My religion

My grandparents were agnostics or were they atheists, am not sure. At that time they were called communists and that was that. They believed in people and in science. Most of my primary school education and adolescence were spent with them. But they never tried to change my faith(if a 10 year old could have one) in any direction. All they repeatedly dwelt on was that people are far more important than any caste or religion.

My mother, inspite of being raised up without being herded to temples in her childhood, turned out to become a staunch believer, not in religion, but in God. During those years of my schooling when I got to be around her and when the subject of faith was brought up, she repeatedly stressed on the oneness of God. And even at that time, I knew those were not empty words. She believed in them. Just as she believed in going to the temple on tuesdays and thursdays and to Mahim church on Wednesdays. As she grew old, her devotion narrowed down, but even today she is a very tolerant lady.

In the midst of all this, I grew up believing in God in all forms - the numerous Hindu ones, in Allah and Jesus alike. I did this with ease, never for a moment doubting that I was wronging my religion. All those years of chinmaya schooling made me think that Hinduism was a way of life. Idols and temples are only a part of the something much deeper inside. There is absolutely nothing or noone called a true Hindu.

But now, cometh the twenty-first century, when man has probed into the smallest division of life possible and the deepest realms of space, apparently, my views are A-Hindu as per the new sect of people who preach a new form of Hinduism called Hindutva. They preach that Hindu's need not respect other religions or beliefs, that anything which is related to the 'West' is against India so that celebrating Valentines' day is immoral and more recently, any woman wearing a non-Indian dress is wronging her culture. That very culture which was so open that from within arose two very prominent religions today - Buddhism and Jainish. That India whose stories are rich with romance and pure love and children born out of wedlock, the very same culture in which not many generations ago, women in certain "higher" communities considered it beneath them to cover their torso. The world has moved on and all this needs to be forgotten. Yes, but in that case, stop preaching about Indianness. All we need in this world where nature itself is one of the biggest threats is compassion towards people. Are religions so important that they are above people? Is God so important that people are pawns who can be murdered? As my twenty seven years of faith start crumbling, I keep asking myself the same question again - Is it more important being true to our religion than being a good human being? Is there anything in the world more important than being a good person and not doing anyone any harm.