Losing my Religion
One day I was talking to a colleague during Lunch about his religion and spiritual practice, as I always had a particular fascination with these type of subjects.
I work and live in a country that has a very diverse culture with very different religions.
For me, born within a Hindu family, with all its intriguing and most of the time very complex rituals and traditions, it was always hard to grasp the phenomena that came with the words “God” and “Religion.”
So, often when people asked me about my religion, I always felt like I did not understand it thoroughly enough to explain it clearly to others.
One day at work we were having our typical Dutch lunch while partaking in one of the many conversations we usually share about spirituality. My colleague is what I call a “Die Hard Muslim.” Which means he is a very religious and strict practitioner of Islam. As usual, we had our regular discussions, but this time the conversation felt slightly different...
I felt a much more profound interest in what he was saying, and he must have felt it too because it caused him to ask a particular question which on any other day would seem like a typical question to ask.
But on this day and in that moment having that exact conversation felt like something explicitly intended for me.
The reason for this was that this particular question triggered something in me. The question evoked a certain feeling which I could not explain at that moment, but which I can only describe as a feeling of pure delight arising from within.
It felt as if he was speaking directly to my heart.
The question he asked, was:
“Would you ever consider becoming a Muslim.”
Without any hesitation and with an entirely clear mind, my heart uttered the purest words. It felt like something divine, something higher than myself, was speaking through me. What I said to him was this:
“ I am a Muslim.”
With a confused look on his face, He replied to me: “What do you mean? You are not a Muslim you are a Hindu.”
I paused for a few seconds, and my heart went on:
“I am a Muslim, just as I am a Hindu, I am a Jew, I am a Buddhist and I am a Christian.”
“Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Christianity they are me.”
“Your religion it comes from your heart, does it not?”
He replied: “yes.”
“Does our heart not come from one source?
Do we not all drink from the same cup called life?” I continued.
Our hearts all come from one source and when we die our heart goes back to that source.
This source is within you and me...It is within all of us… some call this source Allah; others call it Jesus.
”I choose to call it Love."
So now when people ask me, what is your religion?
I tell them this, I am the same as you and the same as everyone else, “my religion is Love, and my heart is the place of peace and prayer."
#IDOITFORTHELOVE
Author: Roshni Jagroep