Today I had a discussion with a Christian friend about how there is no right or wrong but thinking makes it so. My friend jumped at the opportunity and went on harping about how, Constantine is the most misunderstood Emperor of all time. He said, Constantine’s mother was most religious, and Constantine realised that he can use this as a tool to ‘unify’ his kingdom and strengthen his rule. He figured if everyone believed in the Son of God, his rule would be unquestioned. And my friend said to do this Constantine had to slaughter all the pagans and those who did not believe in Christianity. My friend went on to say that he would not be a Christian, had Constantine not slaughtered those who did not share his beliefs and ambitions.
It got me thinking, Sapiens as a species have been known to unify under collective Imaginary story (Be it religion or political ideology) . Would others who belong to dogmas spread by violence be grateful to tyrants raped, looted, plundered and pillaged their home town. A person belonging to such a dogma might think had his forefathers not been murdered and their wives and children taken as slaves, the person may not belong to such and such a dogma. And hence he would be grateful to the very tyrant who tortured his ancestors who share his very DNA.
How cruel a fate is in store for this human kind. At least in Vedanta, during the era of Adi Shankara, there were Buddhists, Jains, Mimamsakas, Charvaakas etc living side by side. There would be debates and discussions, however there never was any slaughter. Now I am surprised that something built on such peaceful and benign intentions which recognises the inherent differences in human thought and recognises different lines of thought is much chastised whereas if the followers of other dogma indulged in such heinous acts, they are recognised as heroes.
My friend also said, he would not understand what was said when a priest in a Hindu temple would pray to God on your behalf. He said to him, Christ has said there is no intermediary.
Contrary to his thought, in Vedanta, there is no intermediary. There is no prophet divining the word of God. There is no single or multiple set of men who dictate what is right and what is wrong. Vedanta never says do this or do that. On the contrary it says find out the truth by yourself. Experience the reality of Brahman by your own grit.Unfortunately ignorance is what pushes people to violent dogma and makes them feel any kind of atrocities performed on fellow children of God is justifiable so everyone can come to their level of thought.
If I see someone performing better than me, my natural inclination is to misunderstand him and to bring him to my level, so I (The ego) am not destroyed.
This was the thought of Tyrants, and this is the thought process of those who follow them blindly and are grateful to them.
My friend said if you speak to someone from your religion then you feel you both are speaking the same language. On introspection I felt he could not be more wrong! Fortunately for me, Baba has taught me the language of all Human Beings. And while I could decipher what my friend was talking about, I doubt he will ever be able to listen to the stillness inherent in all of creation. The noise of religious dogma is very tumultuous and if that be the case, how can one learn to revel in the divine stillness within?
