ALL RELIGIONS HAVE PURPOSE

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ALL RELIGIONS HAVE PURPOSE

Each Religion has its own mission in the world, is suited to the
nations to which it was
given,and to the type of civilization it is to permeate.

The failure to see this leads to unjust criticism and, we may add, to
worse: to ostracism and to persecution,psychological and even physical.

What elements did the different religions have in common ( and which
were later lost in part)?

We might summarize these as follows:

1...One divine origin,ruler,and sustainer, one divine Life, or it may
be, one ideal: The God of monotheistic religions (Jehovah,God,Allah):
but also Parabrahma in Hinduism; in Taoism the Tao; in Buddhism
Nirvana, the one shining sea into which the dewdrop melts, or which
the dewdrop becomes; in Mahayana Buddhism the ideal of the
Bodhisattva, renouncing Nirvana to help others.

2...A Founder or Teacher; Moses and the Prophets, and Muhammad are
relevant in the Middle East; in the West in general Jesus Christ; in
much of India and the East Krshna, Mahavira, the Buddha, Guru Nanak
and others.

3...Saintly beings living a holy life, helping others by their lives,
by their teachings, even by their silence, like Ramana Maharshi.

4...The possibility of becoming like such saintly beings, leading a
holy life in a monastery, hermitage, or in daily life.

5...The existence of a spiritual path, for example, the way of the
Kabbalah, the Christian Mystic Path, the Noble Eightfold Path of
Buddhism, the Path of Raja Yoga according to Patanjali's Yoga Sutras,
the paths of Bhakti, Jnana, and Karma Yoga in Hinduism, and the Sufi
path in Islam.

6...As a preparation for living such a life, an ethical code, often
involving "dos" and "don'ts", "thou shalt" and "thou shalt not", such
as the Ten Commandments in Judaism and Christianity, the Panchasila in
Buddhism, Yama and Niyama in Hinduism.

These teachings, if put into practice tend to reduce selfishness and
foster love and understanding.

What happened to these great teachings, propagated in order to help
mankind and all beings?

Are they not being misunderstood, misinterpreted and misused?

Thus the original meaning of Jihad in Islam was a holy war not against
any enemy outside us, but against the enemy within, against our own
selfishness, fanaticism and cruelty.

Here we have an interesting parallel in the Bhagavadgita, Arjuna on
the battlefield is confronted with a hostile army to which belong his
relatives, friends and teachrs, meaning that Arjuna had to wage a war
against his own selfish and negative tendencies.

Why and how have these teachings, originally pure and of divine
source, degenerated and distanced themselves from their basic meaning
and purpose?

Due to ignorance leading to misunderstandings, due to greed, for
example, the power of wealth.

Religions have been corrupted by superstitions, and by dogmatism.

~Dr. Annie Besant