Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Why are there so many religions?

A religion is something that shows people, the path to God. For example, let us say there is a tall building and God is on the top of that tall building. Now, the stairs in the building that lead people to the top floor will be the religion. Now, people can be on different floors in that building. Also, based on their sight and strength, different people consider different floors to be the top of the building. For example, let us say, one person has never gone beyond the 18th floor of that building. He would consider the person on the 18th floor as God and the stairs leading upto the 18th floor as his religion. While, some other person with a lot of strength and determination may have gone all the way to the 100th floor - to him, the person on the 100th floor might be God and all the stairs leading upto the 100th floor, his religion. He might even think his religion/God is superior to the 18th floor guy's religion/God, since he has gone farther and is able to see a lot more things from the 100th floor.

While one religion/God's superiority over others' is just people's perception, let us consider a different view of the whole thing. While the goal is the top of the building (God), it may not be possible to bring all people living in different levels of the building to the top in one attempt. For example, some people may be so engrossed in other things, that they may not even have the desire to see what it is like from the top of the building. Little do they know that there is paradise at the top of the building. For such people, it may be a great step to get them from the 1st floor to the 2nd floor. So, a religion that entices people to go from the 1st floor to the 2nd floor and a form of God that pleases 2nd floor people may be the most appropriate for such people. Once they get to the 2nd floor, they could be moved up to higher floors in subsequent attempts. Thus, you could have a religion that takes people from the 2nd floor to the 3rd floor and a form of God at the 3rd floor that pleases/rewards them differently (3rd floor people may have already seen 2nd floor level of happiness. So, 3rd floor God may have to please them differently). In this fashion, you could have different forms of God that iteratively take people to higher and higher floors until everyone reaches the absolute top floor.

This is why Swami Nammazhwar says (Tamil verse from Thiruvaaimozhi):
Avaravar thamathamadhu arivari vagaivagai
Avaravar iraiyavar ena adi adaivargal
Avaravar iraiyavar kuraivilar iraiyavar
Avaravar vidhi vazhi adaiya nindranare!

அவரவர் தமதமது அறிவறி வகைவகை
அவரவர் இறையவர் என அடி அடைவர்கள்
அவரவர் இறையவர் குறைவிலர் இறையவர்
அவரவர் விதி வழி அடைய நின்றனரே!

In the above analogy, consider there being a lift in the building that takes people, irrespective of what floor they are in, directly to the top floor (in just one attempt) where the highest form of God resides. Such a lift is Sharanaagathi (complete surrender to God). Anyone, at any level of life can use it and it is the fastest and easiest means to reach the final destination. May one and all discover the lift and benefit from it!

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