I always
compared Christianity to android. It seems to have been designed as an ideal
conquering religion, with great adaptations and regional improvisations ranging
from Christmas, conveniently placed on the date of the pagan festival of sol
invictus, to margam kali which is essentially a modified version of the Hindu Thiruvathira.
Making it very similar to the user friendly android with a high marketing value.
Islam,
on the other hand is complicated. Though it is strikingly similar to Christianity,
their concept of a god who has no form though is a spiritually beautiful idea,
is not really easily understood by everyone, especially the children sent to “learn
religion” before they learn the alphabet.
I never considered
Hinduism a religion. It’s a culture, a way of life. Time has come that we stop
referring to the Ramayana and Mahabharata as the holy books of Hindus. The very
word Hindu means one who believes in the Vedas. The Vedas and the Upanishads,
once read through their literal meaning will reveal themselves as textbooks of
science and philosophy. And as for Ramayana
and Mahabharata, they are stories, and absolutely amazing ones. Probably the
greatest stories ever written by man. Action, love, fiction and philosophy brilliantly
architecture into literary masterpieces.
Hinduism
also has the concept of the Param Purush, the ultimate god Which
forms a part of all living creatures. This beautiful view of Thatvam
Asi, the god within was too complicated and thus, there had to be simpler
ways for commoners to worship a superior power. So we considered everything as
god. Fire, water, sky, the hills, celestial bodies and even time. New gods were
added in the course of time, and old ones forgotten. Some gods were indigenous and
some more popular. Lord Ayyappa, whose best friend was a Muslim definitely is
from a time after the Muslims came to India. But what we fail to see is a
message of secularism hidden there. It does not matter which god we worship,
what matters is that we all nurture the humility to accept the presence of a
superior power.
