“Religion”: The most misconstrued term

It was a normal weekday and the lecturer had just entered into the classroom. Before starting the session, he informed the students that today is birthday of the Goddess Lakshmi (this professor has great knowledge and interest towards the Indian scripture). Also, he quoted some Sanskrit Shlokas about Goddess Lakshmi. The guy seated next to me, Sanjay (changed name), cracked a joke on the professor to make fun of him. One guy, who was placed in front of us, misconceived the joke and thought that the joke was on the Goddess. He had instantly lost his temper and yelled at Sanjay: “Shut up, man! You shouldn't make jokes on God. You should respect our religion”. Sanjay gave a serrated and prompt reply to him. “Oh really! Who are you to tell me what to do or what not to do? It would be better if you mind your own business since you don’t have any copyright on God”, Sanjay replied.

After the end of the class, that guy came to Sanjay and started arguing. As the argument proceeded, the angry guy started abusing Sanjay like a bully and used some odious words for him. Soon I started feeling that I should intervene to moderate the heat and I did the same. I cleared it with the angry guy that the joke didn't belong to the God at all & it was merely on the professor and I asked him to calm down. Thus, I succeeded to stop the argument. The next lecture started after a while. After that session, again that guy came to Sanjay, but with the guilt this time.“I thought that the joke was on the God . It’s okay if it was for the professor. I'm really sorry Sanjay”, the guy apologised.

This had left me unsettled for that entire day. I believe that it was really a disgusting statement by that guy. Did he mean that you can make fun of people, and even of your teachers (who are considered to be equivalent to God in Hindu religion), but you can’t do that to God? Moreover,if he was truly religious, he wouldn't ever have abused somebody, like he did with Sanjay.

So, what is religion? What does it teach us? Is it all about visiting temples? If you think so, then you’re partly right. Yes my friend, only partly right!!! Praying to the God is undoubtedly a great practice. Let me not get into the spiritual part here, yet I want to quote that prayer is one of the greatest powerful resources available to us. But what should come next to the prayer is most significant and interesting part of life to think about. Consider an example of a man who spends a substantial amount of time of his typical day in praying. Is he a good person? Or shall I say the religious person? The answer is “we can’t say”. I always doubt this criterion and I wonder why it’s always complicated when it comes to define religion. I'm not as great as to define what religion is; however I leave you with one of the simplest definition of religion: “My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness. This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness”- Dalai Lama.

Actually, every religion is mainly comprised of two things: Love and Compassion. It is well said by a wise man: “In Library, Gita and Quran never fight. The people who fight over them are ironically the ones who have never read them”.