A PERSPECTIVE ON RELIGIONS
Mahatma Gandhi popularized the concept of “Sarva Dharma Sambhava” meaning “All religions are same and has to be respected” Very often we here it thousands of times in country “we all come through different routes and end up in the same place as if God is a place or an experience or a feeling but we know that he is not.” Most Indians approach religions with this kind of Mindset assuming that because we perceive reality differently, various religions are various perceptions of ultimate reality, we need to conclude that all view of reality is true and therefore all religions to be true. To establish this point we are posed with the parable of 6 blind Man touching the elephant (I assume readers are familiar) and coming with different conceptions and conclusions of an elephant. We think if belief is the oldest then it is the Truest as if Truth is defined by the calendar. Dr. Ravi Zacharias says “ Pluralistic cultures are beguiled by the cosmetically courteous idea that sincerity or privilege of birth is all that counts and that truth is subject to the beholder. In no other discipline of life can one be so naive as to claim inherited belief or insistent belief as the sole determiner of truth. Why, then, do we make the catastrophic error of thinking that all religions are right and that it does not matter whether the claims they make are objectively true?
Indians are familiar with the popularized T.V. show “Kaun Banega Crorepati” (who will become the Millionaire” as the show was meant to become crorepati by answering questions posed by the host Amitabh Bachchan (Indian Cinema actor) . I want to use the scenario of the show and would endeavor to refute the notion that all religions are same. I am presenting an imaginary questions and answers series
Where is Taj mahal in India ?
A) Delhi B) Mumbai C) Agra D) Calcutta
Answer : Agra :
Well done your answer is right ! you win 1 crore
But, suppose the let us reframe the answer
A) Delhi B) Mumbai C) Agra D) All three cities (a,b,c)
Answer : D) In all three cities.
Hey, how can Taj mahal be in all three cities. That is factually not true. What an illogical answer? Can’t you see this quite an obvious point? Your answer would have right if all the cities too would have tajmahal, but since Taj mahal is only in Agra which is factually true, your answer “all three cities “is an absurd.
Now suppose the 2nd question is asked
What do you think about God ? Does he exist ? what he is like ? ( more options for the answer)
A) There is no God
B) All is God and God is All
C) There are many Gods
D) There is only one God
E) All views about God is true
F) Only one view about God is true
Suppose the first answer is :
Answer 1) All views about God is true
Wow, Well done, you are right. Mahatma Gandhi and all our religious traditions are teaching this truth .You have given the right answer. You win…
But what if the answer is given.
Answer 2) f) Only One view about God is true.
Hey ! you are an arrogant, narrow minded. How can you believe there is only one view True ? We Indian follow the precept of Mahatma Gandhi “Sarva Dharma Sambhav” and every one in the world should follow this precept so that there will be peace and harmony.
In the above two scenarios of question, if you observe when it comes to the question of Tajmahal and when the answer was “IN ALL CITIES” everyone would without even much thought would agree the answer is absurd and opposing such answer would not be considered as intolerance but if somebody answers for the question of God that “only one view of God is true” people will be labeled as intolerant and would not see the absurdity of embracing and affirming the position of “All view of God is true”
We need to understand for all the great questions of life there is only one true answers. There cannot be contradictory answers because TRUTH IN ORDER TO BE TRUTH HAS TO BE NON-CONTRADICTORY, EXCLUSIVE, ABSOLUTE AND UNIVERSAL and IT MUST CORRESOND WITH REALITY. Try challenging this definition and you end up in self-contradiction.
Human beings have this insatiable quest to find THE TRUTH because on that answer depends all other fundamentals question for life. If there is no truth then there is no point to find the answer for the question like Does God Exist ? what is his nature ? Is there life after death ? etc and so on. Not only that but even the quest for harmony and peace among nations and community depends upon Truth. We long to find “universal” which would give meaning, identity and harmony to the particulars. All such notions like “Sarva Dharma Sambhav” is a quest to find that “universal” which would become the frame of reference for the answers of human life as well as Harmony among Human being. But to accept any such universal as a frame of reference has to be analyze logically. When done we will come to the conclusion that it is impossible to reconcile contradiction within the universal, if we are honest enough to admit. The validity of law of non-contradiction, that basic law for all right thinking is always established the moment anybody opposes to any meaningful statement. If contradictions are true factually then there will be no problem to accept the position that “Only One religion or view point of God is True.” Which is opposite to “All religions are same and true” but we know well that the moment you pronounce yourself to be exclusive you end up deemed to be Narrow minded and bigot.
