तत् त्वम् असि means You are that; intertwined with the immanent eternal vigour of these pious words from the Chandogya Upanishad via the bottom pit of my heart, my obeisances to you. The concepts regarding religion in India have intrigued my mind since a very young age. One can write endlessly about this history of crests and troughs. However, the main objective is to condense it into fewer pages, the distilled essence of what needs to be addressed regarding this topic.
As taught & passed on by our ancestors, we were, first of all, the other things taught us the meaning of this word BELIEF as we all taught to have faith in GOD if we wished to live a life of happiness, fulfilment & material wealth. And back then, the minds of the majority of us were not so rational & mature. Moreover, we used to think of almighty as a being above the clouds that would reply to our prayers with their fulfilment.
अहं ब्रह्मास्मि (AHAM BARHASMI) – I AM THE GOD
Before we could be taught to believe in ourselves, we were taught to believe in the almighty that the majority of people discover later in their lives is none but us – अहं ब्रह्मास्मि (Aham Barhasmi), another Mahavakya from Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. It means almighty is none but us, we the unity, we the effects of that one cause, we the different splendorous manifestations of that singular cause.
The real God whom we could not apprehend in this enigma of multitude forms of the gross world, Māyā. After this realisation of the almighty inside us rather than what we apprehend in reality, he only is an atheist who does not believe in himself. But that does not mean that our definition of God was/is flawed, and it is not. Very few apprehend that the former stage was a preliminary preparation for the ultimate realisation.
THE ONENESS OF THE ALMIGHTY
If critically analysed & then apprehended, every teaching of Vedanta culminates in Advaita Vedanta (Oneness of everything). In the end, even the big bang & big crunch theory of modern astrophysics and quantum physics proves the oneness of all existence. But that technical knowledge of our religion is not relevant to the issue we wish to discuss now.
It is evident from the pages of history that religion in India is one such thing that has united people. However, we can not deny the fact it is the only thing that has orchestrated most of the gruesome bloodlettings in the world. None can deny that, can’t you? There have been millions of killings in the name of religions. It is for them who truly apprehended this oneness of God with HIMSELF & ALL THE OTHERS knows that these skirmishes in the name of religion are the arrant blasphemies.
HOW INDIA IS THE LAND OF RELIGIONS?
If you talk about India, the nation has always been a land of a variety of sects. There is a reason for that, which lies in the essence of Hinduism – acceptance of varying thoughts. You will see in India every decade a new sect or sub-sect forming without anyone against it because acceptance is the essence of our teachings. Moreover, the religion in India, which sticks to its teachings always. Although Hinduism survives even the harshest from blows through the different eras. None can wipe that religion in India off who sticks to its ideals even in the most hopeless & disastrous conditions.
People in ancient India didn’t believe in toleration, but acceptance, because it was the time the stagnation of thoughts struck, and it would be symbolic of no growth. Variation is the epitome of maturity & that the ancient Indians understood it in its true sense. If I wish to impose my thoughts on you, I would like to see you utter only the words I say, and I will be doing the darkest of sins. I must respect differences rather than celebrate these differences. It is for those only when your thoughts clash with mine and with others. Will I be able to find newer degrees of how to look at reality from several different standpoints & know it in full?
CAN YOU EXTINCT THE ESSENCE OF ALMIGHTY?
Every religion is just a part. Why these PARTS claiming to be WHOLE is a prime display of irrationality. There is a real thing to say that none can trample and vanish the religion in India which sticks to its principles (precepts of peaceful co-existence & thrive in diversity). Judaism is one such example. Mohammedans, Christians and others have always blamed Jews for helping in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the messenger of truth and for that deed of some individuals of their sect in the past. They were cursed to suffer on the earth for survival till the end of existence. There were crusade wars against them to wipe off the map. The history & even the present status quo stands witness that even that NOT SO SOPHISTICATED era of barbarism could not eliminate them.
Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be.
2.12, Bhagavad Gita
It stays in place without a quiver that none can vanish the ideals (the truly and peace-emanating ethics of a sect) of those who stick to them in their pure cognisance. It was quite the same case with Zoroastrians who suffered horrors in the Persian empire & migrated towards India. They are still thriving here because India has been a land of acceptance of varying thoughts. Any soul in the world can not deny the testimony about the sanguine temperament of the descendants of Vedanta creed, the Sindhu, the descendants of people whose nerves and verve pumped peaceful co-existence.
