Thoughts on Religion

Miller

Amongst all the places I have travelled, India is by far the most religiously diverse, not only in variety of religious faiths but also in what religion means to the people.  

Back home I've found religion is only important in life when you're at a sermon (or other religious session) or when arguing over interpretations of religious texts; in India it is quite the contrary.  India treats religion differently as it does not partition religion from day to day life as NZ and the West does.  Especially for the poorer people, religion is what keeps you going, the reason you continue to fight when all seems lost.  I feel as though this is how religion should be, it should promote reasons to love and hope and to carry you through tough times as opposed to being no more than a thought to cross your mind every once and a while or to use as a scapegoat to try and poach one's freedom.  I know that for some in India the latter way of thinking is still dominant, but the presence of the former has shown me the positive influence religion can have on life.

On another note, religion in India is as interconnected and complicated as the beautiful silk work in Varanasi.  Also in Varanasi is the Ganges river, a river sacred to numerous religions that we were fortunate enough to be shown around by the world famous Mr. Tripathi.  Over the loud noise of the highly inefficient motorboat we had hired, I discussed with Mr. T his religious views: he was a proud Hindu and of the Brahmin (highest) caste and he explained the basic beliefs of Hinduism.  Unlike I and many others thought, Hinduism is a monotheistic religion and all the many different gods are actually all the same god reincarnated, and the three most important reincarnates make up the trident and the first characters of each trident member makes the syllable "Om" the same noise made by Hindus during meditation, as to Hindus Om is both the ruler of the universe and the universe itself, the symbol for Om and for Hinduism looks like this: 🕉, and when rotated 90 degrees clockwise it forms the shape of a trident.  I noticed a strange similarity between Hinduism's trident and Christianity's trinity, as both represent three different forms of the same deity.  Mr. T replied to my comparison, "Trident, Trinity, not similar, the same."  Hearing these words in the unique atmosphere of the Ganges evoked a desire to learn more of these direct connections between religions.  Prior to our departure from Auckland Airport I would often ponder on the validity of any religion as I struggled to understand how any one religion could have 'the' answer when there are so many differing religions and even sects of religions that disagree.  You can believe wholeheartedly in your religion, but there will still be someone else who holds the same sureness for a different explanation, so who is right?  Mr. T's wisdom taught me perhaps both.  Continuing this research in Jaipur while I had to stay at the hotel with some minor diarrhoea I discovered strong links between Islam and Christianity: Abraham's son and Isaac's brother Ishmael was the person who founded Islam, and the Koran even recognises Jesus as a prophet.  Back in Kolkata I learnt from Free Set that many of the freed prostitutes absorb Christianity into Hinduism, taking Jesus as another human incarnate like Shiva in their scriptures.  All of this connects Islam, Hinduism and Christianity, the world's three most popular religions, like the trinity or trident: three different forms of the same thing and, "not similar, the same."  Other religions such as Judaism, Sikhism and Buddhism can also be closely linked into the three larger religions previously listed, as pointed out by our tour guide here in Mumbai.