During my discussions with friends, I have often been asked, "Are you religious?". I have often tried to figure out what exactly being religious entails. I do not go to a temple every Tuesday, nor do I believe in metaphysics of any religion. I am a student of science after all. The idea of the world being created in seven days, or the river Ganga flowing out of the locks of Shiva do not mean anything to me in their direct sense of meaning. In that sense, I am not religious. I am not a Hindu who chants the Gayatri Mantra hundred times or a day, or a Muslim who reads the Namaaz five times a day, or a Christian who goes to church every Sunday, or a Sikh who chants the Japji Sahib first thing every morning, or a Jew who absolutely refrains from work on Saturdays.
With the passage of time, I came up with the following answer to the question "Are you religious?" "No. I am not religious, but I do believe in God. God, not as a creator, but the ideal human being whom I would like to emulate in every step of my life." I was not satisfied with this answer, it raised more questions than it answered. I have never been able to articulate a satisfactory answer: I had the ideas in my head, but language limitations always prevented me from sharing those ideas with friends in a meaningful way.
Today I rediscovered a saying that encapsulates my ideas about religion and God. I remember Papa told us about this Swami Vivekananda quote when we were in 5th grade or thereabouts. It says:
"Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest this divinity within by controlling nature, external and internal. Do this either by work or worship or psychic control or philosophy---by one or more or all of these---and be free. This the whole of religion. Doctrines or dogmas or rituals or books or temples or forms are but secondary details."
This is the idea of religion that I believe in.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
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