My perspective of Religion..

I am a Hindu. And I am proud of my heritage and what it brings to me. This is true of most people I think. I do not think that it’s a sign of aggressiveness or intolerance to be comfortable with your religion and spiritual beliefs, and to acknowledge it openly. I believe religion is a necessity, and it does not matter which religion you choose to follow if it provides you with moral principles and the much-needed stability in your life.

What matters is in what way you use your religion. What matters is whether you have enough confidence in yourself and in your religion, to not only tolerate other peoples' beliefs but also co-habit with them. A lot of brouhaha is created on the issue of religion, God, spiritual beliefs and the lot. Impressionable minds are misled and uncalled for terror, destruction and division results. The main reasons for this range from distorted projection of religion to brazen politics.

But should we, the educated, thinking citizens of a democratic nation subscribe to such politics in the name of religion ? Should we condone these acts which openly defy the right of innocent humans to try and have a life ? Can we, as individuals do anything to fix this deterioration ?

Yes, I think. Religion is nothing but a way of life. It is a path we follow because it promises to lead us to our ultimate destination. It encourages us to adopt a moralistic and philosophical way to look at life and it eases our journey. It provides stability and solace to our minds when we are faced with troubles. When our life seems out of control, it offers comfort in the idea of The Almighty whom we can blame for our griefs or beg forgiveness for our sins. By endorsing the concept of God, it makes us aware just how insignificant we are as individuals in the larger context, but it also makes us think that we surely must be important enough to God for we are given so much and so much is expected of us. Religion is a comfort in times of grief and a stabilizer in times of happiness. It is essentially a way of life as I said before. So what does it matter that different people choose different ways to reach the same destination ?

As long as the way chosen does not violate other peoples' right to live their life, as long as it does not infringe their mental and physical space and respects democracy, each religion is valid.

Each individual has to adopt a similar approach. I am not advocating this very approach for it will be restricting other peoples' right to make the choice. I am just saying, let each one of us aim to live our religion in its proper way, and give the other person enough space to have his or her own beliefs. The world is big enough to accommodate you and me and every other person. The question is, are our hearts large enough ?