Take all religions and analyses the basic concepts of 1) God 2) Man 3)Morality 4) Destiny. You will find most to be in complete contradictions. Even in India in ancient time there was whole tradition of doing debates where by viewpoints were being presented and each one would try to critique the others positions as they knew well that one has to refute to opposite viewpoint otherwise it would lead to contradictions. Explore the six schools of Indian philosophy you will find this to be true. An Advaitin like Sankara tried to refute Buddhism, Dwaita school tries to refute Advaita and and Vice-versa. The ISCONITES opposed the Sankara’s Notion of “ultimate reality to Impersonal” as they maintained “ultimate reality to be Personal” who according to them is Krishna . They used terms like “Mayawadis” for Sankara and his followers in a derogatory sense and attempted to refuted the whole viewpoint of Advaita. The whole idea behind opposing any particular viewpoint is that inherently we know “opposites both cannot be true at the same time and in the same sense”. Even those who propound the belief that “ALL RELIGIONS ARE SAME” oppose the belief “ALL RELIGIONS ARE NOT SAME”. A person following the belief that ONLY ONE RELIGION IS TRUE” wants the whole world should believe his belief in the same fashion the one who says “All religions are same” wants the whole world to believe the same. This shows how much we adhere to right understanding of the Truth ..absolute, exclusive, non-contradictory and trans cultural.
Let me reiterate at the conclusion the words of Dr. Ravi Zacharias “ All religions are not the same. All religions do not point to God. All religions do not say that all religions are the same. At the heart of every religion is an uncompromising commitment to a particular way of defining who God is or is not and accordingly, of defining life's purpose.” Anyone who claims that all religions are the same betrays not only an ignorance of all religions but also a caricatured view of even the best-known ones. Every religion at its core is exclusive
Mahatma Gandhi popularized the concept of “Sarva Dharma Sambhava” meaning “All religions are same and has to be respected” Very often we here it thousands of times in country “we all come through different routes and end up in the same place as if God is a place or an experience or a feeling but we know that he is not.” Most Indians approach religions with this kind of Mindset assuming that because we perceive reality differently, various religions are various perceptions of ultimate reality, we need to conclude that all view of reality is true and therefore all religions to be true. To establish this point we are posed with the parable of 6 blind Man touching the elephant (I assume readers are familiar) and coming with different conceptions and conclusions of an elephant. We think if belief is the oldest then it is the Truest as if Truth is defined by the calendar. Dr. Ravi Zacharias says “ Pluralistic cultures are beguiled by the cosmetically courteous idea that sincerity or privilege of birth is all that counts and that truth is subject to the beholder. In no other discipline of life can one be so naive as to claim inherited belief or insistent belief as the sole determiner of truth. Why, then, do we make the catastrophic error of thinking that all religions are right and that it does not matter whether the claims they make are objectively true?
Indians are familiar with the popularized T.V. show “Kaun Banega Crorepati” (who will become the Millionaire” as the show was meant to become crorepati by answering questions posed by the host Amitabh Bachchan (Indian Cinema actor) . I want to use the scenario of the show and would endeavor to refute the notion that all religions are same. I am presenting an imaginary questions and answers series
Where is Taj mahal in India ?
A) Delhi B) Mumbai C) Agra D) Calcutta
Answer : Agra :
Well done your answer is right ! you win 1 crore
But, suppose the let us reframe the answer
A) Delhi B) Mumbai C) Agra D) All three cities (a,b,c)
Answer : D) In all three cities.
Hey, how can Taj mahal be in all three cities. That is factually not true. What an illogical answer? Can’t you see this quite an obvious point? Your answer would have right if all the cities too would have tajmahal, but since Taj mahal is only in Agra which is factually true, your answer “all three cities “is an absurd.
