The One Religion

THE ONE RELIGION—THE RELIGION OF HUMANITY. In today’s world, all that we see or hear, is the mindless killing of innocents in the name of religion. Be it the total destruction of the world trade center, or the serial bomb blasts in Mumbai India, or the senseless massacre of the Christians in some eastern block countries, or vandalism of churches in Orissa in India, it is the innocent people, mothers , fathers, who suffers the most. They are forced to leave their habitats, homes, jobs, schools, and live in dilapidated refugee camps. No sectarian groups who perpetrate such senseless mindless war think about the crying child, the wailing mother,or the hapless father. Their only aim is to spread fear and terror all in the name of Religion. The perpetrators feel that they are doing a tremendous job and that by doing such an act they will be rewarded by the Divinity. God, Bhagwan, Allah, Christ, or any other name that one might give, will bless them with martyrdom. Can anybodies conscious sustain such concept?? Does Bhagwad Geeta tell us to kill people?? Does Quran teach us to inflict pain and agony to our fellow human beings?? If not Then why in the name of religion such acts are perpetrated?? We must have some idea about the evolution of religion to understand that religion helps us to bind together within the group and between the groups. From the very beginning when man was an advance ape, scientifically termed as Australopithecus, he lived in a group. Living in a group has lot of advantages, one of the prime being safety. Then there was the economic reason for man to be in a group. During the early Paleolithic period when man was a hunter gatherer, he needed a well defined group with a well defined division of labor among the group for the group to be economically viable. The animals that were hunted were as mammoth as the wooly mammoths. When the economy shifted from hunting gathering to agrarian, the groups needed to be much larger. Therefore there needed to be some rules, rites, rituals, and certain norms that gave the group an inherent control from within. Thus becoming a well structured social group. The rites, rituals, and certain norms were basically made for the groups to be more economically viable by creating an atmosphere of harmony and not discord at any times. Therefore we see the development of religion or a spark of it among the Neanderthals. Neanderthals were the first hominids to intentionally bury the dead. Exemplary sites include Shanidar in Iraq, Kebara Cave in Israel and Krapina in Croatia. Some scholars, however argue that these bodies may have been disposed of for secular reasons. Likewise a number of archeologists propose that Middle Paleolithic societies such as Neanderthal societies may also have practiced the earliest form of totemism or animal worship in addition to their (presumably religious) burial of the dead. Emil Bächler in

particular suggests (based on archeological evidence from Middle Paleolithic caves) that a widespread Middle Paleolithic Neanderthal bear cult existed. The evolution of religion is closely connected with the evolution of the mind and behavioral modernity. Evidence for Paleolithic burials is often taken as the earliest expression of religious or mythological thought involving an afterlife. Such practice is not restricted to Homo sapiens, but also found among Homo neanderthalensis as least as early as 130,000 years ago. The emergence of religious behavior is consequently dated to before separation of early Homo sapiens some 150,000 years ago. The earliest evidence of symbolic ritual activity besides burials may be a site in South Africa dated to 70,000 years ago. Does evolution of mind and behavioral modernity justify killing of thousands of innocent people?? No religions in this world, in its truest sense preach cruelty and killing. Every religion in this earth preaches unconditional love, brotherhood of man, and love thy neighbour. Quran, Bible, Bhagawad Geeta and all other religious text preach only one thing and that is help mankind in his hour of need irrespective of caste creed sex, propagate love and not hate. Here in modern time we are all doing just the opposite. The religious ideas also make their impact by crossing the boundaries of their origin (or dominance) to far off places. Religious faith of economically and militarily strong race (or nation) tries to dominate the weak and the underdeveloped. The mode of penetration and percolation of religious ideas may be through missionary activities, or through persecution by the sword and the pen. Tactful, but definite, attempts may also be made to derogate the native religious beliefs and customs, and to eulogize the religion of the strong. Thus, customs and rituals, religious faiths and traditions, art and literature, all find free flow from dominant culture to economically weaker one. The resistance of the native people is chiefly through the strength of their own religious principles and traditions. Militarily the native may not fight back, but the religion of the land might be capable of keeping its head afloat if its level of growth, faith in scriptural tradition, and history are strong. Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa lived such a highly spiritual life that he made India strong in this field, and thus, Vedanta could sustain and extradite itself from the influence of narrowness of religious dogma. Moreover, in the process, a wonderful synthesis and harmony of religions was established as the basis for universal religion. In addition to Hindu ways, Sri Ramakrishna undertook the sadhana of both Islam and Christian faiths. Between 1868 and 1874 a devout Muslim and a

Christian initiated Sri Ramakrishna in their respective methods of worship. On both the occasions, he had visions of the great Prophets of those religions, who merged in his body. On both the occasions Sri Ramakrishna was established in Nirvikalpa Samadhi state after the visions. He could then emphatically say: "As many faiths, so many paths!" He explains that every human soul has an objective and that is to connect to the divine. It is like a mountain top and there are umpteen number of ways to reach the top. If one takes a route to climb the mountain top and half way through he decides that this route is treacherous and he comes down to take another route, he will never reach the top of the mountain. He has to take a route and stick by it. The route is the religion and the top of the mountain is the almighty. The Divine. Which ever way he chooses his ultimate destiny is that one point –The mountain top, The divine. As intelligent creatures and as gods finest creation we must realize this and stop all this senseless and mindless brutality. In the vast space earth is like a pin head and the only place where Gods most precious creation “MAN” lives. There can be only one religion and that is the religion of Humanity.