As many people, that many religions

(from Sonal)

Wednesday study circles abound in myriad dimensions in their spiritual appeal. Whatever aspect is taken up, it is sure to sway away the hearts and more so when these discussions become an inevitable part of one’s life at IISc. The new venue ie ‘Old Faculty Hall’ became instrumental in reverberating the vedic chants with much higher intensity probably because of its architecture.

The discussion paved way for revelation of new thoughts.It clarified the reason behind formation of different sects within a religion and the reasons of mutual conflict among them.
The nature of God is incomprehensible and so are the teachings of His incarnations. Avataras like Sri Krishna, Jesus Christ, Swami Ram Krishna Paramhnsa, Swami Vivekananda and many others possessed a personality that cannot be comprehended with limited average human understanding. Every incident of their life has big message to give to the society which demands practicing of severe discipline to attain that one aspect of His teachings.

So we can say that there can be innumerable aspects that society can learn from one deity. Each one pick these aspects according to thier own level of understanding of the situation and personal priorities. For example the ISCON faith considers the Vrindavan phase of Krishna’s life and propagates the ideas of Bhakti Yoga, some other institution can draw inspiration from Krishna in Warfare (thoughts of Geeta) and concentrate on Karma Yoga. Although both are following Krishna, but there is a difference in their approach which marks the formation of two different sects.

The teachings given by them may also differ according to the needs of the society. For example, Swami Vivekananda’s message to the West was renunciation of material wealth for spiritual quest because the western society was materialistically sound. However, Swamiji message to India was the upliftment of society, youth development, economic growth because it was the need of the hour of Indian society. So, teachings are context dependent and therefore may appear to be contradictory after a long phase of time in the absence of true knowledge.

Same was the case in Christianity which led to the formation of so many sects in Christianity as well. A book ‘Why we accept Christianity but not Churchianity’ , RKM publication can be read to delve deeper.

In the nutshell, different people acquire different aspects of teachings which they think are useful to them. But ultimately all teachings have emanated from the same source. So, there is no point of any contradiction. If these sects contradict amongst themselves in the name of their deity, it is purely out of limited understanding. Avataras are far beyond any institution. No institution can completely comprehend them. That is why it is said, ‘ As many people, that many religions’. It reminds me of a well known tale of blind persons groping to find the shape of an elephant and describing it in their own ways.

A thought that I am sure will bring a smile on your face……broadly the basic principles of all religions can be clubbed together without contradiction yet all religions can be divided into as many numbers as they have their followers. This is the beauty.