Once I was traveling abroad. An American girl was sitting by my side, reading Bible. After sometime, she smiled and we had an acquaintance talk. I told her I am from India. Then suddenly, the girl asked, “What is your faith?”
Looking at my puzzled look, she asked again, “What is your religion? Are you a Christian or a Muslim?”
“I am a Hindu”, I said.
“Hindu? What? Who is your Prophet?”, she asked.
“We don’t have a single Prophet”, I replied.
“What is your Holy Book?” she asked
“We don’t have a single Holy Book. We have hundreds of sacred scriptures” I replied.
“Oh, Come on. At least tell me who is your God?”
I thought for a moment. Christians and Muslims believe in one God. Her mind is conditioned with that kind of belief and rigidly narrowed down to believe that religion means there must be one Prophet, one Holy Book and one God and anything else is not acceptable. I understood her perception and concept about Faith. You just can’t compare Hindu Religion with any of the subsequent religions.
Hearing me that we have one God who has multiple figures, names and Gunas, she said, “I don’t understand.”
I told her that Hinduism is not a religion like Christianity or any other, because it is not founded by any one person and does not have any one single organized controlling body like the church.
“So, you don’t believe in God!”, she said.
“I didn’t say that. We do not discard the divine reality. Our scriptures, the Vedas, Srutis, Smritis, Upanishads and Gita tell us about God and we pray that Supreme Authority, the Para Brahman, the Creator of this Universe.
“Good, you agree that God does exist. You said you pray. What is your Prayer?”
“Again there are many prayers. One of them is Loka Samastha: Sukhino Bhavanthu, Om Shanti…..”
“What does it mean”, she asked.
“May all the beings in this world be happy. Let there be peace, peace, peace. ‘Isavasyam Idam Sarvam’ says God is present in all beings and non-beings. Respect every living and non-living as God. That is what Hinduism teaches you.
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“Very interesting. Yours is very democratic, broad minded and free. I want to learn more”, she said.
Courtesy: Sri Sudhir Srinivasan
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