Should it be at all compulsory for us to follow the same religion as the religion of our parents?

A question arises — should the secularism not be interpreted simply as the “liberty to follow any religion of our choice” instead of forbearing all religions?

Is it not true that whatever be our mother tongue, there is no ban on which language we may learn in our life?

If so, should there be any ban on which religion we may like to follow in our life not necessarily — the same religion as our parents may have been following?

Is it not true that the same way, as all languages serve the same purpose — the purpose of exchanging our thoughts with each other even all religions serve the same purpose — the purpose of coalescing with god?

We may look at this unanimity yet in another way.

It compares with the type of food we eat — whether the Western food, the Oriental food, the Mediterranean food or the Mexican food.

It makes no difference which type of food we take.

All of them serve the same purpose — they make us feel content that we are no longer hungry.

Though, there is a difference.

We can’t stay alive unless we keep on eating all through our life.

But it is not so in the case of the religions.

We can stay alive even if we don’t follow any religion.

However, the way we can eat whichever type of food we like; we should have the freedom to decide which religion we may follow in our life and if we like — even to stay away from any such hubbub.

Anyway, let us look at what makes various religions so different from each other.

Let us look at Christianity — first.

There are three types of Christians — Catholic, Protestants and Methodists.

Likewise, even the followers of Islam have three denominations — Shias, Sunnies and Ahmadiyyas.

Even the followers of Hinduism fall into many different categories — Sanatanies, Advaitas and Aghories.

A question arises; don’t all religions aim at the same goal — to get coalesced with God?

The day we die — shall we know whether we coalesced with God or not?

After death all of us have the same fate — we don’t know how we spent our life.

We can know how we are spending our life only as long as we are alive.

So all that should matter in our life is — how we lead our life and how we let others lead their life.

According to me — there is nothing as good as leading the best of the life ourselves and letting even others lead the best of their life.

This quest leads us to think whether we may lead the best of the life ourselves and let others also lead the best of their life by just caring for the people who are living their life like hell or by only adhering to the same religion that may have been followed by our parents?

Various religions and cults were originally carved out mainly to develop a system that if someone was in some trouble the people of the cult to which he or she belongs may come forward to help them out; for which — they even developed some system of identifying who belongs to which cult.

The system of identification developed by the Christians

Among Christians, it is enough to wear a Cross in some form or another and, in case of the women — as a dangler of the necklace.

The system of identification developed by the Muslims

Muslims, for instance, developed a foolproof system of Khatna (by the circumcision of the private organ of the men and by severing the clitoris of the women). This way, they can identify even a stranger whether he or she is a Muslim or whether he/she is simply feigning to be a Muslim.

The system of identification developed by the Hindus

In case of the Hindus, it was customary to only to wear only a Janeyu (a band of cotton threads worn around their neck over their chest and a Tilak (a U-shaped insignia with a vertical line between the vertical lines of the U — either Vermilion or drawn with the sandal-paste on the forehead). But during the Muslim rule, the Hindus started wearing a Chutia (a tuft of hair a little longer than the rest of the hair on the head) for their identification. Of course, gradually only the Brahmins continued with this practice. So, today, hardly any Hindus follow any particular system of identification.

The system of identification developed by the Sikhs

The Sikhs, however, had made a system of carrying five “K’s” — a Kirpan (a small sword), a Kangha (a small comb), the Kesh (uncut hair on the head and in case of men — a beard also), a Kachha (boxers) and a Kara (a steel bracelet) on their body.

The other things that identify who follows which religion

All of them have a different holy book of their own.

For instance, the Bible is the holy book of the Christians, Qur’an is the holy book of the Muslims; Gita, Ramayana and Upnishads are the holy books of the Hindus and the Guru Granth Saheb is the holy book of the Sikhs.

Though in the past, the Hindus used to keep a copy of one or more of their holy books in their homes, nowadays — it is also not a norm for them.

They are identified only through their beliefs such as what is the concept of God in their mind.

They believe that the soul which resides in our body is a part of god since it is un-perishable and gets coalesced with god when we die.

It keeps on reincarnating from time to time in the form of either a human body or in the form of some animal and God is merely a “Super Form” of the souls.

For them, it makes no difference how many times during the day they pray. They may offer prayers as frequently as they please.

Neither the language in which you converse matters nor does the type of dress you wear matter for them.

Of course, they are meticulous about the type of food they eat.

They have classified food in three categories — “Satvik (chaste) food”, “Rajsik (royal) food” and “Tamsik (unchaste) food” — the food made from beef or made inappropriately, with unwashed hands.

They disdain to eat “Tamsik (unchaste) food”.

They, of course, believe in the process of the reincarnation, unlike Muslims who believe that everybody’s activities shall be reviewed by the Allah (God) only when the sun shall get converted into a white dwarf.

Another difference is in the use of blood as a food item. Ayat 5:3 of Qur’an prohibits them to use blood as a food-item while it is not so in the case of the Christians.

So, in a way, each religion differs from each other a lot.

Yet we find that the spread of Covid-19 has opened the eyes of all that it at all, does not make any difference where you pray whether in a church, in a mosque, in a temple or a Gurudwara.

All that matters is — you should not harm the Nature by contaminating it with pollutants.

You should keep your environs as clean as far as possible and help each other without getting concerned about who follows which religion.

For God, it makes no difference — whether you are a Christian, a Muslim, a Hindu or a Sikh.

If Covid-19 fails to enlighten everybody about it; don’t get surprised if he sends this message even in a sterner manner — next time.

Though this time it started all from China — it is all the same for him.

For him, it matters the least — which country.