Now suppose the 2nd question is asked
What do you think about God ? Does he exist ? what he is like ? ( more options for the answer)
A) There is no God
B) All is God and God is All
C) There are many Gods
D) There is only one God
E) All views about God is true
F) Only one view about God is true
Suppose the first answer is :
Answer 1) All views about God is true
Wow, Well done, you are right. Mahatma Gandhi and all our religious traditions are teaching this truth .You have given the right answer. You win…
But what if the answer is given.
Answer 2) f) Only One view about God is true.
Hey ! you are an arrogant, narrow minded. How can you believe there is only one view True ? We Indian follow the precept of Mahatma Gandhi “Sarva Dharma Sambhav” and every one in the world should follow this precept so that there will be peace and harmony.
In the above two scenarios of question, if you observe when it comes to the question of Tajmahal and when the answer was “IN ALL CITIES” everyone would without even much thought would agree the answer is absurd and opposing such answer would not be considered as intolerance but if somebody answers for the question of God that “only one view of God is true” people will be labeled as intolerant and would not see the absurdity of embracing and affirming the position of “All view of God is true”
We need to understand for all the great questions of life there is only one true answers. There cannot be contradictory answers because TRUTH IN ORDER TO BE TRUTH HAS TO BE NON-CONTRADICTORY, EXCLUSIVE, ABSOLUTE AND UNIVERSAL and IT MUST CORRESOND WITH REALITY. Try challenging this definition and you end up in self-contradiction.
Human beings have this insatiable quest to find THE TRUTH because on that answer depends all other fundamentals question for life. If there is no truth then there is no point to find the answer for the question like Does God Exist ? what is his nature ? Is there life after death ? etc and so on. Not only that but even the quest for harmony and peace among nations and community depends upon Truth. We long to find “universal” which would give meaning, identity and harmony to the particulars. All such notions like “Sarva Dharma Sambhav” is a quest to find that “universal” which would become the frame of reference for the answers of human life as well as Harmony among Human being. But to accept any such universal as a frame of reference has to be analyze logically. When done we will come to the conclusion that it is impossible to reconcile contradiction within the universal, if we are honest enough to admit. The validity of law of non-contradiction, that basic law for all right thinking is always established the moment anybody opposes to any meaningful statement. If contradictions are true factually then there will be no problem to accept the position that “Only One religion or view point of God is True.” Which is opposite to “All religions are same and true” but we know well that the moment you pronounce yourself to be exclusive you end up deemed to be Narrow minded and bigot.
Take all religions and analyses the basic concepts of 1) God 2) Man 3)Morality 4) Destiny. You will find most to be in complete contradictions. Even in India in ancient time there was whole tradition of doing debates where by viewpoints were being presented and each one would try to critique the others positions as they knew well that one has to refute to opposite viewpoint otherwise it would lead to contradictions. Explore the six schools of Indian philosophy you will find this to be true. An Advaitin like Sankara tried to refute Buddhism, Dwaita school tries to refute Advaita and and Vice-versa. The ISCONITES opposed the Sankara’s Notion of “ultimate reality to Impersonal” as they maintained “ultimate reality to be Personal” who according to them is Krishna . They used terms like “Mayawadis” for Sankara and his followers in a derogatory sense and attempted to refuted the whole viewpoint of Advaita. The whole idea behind opposing any particular viewpoint is that inherently we know “opposites both cannot be true at the same time and in the same sense”. Even those who propound the belief that “ALL RELIGIONS ARE SAME” oppose the belief “ALL RELIGIONS ARE NOT SAME”. A person following the belief that ONLY ONE RELIGION IS TRUE” wants the whole world should believe his belief in the same fashion the one who says “All religions are same” wants the whole world to believe the same. This shows how much we adhere to right understanding of the Truth ..absolute, exclusive, non-contradictory and trans cultural.
Let me reiterate at the conclusion the words of Dr. Ravi Zacharias “ All religions are not the same. All religions do not point to God. All religions do not say that all religions are the same. At the heart of every religion is an uncompromising commitment to a particular way of defining who God is or is not and accordingly, of defining life's purpose.” Anyone who claims that all religions are the same betrays not only an ignorance of all religions but also a caricatured view of even the best-known ones. Every religion at its core is exclusive
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