The old adage, ‘Truth is stranger than fiction’, is one of the most recurrent themes of my life. People think I am profoundly influenced by cinema. While there is definite truth in that notion, the fact remains that I am most influenced by real life. And it is truly strange how life takes exactly those turns which test you as a person.
Ever since I can remember, I have always believed that every person on earth is equal before God. I find all grounds of differentiation between human beings baseless, none more than differentiation on the grounds of religion. How does it matter what we call our God, and how we pray to Him? Across the board, every single religion has its share of pros and cons. So I always feel pricked when people propose the idea that one religion is better than the other or that there is only ‘one true faith’. And maybe it is for exactly this reason that life recently dealt me cards which put one of my strongest beliefs to the test. The irony here is the fact that the most, for want of a better word, controversial, of my beliefs had to cross paths with the realm of my life closest to my heart.
More than once in the past months, I came close to counting against a person, the fact that he belonged to a different religion. When I look back, I can't believe that I came so very close to saying, “But he is a Christian!” And this didn't happen once, but twice! With two different guys! A drowning man would lunge for even a blade of grass, if he thinks it could save him. I now know that I would rather drown, than clutch at that blade of grass.
What bothers me is, how people tend to think that religion binds people together. Why is it so hard for people to realize that religion binds a person with God? I don't claim to be an expert on any particular religion, but after reading up on a lot of religions, I can confidently say that no religion is perfect. Every single religion in the world has some highly irrational beliefs and customs which go against simple logic. God wants his priests to be celibate? Men are to be accorded a higher status than women? A menstruating woman cannot perform religious rituals? Are these not completely asinine thoughts and beliefs? Some Hindu temples don't allow Christians to enter them. Others don't allow women to enter them. I can literally feel the temperature of my blood rise even as I write all of this. And to think, these are just the very few that came straight to my head right now. I could spend my entire life filling volumes with all the utter rubbish that religions across the world follow. When you think about it, you realize that the countless scandals that regularly crop up with regard to religious institutions, the Church paedophilia case for example, are nothing but long term effects of the ridiculous beliefs of various religions. And what I completely fail to understand is that if Pradeep, who has hardly seen anything in life, who knows absolutely nothing about anything, who can barely claim the ability to think for himself, and who has been able to survive in life only because the people around him are so nice, if he can see the obvious, then why can't other, more learned, more experienced people see the same? Why can't people challenge senseless beliefs, and adapt them so that they take into account the changes that the world has undergone over centuries?
Maybe we live in a world where, if you challenge the norms of any religion, you will probably meet a violent and gruesome end at the hands of religious fundamentalists. And if this really is the case, then I have more or less outlined the likely cause of my death. And to be honest, I couldn't have chosen a better way...
Make no mistake though, each religion does have its share of brilliant thoughts that I cannot help but love. I love how inherently tolerant Hinduism is of other religions because it does not force a person to convert. I love the fact that a Jewish rabbi has to be married. I love how true followers of Islam stand by their religion even as the West is trying its level best to demonize it. I love the non-violent nature of Buddhism, and I am truly fascinated by some of the teachings of Christ and the magnificent works of art that the Christian faith has spawned. The perfect religion to follow would be one which incorporates all the good points of each religion, and freely chucks out all the nonsense.
Being the optimist that I am, I'm confident that in my lifetime, there will come a change in the way people think. Hopefully, education will do what it is meant to do – make people think, not blindly follow what is told to them, and challenge anything that does not make sense to them. I would love it if religion is seen the world over as what it was really meant to be - a highly personal choice that a man or woman makes, as he or she deems fit, to communicate and feel one with God. If a Christian wants to marry a Hindu, then that should not make a damn difference to anyone else. The children of such a couple should be taught, by their parents, the various facets of both religions in the most objective manner, and the choice of which religion to follow should be left to the children only.
Of course, the greatest thing would be if, instead of associating God with any religion, people chose to just look around them and see how great the world is, and how truly great each human being is. How great then, would be the God that created all of this? How nice it would be if we were to see men and women as nearly equal, with women being held slightly higher, simply because they are so special. The greatest thing would be if every single person followed the religion of humanity.
For now, I can say only one thing - Live your life with whom you want to live your life. For what it is worth, I am with you, no matter what...
