to harm other living beings in the name of its God. It is the faulty and inappropriate interpretation of the philosophies of a religion by its self-proclaimed torch bearers that mislead its followers and make them commit the kind of sin that I have talked about above.

Some weeks ago I was telling a friend of mine about my planned trip to a place called Dwarka (in Gujarat) which has an ancient temple of the God that I believe in. He was of the opinion that I will earn a lot of 'punya' ( or virtue) by visiting that temple. Frankly speaking, I don't think you earn any 'punya' by visiting a temple (no matter how famous the temple might be) or by offering any prayers. Neither do you earn any 'punya' and become very virtuous by sitting in front of an idol or photograph of a God and praying to him on a daily basis. You become virtuous and earn plenty of 'punya' only if you do good to the people around you and the society at large (this includes all living beings). I am reminded of a statement that one of my teachers used to say often when I was in high school - "Manav janmam, UTTAM janmam" which, loosely translated from sanskrit, means that the birth in the form of a human being is the best birth that you could have asked for ( imagine if I was born as a donkey..... could I have been able to interact with you all as I am doing now?!). I would like to tweak this a bit and propose my religious philosophy - "Manav dharmam, UTTAM dharmam" which, translated, means that the service to all the living beings around you is the best form of religion that you could follow and is the best way to serve your God.

Sometime ago, I was discussing religion with a friend of mine and he said that he did not believe in organized religion. He is not happy with the fact that in most of the famous temples in India (my friend is a hindu by birth) there is a group of people who try to exploit you when you go there to pay obeisance to the concerned deity. I have also felt along the same lines as my friend does on a lot of occasions. But now, after all these years, I have realized that going to a famous temple to pray is like attending a lecture by an eminent professor. When you go to attend such a lecture, you will find a hoard of people who would have come to listen to the professor. But what each person sitting in that hall takes away from the lecture depends solely on that individual himself. Similarly, when you go to pay obeisance to any famous deity, you should not bother about that group of people (who are a part of that "organized" group) which looks for every opportunity to exploit the followers who come there and instead concentrate on what you have gone there for, i.e., to pray and pay your respects to the deity there. Ignore the people who are trying to exploit the followers (including you too) and just do your own thing.

Finally, before I go, here are the lyrics of one of the most wonderful songs ever written and sung. John Lennon deserves a Noble Peace prize just for writing and singing this song. Do find the time to listen to it.



IMAGINE



Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

- John Lennon