Religion, Spirituality, and Humanity were supposed to be the same thing, but religion has taken a long backstep away from spirituality and humanity. It is not possible to confirm that a dignified religious person wouldn’t be involved in crime, casteism, discrimination, and so on. So, if someone is discriminating against others, and hating over religious differences, then how can religion be connected to humanity? Not possible, right?
Here, I am Ashiq N, 26 years old, born and brought up in North-East India. Wait, wait I know that you must be thinking ‘’Isn’t It Too Early For Me To Take Such A Journey From Religion Towards Spirituality And Humanity?’’ Well, maybe or maybe not.
When I discuss with people that I am much more devoted to Humanity rather than Religion, they reply to me saying ‘Are You An Atheist?’ I reply ‘Of course, Not.’ I believe in God and I love him so much. So, how can I be an atheist?
I was very inquisitive about Religion and God from my childhood. I was never satisfied with anyone’s answer. I found their perspective of looking at things blindly without questioning was really terrible. These were full of superstitions, criticizing different religions and blind beliefs. How can someone with hatred, and negative beliefs, be attached to spirituality or humanity? Not possible!
My mind was not ready to accept superstitions, hatred, and criticism of different religions. So, I stopped asking further questions and discussing religious thoughts with my friends, relatives, and other people too. I don’t know why I felt that all the people of the universe are just one and equal. Everyone is divided by religions and casteism but we may be the roots of the same source and this thought helped me to decide that I should start admiring and respecting all religions.
I don’t think that I have to be involved in such rituals of religion to get closer to God. God created us, we are part of his creation, why do I need to be involved in so many formalities and baseless beliefs to get closer to the almighty? It should be a direct connection through my pure soul to my God and for this, I don’t need to recite any unknown words that even I can’t understand properly. If we are humble, genuine, kind, and helpful to others, away from criticizing, loving, and respecting people, and have a pure soul then nothing can restrict anyone to get closer to God.
Sometimes it becomes tough to get into the same thought for some external unusual matters. I respect and admire all religions but It is not true that I have never faced any casteism and discrimination for my religion. There are a lot of incidents and earlier it made me think twice about my thought but now it doesn’t matter to me. I am so determined to my oneness thought.
My father is a principal of a government school and once he shared an incident of discrimination over caste. He was coming back from school that day, and suddenly it started raining so heavily that he got stuck in the middle road and needed to stop the two-wheeler to search for shelter. He found a house near the road and he left for it.
The gate was partially opened and it was merely visible from inside the house. The person was a married guy living with his wife and children. My father knows him very well and even the person respects my father so much.
But after watching my father standing near the main gate, he was unresponsive and fully ignored him as he didn’t notice my father and he left my father alone standing near the front gate. Guess, why? Maybe he was thinking that this old man was enjoying the rain. So funny, right? He intentionally ignored him because he didn’t want my father to enter his inside premises. After all, he was from a different religion. Wasn’t this the maximum level of inhumanity? I guess It was!
That day I realized that it is not necessary that a great religious person would be a great man in real life. Maybe he was very religious but not a good-hearted person. If I recollect my memories, there were so many incidents of racism and discrimination that happened to me for my religion.
There was a time when my friends started pointing at me saying that why I love all the different religions after being ignored by the people of other religions. I said that these things can’t change my mind.
I still believe in humanity, unity, and the oneness of mankind and I will keep believing it till my last breath. Because I got the answer about this religious thought after self-questioning. So, it is a stagnant state of thought.
I have an uncle named Jashim Sobhanian, who lives in the USA. He is so kind, helpful, and pure-hearted. I have learned so many important things about life, religion, spirituality, humanity, and another perspective of life from him. I got my perfect answer about religious things from him during my school days and it was a great time. He is the only person among my relatives and others with whom I can connect my thoughts.
Let’s get back to the topic. So, after so much hustle and bustle, I found myself in a position where I give priority to spirituality and humanity more than religion. A true religion can’t teach us how to hate or how to discriminate over caste differences and if any religion is teaching us the same thing then I am sorry to say that this is not a true religion as per my statement.
I love God and his creations. If all the people of this world are created by God, then how can I hate people only for religious differences? Again, it’s Not possible! So, it is better for me to consider myself a non-religious person who loves God, all religions, and all people without looking at their differences, and believes in humanity. If people start believing the difference between baseless religion and true religion, and the oneness of mankind and dividing religions, then the world can be a different place. I Believe, Do You?
Ashiq N Is A Writer, Blogger, Travel Lover, Medical Professionalised & Founder Of Travels Bird & Sparkle Limelight. He Is A DRx By Profession But An Intense Desire For Writing From Childhood Made Him Choose The Writing Career. He Is Currently Residing Near ITPL, Whitefield. The Author Is Presently Working On Writing His Debut Novel.
