Religion, they say, has killed more people than all wars put together. Irrespective of whether this statement is accurate or not, one has to admit that organised religion has caused at least as many problems as it has solved ; and if it takes the credit of having saved many souls, the blame of a large number of deaths also lies at its door. Ironically, the word ‘religion’ is said to have roots in the Latin word ‘religare’ which means ‘to bind again’. The very reason man developed something called religion was to bind all his fellow-men by a common thread – God. What turned out was quite different however. Religion instead, formed the basis for turning man against man and for fighting on behalf of their respective gods. We consider God to be omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent but rush to pick up cudgels on His behalf. Is this all-powerful God not capable of taking care of Himself? The Rig Veda says –“Ekam Sadvipra bahudha vadanti” meaning ‘There is one truth, sages call it by different names.’ In the Old Testament when Moses asked God his name, the reply was “I am who I am”. So the Supreme Power pervading the universe has no name. But since ancient times, man has foolishly fought over the different names and forms which he has attributed to this Being. Leave aside history; we are committing the same mistake even now. We usually classify people on the basis of religion. We absurdly feel –“My religion is the best”, “my God” is better than yours or “my God” is the only God. We are quick to point out the shortcomings of other religions but not interested in reforming our own. We look down on people of other religions denouncing them as pagans, ‘kafir’, ‘mlechcha’ and so … [Read more...]
God-men are also human
Sant Kabir says – “Sadhu aisa chahiye jaisa soop subhay, saar saar ko gahi rahey thotha deyi udaay” Meaning, he is a ‘sadhu’ who like the winnow separates the grain from the chaff; in other words, he who discards all that is unnecessary and keeps back only the meaningful. India has been a land of seers and saints, sadhus and fakirs, gurus and swamis since times immemorial. If you thought that their number would have dwindled in the 21st century, where religion does not occupy the prominent place it did centuries ago, you are mistaken. However, there is a perceptible difference between the holy men of yore and the majority of the saffron robed god-men of today. From all that we read from our history, it seems that most of the saintly men in the past were genuine seekers who tread the right path themselves and also tried to take others along this path. So many of today’s ‘swamis’ are either downright con-men or start on the right path but lose the way. There would be quite a few true men of God, but as they say ‘once bitten, twice shy’ - we are now wary of them all. We are not able to distinguish between the true and the fake. Many of them get into the news for all the wrong reasons; so naturally, we are hesitant to approach any of them. But does the fault lie only with the ‘god-men’? Aren’t we also to blame, we who bestow on them the power to make fools out of us. We have so many problems in our life, so much of sorrow, disease, heart-break, guilt, that we are always in search of a panacea; we want a quick-fix remedy for our troubles and surrendering to one who has renounced the world looks like the much sought after elixir. Their soothing talk makes perfect sense to us who are … [Read more...]
