Ingen religion er perfekt

A final religion or a final scripture does not exist. All the religions and scriptures are only ladders. The purpose of all scriptures and all religions is to help human beings to find their union with God. From this union comes inner peace and happiness. Their purpose is to help human beings to discover their deepest inner reality where God or True Self can be found.

We can say without any hesitation that there is only one way to God. It is not a religion, not a person, not a technique, not a philosophy. It is to renounce our ego or ignorant self and find our true self where God is found. The purpose of every religion is to help human beings to renounce their ego or false self and find their true self.

But these scriptures and religions can also become the source of conflict and violence. Today the world is divided in the name of religions. There has been so much violence in the name of religions. Even today people are killed in the name of religion and people are killing in the name of religions. How can we really bring peace into the world?

In order to understand the place of religions we need to understand the nature of Truth. Truth has two aspects: the eternal aspect and the historical aspect. When Moses asked God about his name, first God said that “I am what I am," but it was difficult for Moses to understand this eternal aspect of Truth so God revealed to him his historical aspect: "I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."

The historical aspect of Truth or God is manifested in time and space and it is present in the sacred scriptures. The historical manifestation of Truth is conditioned. The eternal truth can never be limited to a historical truth. The eternal truth always transcends the historical truth. The historical truth cannot bring unity among the religions or humanity. Only the eternal truth can do that.

Hence there is a constant need for the humanity to move from the historical truth into the eternal truth. The historical truth creates an ego and thus becomes an obstacle. In order to move from the historical truth into the eternal truth, we need to understand the limitations of the historical truth.

So I have formulated a few questions which can help us to study each religion and then to come to an understanding of each religion. Only when we see clearly the limitations of the historical truth or religions we can open ourselves to the eternal truth. Here are some questions:

1. What were the fundamental questions asked at the beginning of each religion's spiritual search?

2. What is the highest divine-human relationship possible in this particular religion? There are three main possibilities: non-dualistic advaitic experience) where a person can say ultimately “I and God are one," or qualified non-dualistic experience, where a person can say “I am in God and God is in me" and dualistic experience, where a person can only say, “God is greater than I."

3. The third important question is: What is the status of men and women in this particular religion? Are they equal? Do they have equal possibilities? If they do not have equal possibilities then the religion needs reformation. It needs to grow.

4. What is the relationship between spirituality and the social realities of the world like poverty, social discrimination, social, economical and political oppression?

5. What is the relationship between spirituality and ecology? What is the place of creation in spirituality? Is creation only an object for human beings to enjoy or is it a manifestation of God?

6. What is relationship between spirituality and sexuality? Is sex something profane or is it something sacred?

7. What is the purpose of human existence according to each religion? Is there a positive role to play in this world? Or is the life in this world like a prison form which we need to escape, like prisoners of war?

These questions are not exhaustive, people can add some more if they come across any other aspects to be studied in relation to religion. When we study each religion from these questions we discover that no religion is perfect. Each religion needs to improve itself. This realization should not discourage us. Religions are not meant to be perfect. They belong to the evolutionary process of the spiritual growth of human beings.

The present generation is not born just to give continuity to the historical truth but to use the historical truth in order to move into the eternal Truth. The present generation has something to contribute for this evolution. Historical truth cannot unite humanity but only the eternal Truth. The historical truth is only like a nest where we are born, where we are protected, nourished and given security until the wings are grown then to fly into the freedom of the infinite space.

The difficulty comes only when we transform the nest into a cage and imprison ourselves in the cage of historical truth. The best way of having an inter-religious dialogue is that in which each religion presents its limitations or areas to be improved. Then only we can have a fruitful inter-religious dialogue.

Broder John Martin Sahajananda er inder og katolsk benediktinermunk. Han har studeret teologi i St. Peters Seminar i Bangalore i Sydindien indtil 1984. I 1984 kom han til den kristne ashram Shantivanam og blev discipel af Bede Griffiths og tilsluttede sig senere kommunitetet.

Broder John Martin underviser i indisk-kristen spiritualitet i Indien såvel som i Europa. Han udgav i 2003 bogen "You are the Light - Rediscovering the Eastern Jesus" (O Books, Winchester, UK).

Man kan læse mere om Broder John Martin på www.bedegriffiths.com såvel som på www.dimmid.org og på www.monasticdialog.org.