PEACE AFTER BLOODSHEDS
But still, much blood has been shed in the name of religion in India. If all departed souls in the world may know the ultimate reality of oneness could sit together and see the history of humankind at once. They would probably cry their heart out, seeing such an absurd loop of bloodshed in the name of something which ought to unite in the very first place.
There have been preachings of all kinds, peaceful too. There were some Mohammedans too who preached by Quran in one hand & sword in the other. Mohammedans teach the best grade of brotherhood there can be & that is where its essence dwells. Same with Christian missionaries who preached in the name of colonialism.
HOW COLONIALISM DESTROY PEACE
An Indian born English poet Rudyard Kipling even wrote a poem, THE WHITE MAN’S BURDEN. It inspired the United States of America to take colonial control of the Filipino people. So they could teach them civility, which they considered their duty to justify the horrors of colonialism. These missionaries took it their responsibility to rule over other people & to teach them civilisation by their religion.
Preaching over discussions and healthy debates, serving humankind, and other forms of that singular GOD can be the best kind of preaching there can be. Who is not aware of Din-i-Elahi? In 1583, Mughal Emperor Akbar introduced a system of religious beliefs. It was the idea to combine Islam & Hinduism into one faith and add tenets of Jainism, Christianity & Zoroastrianism also. Akbar took a deep personal interest in religious matters.
A STEP TOWARDS PEACE OVER RELIGION IN INDIA
Preaching over discussions and healthy debates, serving humankind, and other forms of that singular GOD can be the best kind of preaching there can be. Who is not aware of Din-i-Elahi? In 1583, Mughal Emperor Akbar introduced a system of religious beliefs. It was the idea to combine Islam & Hinduism into one faith and add tenets of Jainism, Christianity & Zoroastrianism also. Akbar took a deep personal interest in religious matters.
DR RADHAKRISHNAN: A GENUINE EDUCATOR
Dr Radhakrishnan: A Genuine Educator
Travliv360 remembers a great philosopher, teacher & later statesman. He was a scholar of comparative religion & philosophy. Dr Radhakrishnan will forever be remembered as the beacon of real education in India as well as abroad.
ORTHODOXY ALWAYS PLAY ITS ROLE IN RELIGION
How foolish it is of men who keep a tab on your heart & force you to believe in a book that considers it holy. What foolishness of a so little relevant part by claiming to be the whole of religion that there can be. Alas! What an orthodoxy. Although, it was the case during colonialism and barbarism before that. Now all this bloodshed happens in the cover of modern politics.
But Really! How silly it is to make some individuals suffer because of the past misdeeds of their ancestors. However, there are well-specialized agencies and institutions of government to look after every aspect of the public. How do you justify that? It is beyond any logical reason.
The truth of the matter remains that the more orthodox the thought, the more the people become reactionary & more susceptible to the horrors of bloodshed. In most probability, some political federations can script them for their material benefit. People who are so stagnant in their thought can be radicalized easily. Moreover, it made the pawns under the hands of some powerful few who are sitting on the throne of power and inflicting nothing except the tendencies of reaction & ignorance. When they have done that, they can keep them in chains & utter, “You are free!”.
DID IMMORTALITY BRING PEACE?
A handful then remains to wake them up to the realisation that chains, even if made of gold, are still holding them prisoners of their confined thoughts. But some people, with zeal harder than the steel, will still come up & proclaim our real nature. Our spirits set to be free because that is the sum and substance of these descendants of Bharata, the quest of life to be free. During the revolt of 1857, a sannyasin was stabbed in the heart and cried in the face of the stabber. TAT TVAM ASI! or THAT THOU ART or EVEN YOU ARE THAT!
These words demonstrate the teachings of this grand land that were taught to Arjuna by Lord Krishna. NO WEAPON CAN CUT THIS SPIRIT, NOR THE FIRE BURN, NO WATER CAN WET IT & NO AIR CAN DRY & NO SPEAR CAN PIERCE. Immortality manifests itself at its best. None can vanish an ideal, and one can crush, cut, burn & slay the body, but not the ideal.
I am not bound by Death or the fear of death nor influenced by the rules of Caste and its Distinctions, I have no Father or Mother, nor do I have Birth, I do not have special Relations nor Friends, a Spiritual Teacher or Disciple, I am the Ever Pure Blissful Consciousness; I am Shiva, I am Shiva, The Ever Pure Blissful
5th verse, Atma-shatkam, Guru Adi Shankaracharya
Consciousness.
DOES PEACE WANT SACRIFICE?
