Religions established with a pure and honest intention to lead human being on the path of faith, hope, purity and harmony. But over-enthusiasm of volunteers and religious organization to spread their respective religion is killing the very soul of each religion.
Recently a school in US is sued for or its promotion of Christian organizations.
"The Douglas County School District in Colorado is being sued for its promotion of Christian organizations and their proselytizing efforts -- endorsements that violate the U.S. Constitution’s Establishment Clause, according to an American Humanist Association lawsuit filed Wednesday, 22nd October, 2014."
I have a self-experienced tale to tell!
I studied in a Christian school when I was a child! The teachers there were affectionate, campus was nice and curriculum was excellent.
The school had two buildings. Just in front of the main gate was the Principal's office in the main building. There were class-rooms behind the office and on the right side as well. On the right side of the main building had open passage. At the end of the passage there were toilets.
On the right hand side of the passage there was a wall covered with different sort of climbers. Our favorite was one with flowers having red petals and long white stem. We used to pluck these flowers and suck their stems as they used to taste sweet!
On the left side of the main building was play ground equipped with swing, see-saw and slide. We used to The ground had many plants and one Christmas tree. On the left side of the ground was second building whose entrance was from the behind of the swing.
Earlier my class was in main building. Then I moved to class four, which was in other building. There I met my class teacher who was a great teacher. I used to do well in the studies. Soon, we became each other's favorite. She had been provided with accommodation in a flat adjacent to the classroom. Flat had a back door which was opening next to classroom.
One day teacher invited me to her house. As soon as I entered I could smell strange smell coming from kitchen. I could not guess then what was that but now I can tell that probably pork being cooked.
She appeared to be kind, attentive and she gave me nice food. She had a projector using which she showed beautiful pictures of nature and birds. Soon she used to invite me quite regularly.
One day she started to display images of Jesus and telling stories from Bible and introduced the story of baptized of Jesus. She also started telling how people are converting to Christianity and how their lives being changed.
My grand mother use to tell me stories of Nal-Damyanti, Raja Harish Chandra, Sapthah-Viptah, Animals, Birds, Plants, History, Moral lessons, Kings and queens and many more. I always loved those stories.
In school my teacher started telling stories of Christianity. I did not find them unusual. I liked them too.
I never told this to my parents because they never taught me to do so. Neither they asked if something was interesting or unusual at school. They had so much of faith in the school.
The school was only till Four. So I was transferred to another school. But I continue to remember and respect my teacher.
Time flew, I got busy and stopped thinking about it.
I moved to Bangalore. I used to travel there by public transport to see places, meet friends and relative or job hunt. To get the right bus and to get down at right stop I used to request the strangers near by. In India that is not a problem at all as some one will be there to answer your quest or need. But the response might now be right always. You may end up taking wrong bus and getting down at wrong address. But quite often you get right information.
One day I was at the Central Bus stop called Majestic. I requested one kind gentlemen to help me by telling right bus to reach my destination. He gave me correct information, communicated friendly and then handed over few handbills and brochures, promoting Christianity. This became quite common and worse part was that few of them just followed me like a troll. I started to dislike it. Another bitter experience was when my alter ego and my friend was in love with a girl was asked to convert. He did not agree and he was left heart broken.
I started thinking why?
I started to remember what happened in the school. I remember my teacher for her affection and kindness at the same time I remember her projector and her stories. It makes me sad and depressed and caused headache. I was a kid for God's shake!
When I was in Germany, the house owner has kept Bible in the cupboard. I got chance to read it occasionally and I read this:
"As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him." - Matthew 3:16
In this verse in Holy Bible Matthew writes about Jesus's baptism in beautiful words representing faith and salvation.
I have grown in joint family watching my grandfathers, father, uncles , brothers, cousins worshipping Lord Shiva and Shaligram every day and my grand mothers, mother, aunts, sisters fasting, chanting and praying ancient Sanskrit scriptures and devotional songs.
