Faith in religion

Let me tell you about my interactions with some people, who are close to my family. A few of them, in spite of being Hindus, would offer nam...

Let me tell you about my interactions with some people, who are close to my family. A few of them, in spite of being Hindus, would offer namaaz, to the astonishment of many. One of them was Raju, my landlord’s brother-in-law and a person belonging to the class that believes in the dividends of religious meditation regardless of the religion to which it belongs. These people are driven by an aesthetic sense, a sense provided by God to all but hardly taken advantage of by many.

If asked why he offered namaaz when he was attending pujas, he would simply reply: ‘‘Both these things give me immense pleasure and peace to my mind.’’ If you inquired further, whether it was in his blood, he replied that no one in his family shared his views. He was able to do so because of the support from his family and relations. He is not the only person I met; there are others too like Amardeep, my younger brother’s good friend.

Offering namaaz may sound odd to many but look around in your city and you will notice people of all religions going to dargahs, be it Ajmer Sharif, Hazrat Nizamuddin or any of the mazaars of buzurg (saints) in your locality. Ask any of them about the reasons why they come to these places; they will reply in unison — Faith. Asked what about the deities of their own religion, they would say, ‘Every one will accept that the persons buried at various dargahs are no doubt noble souls and it was their belief that God will attend to the prayers performed and the favours asked at these places’. To brush aside other religions to which we do not adhere means we do not have the necessary tolerance. Educated people know that every religion favours virtues; and by the word ‘educated people’ I am not restricting myself to people who are literate but to all those who have experience of life and can distinguish between right and wrong.

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But, alas, even the so-called ‘educated people’ are into the quagmire of indecision when it comes to understanding and respecting other religions. We cannot out rightly categorise people who try to indulge in falsehood and dissembling. Bacon has said, ‘‘Religion being the chief band of human society, it is a happy thing when itself well contained within the true band of unity.’’ Such a show of unity and integrity in religion can be seen at our dargahs. Why does it happen that some devil enters this romantic scene and arouses evil feelings and we forget that our Gaurav is in the unity of religion that is present in every hamlet of India?

If anyone takes out a ‘Gaurav Yatra’ all over India to highlight this unity, he will surely win accolades from people all over the country.