There are so many religions in this world. Each follower claims that his religion is the best one to be followed. Among them, which group of followers tells the truth? In fact, which religion is the greatest?
Let us think about this. Buddhism was established after Buddha left the world. The earth existed even before the birth of Buddha.
Christianity became a religion when the followers of Christ established a religion named after the founder. The earth existed even before the birth of Christ. Islam was established by Mohamed nabi. The earth existed before him and people followed a kind of religion even before these founders and followers established new religions.
Hindu religion (Hinduism) was not founded by any saint or a group of saints. Apart from the abovementioned religions, there are other religions in the world. However, Hindu religion was not established on a day or by a group of followers just like other founded religions.
It evolved out of the thoughts and ideals offered to the people of ancient times by saints, sages and philosophers who lived thousands of years ago. It is the moral path of life established modified and codified by saints who lived in various regions from time to time.
Therefore, instead of calling it “Hinduism” we can apply name it as moral code of conduct to enlighten the soul (Dharma / Sanadhana Dharma). It is universal in nature and so we cannot call it a religion. The word “religion” will not cover the wide scope of universal code of conduct.
The “Sanadhana Dharma” was practised throughout the world by people of different region and ages. It was aimed that human race must be cleansed off their impurities by following the path of virtue. Historians fix the data of “Ramayanam” around 14,000 years from today. You can conclude that the Hindu Dharma existed even before the date of Ramayana. The origin and development of this moral path can be roughly fixed to the period when human race developed in the ancient times. Sanadhana dharma is not a founded religion.
Of all the founded religions, Buddhism is the oldest which must have been established about 5000 years ago. Christianity emerged about 2000 years before. The origin of Islam can be attributed to roughly a period before 1400 years. Now the question is: Buddha’s thoughts and religious concepts were propagated by his followers as Buddhism. What religion was followed by Buddha? Which code of righteousness made Buddha the enlightened soul? We must understand the root of Buddha’s teachings. The foundations for the path of righteous life was already laid by Buddha’s forefathers.
All founded religions have a name to identify their codes of conduct, but Sanadhana dharma ( Hinduism ) is an intricate complex religious and social system. General public would not know the origin of this spiritual, social and philosophical concept. That was why some saints would have named it as “Hinduism” or “Hindu Religion”. Hinduism cannot be considered as a religion. It is completely a different path of righteousness. Others criticise Hindu concepts because they are comparing it with other founded religions.
Hinduism was not founded by any one saint. It is a code of conduct practised for many thousands of years before the birth of all the founders of other religions. This is a common path of disciplined life to be followed by all human beings. Followers of other religions consider it as a religion followed by a group of people. It is this wrong conception about Hinduism which is a result of confused state of mind in the people.
All the wrong conceptions and practices about religion must be put to death. All religions were founded only to make human beings better persons, but those religions are used to destroy the human race. This is what we witness today.
I call upon the citizens of the world to forget the racial, religious, caste differences and live peacefully. Instead of practising universal brotherhood of man, caste system divides the people into groups. Religion spoils the humanitarian qualities in us. Man has been fighting with others in the name of religion. Sharing the water in the Cauvery river has become a serious issue because of the feeling of regionalism in the people of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Nationalism would have solved this issue when people think of themselves as Indians and become united under one flag.
The conflict between India and Pakistan arose when India was divided into two dominions in 1947, because of the religious differences. Before the partition, both Indians and Pakistanis lived in the same country as Indians. Before and after Independence, Hindu-Muslim conflict has taken thousands of lives including the life of Mahatma Gandhi.
The root-cause of all these conflicts is lack of true knowledge about nature of human beings, God and the universe. All segregations – political, religious and social – are due to ignorance. All differences must be understood and tolerated if the human race wants to survive.
We must understand the basic concept, God is one, which has been accepted in all religions. We must unite under this concept and understand we are all children of the same God. We must practise the religion of universal love and brotherhood.
“Love and treat others with kindness as you love yourself,” said a saint. Another saint addressed the audience as “Brothers and Sisters” in the world religious conference held in Chicago, USA. We have read about so many saints. Are we practising any of their teachings that they have told us to do?
People who claim that they practise their religion never follow the teaching of founders of those religions and religious leaders. Had they practised such noble ideals, the world would have become a garden of love.
Man has become crazy as he practises different religions. Neither does he follow the teachings of the saints nor understand the meaning of their message.
In Tamil, “Madham” means “religion”. In addition, the term has other meanings such as arrogance, pride, rudeness and even craziness. People are intoxicated with the religious feelings and behave without humanitarian, moderate attitude towards people practising other religions.
That is why Vallalar has rightly put that Tamil is a divine language with different contextual meanings for a single word. Humanitarian attitude is present only in those who live beyond the fetters of religion.
Thiru Arutprakasa Vallalar found unity in diverse religions and said that all religions were true. Only when people of the world unite they can practise “Sanmargam”. Vallalar proclaimed that it was the only path for survival of this world.
Buddha, Jesus and Mohammed Nabi and all other saints advised us to love all human beings. They did not ask his followers to propagate their teachings as only solution to problems of mankind. However, the followers established different religions out of sheer ignorance.
