Is it not justified to convert to another religion if one’s own religion has many defects?

[dattaswami]

Is it not justified to convert to another religion if one’s own religion has many defects?

People convert to another religion because they cannot tolerate the defects and blind traditions in their own religion. These defects that have existed in their religion for a very long time make it very difficult to follow the religion. So, they prefer to convert to another religion that does not have such defects.

Swami replied: You see many uneven edges and surfaces on the hill that is close to you. But the hill that is far away seems to be smooth and even. The reality is that you will see a lot of unevenness on the surface of every hill, if you get close enough to it. In every religion, you always find three types of concepts:

1. The original excellent concepts established by the Human Incarnations of God born in that religion.

2. The good concepts introduced by good people in support of the above excellent concepts.

3. The misunderstood and misinterpreted concepts introduced by bad people.

Every religion has excellent Human Incarnations of God, very good followers of the Human Incarnations and bad people who twist the original concepts. Hence, all religions are one and the same in their composition, as stated above. In this Kali age, the proportion of good and bad followers everywhere is also a constant 10:90. If you only consider the concepts of the Human Incarnations and the supporting concepts of good followers in all religions, you will find that all religions have high uniformity. After all, all religions believe in the existence of the omniscient and omnipotent God, who punishes sinners even if they mange to escape the law of the land. This much commonality in the concepts preached by different religions is sufficient to establish a peaceful society all over the world. As far as this common concept is concerned, there need not be any contradiction between world religions. This commonality is the basis for establishing Universal Spirituality and Universal Religion. Therefore, there is no need whatsoever for converting to another religion. You can follow your own religion till the end of your life to get the grace of the same unimaginable God. It is this same God who is worshipped in various specific forms in the various world religions. Let us accept the defects in our own religion with full frankness and full courage. Let us try to rectify our mistakes with all boldness. Let us not try to bury our defects and become a bad example for other religions. Let us stand as an example for every religion by openly admitting our blind traditions and making sincere efforts to rectify those blind traditions.

When we follow our religion and its ancient culture, it does not mean that we blindly support our blind traditions, even if they are proved wrong by impartial logical analysis. Previously, one religion might have been the straight path to God and another religion might have been a curved path to reach the same God. The reason for this is the specific psychologies of the different sets of people living in two different regions. In olden days, people in each region had a uniform psychology. So, one religion was given to one set of people living in a certain region, while a different religion was given to another set of people living in another region as per their different psychologies. But today, all types of people exist in every region. Hence, every religion has both good and bad followers. God is the common goal for all religions. Different religions are placed around the same common center, God. In whichever religion the followers stand, there is one straight path to the common goal at the center (God) for the good people. Similarly, there is also a curved path to the same center for the bad people in each religion. The curved path is superimposed on the straight path. The good people of every religion travel along the straight path towards the center and the bad people of every religion travel along the superimposed curved path.

Hence, you cannot say that one religion is the short and straight path to reach God whereas other religion is a long and curved path to Him. You cannot use such logic to support conversions. In every religion, at the topmost level of God, there is not even a trace of any defect. For example, in Hinduism, God has said in the Gita that a person’s caste is based on the person’s qualities and deeds, and not on the family in which the person was born. God Rāma refused to grant salvation to the sages after their death, even though they too, like Rāma, belonged to the upper castes. In fact, Rāma even killed Rāvaṇa, who was born in the caste of sages due to his wicked deeds. When sages praised Rāma as God, He did not accept it. Instead, He denied it saying that He was only a human being, called Rāma, the son of Daśaratha (Atmānaṃ mānuṣaṃ...). The same Rāma granted salvation to the old lady, Śabarī, who belong to a scheduled caste, even while she was alive! The sages aspired for some fruit in return for their worship to Rāma, whereas, Śabarī did not aspire for any fruit in return. She lovingly served Rāma by offering Him wild fruits, which she tasted to ensure that they were sweet! Do you find any consideration of caste by God in Hinduism?

 

 

- By Shri Datta Swami

 

 

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