I don’t know who God really is. But I feel that trying to know God is beyond our capability. This is where our limitation as human beings lies. Each time, we try to do so in vain. I do acknowledge the existence of God, but I don’t believe that following any sort of religion or performing any ritual is compulsory to connect with God.

I believe that the best way to connect with God is through contributing and serving the helpless and the needy. The kind of religious people whom I really like are the omnists. They believe in every religion, which is indeed harmonious. I also think that being religious is good until it turns into blind faith, because everything stated by the holy scriptures might not be relevant with time and we all know everything has to change with time.

I know that no religion teaches us to be patriarchal, parochial, prejudicial or a fanatic, bigot and terrorist. It’s a group of some evil and conservative people who try to align their thought process with religion and spoil its spiritual effect. It’s a group of some fanatic people who take advantage of the free interpretation of religion and pursue their thoughts in it.

Every religious movement began with a spiritual movement, but with the passage of time, participation of some narrow-minded fanatics in the movement and reinterpretation of religion by them spoiled much of its relevance and significance. We need to understand that no religion preaches war, hatred, intolerance or violence. Getting divided on the basis of religion is extremely foolish and silly. The main motto or intention behind every religion is the same and that is to reach out to God.

I strongly pursue the idea that one can follow any religion and perform any ritual, irrespective of whether they were born in a family of Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikh etc. The destination of all the prayers that leave from the mosques, temples, churches, gurudwaras, synagogue etc. is the same.

So, we can express our gratitude to God in any language and by performing any ritual, or by serving the helpless and the needy (the best way according to me). It’s high time we uproot the barriers among all religions and realise that religion should never be a hindrance to development and progress. Politicising religion is something that must be stopped. The need of the hour is harmony, tolerance and acceptance, which will further stabilise the nation.

Thank you.