Spirituality, Religion and India
I’m so grateful that I come from a land which always celebrated Meditation and Spirituality over Materialism
Shankara, a 8 year old boy from Kerala,
who travelled from Kerala to MP to UP to Kashmir and later all of India by foot;
speaking Sanskrit, following the Sanyasi way of life and spent all his efforts in preserving the Vedas which were getting lost in the 8th century
Only to later be known as the First JagadGuru, Adi Shankarcharya
Ghanshyam Pande from Uttar Pradesh
who by the age of 7, mastered scriptures — Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas;
is accepted as founding father of the SwamiNarayan Sampraday,
which today has more Gujrati roots than any other spoken language
Dev, A young boy from Junagarh, Gujarat,
is accepted as a reincarnation of Kartikeya and till date is celebrated as the most revered yogi — — Baba Balak Nath, in not just Himachal Pradesh but also its neighbouring states
While most of India, except maybe Gorakhpur,
forgot about Gorakhnath / Gorakshnath;
one of the founding fathers of the Nath Sampraday and Hatha Yoga
but Nepal, even to date, has many temples of Gorakh and even take their name “Gurkha” from this Yogi
Considered as the Ninth avatar of Vishnu,
Gautam Buddha, born in today’s Lumbini, Nepal
attained enlightenment in Bodh Gaya, Bihar
gave his first lecture after enlightenment in SarthNath, UP
attained Mahaparinirvana in Kushinagar, UP ;
considered as the founding father of Buddhisim,
which is followed as a religion by you know how many different countries of Asia
I think there are so many more…
some lost in the sand of time and some lost as our wiped off history
but I hope you get the point …
And all of the above I said is very very very important and not an easy task to accomplish,
because …
India, Bharat, Jambudwip
is a land very vast geographically,
with its inhabitants speaking different languages from North to South and East to West,
even their dialect changes as you cross any town in any particular state and
they practise different ways of attaining God, by means of, what is called as Religion* in today’s world
Religion*
India wholeheartedly accepted the cultures and “Religion” from every trader to looter that it dealt with: From Portuguese to Parsi, From Mughals to British
Yes it accepted their Religion
This is how the concept of “Religion” gets introduced in India
because for us, every one WAS ONE — — despite looking different !!
It was called as different “Religions” from an OUTSIDER’s perspective, who lived in India
and Kindly do not confuse the Varna system with “Religion”
Varna was more of division of labour than anything to do with God
