[Advaita-l] Religion that I am born into

[latha vidya]

Hari Om,

Namaste.

People should not mislead others into believing that they can convert to any religion as their limited intellectual and reasoning directs. Birth into a particular religion is not an accident. My past deeds decide my eligibility to be born into a particular religion that becomes my Swadharma and my Parama Dharma. My birth religion, be it Christianity, Hinduism or Sikhism or whichever, has the capacity to take me to the highest level of spiritually. I need to have total faith in the religion that I am born into. With the limited intelligence and perception that I am endowed with I can not measure the depth of my religion. It is sheer ignorance on my part to belittle one religion and keep the other on a pedestal. If I am destined to reach the Highest state of spirituality and I strive with sincere effort towards that goal I can attain that state irrespective of the religion that I am born into. Have we not heard of so many people from varied religious backgrounds attaining
 enlightenment??

Sringeri Acharya Sri Sri Chandrashekhara Bharathi Swamiji had once guided a Christian seeker who had come to Him seeking to embrace Hinduism that there was no true objective (Purushartha) attained by embracing a religion outside of one’s birth. Instead of converting one self into another religion, why not seek to study one’s own scripture  indepth with the help of a Teacher and follow its tenets with all Bhakthi and Shradhdha and reach the goal? Parama Purushartha or the main objective of this human birth can be realized by striving towards perfection in one’s own religion. There is more purpose and meaning achieved by becoming a better Hindu or a better Christian or a better Sikh than getting converted to another religion and get left in the lurch – neither here nor there.

 

Namaste,
Latha Vidyaranya


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