God does not need PRO for a simple reason, how can you publicise him when you do not understand him, or when you do not even know if he is ONE  or MANY?

I am writing this out of immense pain, looking at the state- of- affairs in my home country, the one which I left at a time where I was filled with pride – MERA BHARAT MAHAN and never ever wanted to leave my country earlier. Today, I am glad I did, I became a much better person, because I experienced and exercised tolerance and equality for all, respect for all and it gives immense happiness being a global citizen. Why this attitude -only my country is good- only my religion is best -YES NOW I COME TO THE POINT- MY RELIGION?  I am lucky to have a friend who shares the same ideals that I carry. We discussed yesterday – do we need religion at all? He said,” We should not have religion,” I agreed, ” yes, maybe,” but my question was,” what is the religion?”

According to Cambridge University,” Religion is the belief in and worship of a god or gods, or any such system of belief and worship.” Religion is defined by the lexicographers at Oxford Dictionaries as The belief in and worship of superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods.

I am amused by the “Personal God or Gods”, so tomorrow when we have done fighting amongst different religions, it will come down to fighting amongst states, then cities, and ultimately families – about the Personal God. Believe me, God is definitely not able to sleep, muttering to himself, “And I thought I am infallible.” Look, what I did ? pointing to all of us.

Coming back to my discussion with my friend, I explained to him we cannot do without religion at this stage – the same scenario as that of a smartphone – can you put it away? So, maybe we do not need it but because it is already there and cannot be undone, at least, we can initiate from childhood a practise of learning about all religions, their beliefs and how every religion teaches about peace and love. Put in school textbooks and also have discussions in families on this liberal view of different faiths. So that when we grow up – we cannot be run by remote control by people on stage and appreciate ALL without any discrimination on the basis of caste, colour, race and religion. Won’t that be better?

I personally believe the best example to look at the harmony of practising different religions is Bollywood and our Defence Personnel. So many actors have families with members practising different faith yet they are so tolerant, tolerance comes from knowing that we all are equal and respect for each other ensures PEACE. Same is with defence personnel, they are from different faiths yet they fight for their nation and not for their faiths.

Oxygen is very important for life, religion comes way down the ladder of necessities. Those who think they cannot survive without their Religion should try to live without oxygen for a day.

Coming to the point about having no religion at all, even Dalai Lama says this the best solution- change the definition of religion. You will get to know what he meant when you read the below quotes by him.

“Religion is something we can perhaps do without.” Dalai Lama

“This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.”   Dalai Lama

Both the above quotes are so simple yet so difficult to practise by people who use religion as a weapon and not as a message of LOVE and PEACE. He is right in saying that we do not need Temples or Mandirs ( According to me, maybe this word Mandir was coined from word Mann Ke Andir/Andar that means  God resides in our hearts and we do not need any temples for this).

More evil deeds have been committed in the name of religion than for any other reason. When I was writing this statement, I thought of exploring more if someone thinks the same and was amazed to find the exact quote reiterating the same message which I am writing here.

“More violence has occurred in the name of religion than for any other reason.”  Deepak Chopra in  “The Book of Secrets”.

SINGING THE NATIONAL ANTHEM IS NOT PERFORMING ARTS, you cannot force anyone to sing the national anthem or chant a mantra or religious hymn – especially when a person is dying. A person can be prosecuted for sedition for hate speech but what is the outcome where people have been killed by people operated by remote control? My heart goes out to the people – mind you PEOPLE – just people – no Hindu, Muslim or Sikh, or Christian. It is just the mindless game played by the gaming minds who want to assert supremacy.

They don’t even realise that different religions take to the same GOD because if GODS were different and Gods were many, they would have been fighting amongst each other to assert their supremacy. And the one which won would have been ruling the universe, isn’t it? There would have been ONE RELIGION then, Isn’t it? So, if there are still many religions

and GOD is happy with it-as religions are just like different paths reaching the same destination- different beliefs- but they lead to the same God.

Let’s wake up guys, from this intoxicating-delusional slumber. Stop being the blind followers or believers: be seekers: seek the answers instead of being operated by the remote control in some one’s hand. Stop hating the people with different viewpoints, honour different views, discuss and argue, but don’t use the bullet because someone else wants to shoot through your hands. Pure Robotics sans emotions would create havoc in this world – we already have a coronavirus to deal with COVID-19 we do not need GOD-ID-19.

That is why Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation, said: ” GOD HAS NO RELIGION”.

@copyright Rekha 01 March 2020.