Why do people love their religion?
April 26, 2007
Really interesting (if you have a fascination for religion). I found this blog on technorati whilst searching up about blogs talking about religious differences and other related topics. I read through most of the comments, and everyone here seemed very eager to share their views, but what I found really cool was that, although the beliefs where hugely diverse, everyone had reasons why they individually related to aspects of their religion or their particular belief, but at the same time, they did not really promote or preach about their religion - only one comment stated that their religion was better because it had no strings attached. The majority of comments were about love, values, teachings and the culture of their various beliefs. I also came across a new term for me – seems like I should have come across it but I haven’t before – Unitarian Universalism - which seemingly refers to a spirituality search related to the type of confusion I’m in with regards to the whole religion and spirituality “thing.” Nevertheless, I definitely do not want to align myself to any particular way of thinking or term, especially one I only came across a couple of days ago.
So, as for myself, I’m a tad confused. Regarding myself: I was born into a Hindu family, and thus I’ve been surrounded by Hinduism and its teachings. My parents are quite spiritually inclined, and even though a lot of their beliefs seem to be derived from Hinduism, being very open-mindedtruth-seeking people, a whole other side of their values are from numerous differentsources like Buddhism, Christianity, the teachings of Sathya Sai Baba, and so on. My strongly religious maternal grandmother lived with us until I was about fifteen, so I saw her go to the shrine room in our house to pray each morning and night, and often conduct a ceremony. I’ve been involved in such ceremonies, and I like to learn about them, however I don’t feel a real need to be a part of them since I think a relationship with God is personal. I do visit the shrine room on a daily basis because it does exude a feeling of tranquility and good intentions. I’ve been to temples many times before, but I haven’t been to one in the last two or so years. I learnt South Indian classical music for 12 years – the songs are about, and to God – however I was mainly there because of my love for music. These are a combination of things that have influenced my thinking and bias.
So, I find that I really relate to Hinduism and I could quite easily call myself a Hindu, because in the end, the values and beliefs coincide with mine but there is also a lot of open-mindedness inherent in the religion. It’s almost like Hinduism provides teachings and various methods (or ways of seeings) that allow people to have a relationship with God, and thus live life of happiness for yourself and others. However, that’s only my interpretation of it. Like anything, teachings in Hinduism could be understood differently, or followed in a certain way without questioning, which could seem “bad” to me. I’ll come back to this in another post. I want to use the word “therefore,” but it’s not like I”m putting forth a logical argument, but my conclusion is I feel uncomfortable calling myself part of any particular religion until I have a greater understanding of it (that’s if I ever come to a satisfactory understanding in my own eyes). So, rather, I’d like to take what works for me with regards to God from religions like Hinduism, Islam, Christianity and Buddhism, and anywhere else I can, and try to live my life in way that would help others to experience (or realise) the grace contained in life in whatever way they do.
I’m not really sure, and I’m happy to admit it.
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