Part 1:
Firstly, sorry Elizabeth as I couldn't get back on this thread sooner.
Secondly, to clarify, my knowledge is largely analytical, introspective, and experiential, based on interpolation and extrapolation (I don't know of a better way to explain how I understand, derive/infer things). At large though, I see am not usually very off :-) To say, am actually not very knowledgeable but my views might largely be aligning with deep perspectives.
And now, finally, coming to your question...
Yes, I do believe some of the popular contemporary religions (Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Jainism) appear similar in spirit. At least, we all know that the first three mentioned here all have common ancestry (old testament), and Buddhism and Janinism. I'd probably limit the similarity to just the event around the origin of these religions -- i.e. the proponent of the religion being able to connect with the Divine (or being shown a light) to understand the purpose of life, and the ideal way of life.
What has later been interpretations as provided through sermons or as code of moral living by the proponents were indeed an attempt to share what they realized in their life -- their self realizations (a consistent state of self realization is enlightenment or nirvana). I understand they were able to align with the Divine and led the rest of their life in strict alignment to their realization...
The post realization life of the proponents of these religions have been in strict alignment to their realizations, and they were able to be in a state of peace irrespective of what their life took them through, and led the rest of their life in imparting what they realized.
Part 2:
As someone who's a Tamil, born in lineage of Thirumoola Maharishi (a saivite Yogi & saint), and inherently connected to Hinduism, I've gathered belief in several concepts including:
- Love is God
- The divinity is within you -- Thatvam Asi -- analogous to: the kingdom of heaven is within you)
- One must lead a virtuous life, critic worthy of sincere following, by defining clear limits, enjoying complete freedom within it, but complete abstinence outside it (I believe the fundamental truth conveyed by the Ten commandments is this).
- Everything that you experience is your own making (an introspective analysis of this opens doors to concepts of rebirth, karma, experiencing heaven/hell through experiences in life vs exactly a domain called heaven or hell)
- Understanding the essence of Surrender in life (aligning with Fate, which one has little control over)
- Worship of nature (five elements, and any and every form in nature -- I believe Paganism's origins were related though I have close to zero knowledge here), homage to ancestry (reason for maintaining a lineage -- including advanced medical reasons, family deity -- holy angels or spirits), practices (importance of worship, leading an austere life, fasting -- also has advanced medical reasons, serving the needy, holy pilgrimages), phasing life & having rules governing phases (bala -- crawler/toddler, brahmacharya -- youth, grihastha -- family life, sanyasa -- ascetic).
- Importance of alignment with nature (respect and obeisance to other life forms including flora, heavenly objects).
There's a lot more than I am absolutely unaware of, and some more which I am not able to recollect and share at this moment...
Anyone will be able to draw correlations between these and their own religions.
To add:
- Hinduism is a conglomeration of several beliefs and faiths that coexisted, that it is not fair to call it a religion in the same vein of the others I have mentioned here.
- Tamil language has hundreds of scriptures that serve as a guide book for life (Thirukkural, Aganaanooru, Purananooru, Athichudi to quote a few), that I believe it is a religion in itself, and one needs no specific deity to worship but to align to the concepts after careful analysis and gaining wisdom through one's own experience and introspection.
Everyone who searches finally and gradually aligns with most of the concepts mentioned above, irrespective of their religion...
Irrespective of our own cultures, religions, nationality, and gender, we are connected by our basic needs, wants/desires, the seeking, which is what made you and I come together in this forum...
If the source and the destination of all religions are the same, how does they being any different really make them different?
Part 3:
About a month ago, I was led to visit Thiruvannamalai, following a quest for answers to some questions that were deeply forming in me, answers to which seemed quintessential for my peace. And I was a bit surprised (though it not a rare sight at all) to see people from so many religions, cultures, countries and walks of life under one roof (Ramana Maharisi Ashram). I could not interact with anyone there but my quest with interact with people of that diversity is exactly what led me to try Discord, and then land here (courtesy: Elizabeth/Butterfly). And some of my interactions with some folks in Discord seem essentially to answer this very same question... We are all very similar...
Part 4:
Like the conditions & geography that's different across regions, flora & fauna that adapt to these and evolve to suit these, races of diversity which originate & spread across these, the variety in food that we've discovered and invented, religions are diverse...
Psychologically too, though we are the same life from birth to death, we keep changing & evolving throughout life; if one human being cannot remain the same (but who's fundamental design remains intact), with the trillions of humans having inhabited this earth, and several zillions of lives that inhabit the earth, the diversity in religions is minuscule in comparison...
Considering the long span of human life on this earth, there were definitely several hundreds of religions that got born and died, and several hundreds which were born from the debris of those; that we have a few that we talk about, and come to know of hundreds to thousands that we barely are able to scratch the surface about, how different do the religions in vogue appear to be?
Quoting Kaniyan Poongundranaar:
Yaadhum oore yaavarum kelir (all of us co-inhabit the same place, and are all each other's relatives) -- we are all one and the same!
THE ESSENCE OF ALL RELIGIONS IS SPIRITUALITY!
We all originated from the same, are inherently the same, and will reach the same!