Guru Nanak Dev Ji used to follow the tenets of Hinduism and Muslims alike. He used to take Muslim Sufi Saints to chant Vedic hymns in mosques & used to read Koran in the temples just to proclaim all. THERE IS NO HINDU, THERE IS NO MUSSULMAN! The Sikh Guru Tegh Bahadur sacrificed his head for the just cause of saving the Hindus from the tyranny of Mughals. Therefore, we built a Sis Ganj Gurudwara there near Chandni Chowk for his sacrifice. Before the execution, he took a bath at a nearby Sarovar and is still present in this Gurudwara. The potable water of the Sarovar is offered as blessings of immortality (which it signifies in its emotions) to devotees. If that is not immortality, what is?
Despite all the Mughal oppression on the masses, Guru Gobind Singh Ji, who raised the Sikh warrior community “Khalsa”, continued to recruit soldiers equally from both communities. He proclaimed, “When all modes of redressing a wrong fail, raising of the sword is sacred.”
THE SIKH MOVEMENT FOUGHT FOR THE HUMANITY
The Sikh movement was never made to turn against Muslims because it was strictly against the Mughal oppression. All four sons of Guru Gobind Singh Ji attained martyrdom in this oppression against Mughals. However, he didn’t let the movement turn against the innocent public masses of Muslim communities. The struggle was strictly against the tyranny of the Mughals.
In the battle of Chamkaur in 1704, the forces of Wazir Khan chose a treacherous path to win. In the retort of the deceit of Aurangzeb, Guru Gobind Singh Ji wrote a letter called ZAFARNAMA or THE EPISTLE OF VICTORY to Aurangzeb to deliver the message that Aurangzeb broke the moral code & it was a spiritual & moral triumph of Khalsa.
Zafarnama is still taught zealously in the school curricula. Immortality of the spirit! It is the essence of whole Vedanta philosophy, the oneness of whole existence, the oneness of this cosmos, the oneness of all the creeds that were there in the past, that are here in the present and that which will be in future. These remarkable teachings are much above the comprehension of people of frivolous understanding who are just a flock of reactionary people and nothing else.
RELIGION IN INDIA NEVER FADE AWAY
None can vanish a creed till it sticks to its essence. None really can & none can save a creed once it departs from its core teachings. It is said in the Manu Smriti (The law book of erstwhile state & of course a subjective concept. I am quoting here just for the sake of it, “धर्मो रक्षति रक्षित” which means THOSE WHO PROTECT THE DHARMA ARE PROTECTED BY THE DHARMA. True but before this, it is more than necessary to assimilate the original essence of teachings. In every word & sentence of Vedanta philosophy, one can find only one teaching resounding everywhere ONENESS OF ALL.
Swami Vivekananda said, “All the differences in the world are of degree and not of a kind because oneness is the secret of everything.” How true & beautiful that is. Vedanta says that life is a quest to unshackle man from the veils of the gross world(Māyā) & make him witness the ultimate reality (The pure consciousness) of the noumenal world beyond this phenomenal world, the soul which never dies.
None can annihilate the one who creates in the first place. None can obliterate the eternal, none can vanish the grand. People must make attempts to get to the kernel of the teachings of what these different sects offer & then, must attempt slingshots to the realisation of ultimate reality. That is the whole of religion, none else. Proclaim to everyone you meet “That thou art!”. Repeat to yourself these grand words अहं ब्रह्मास्मि. Let there be light & Proclaim “Oneness, oneness & oneness”.
If all the scriptures of the Hindu religion in the world were reduced to ashes and just the 1st verse in the Isha Upanishad remains in the memories of Hindus, Hinduism will live forever.
Mahatma Gandhi
AUTHOR’S LAST WORDS OVER RELIGION IN INDIA
The first duty of every man, before he can take up some deeds in the name of God and religion, is to first understand & then realise the teachings of the religion in original form & essence and get to the very centre of the nucleus of the teachings…otherwise, religion in India will keep on breeding the masses of reactionary people who will just be ignorant pawns in the hands of politicians of material attachments and immoral conducts. The Mauryan King Ashoka, who himself witnessed lakhs of people perishing & dying on the battlefield, later said “He who reveres his sect, while denigrating the sects of others with the intent to enhance the glory of his sect, by such conduct inflicts the severest injury on his sect.”
Rabindranath Tagore also said that we aim to shatter the meshes of mental slavery that man has woven around himself.
कौमी एकता जिन्दाबाद!!!
Shaheed Sardar Bhagat Singh Sindhu; He transfigured it from “Sandhu” to “Sindhu” to portray being part of the grand civilization of “Oneness”.
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Composed By: Anonymous