 |
|
|
|
Tuesday 23th October 2001
Pause for Thought -
What religion is God?
Krishna
Dharma
I did the Pause for Thought again yesterday with Terry Wogan and his
seven million plus faithful listeners. He was very nice (trained as a
Jesuit priest, apparently), introducing me as a Hindu theologian (ahem),
writer and President of the Manchester Hare Krishna Centre. After a little
bit of banter, I delivered the following brief piece:
"As it's faith in the nation week, Terry, I've been thinking about faith
- what it is, and why we have so many in the world today. And, of course,
how all of them can live in harmony. To many that harmony must sometimes
seem far away. "Religion is the cause of more wars than anything," is
a cry we often hear, perhaps not surprisingly. Especially when we encounter
fundamentalist attitudes, the naked assertion that my way is the only
way, even that my religion is actually the religion of God himself.
But maybe, Terry, even in that assertion we can find the key to harmony.
What actually is God's religion? Is he Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Jewish
or whatever? I don't think so. The Bhagavad-gita tells us that God's religion
- and indeed the religion of the soul - is pure, unconditional love. It
explains how we are all spiritual beings, different from our bodies and
their temporary designations. Religion, it says, is a process by which
the soul awakens his or her ecstatic love for the Lord.
Throughout the ages this has been the essential message of all faiths.
When the body dies we, the spirit soul, do not. This life is not the all
in all. There is something much more. We have a loving relationship with
God, and life's goal is to establish that relationship.
But this message has been couched in cultural terms specific to different
times and places, and it seems that sometimes those terms cloud the message
itself. Religion or faith becomes another designation of the body; as
I am a black or white man, I am also a Hindu, Christian, Muslim, or whatever.
The soul's true, nameless religion is forgotten as, on the basis of false
pride, we so often fight over our chosen or inherited designation. These
designations go very deep. I remember a time when a few of my friends
were making their way along the Falls Road In N.Ireland, chanting Hare
Krishna, hoping to bring a little peace and love to that troubled area.
A group of bemused children approached them and asked, "What are you?"
"Oh, we're what people call the Hare Krishna's," said one of my friends.
One of the children looked thoughtful. "Yes, but are you Protestant or
Catholic Hare Krishna's?" he asked at last.
My suggestion for finding harmony among different faiths then Terry,
is to look beyond our bodily labels. See that we are all eternal souls,
with an eternal loving relationship with God, however we may choose to
express that love." |
|
|
