My religion is my
civilization
By
P.R.Ramachander
(completly based on a wonderful write up by Dr(Sri)
N.Gopalakrishnan of Indian Institute
of Scientific heritage , in Malayalam
. My Humble request .It is lengthy but please read it)
My religion is beginning less perennial
civilization
When I was born, my grandma lit a lamp,
And heralded to the world
that a light was born,
On the eleventh day
, with joy and celebration ,
I was given a
ceremonial Bath .
On the twenty eighth
day in front of a lamp they all,
Joyously named me
and called me by that name
And when I further
grew up , they decided,
To give me
food , that too
with God as witness.
After I
became mischievous boy or girl,
They took me before
our God , who knew all,
And taught me how to
write my first letters ,
By holding my
hand and making me write God’s name
When I learnt how
to read, by the help of the person,
Whom my parents told me
was as great as God,
They also told me that
I am going to learn everything ,
From books and that
the book was my God forever.
Then they took me to the schools and
also told me,
That the
school was and will be my temple forever,
And the
greatest wealth that
I am ever going to earn,
Would be
what I am going to learn
from those temples.
They told me that
my parents are greater
than gods for me,
And never and never
I should forget to fall at their
feet ,
And they also
they me , to touch those people , elder or younger
On whom my feet
touches by mistake and touch my head .
When i grew up
, they told me that my
actions are my Gods,
And when I took a partner in life, we had to
mutually promise,
That we would
respect and love and look after each other,
In front of the
lighted fire , our
elders as well as our friends.
When we
entered any temple of any of our Gods .
I was told that I
should , not think other
thing,
Except the God ,
when I was there and they told me ,
That He will fulfil all my needs
and also look after me.
Our elders
showed us a mirror kept inside
the temple,
And asked us to see
our God inside that mirror,
And when with curiosity
we peeped and saw ourselves,
Our elders told us
that we ourselves are our God.
My elders
took us to the very learned Guru,
Who told us how there is para
Brahmam was our God,
And the
reflections of the great concept
in each and everything ,
Was the Gods who see
in our temples in various forms.
He also made me
understand that i am not a prisoner,
Within my religion
and my religion has not
told me,
Any acts or
rules which are compulsory to my religion,
And it has never scared
me by any of its teachings.
It has told me and taught me that
I should select ,
The path through
which I have to travel to my God,
And all these paths
would lead me to God Narayana,
Just like
water raining any where
would reach the sea.
It told me to uproot
all the blind beliefs in my way,
And told me no
where , anything has been
told ,
In my religion that by not
doing that act ,
I would be considered
as not belonging to my religion.
My religion is my
culture and not at all my religion,
If I
consider anything it it as
communal , I have,
Every right to
change it And
every day in my life,
I would be
thanking God , that I am from that religion.
This culture is the
tree of heaven which was nurtured,
By Valmiki, Vyasa , Vasishta
, Narada , BHeeshma ,
Kalidasa ,
Bharthruhari , Thiruvalluvar , THunjan,
BHatathiri ,
Vivekananda , Ramana and Maha
Periyava.
THis culture has been
nurtured by music of Narada,
The medicinal skill of Dhanvanthari , the yoga suthra ,
Given to us by Pathanjali
, science of flying by BHaradwaja,
And the concept of
zero given to by our forefathers,
I am extremely
proud of my great ancestors,
When Parsis , jews
and also Budhists of Tibet,
Were driven
out of their motherland,
They welcomed them
and gave them home and food.
They recognised
and respected all religious
thoughts ,
That were found
by our own philosophers,
And also very many
people who came from other
countries,
Because we knew
all rain water reaches the sea.
My culture never
told me to please any body
else,
For by pleasing
and scaring , I do not have anything to
get,
My religion never
tells me to convert any one
to it,
It never tells me
only I will go to heaven and
they all to hell.
My culture has always
taught me to pray with faith ,
“May all the
worlds with its people have a
pleasant life,”
It has told me that if I follow the rules
of proper and just dharma ,
That Dharma would protect me from everything and anything.
I will always follow
my culture and will always pray
for this world.
