It is the practice of spiritual principles that fills human life with vitality and energy. Without religion and faith, life on Earth would be empty.
Once, a celebrated painter drew a portrait of a beautiful young woman. All those who saw the painting were captivated by her beauty. A few of them asked the painter if she was his girlfriend. When he said that she was not, they all wanted to possess her.
They pressured the painter to reveal where she lived. The painter said, “Look, I’ve never even seen her before. The beauty you see in this portrait does not belong to any one individual. The picture is a composite of eyes, noses and other physical features of people I have seen. Even if you search the whole world, you will never find this woman.”
But they did not believe him and angrily retorted, “You’re lying! This is a tactic you’re using to make her your own.”
The painter once again tried to make them understand, but his efforts were in vain. Their desire to possess the young woman became even stronger. Each one of them declared, “I want her for myself. I shall make her my own!” This culminated in a brawl in which each attacked the other with weapons. Eventually, all of them were killed.
Some believers today are like the admirers who wanted to make the young woman in the portrait their own. They strive to find God through the paths prescribed by their religious texts. They blindly believe that their God and their way alone are true. But God is the formless truth. There are many ways to attain him. Instead of understanding this, they fight and compete with each other, but never find God.
There are also many who try to evaluate religious principles by observing the actions of certain individuals, performed in the name of religion. They then judge the whole of religion based on the misdeeds of a few. This is like discarding the baby with the bathwater. It is like condemning all medicines and doctors for the wrong prescription given by a single doctor.
In essence, the scriptures of all religions say that God is love. It is also correct to say that love is God. Although people express this in different ways, the bhava—the inner feeling it awakens—is the same in everyone. We should perform all our actions, remaining focused on love.
It is the practice of spiritual principles that fills human life with vitality and energy. Without religion and faith, life on Earth would be empty. Like a corpse adorned with an exquisite costume, the beauty and pleasures of life would be only superficial.
Without religion, our minds become numbed and barren. It is only because people have imbibed at least a little bit of religion and spirituality that there is still some beauty, vitality and harmony in our lives.
Each one of us sees the world through different colored lenses. If we look through the lens of hatred and sectarianism, we will see only enemies everywhere. We will never be able to see human beings as human beings.
But if we look at the world through the lens of love and compassion, we will be able to see divine beauty pervading the entire universe. This human life is meant to be born in love, lived in love, and eventually end in love.