09 Feb 2005
I am neither Hindu nor Christian. I belong to Universal Spirituality, which means that I am a true Hindu and therefore simultaneously a true Christian. I would like to question whether conversion that is being done is based on the conversion of religion or spirituality. If it is religious conversion, I am not interested in the topic. If it is a spiritual conversion, there is no need for it because all religions have the same spirituality. Religion is only an external dress and spirituality is the same person present in all the types of dresses. If religious conversion is done with a political objective by which a religion wants to increase its number of followers and thus wants to have a single kingdom of only Christians or only Hindus, then there is no spirituality in it. When Jesus thought of spreading the kingdom of God, a revolutionary thought that Jesus aimed to remove the Roman government and establish Jewish rule, Jesus refused to join hands with that revolutionary. If you are prosperous, the first people who are jealous are the people of your religious community. If you try to convert the entire world into one religion, the entire world will become jealous when you prosper. Is this your ultimate goal?
Only the minority follows real spirituality to reach God as told by both by Jesus and Krishna. Jesus said that the path leading towards Him is very narrow. Krishna said in the Gita that only one in millions can reach Him. Therefore, only this minority is supported by the Lord and not the majority. Quality lies in this minority and not in the majority. Jesus said that wherever two or three people associate to praise the Lord, the Lord dwells there. This indicates a qualitative minority and not the ignorant majority. You say that Hindus are worried about the conversion of Hindus into Christians. But I find at least a few Christians who are converted into Hindus. Perhaps, the Hindu is worried since two the rates of conversions are not equal. If your worry is based on this point, you are not basically against the concept of conversion. If you are against the concept of conversion, you should not have agreed to convert Christians into Hindus either.
I am completely against conversion from one religion to another religion because every religion has the same spirituality and the same God. The external dress of God and the language of the spirituality-syllabus differ from one religion to another. Therefore, there is no meaning in the conversion. It is like two different classes of the same school in different languages. The two classes belong to the same standard and the same teacher goes and teaches the same syllabus to the two classes in their respective languages. Even if a person changes one class for another, the teacher and the syllabus remains same. Whatever may be the religion, he remains a theist. If a theist becomes an atheist, then we shall worry about him. Thus by conversion, no religion gains anything and no religion loses anything. After all, the person is in the same house of spirituality and he has just moved from one room to another.
I don’t know why some people are anxious about conversion and some other people so strongly encourage it. A person does not develop spiritually by conversion. If a student changes from one section to another, in the same standard, his standard does not rise. Only his language is changed; the syllabus remains same. Thus by conversion, one has only changed the culture and language but not the actual substance called as spirituality. Change of culture is not spiritual progress. In every language [religion] all standards are present. Each person should try to go to the higher standard in his own language and then that is called as academic progress. Similarly one should try to go to higher levels of spirituality in his own religion. One should go up vertically from the lower standard to the higher standard in his own religion so as to reach the goal quickly. There is no point in going horizontally from one religion to another religion. The former is called as progress and latter is a waste of energy and time.
If a Christian is converting a Hindu into Christianity, I advise him: “Why are you so much particular about the change in mere culture which is the external religion. The internal spirituality remains same and therefore you have done only an external conversion but not an internal conversion. Since spirituality in both religions remains the same, you have not converted him at all. You have plenty of money and a broad mind to sacrifice it. So help the poor Hindu because he is a poor theist. He is not atheist.” On the same occasion I advise the Hindu like this, “Most Hindus are poor. The rich Hindu minority does not have a broad mind to sacrifice money to poor fellow Hindus. Neither do you help the poor fellow-Hindus and nor do you allow them to get help from the broad-minded rich Christians. Majority of Christians are rich and also broad-minded. Why do you worry? The Hindu does not become an atheist by becoming Christian. Only his external dress is changed. He has just changed his shirt and you need not worry about it.”
I wish that every human being in this world recognizes the underlying common basis of all the religions, which is Universal Spirituality. If that is realized, a Christian will not worry even if the entire world becomes Hindu and a Hindu will not worry even if the entire world becomes Christian. Both the Christian and the Hindu should worry if the entire world is filled with atheists. A human being can wear a dress of any colour. Nothing is gained if the majority wears shirts of a particular colour and if one celebrates that as a victory. There cannot be greater foolish ignorance than this! One should become a fish living in the unlimited Ocean of Universal Spirituality. One should not linger as a stagnant fish in the river of his own religion. If the fish of the river is patient to travel to the end of its religion-river, it will find the above-said ocean.
One can chose any religion of his choice in this world. All religions are equal but all the steps in each religion are not equal. All classes in different languages of the same standard are equal but all standards in a school are not equal. The formless God, the God with forms like statues and the human form of God respresent the levels of school, college and university respectively. Hanuman is the highest among devotees and He also gained the highest result, which is the post of the future Creator. Nobody can be wiser, more devoted and more gifted than Hanuman. He worshipped Rama who was the human form of God in His time. In Valmiki Ramayana, there is no single reference of Hanuman worshipping formless God, energetic forms of God like Brahma, Vishnu etc., or statutes of God. Similarly there was not a single reference of Him doing bhajans, meditation by mind or discussing about God using intelligence. Hanuman silently worked for the Lord and got the result silently. Thus human form of God and the practical participation in His work are the highest steps to please the Lord. You should not say that all the steps in a staircase are equal, but you can say that all the staircases are equal.