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Is it Wrong to Say that Only My Religion is Right?
When Hindus try to tell others about the good in their religion, they are often told that other religions are also good, and there are many bad practices in Hindu society. When Hindus try to talk about the intolerance of some Prophetic Monotheistic religions, they are told to look at their bright side. Maria Wirth, a German who came to India, became a Hindu, tells from her experience, how all Prophetic Monotheistic religions have exclusive claims on reality and thus are wrong, and Hindu dharma can say that its approach towards seeking truth is right.
Is it wrong to say that only my religion is right? This question cannot be answered with a yes or no, because it depends if you have good reasons why you believe that your religion alone is the right one. If your belief is based on reason, intuition and experience than surely it is not wrong to say so and to try to make others see your point, too.
Now there is one problem. The faith for which the term ‘religion’ was first used – Christianity and Islam – are neither based on reason, intuition or experience but only on blind belief. One can never know for sure if Jesus is really the son of God who was sent to earth to save us from the original sin and who declared that the way to the father goes only through him.
Or we can never know if Allah really communicated via Gabriel with Prophet Mohamed and declared that he is the last prophet and all must follow what Mohammed said.
These two religions make blind belief even into a virtue: ‘if you believe blindly what the Church or the mullahs tell you, you will be vastly rewarded with eternal heaven after Judgment Day’, is promised.
So to claim that only Christianity is right or only Islam is right, is wrong, as both cannot be right and in all likelihood none of them is right, because both of them have a harmful, divisive aspect in their doctrine, which is meant to frighten people. Both claim that whoever does not follow their “only true” religion will burn in hell for ever. This would dispatch half of the world population to hell if it were true. This simply cannot be true.
But there is another ‘religion’ which is not really a religion, in the sense that it is not a fixed, unverifiable ‘belief-system’ but is often called religion. It is the ancient Indian wisdom and tradition which is called Hindu Dharma or Sanatana (eternal) Dharma. This is based on reason, intuition and experience. It makes claims that make sense and can be verified, like the claim that the essence in all is one and the same – ‘sat-chit-ananda’ – blissful awareness beneath the names and forms.
So in this case it is not wrong to say that Hindu Dharma is right. That means, it’s also not wrong to try and convince others of its value.
Unfortunately, only members of Christianity and Islam go all out and try to spread their religion with full zest. They don’t hesitate to claim that their religion alone is true and all others are wrong and will not be accepted by the ‘true God’, though they have nothing to support their claim.
They are on a blind, irrational mission to eradicate all other faiths because they believe that their respective God wants all to follow only Jesus or Mohammed and then only Judgment Day will come and they can go to heaven.
It would be so much better if Hindus would go all out and explain the philosophy of the Vedas, that the Supreme Intelligence behind this universe (called God in English) is one and the same; that it is the innermost essence in everything, including in us and can be experienced.
These insights results in a very beneficial mind-set, definitely more beneficial than the divisive mind-set of the new-comer religions. It gives inner strength, knowing that God is within, and it makes people kind, because they know that God is also in others, including in animals and nature. If this mind-set would spread all over, we could even have a word without borders, as we would feel like one family…
Can anyone explain to George Soros that his dream world would turn out well if he used his billions to spread Hindu Dharma?
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