Conversion reactions

Two thousand years of recorded or authenticated human history, may be the same years of some faith, belief and religion, around two hundred and fifty named and un-named wars, and to date, most, if not all attributable to the realization of the wisdom parted by religion – that’s as far as we pilgrims have progressed! After the evolution of the mind, or call it intellect, the first celebrated tools were the spear, knife and dagger, to hunt lesser species for food.

With the wheel and the domesticated horse, came the next big idea to slaughter your own brother for money, land, lust and power. Just to remind you, people of wisdom and science were there. The Nobel Peace Prize, was after all classified by the inventor of the dynamite! Lesser mortals took a full five years, presuming the intentions of a demon, to believe and declare it! There was a rider too. The Peace Prize would be decided by a Norwegian jury, as that was believed to run on more democratic norms.

Not that the planet was abandoned by Gods, as Gods descended on earth, or as humanity believed it to be, mostly in retrospect, further clashes were justified as “holy wars”, “dharma yuddha”, “Jihad”, that were rather self serving names. Religion was used beyond  the defined purpose of religion enunciated.

How power plays around greatness, is to be perceived, in order to be believed. Conquests as of Alexander, or Ceasar were concluded as true signs or greatness. The Pharaohs believed in their own form of immortality, that only the Ramses would have an eternal post life, well equipped in their tombs. The kiss of the monarch’s toe could cure syphilis (or even impart one). Lesser regional saints could cure pimples, and divine witchcraft could exorcise schizophrenia.

I wonder, who passed the orders, that after the passage of each divine emissary of God, as was understood, maybe understood even now, that belief and ritual (again as understood by the foremost in progeny) should be spread across the world, by love, affection, and the sword, the sword being the foremost on occasions.

The messages imparted by divinity, though similar in essence had enough reasons to take on each other in the bloodiest of wars. Worldly concerns and power again appeared to be the main reasons. Christianity took its administrative form in the third century, with Constantine shifting the capital to Constantinople, but not without a war with his brother, and severe differences with his mother. More than ten decades later, with the advent of Islam, King Sulaiman of Turkey took charge, and established “Istanbul”. That sparked another set of wars, including the Spanish Crusaders, and the Islam took hold of southern European Mediterranean countries, as far as Austria. In a repeat of the earlier propagation, was regional hegemony a greater reason, that the belief of a spread of faith!

Christianity too was to have its splits. The Church of England came into existence because the more that flamboyant and ambitious Henry the VIIIth refused to marry his brother’s widow, the daughter of the Ferdinand of Spain, that was , against the Catholic rules. I suppose, there were reasons for Christians to choose their own Bibles,  and propagate new moral rules and religious dogma! Be a catholic,  or choose to be a Protestant. Lesser confrontations were seen here, though the recent IRA uprise (thankfully over), does identify religious animosity as a main cause, I can’t comment on religious undertones, if any between Napoleon and Duke of Wellington confrontations. WWII and the “ethnic cleansing” of a certain race, has raised questions, but there are others who have worked it out! One unanswered question remains at the end of every war! Could the truce not have been reached any other way?

One good that came of Henry the VIIth efforts was a better compiled Bible, close to the “Lincoln Bible” that President Obama chose for his oath taking ceremony.

In essence, all faiths, no matter how noble and visionary in belief of their first followers, were transformed by succeeding generations to enhance numbers, land under control, absolute powers by the term called “conversion”. Philosophy of brotherhood, peace, merit, though same in definition, could only be rewarded, even recognized, only if you belonged to a particular school of religion. Humanity still has to break the shackles towards an all embracing human race.

Not breaking away from the defining principles of a sovereign, and constitutionally binding India, it is easier for me to tackle the recent incidence of actual, presumed and predicted religious conversion camps. Personally, I believe these are tactical signals that the right to conversion, with constitution guarantees  in place, are valid for all religions. A land, liberalized just more than sixty years back, is realizing how so much of its population was converted to any religion, because it had no powers, little resources, and perhaps much less will to take care of its have-nots. I would take the mixture of all religions as one of our biggest assets. India, on the other hand, was the cradle of many religions, and a place of opportunity for others.

Buddhism, the only example of a human that aspired to be at par with God, grew here. Today, rather appropriately it has become the guiding philosophy for the rest of the world. It has done away with the constraints of religion generally defined as sin and punishment. In the background was a bloody war, where the great Emperor Ashoka eliminated the kingdom of Kalinga for his own aggrandizement. So remorseless was he, that he could only find solace in the principles of Buddha. There could not have been force as a modem of propagation of his new found faith. He instead sent his son Mahendra, and daughter Sanghmitra to the south-east to spread the message. No armed accomplices were sent. Buddhism is a main religion, in its many forms in Japan, and most of south-east Asia. No wars though, and other religions survive on their own beliefs. Jainism. A minority religion, exists peacefully, somehow breeding the world’s best business minds. The land prospered.

The migrant Parsees, today are the topmost industrialists in the land, command brand loyalty from every citizen, and are the world’s largest employers in software. They can only go further. India has gained!

I discussed with my Muslim philosopher friend before writing this. This is a temporary political arrangement. The actual essence is that we never cared for our downtrodden. Religious aggregation became a convenient vote bank, that began to dictate divisive, even destructive politics.

For quite some time we have to concentrate on prosperity, and create an undying one-nation, one people feeling.

Behind political posturing, India has a better insight into all of world’s religions. As a somewhat less developed of the developing countries, this political show had to come.

Much is changing though. Religion and militancy are being dissociated rather speedily.

Waiting for the time when everyone has enough, and enough to live by. You would never want to know your colleague’s religion!

So says Ghalib:

“Imaan mujhe rokey hai, kheenchey hai mujhe kufr
Qaaba mare peechey hai, galeecha mere aagey”

(My belief in Allah holds me back, as non-belief pulls me forward,
The holy mosque is behind me, though the temple in front)

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