RELIGION FOR WHAT?

When the humans first came on the scene on the earth, they were surprised and afraid of the natural phenomenon like lightning, thunder, fire, water,  rain etc. Therefore, to pacify the natural elements, the humans started worshiping and offerings to these elements.  It was by way of what they could gather in their dwelling from simple vegetables and fruits to animals and at times human sacrifices.  A few enlightened ones among them started dictating terms as to how, when and for what purpose the worship has to take place and what offerings to be made. They not only became the leaders of such practices but became the oracles of the tribes.   Thus a crude practice developed among humans in their settlements as to these practices. As time passes, with changes in the societal norms, the leaders of such practices started divining from thin air the sounds which later came to be known as ritual mantras for such practices. There are evidences in various old religions in the world that there were learned persons (considered learned in comparison to the general population) who were able to divine these mantras either sitting in isolation meditating on something on mountain tops or in caves or under trees in forests.  Some of the teachings of these enlightened ones gave way to formation of a code of practices and the mantras associated with it.

The oldest religions in the world be it the Sanathana Dharma practiced by the majority in India or Judaism, or Zoroastrianism have all this in common: that some person or persons divined their religious texts from a higher being and taught to their disciples. Thus what we see in the religions had all been revealed to a select few by a higher being.  The practices in these religions became so stringent as ordained by these religious leaders many started disbelieving them.  Slowly there were divisions in the majority religions and new set of religions came into being.  Budhism and Jainism which came out of Sanathana Dharma.  Gautham Budhdha and Mahaveer proposed drastic changes to what was being practiced in the Sanathana Dharma until they came on the scene and this made a huge section of the population change over to their teachings and follow them. These new religions took a foot hold in the major part of the Indian sub-continent and spread to other Asian countries. However, Jainism stuck with only Indian sub-continent.  

Likewise, from Judaism, with the birth of Jesus, a separate religion started spreading to many parts of middle east and Europe.  But a few centuries after the birth of Jesus, a prophet who was claiming roots from the same ancestors as Jesus, claimed a separate path to salvation and his teachings attracted many in the desert areas of middle east and the religion started spreading to Asia Minor and Europe.  As the teachings of this prophet were more attractive, and with less restrictions than those that were in the Judaism or the religion taught by the followers of Jesus and propagated by King Constantine,  many started following this new idea.  With the rulers of the countries in the middle east and Asia Minor supporting these new religions, these religions got many followers and disciples to the masters and prophets. There were many books written as revealed by the masters and the prophets and these books became the guiding principles to the followers.

The oldest religions in the world, be it Sanathana Dharma, Judaism or Zoroastrianism neither taught in the past nor teach in the present about the superiority of that religion or the God worshiped by the followers of those religions alone will be able to give salvation.  Some of the teachings of the off-shoot religions started telling people that their religion alone is superior and only their God can get salvation to the suffering. These religions actively by power, money etc, started converting people from the religion that they were following earlier.  The Spanish inquisition when people of Spain were forcefully converted to Christianity from Islam or Goa Inquisition where people of Sanathana Dharma faith were converted to Christianity or the atrocities of the rulers of India during the Sultans' regime for converting the masses to Islam are some of the major inter-faith actions in converting people from one religion to other.  Even in Budhdhism or Jainism, when the local ruler was converted to that faith the ruler wanted the subjects of his state to follow the same instead of what was being followed earlier.   There were penalties for not conforming to the diktats of the rulers so much so that a few chose death over conversion.

Thus, a plethora of major religion and their practices formed across the globe.  The money power of the religion and its followers made them arrogant and they started forcefully converting the people of other countries. It is famously said by an African leader, "The white men came bible in their hand and told us 'let us pray'. We closed the eyes and prayed and when we opened our eyes, they had the land and we had the bible."  The conversion of the people of one faith to the other took different forms - by force, by coercion, by bribery or just by promises of better future. When St. Thomas came to India in 2nd CE, the first converts were the brahmins on the western coast of the country.  With them being converted to Xianity, it was easy for the Christian priests to brain wash to convert the lower strata of the society.  Of late, the roads of conversion has taken a new route mostly seen in the southern part of India. The churches are more designed to look like HIndu places of worship.  The churches do have a flag mast as in the case of Hindu temples.  The churches do have an annual car festival as in the Hindu temples.  Very recently it was seen that the church leaders have brought out a booklet with 108 names of Jesus Christ. In political scene especially in Tamil Nadu,it takes a more serious turn of the Christian leaders either retaining their HIndu names or hide behind the assumed HIndu names to befool the gullible public. 

The claims that there had been atrocities in the majority religious population and therefore, there is an automatic response to conversion falls flat in the light of segregation of people in the other faiths also.  The caste based divisions in Hindu, though not there in other religions, there is no easy mingling of the converts and others in the other religions.  One of the charms that is espoused to attract the people from Hindu faith is to portray that there is no caste divide.  But the mingling of the people is not easily happening and it is almost like a few generations of SC/ST who got the benefit of the reservations and continue to do so and who have become a class apart do not want any relations with others from the same group as they are socially and economically not at par.  

Despite all the above, the question remains "what was the purpose of religion in the first place?"  Have these different paths of faiths to salvation really helped common man?  The answer to these questions have remained a big sad NO and it will remain as each religion continue to convince the people of other faith that their religion is the superior one and can get one salvation.  In the words of Adhi Shankara, the religion is like a river taking water but it drains into the ocean. All the rivers do the same.  Whichever path one decides to take is upon him/her and no one especially a person who does not belong to that faith of the person to intervene to say that his/her path is not right.  Sadly that is not the reality today.