Silly.

This post is all about re-thinking about the things that have been so deeply imprinted on to our brains. Re-thinking, re-considering and re-analysing what we've accepted as 'facts'. The 'obvious' stuff that have been taught for generations.

Our religions teach us one thing. Budhism, Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, whatever- they all teach us one thing. Humility. You see, there's always something beyond the understanding of human brain. There's always something that the human brain can't reason out, something that the human mind can't fit into what's been considered 'logic'.

Now obviously, there are differences. The culture followed by people who follow Hinduism will obviously be different from that of those who follow Islam, which in turn will be different from that of those people who follow Budhism. But apart from differences that are on the surface, they're all fundamentally the same. They all tell us that there's some force beyond our control. There's only so much that man can control. Man may be able to harvest the energy of the sun. He may be able to split the atom. He may be able to colonise other planets. But he'll never be able to find how life came into existence. He will never find why some things happen without any 'logical' reason. He will never be able to find why some people face troubles in life and others enjoy their life in complete luxury. He will never grow tired of how each baby born resembles its parent. He will never grow tired of watching beautiful sunrises and sunsets.

You see, religion doesn't end with the mosque. Infact, it begins there. Religion teaches you not to spend hours praying and preaching God's name- be it Allah, Brahma, or Buddha. It teaches you to have compassion for others. Religion doesn't teach you to fire guns at others just because they don't follow your religion and are talking bad about your religion. It teaches you to use your abilities to prove them wrong, by doing something constructively. Religion doesn't teach you to abuse and talk rubbish about others becayuse they don't accept your religion. Instead, it teaches you to do your best and let the work do the talking.

I saw this Ted talk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzkFoetp-_M) given by a muslim woman named Dalia, who lives in the U.S, who spoke about how 9/11 changed her perspective on religion. She was locked in a dilemna about whether she has to take her family to the mosque on a friday after 9/11, because Americans were raged by the terrorism brought about by a few terrorists who claimed to be muslims, or to fight the false clouds created by a few selfish people. But as she says in the Ted talk, she chose to go to the mosque on the friday that followed 9/11 only to see that several other muslims and non muslims gathered there to not attack them, but stand with them in solidarity. That is the power of religion. That coming together is what religion teaches us. That is when a religion truly suceeds.

But religion is also about maturity. It's about how you behave, think and react in a matured way. I've seen muslims that behave arrogantly, but I've also seen brahmins behave in an indecent way. So there's no religion thats superior to another. Some may be older than others, but none is superior to the other.

Coming to the most important takeaway here, life is the most beautiful thing that has happened in this universe. Just imagine- billions of stars, trillions of planets, and life was born on to this planet. And so far, it's been this planet alone. In a universe that seemingly doesn't have limits. That too, for 14.5 billion years, we believe there's been one occurrence of life, on this planet. So having such a beautiful gift, how mad would it be to fight over silly things like religion? How stupid is it to blame a religion just because a few people involve themselves in terrorism? We need to appreciate our religion, and that of others. We need to respect others' religious beliefs. Surely, we can do better, just that we don't try, and we feel guilty about it.