They say that every cask smells of the wine it contained. I found that I was sustained by my cultural heritage, to the point that I was debating the issues of religious, ethnic or colour-based superiority. Politically, I was called a right-winger because I attacked the many who claimed sympathy for communism or socialism. Ironically, the extreme right-wingers claimed that I was “left” because I attacked their control systems and brainwashing. I denied either side their right to control the individual.
… … One lunch-time, before my destruction, I found myself sitting next to a man in black with a white collar. I assumed that he was some kind of priest. We talked casually for a while. Then he asked if I had considered joining the faith. This surprised me. I had no personal experience of anyone recruiting for God. Anyway, I asked, “Which faith?” He said, “The Church.”
I did not know which Church he had in mind, but that did not matter to me. I thought about his question for a while and said to him with some curiosity, “Why would I consider joining your Church?”
“For your salvation,” he replied.
I thought about this for a while and then said, “Pardon me, why do you say that your soul will be saved and not mine, when you already know that I am a Hindu?” There was a silence and then, without a word, he left. What was I to make of that? I hoped that I had not offended him.
A little later, a tutor friend (who was going out with a Malayan), asked me if I would consider joining her Church. To which, I said, “You know that I am a practising Hindu. What is it about the way I live which will be changed by me becoming a Christian? What will I do differently, apart from the way you and I pray?”
“That’s a fair question,” she replied. “Can I think about it for a week and talk to you at our usual gathering?”
I agreed.
The next week, the group met for coffee as usual. My friend said, “The answer is that you will not have to change your behaviour in any way.”
“What’s the point of changing faiths, especially as I believe that all religions are equal, in that they seek the one God, but in diverse ways?” I asked. She agreed that I might as well stay on my path. The others at the table thought that made good sense – one should not change horses in midstream, as we had been taught.
(The above extracts from ‘Destiny Will Out’ show that both priests and quite ordinary people sought to have us Asians change religions. What was their motive? Had they been misled by a colonial education? Or by a misreading of John of the New Testament which claims Jesus as saying ‘Only through me shall ye know God’?
As against that assertion (which surely had relevance for those with Jesus, with their sundry tribal gods) stands the alleged position of Krishna that ‘Whatever God you pray to, it is I who answers.’ Is there not only one God of mankind?)
RAJA ARASA RATNAM 