Any religion is only a means to an end.

[Guest guest]

Any religion is only a means to an end.

Peace is sought as much by the rich as the poor. The poor need food and shelter for peace and the rich need peace despite having food and shelter. This is the paradox faced by almost every one.

Peace is elusive till one realises ‘truth of being’ which transcends the cycle of birth and death. Once you are successful in the endeavour to grasp the truth of Oneness that state is what we call as liberation.

While life is uncertain, death is a certainty for everyone, everywhere, and the end could come any time. But what is surprising is the fact that though we know fully well that death is certain we rarely are committed to pursuit of truth.

After death what? No one knows. It is nature’s secret for its own survival or else its own survival would be at stake. We endeavour to overcome ageing. We grow human organs in the laboratory to find ways of postponing death. But does all this progress help us realise truth of being?

About realising this truth Ramana Maharishi asks each one of us to make a serious probe into the question “Who am I?†To ask this question, he says, is the dawn of realisation while one is very much alive.

The concept of heaven and hell are purely didactical and anyone desirous of reaching heaven by sacrificing his life in the name of religion or God or in his pursuit to cause harm to some other is as ignorant as one having no knowledge of who really he is. That we all have to die one day is certain. Then how to achieve immortality?

The Gita says: “The Self or Supreme Principle cannot be cut by weapon, nor burnt by fire nor moistened by water, nor dried by air. He is not born, nor does He ever die, He slays not, nor is He slainâ€. This unchanging eternal truth is also the God principle immanent in all souls which need only be realised.

What is ironic is that in the name of safeguarding the sanctity of this supreme principle we fight each other and cause harm to innocent people. How can people think of safeguarding that which is by nature indestructible? Is God what one believes Him to be, so feeble and vulnerable to get tainted by statements of adversity?

It is hard to believe that a religion founded on Reality should succumb to hate propagated by those who describe themselves as being religious.

Vivekananda was of the view that a religion or faith which cannot stand on its own philosophic principles and fails to answer questions on the diversities of life would better be allowed to die.

But you may ask, “What if the faith we profess, because of our birth or upbringing or tradition, is one of the nature of inconsistency and which fact we realise only later?

The answer to it can be, while choosing a doctor for curing your ailment you would not look into the aspect of what religion or God the doctor belongs to but only to his expertise in the field of his work.

Similarly, when you realise your mistake you naturally wish to pursue only the truth and try to seek it from the enlightened even if he is not an advocate of any particular religion.

(From spirituality)