What if there was NO Religion

 
The definition of ‘Dharma’ or ‘Dhamma’ when this word came into existence was related to the true virtue or the duty of a thing or a person. For example, the dharma of fire is to burn irrespective of what it is on the other hand. The fire never distinguishes what is good or bad, right or wrong, it just does its job of consuming everything that comes in its way and turns it into ashes.
Over the period of centuries and generations, the words have lost their real meaning. On many occasions, they have been consciously made ambiguous and on other, the lack of understanding of its origin and usage has lead to this unawareness.
During this transition, the propagators have successfully managed to delusion dharma into a synonym for ‘Religion’.
The moment we hear the word dharma the mind triggers in recalling the faith that either we are born into or we follow and practice.
The Early man started with worshiping nature, the sun, and the moon because of its fear or simply it was too complex for his naïve brain to understand. It all started with the unknown and the curiosity to conquer it. What was left unexplained was termed as GOD.
Millenniums passed and humans started to become civilized and molds of societies were beginning to form. Each community and tribe came up with their own story about the origin of God.
People with the same faith, same virtues, same beliefs, and same behavioral patterns collectively would form a religion.
I believe that in the beginning there was just one religion. Then there would have been someone who would have challenged the existing establishment, who would not have surmised in the existing belief system giving rise to the second belief system and with his set of followers would have set out on his journey.
Let me remind you, nowhere it is documented or mentioned that any God said that he is God. No Ram, No Prophet, No Jesus, No Buddha, No Guru Nanak said that they were God. It is always the followers who kept on promulgating the so-called learning.

Slowly the world was full of religions and even more followers.
What if there was no religion? – think think.
Each of them preached only one thing – that there is only one God with the objective of spreading love, peace, and harmony and in the process connecting a mere ordinary soul to the almighty.
Have the religions served their purpose? I don’t think so. I consider religion is a very personal thing and one is free to practice the faith they believe in. But the recent history is marked with instances of violence in the name of religion. From genocides to war, from invasion to wiping off humanity – the name of religion has been used to carry out atrocities and the only thing it is spreading is hate and venom.
People are beginning to hate their neighbors with whom they have spent their childhood just because of the faith they believe in. In numerous instances, religion is the root cause of discrimination. Year after year the men in power exploit the belief and faith of so many and the sad thing is year after year people get exploited because somehow they are convinced that it is the supreme thing and there is nothing beyond it.
Our nation was partitioned because of the underlying hate for the other religion, which the foreigners were able to exploit. We always blame others for their policy of ‘divide and rule’ forgetting that they took advantage of the cracks that were already present.
Countless people including children have been sacrificed on the pretext of illogical rituals. I wonder what would they call Raja Ram Mohan Roy if he had been alive to witness the psychosis surrounding religious sentiments. Animals, till date, meet the same fate on the name of religion and festivals.
Somehow these so-called modern day messengers of God have successfully instilled the fear, even in the literate and educated class, that their religion is endangered. The symbolization of a majority and minority wouldn’t have taken place on the lines of religious beliefs.
The most beautiful valleys and rivers; have turned red just in the quest of proving the supremacy of one particular faith over the other. Nothing has been spared…No one has escaped.
There wouldn’t be any reservation system if there were no religion. There would be lesser conflicts. I am telling from my personal experience that I have seen many people never utilizing their full potential just because they were busy in the rituals of religion whereas their own life and family was in tatters.
Rather than feeding the poor, the longest queue of these deprived and underprivileged class is outside the religious structures. Isn’t it ironical?

Everybody is in an insane race to prove that their religion is superior and rest all are mere illusions. But when every religion preaches the same thing – that there is only ‘One God’ then automatically it should be complemented with only one religion or better…No religion.
For all those who believe in God,
For all those who are averse to the concept,
For all those who think a lot of hate is linked to religion
For all those who believe in religion
And
For all those who believe Dharma and Karma…
It’s not a Goodbye,
But it’s a GOOD BYE.
Manas ‘Sameer’ Mukul
Note – I respect all religions 🙂
‘This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.’