| As a matter of fact, while we adhere to our own faith, we have every right to adopt acceptable features from any other faith. It is not only a right; it is a duty we must discharge. It is a fanaticism to imagine that you cannot accept anything from other faiths.
I believe that all the great religions of the world are true, more or less. I say more or less because I believe that everything that the human hand touches, by reason of the very fact that human beings are imperfect, becomes imperfect. Perfection is the exclusive attribute of God and it is indescribable, untranslatable. It is necessary for us all to aspire after perfection, but when that blessed state is attained, it becomes indescribable, indefinable. And I, therefore admit, in all humility, that even the Vedas, the Quran, and the Bible are the imperfect word of God; and the imperfect beings that we are, swayed to and fro by a multitude of passions, it is impossible for us to even to understand this word of God in its fullness.
And I believe that, if only we could all of us read the scripture of the different faiths from the stand-point of the followers of those faiths, we should find that they were at bottom all one and were all helpful to one another.
For me, the different religions are beautiful flowers from the same garden, or they are branches of the same majestic tree. Therefore, they are equally true, though being received and interpreted though human instruments equally imperfect.
If all religions are one at source, we have to synthesize them. Today, they are looked upon as separate and that is why we kill each other. When we are tired of religion, we become atheists and then, apart from the little self, nothing, not even God, exists. But when we acquire true understanding, the little self perishes and God becomes all in all.
Religion is purely a personal matter. There are in reality as many religions as minds. Each mind has a different conception of God from that of the other.
For a time, I struggled with the question: Which was the true religion of those I knew? But, ultimately, I came to the deliberate conviction that there was no such thing as only one true religion and every other false. There is no religion that is absolutely perfect. All are equally imperfect, or more or less, perfect. Hence, the conclusion that Christianity is as good and true as my own religion. But so also about Islam or Zoroastrianism or Judaism.
I would also dispute the claim that Christianity is the ONLY true religion. It is ALSO a true religion, a noble religion, and along with other religions it has contributed to raise the moral height of mankind. But it has yet to make a greater contribution. After all, what are 2000 years in the life of a religion? Just now, Christianity comes to yearning mankind in a tainted form. Fancy, bishops supporting slaughter in the name of Christianity!
I cannot say that because I have seen God in this way, the whole world must see Him in that way. All religions are true and equal. That, however, is not to say that they are equally true in religious terms or are absolutely true. Another mans religion is true for him, as mine is for me. I cannot be a judge of his religion. That is my fundamental position.
Then, I can say that Jesus occupies in my heart the place of the great teachers who have made a considerable influence on my life. Leave the Christians alone for the present. (LOL) I shall say to the Hindus that your lives will be incomplete unless you reverently study the teachings of Jesus. I have come to the conclusion, in my own experience, that those who, no matter to what faith they belong, reverently study the teachings of other faiths, broaden their own instead of narrowing their hearts. Personally, I do not regard any of the great religions of the world as false. All have served in enriching mankind and are not even serving their purpose. A liberal education should include a reverent study of other faiths.
Religion can never be based on history, for, if it is so based, faith would be undermined. I am able to retain my peace because of an undying faith in God, translated as Truth. We can describe God as millions of things, but I have for myself adopted the simple formula Truth is God. But several American friends say to me: You cannot have peace unless you believe in Jesus. Well, I tell you I have peace, though I do not believe in Jesus as the only son of God. Ones own religion is, after all, a matter between oneself and ones Maker and no one elses.
The Muslim says: He is and there is no one else. The Christian says the same thing and so the Hindu. And, if I may say so, even the Buddhist says the same thing, if in different words. We may, each of us, be putting our own interpretation on the word God God who embraces not only this tiny globe of ours, but millions and billions of such globes. How can we, little crawling creatures, so utterly helpless as He has made us, how can we possibly measure His greatness, His boundless love, His infinite compassion, such that He allows man insolently to deny Him, wrangle about Him, and cut the throat of his fellowman? How can we measure the greatness of God who is so forgiving, so divine?
Confuse not Jesus teaching with what passes as modern civilization, and pray do not do unconscious violence to the people among whom you cast your lot. It is no part of that call, I assure you, to teach the lives of the people of the East by its roots. Tolerate whatever is good in them and do not hastily, with your preconceived notions, judge them. DO not judge lest you be judged yourselves. In spite of your belief in the greatness of Western civilization and in spite of your pride in all your achievements, I plead with you for humility and ask you to leave some little room for doubt, in which, as Tennyson sang, there was more truth, though by doubt he no doubt meant a different thing. Let us each one live our life, and if ours is the right life, where is the cause for hurry? It will react of itself.
Surely, there must come a time in the life of a very religiously-minded man when his faith must be self-sustained.
I am reminded of a saying of the Prophet in which it is said that a man would be judged on the Day of Judgment not by what he professes by his lips, nor by whom he follows, but by what he has himself done to implement the teachings received by him.
If it is proper and necessary to discover an underlying unity among all religions, a master key is needed. That master key is that of Truth and Non-violence. When I unlock the chest of a religion with this master key, I do not find it difficult to discover its likeness with other religions. When you look at these religions as so many leaves of a tree they seem so different, but at the trunk they are one. Unless and until we realize this fundamental unity, wars in the name of religion will not cease. These are not confined to Hindus and Mussalmans alone. The pages of world history are soiled with the bloody accounts of these religions wars. Religions can be defended only by the purity of its adherents and their good deeds, never by their quarrels with those of other faiths.
The Allah of Islam is the same as the God of Christians and the Ishwara of Hindus. Even as there are numerous names of God in Hinduism, there are as many names of God in Islam. The names do not indicate individuality but attributes, and little man has tried in his humble way to describe Mighty God by giving him attributes, though He is above all attributes, Indescribable, Inconceivable, Immeasurable. Living faith in this God means acceptance of the Brotherhood of Mankind. It also means equal respect for all religions. If Islam is dear to you, Hinduism is dear to me and Christianity to the Christians. It would be the height of intolerance and intolerance is a species of violence to believe that your religion is superior to other religions and that you would be justified in wanting others to change over to your faith.
Those were excerpts from All Religions Are True, a book Gandhi wrote focusing on the unifying aspects of all religions and the need for tolerance. Gandhi, I think, is a modern day example of a person with faith in God at its best.
(I did the x-posting thing, Mel!) |