All saints and liberated souls have ascertained that “God is one”. The essence of their teachings is “Love all”. Neither did they advocate violence nor asked them to inflict pain or sufferings on others. In fact, all the saints have identified ignorance as the root of all evils.
Think and free yourselves from the fetters of religious bondage. Vallalar said: one who practises any one religion is like a mad, ignorant monkey, creating problems for others. Religious fanatics today prove this statement as true.
In India, there appeared several saints and spiritual guides who have taught us that all religions are true and that the service to mankind is the service to God. We must follow the teachings of such saints efforts to practise the path of love and service sincerely.
Thiru Arutprakasa Vallalar established “Sanmarga Sangam” in Vadalur near Neyveli and preached universal love for all living beings and practised Anma Neya Orumaipadu.
Sri Sathya Saibaba in Puttaparthi, Andhra Pradesh has established an ashram for all humans to practise Sanadhana Dharma, and showed us the path of love and selfless service to humanity. This is the essence of his teachings.
Sri Narayana Guru, in Kerala preached Sanadhana Dharma and eradicated the evils of casteism from the society. Quintessence of his teachings are: Man must be united whatever their religion is and become good ; there is only one religion and one caste – that is religion of human goodness.
Vallalar implored to God: the devil called religion must not influence my way of life. When man is influenced by this devil, he becomes mad and acts like a devil. This causes suffering to everyone.
A religion which divides humanity is not at all necessary today. We need not become religious fanatics and it is enough if we treat all human beings equally. Let us tolerate others and practise love for the mankind.
Casteism and religion are two major stumbling blocks in the path of divinity. These two impediments make man a brutal animal.
Today people read and appreciate all spiritual books. It is a progress in the attitude of the people.
People speak about humanitarianism and equality among the members of the society. But they do not practise what they preach on the stage. This is because of the ways of the world and government policies.
A couple belonging to two different castes is encouraged to get married and the government gives gifts and award. But when these couples send their children to school, the government rules force the parents to bring their children under a caste. Casteism and religion are necessary for a citizen to get education and later an employment. Is it a fair deal?
Fox example, a friend of mine married a girl belonging to another caste. The people in the village excommunicated them. They were not allowed to participate in any of the celebrations or even funerals. They have a daughter but no young man from their castes comes forward to marry her. The inter-caste marriage has resulted in problem for their children. Who is to be held responsible for such a sad condition?
Media display a variety of castes and sub sects of main caste when people advertise in the matrimonial columns. There are many castes and divisions and sub sects in caste system and religious denominations.
Conversion of religion was induced by caste system and crude customs of segregation. The rich and powerful, inflict mental agony and physical suffering on the poor in the name of caste and religion. That is why the conversion is taking place even today. Some conmen cheat the unemployed, collecting huge sum of money and do not render any employment and cheat them. The basis of all these atrocities is: ignorance, poverty and government policies.
We must eradicate caste differences and religious fanaticism. India has been a country practising democratic socialism, and people are expected to enjoy equal rights irrespective of their religion, caste or region. People live in the vast Indian subcontinent stretching from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. India is a unique country with a population of above 1000 millions (100 crores), belonging to more than 1000 castes speaking more than 50 languages with their variant dialects, their diverse food habits, cultural practices, dress regulations and social customs which vary from region to region. In spite of the diversity, the strength of India lies in its unified “Sanadhana dharma”, in the best sense of the expression.
Unity in diversity is the essence of Indian culture. Art and architecture of India have been essentially spiritual and symbolic. People all over the world appreciate our traditions and cultural practices and look up to India with awe and reverence. But we have not understood the significance of our traditions. It is a great pity! People belonging to scientifically and economically advanced nations realize that something is missing in their civilized life. They started searching for it and found peace of mind, the solace in spiritual practices of India.
It is not the Hindu religion they are looking for, but only the fairly designed code of conduct for a person in any station in life. This solution they found in Sanadhana Dharma.
The significance of Vedas was realized by us only when European scholars explained it. A Christian priest pointed out the spiritual richness of Tiruvasakam.Our yogic practices including meditation and penance were brought to light for the people of the world only through foreigners.
This is what Vallalar said about 150 years ago: you will not listen to me now. Later on, some brothers from other countries will study and realize our wise spiritual practices and then they will tell us. Only then, you all will recognize the greatness of spiritualism. How true the predictions made by Vallalar!
No doubt people have realized that spiritual wisdom is above the religious fervour. However, the human mind is bound by certain fetters forced on it. They are for example, casteism, religious restrictions and communal regulations. People must be unfettered from all these social evils. We need not care for the restrictions enforced by community or religious leaders. Let us listen to the voice of God. The government should enact some codes of conduct in order to instil such practices in people.
Most of the religions were founded, based on a group of saints. Hence the confusion caused by the religious differences and ignorance of people are responsible for violence and terrorism prevalent today.
People have started quarrelling and fighting over the superiority of their religions. This is purely due to pride and egoistic attitude of people.
Welfare and prosperity of the fellow beings are only possible when we completely root out casteism and religion and it requires humanitarian attitude and true guidance of wisdom.