There used to be grand Satyanarayana puja in every Sankranti once in month in my house. I myself participated in those prayers and read many of religious books and found them vast source of knowledge and inspiration. I feel fortunate and graced being Hindu as the way as followers of other religion and belief.
I am proud of my parents who raised me with moral values and to respect all religions and caste. They sent me to Christian school, they let me eat, play and live in harmony with neighbors in Patna, without considering their religion or caste. We used to touch feet of so called untouchables to get blessings on the festival called chat and celebrate Rakhi too. We used to participate in iftar during each evening in the holy month of Ramjan.
I prayed in temples in the every corner of the world I had been. I visited churches in all over world including in Vatican City.
My friend took me to mosque in Delhi where we had long discussion. We agreed that its same like temple in terms of faith, hope, message and people. Only difference is that you wont find idols there.
I worshipped in Gurudwara in Patna city where Guru Govind Singh was born. Though I was rebuked by the guard there as I did not knew that I had to cover my head. I did not felt bad because that is their tradition at Gurudwara and one must respect. The thing I did not like was the way the guard told "Mandir samjha hai kya (It's not a temple)"? Though there were other Sikkhs who realized this and one of them told with compassion "Beta, pahli baar aaye ho kya? Sir ko rumal ya kisi aur kapde se dhak lo. Nange sir yaha nahi jaate (Son, have you come here first time? You should cover your head while entering Gurudwara". So I corrected myself.
I meditated behind the Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya, beneath which Buddha attainted enlightenment and visited Jain worship place in Vaishali.
I feel blessed to be born and brought up in Bihar, the land of righteous Buddha, Mahaveera, Ashoka, Shershah, Guru Gobind, Babadham, Visnhupad, Janki and Ganga and more. This soil itself teaches the importance of religion, belief and harmony among them.
Further I moved towards spirituality and started reading Vivekananda and practicing Mediation. I used to mediate for hours in front of Large Shiva Idol in the campus of Kemp Fort at Old Airport Road in Bangalore. During those days there were no barricades and commercialization at that temple which is today. I stopped visiting because of the noise and market place there .
Today, I have firm belief that if you want to see the God, close your eyes and mediate. Wherever your are, smile, help and love! This will take you closer to God than anything else! Though, I still respect all religions and teaching the same to kids.
Recently I watched movie PK. Though being a liberate Hindu I did not like the scene where Lord Shiva was mocked. Imagine Amir khan being in a school and a TV program is showing his achievements and how great he is. Then the kids including his own kid starts mocking in derogatory manner. Will he or his fans like? We have been praying Lord Shiva since our childhood and developed sense of extreme respect. This particular scene hurts those sentiments. This could have been avoided. how ever mocking so called Godmen on earth is acceptable. But there should be a boundary. I am not the kind of hardcore believer who will agitate and protest. I am the kind who gets hurt but ignores for the rest. That's the best way to move on. But one should understand that and try to avoid something which hurt others. But looks like instead of appreciating that is being taken for granted. Our respect, acceptance, openness, silence and tolerance is being exploited. This should not happen.
Coming back to the school.
But what about my rights as a child and what about the trust of my parents with which they send me to that reputed school? Whatever happened is painful and should not have happened. My mother taught me that school is a place of worship and knowledge.
Little minds should not be exploited like I was in school.
My advice to all parents is to teach your child to respect all religion but at the same time keep asking them about the day in school. What was interesting, what was unusual? What they like and what they did not. Just like you teach them about good touch and bad touch.
A Christian school in USA gets sued shows seriousness of the authorities there. What's happening here in India? There should be a guideline and religious campaign should adhere to it.
Why I am writing this now?
I am writing it now because the religion based agenda is being forced by the extremists of each religion. I have purposely avoided putting the name of the school as I do not want the school be harmed affecting the young minds. World is more connected today and malpractices on the name of religion should be avoided as its gets caught easily, brings disgrace and affects religious harmony.
Live long Humanity and religious brotherhood!
Amitabh Ranjan Jha
