Indian Talent, Global Content
|
Indian Talent, Global Content |
New and Improved: May 2012
Just Launched - New eStore selling travel guides, editing courses, ebooks and special offers |
Do All Roads Lead to Heaven?
Religion, like love, I believe is a many splendored thing…at least in my case. I think I have practiced most of the major religions in this world, so much so that I’ve almost become an atheist now, in the autumn of my life, at a time when most people turn to it as a means of salvation, a pathway to heaven! To begin at the beginning, I was born into a fairly conservative albeit modern Muslim family in Assam. I say 'modern' because my father, having studied in some of the most prestigious schools and colleges in Kolkata like St. Xaviers and Scottish Church, believed in the equality of the female species and wanted his daughters to have the very best education in the very best of the educational institutions at the time. And of course, in the Northeast, Shillong in Meghalaya was considered on par with the best in the world in terms of school education. So, off I was sent to Pine Mount School in Shillong— boarding school at age four and a half! Though Pine Mount was not a Convent School, the environment was definitely Christian. In the morning assembly, we sang hymns and said the Lord’s Prayer, classes began with moral science, the lessons taken mostly from the Bible, we said grace before and after meals and before going to bed we knelt by our bedside and recited a common prayer, “Gentle Jesus Meek and Mild, look upon thy little child…” Also, most of my friends were Christian and devout at that, so I think it will be safe for me to say that Christianity was the first religion I was introduced to. Not that I had any complaints because I loved Jesus and considered him my friend and savior as did all my friends. Needless to say, I read the Bible every night too. When Christmas time was approaching, we spent every evening during recreation, singing carols. Absolutely nothing wrong with this state of affairs, I would say, but my parents took strong exception to it, probably thinking that their daughter was on the verge of conversion. So come winter holidays, my parents would appoint a suitable Maulvi, and every morning I had to learn the intricacies of the Arabic language and the practice of the Islamic way of life and prayers. I had no objection to that either, because I believed even at that age, that school and home were two different aspects of my life and so I had to have two different ways of praying also. But pray I did with all my heart and soul in whichever way suitable at the time, because I really believed there was a very dear friend called God somewhere in the high heavens whose only work was to sit and listen to and answer my prayers. So, I grew up with two sets of religions and mind you, I was extremely happy with both. When in school I did all that my Christian friends did and when at home I read the Quran and said my ‘Namaz’ five times a day and knew all the important ‘Suras’ and the ‘Kalimas’ by heart…and I felt secure and protected at all times. So, in my childhood I oscillated between these two religions with great élan. Fast forward to youth and all its fallacies…I fell in love with a wonderful Hindu boy and almost from day one, knew that he was my Prince Charming, the great love of my life. I was all of nineteen years and wise enough to take decisions on my own…or so I thought. When we made it clear to our respective families that we intended to spend the rest of our lives together as a married couple, of course, all hell broke loose and we had to take the very sad option of eloping to be married. Before we took the extreme step, my future husband made it clear to me that I would have to convert to Hinduism, because that was the only way his family would accept me into the fold, and since my own family had made it clear that they would consider me dead if I married ‘that Hindu boy’, I agreed, although with some reservation because Hinduism was as far removed from Islam and Christianity as the North Pole from the South. Moreover, I had always found Hinduism a little frightening. But I had little choice in the matter…we needed to be accepted socially and that could happen only through one of our families accepting us. So I converted and started doing pujas and all the other rituals I was instructed in by my in-laws. My heart was never in it and I sometimes wondered what God wanted of me, never realizing even for a moment that He never wanted anything of me, just my happiness. Then, as Providence would have it, I was introduced to Buddhism by a very wonderful person having considerable influence over my in-laws. This meant that they wouldn’t object if I took up this Buddhist practice because it was supposed to be akin to Hinduism (don’t ask me how!). I took to the Buddhist practice like a duck to water. It opened up hitherto unknown doors to me and I finally found myself. For ten years, I practiced the Buddhism of Nicheren Daishonin and was a member of the Soka Gakkai International. I practiced with great faith and diligence and I was really happy, believing I had found ‘The Path’, my true calling, at long last. During that period I read a lot of self-help books from authors like Deepak Chopra, Neale Donald Walsch, Dr. Joseph Murphy, Brian Weiss as well as many treatises by the Soka Gakkai President Daisaku Ikeda. Paradoxically, after all this, I began to understand the profound philosophy behind the rites and rituals of the Hindu religion. I understood the importance of chanting ‘Mantras’ and aligning oneself with the cosmic energies and so on. So I went back and accepted gracefully what was once thrust upon me. I learnt all the very important ‘mantras’ and chanted each one 108 times except for the ‘Hanuman Chalisa,’ which I chanted seven times every day. So now what? Nothing…now I believe “I am not in the Universe, the Universe is in me.” I am a being of Divine love and light, a very special being with a very special mission. And finally, at long last, I will live my life for myself and try and find expression for my unique and varied talents. A daughter, a wife, a mother… roles that I have played to the best of my ability, along with other roles that came my way in life. Now, I want to just live for me, do my own thing, sing my own song…but can we really be free from all our ties and bonds… and do we really want to be? After practicing all the above mentioned religions with the utmost sincerity, faith and belief, I sometimes wonder what I qualify as….a true religionist or a true infidel? When I had to convert to Hinduism, my Muslim friends asked me if I had given up Islam, when I took up Buddhism, my Hindu relatives asked me if I had given up Hinduism. At that point of time I had no answers for anybody or rather, I did not want to say anything, but now I would like to tell all my detractors and those who laughed at my so-called fickleness that I did not ‘give up’ anything at any time. Rather, I embraced and inculcated the teachings of all these great religions along my life’s journey and I am so much the happier for it now…so much at peace and at harmony with the rest of humanity, which is only an extension of ourselves. To wind up, I’ll use a very clichéd phrase…as all roads lead to Rome, so do all religions lead to that same Divine Source, the Source of Love, Truth and Beauty, the Source from whence we have all come…so why, oh why, all this strife, violence and hatred in the name of Religion?!!! Chillibreeze's disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of Chillibreeze as a company. Chillibreeze has a strict anti-plagiarism policy. Please contact us to report any copyright issues related to this article.
More on Chillibreeze.comRelated links India, Afghanistan and the beginnings of two Religions
Other popular articles on Chillibreeze Budget 2009-10 threatens JK’s solvency
>> Read more articles written by Chillibreeze writers:1. Articles related to Content and Outsourcing
|
Premium Services
Products Must Reads...
Upgrade Your Writing |
Copyright 2004 - 2011 Chillibreeze Solutions Pvt. Ltd. |
