I went to the church once and the Father told me to remove my chain which had the inscription of my religious symbol on it, saying, "It's either Jesus or your God". Dismayed, I removed the chain and walked out.

I then decided to pray 5 times a day like the Muslims, only to be told off that "Allah" was a word exclusive only to Muslims and not to Qafirs like me. I stopped praying and decided to go to the Hindu temple.

No one cared what I did there but soon, certain folks started asking me which Hindu God was my favourite. I told them I had no favourites as I viewed them all as equal. They made a laughing stock of me saying that Shiva and Ganesh are not equal as Shiva was the father of Ganesh, and so that made him stronger. Dejected, I ventured into Sikhism, only to be scorned at whenever I was there at the Gurdwara. Majority of them eyed me suspiciously and some even told me off whenever I spoke to them about my ideas and philosophies on religion. "We have our own Gurus" they would say.

I stopped believing in religion and stopped making "pit stops" to each holy place. I developed my own spiritual regime and practice.

And then one day I died and I saw each one of them. A voice from the skies clamoured to allow me in through the gates of Heaven, while they, staunch believers of Heaven and Hell were not made to enter. I asked one of the angel there as to why I was let in and not them, since theoretically speaking, they, with their vast knowledge of their respective religions deserved to be in and me out.

The angel replied, "They believed in their religion. While you, you believed in yourself."

The vast knowledge one has about religion is of no use if one doesn't even have the slightest clue on one's Self, the real reality and the real Truth.



Author: Sukhbir Cheema

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Holistic Living Annex (FEBRUARY 2013)