Posted on: 05 Aug 2018
Shri PVNM Sharma asked: I found a message in YouTube from Shri Jonnavittula Ramalingeswara Rao that the spiritual practices of various religions need not be mixed, which will bring unnecessary quarrels between religions. For example, in any temple prayers are done in Sanskrit only. Similarly, let other religions do their prayers as being done in their past tradition. What are your comments on this?
Swami replied:- Initially, there is some similarity between both of us since there is common initial word (Jonna) in both our surnames (Jonnavittula and Jonnabhatla)! It is a good suggestion as far as avoiding quarrels initially for some time. But, in course of time, comparisons will come and quarrels will start leading to chaos. It is better to take the spiritual practices and concepts of all religions and study in depth so that all can find the basic essence to be one and same. When this is done, though it is a tedious process involving hot arguments, finally, the discovered basic essence brings wonderful correlation between religions so that a permanent solution comes out to establish unity among the followers of all religions. A permanent solution always needs time and strain, but, permanent is permanent and temporary is temporary.
The main problem for the differences in the religions is that the present day religions are not the pure sacred original religions established in the past by the original founders of religions, who were human incarnations of God. In the past time, even the followers were very pure implementing the original concepts of their religions without any extra interpretations and extra insertions. As time passed on, selfish wrong followers came in to every religion and inserted their opinions in the name of original scripture. As a result of this, all the original religions are adulterated. Unless we do sharp analysis to remove the bad present in every religion, the good in every religion will not come out. When the basic good truths originally established by the founders come out, you will find unity in all these good truths so that the differences between followers disappear resulting in excellent correlation and mutual love in the entire humanity.
Before doing this sharp analysis, we must have open mind to receive truth as truth and false as false, whether the truth or false belongs to our religion or to other religions. We must be prepared to accept the truth of the opposite side and false of our side with a view that such acceptance need not be considered as self defeat and victory of others. We must be favouring such angle with a view that such a result benefits us to rectify our mistake with the help of others. Unless this attitude is developed before such correlation-analysis, people will not even proceed into the analysis and even if they proceed, very shortly, quarrels appear. We must have very broad and very open mind because there is only one God, who created this entire humanity as said by every religion.
As Hindus, let us analyse our own spiritual practices in comparison with other spiritual practices with open mind to find any benefit for us from such analysis without feeling that our self-ego is hurt. If there is an eternal benefit for us to get the grace of God, disturbance of our self-ego is very very small before that eternal benefit! Let us take the same point as raised in the YouTube. The prayers are read in Sanskrit in temples and even in rituals done in our houses and nobody understands what is read! If it is not understood, how the devotion is even generated, not to speak of its development? If you see other religions, they are doing prayers and reciting the scriptures in their own mother tongue so that everybody at least understands the literal meaning. Their spiritual priests are also explaining the spiritual meaning here and there. This generates the devotion to God and also develops it gradually in course of time. I am not saying that our ancient sages were sadists to write the scripture in Sanskrit so that we are not benefited at all. A little commonsense reveals that those ancient sages had Sanskrit as their mother tongue. We are simply following what they uttered and we are not understanding anything from it since we are blindly following the surface (words) without examining the background of such spiritual practice. This is the absolute blindness, which can’t be removed by any type of eye-surgery! Such born blind fellow is drinking salt water from the well telling that it is dug by his father (Taatasya kuupoyamiti)! We will be benefited if we translate the scripture in to our mother tongues or at least if the priest explains the scripture in our mother tongues. Both are not done. All of us feel that God knows only Sanskrit and not any other language! If it is so, how can we say that God is omniscient, who takes only the meaning but not the language (Bhaavagraahii Janaardanah). Of course, Sanskrit is the sweetest and greatest divine language being the mother tongue of our angels. Every religion has its own angels speaking their ancient language like Greek etc. God is different from angels and our goal is God but not the angels. If you like Sanskrit so much, why don’t you learn it and do rituals in Sanskrit only? In this way, we must recognize our faults and accept others’ merits so that we will implement others’ merits wherever we are faulty and get the benefit. Benefit is not personal and can be enjoyed by everybody. In such case, why are you hesitating to take the benefit from others? Why are you using the fan discovered by the Christian country? The fan gives us good air in sultry and we enjoy the benefit of the fan. Why are the priests enjoying fans even in temples? Fan is universal and does not belong to any religion or country or caste or gender. Similarly, any spiritual concept.
Let us take the concept of idol worship done by us and which is criticized by other religions. Certainly, neither idol is God nor God is in idol. The idols are in the human form indicating that alive human form of God must be worshipped and every idol to be worshipped is initiated with the special ritual called as Praanapratishthaa (initiation of life), which doesn’t mean that the idol becomes alive by this ritual. It means only that if the idol is added with life, it becomes alive human form and you should finally catch the human form of God (Satguru), which is relevant to humanity. The Veda says that God is not in idol and the secondary scripture says that idol worship is for beginners only. It is only the worship of a representative model. The national flag is a representative model of the nation and saluting the flag is saluting the nation since you can’t take an aeroplane to move around the nation in order to salute it! Why people criticizing idol worship are keeping the idols and photos of Jesus on cross in churches and houses? Why are they keeping the albums of photos of their kith and kin staying far to see those with feelings of love? The idol worship definitely improves the theoretical devotion, which is the mother of practical devotion (service and sacrifice). But, you shall not sit in this beginning LKG class only throughout your life and waste food materials in the worship of idols and rituals (By pouring milk on idol, by burning ghee in fire, by burning sticks used for cooking in the name of Dhuni, by burning oil lamps, candles and fuming materials even if there is no necessity etc.,), which can be offered to God and distributed to beggars dying with hunger. In this way, we can rectify the mistakes of other religions with a good mind of helping others to brining them out of ignorant concepts. Before rectifying others’ mistakes, you have to be very careful so that others have confidence on you that you are their best well wisher and see that others’ ego is not hurt at all. When you find good on your side and bad on other side, you are always very happy and very easy to be handled. When bad is shown on your side and good is shown on the other side, your rectification becomes highly problematic since your ego is disturbed like a sea disturbed by Tsunami on finding your bad and good of others! You must reduce and see the merit in you and defect in others. You must also see by enlarging defect in you and merit in others (Paraguna paramaanuun parvatiikrutya...). Both these help you in your spiritual and worldly progress towards upward direction. If you reverse both these (by reducing defects in you and merits in others and by enlarging merits in you and defects in others), then also, you will certainly progress not in the upward direction, but, in the downward direction!