I am born in a Punjabi Brahmin family and raised among lots of religious rituals and lived a certain way of life as per our family traditions. Being in Punjab, culturally we have also imbibed going to Dargahs and Gurudwaras as an accepted norm of worship. It was never seen as a separate thing. When we moved to Jalandhar, there was a Church close by and we did go there every now and then and my parents never stopped us. I remember even bringing rosaries and small cross pendants home. I even wore them sometime. No one objected.
Today at the ISCKON temple during discourse on Gita, they spoke about Jesus, the son of God. I was amused because some Christians and Muslims I know would never go inside a temple and never ever eat the prasad offered in temples. I wonder if the Muslim clergy and Christian preachers ever quoted goodness from Hinduism...say Bhagwad Gita for instance.
My daughter told me about Advent and said that she wanted to go to church this month. Of course she can and she did. I still go to church and dargahs and kneel down and bow my head. Its not difficult at all. My God is everywhere because my prayers are answered any where. It is this belief and strong faith that is embedded in my being a Hindu. My religion and perhaps the sanskars given to me by my mother has always kept me rooted to my Hindu roots and yet given me the freedom to explore life's goodness in other religions as well. It does not scare me to enter the Church, Mosque, Gurudwara or a Buddhist Gompa or sharing prasad or any sacred thread. Nothing can shake me from my roots, that is the strength of my sanskars. That is how it should be. Isn't it?
If 'God is one' then he should be the same and He should be everywhere. So where is the conflict? The conflict is in our underdeveloped minds. The conflicts stems from poor knowledge and even poorer assimilation of that knowledge. An open mind reaches out, seeks and imbibes and the freedom to explore gets one many answers. During one of the courses at ISCKON I met two Parsi ladies who too were attending the course. I was surprised when I heard that, and very subtly I found that they have attended another one before that 6 day course. They both felt that the knowledge in Bhagwad Gita is so profound that it is applicable to any one's life beyond the confines of religion and nationality. I was mesmerized just the way when I read 'The Journey Home', the autobiographical book by Radhanath Swami who was born a Jew, raised with Christian boys, travelled through Islamic nations and who eventually found his eternal love in the gullies of Vrindavan.
The beauty of any religion is not how it keeps you bound but how it liberates you to accept just about anyone with love, compassion and respect.
I have just taken a small step in understanding myself through this divine knowledge of Bhagwad Gita. Take a small step, reach out for this book and discover the richness of its content and its relevance in the present times. Its not for nothing that Modi ji has been gifting this book to every head of state he has been meeting. All the self help books in the world and motivational volumes would weigh lighter than the wealth of knowledge that is hidden in Bhagwad Gita.
Today at the ISCKON temple during discourse on Gita, they spoke about Jesus, the son of God. I was amused because some Christians and Muslims I know would never go inside a temple and never ever eat the prasad offered in temples. I wonder if the Muslim clergy and Christian preachers ever quoted goodness from Hinduism...say Bhagwad Gita for instance.
My daughter told me about Advent and said that she wanted to go to church this month. Of course she can and she did. I still go to church and dargahs and kneel down and bow my head. Its not difficult at all. My God is everywhere because my prayers are answered any where. It is this belief and strong faith that is embedded in my being a Hindu. My religion and perhaps the sanskars given to me by my mother has always kept me rooted to my Hindu roots and yet given me the freedom to explore life's goodness in other religions as well. It does not scare me to enter the Church, Mosque, Gurudwara or a Buddhist Gompa or sharing prasad or any sacred thread. Nothing can shake me from my roots, that is the strength of my sanskars. That is how it should be. Isn't it?
If 'God is one' then he should be the same and He should be everywhere. So where is the conflict? The conflict is in our underdeveloped minds. The conflicts stems from poor knowledge and even poorer assimilation of that knowledge. An open mind reaches out, seeks and imbibes and the freedom to explore gets one many answers. During one of the courses at ISCKON I met two Parsi ladies who too were attending the course. I was surprised when I heard that, and very subtly I found that they have attended another one before that 6 day course. They both felt that the knowledge in Bhagwad Gita is so profound that it is applicable to any one's life beyond the confines of religion and nationality. I was mesmerized just the way when I read 'The Journey Home', the autobiographical book by Radhanath Swami who was born a Jew, raised with Christian boys, travelled through Islamic nations and who eventually found his eternal love in the gullies of Vrindavan.
The beauty of any religion is not how it keeps you bound but how it liberates you to accept just about anyone with love, compassion and respect.
I have just taken a small step in understanding myself through this divine knowledge of Bhagwad Gita. Take a small step, reach out for this book and discover the richness of its content and its relevance in the present times. Its not for nothing that Modi ji has been gifting this book to every head of state he has been meeting. All the self help books in the world and motivational volumes would weigh lighter than the wealth of knowledge that is hidden in Bhagwad Gita.
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