Spirituality Unites Us Beyond Religion

Like most children her age, Shanta, my three-year-old daughter, has a fascination for beads. No matter what color, shape or size, she will play with them endlessly.

One afternoon, as we were playing together, I asked Shanta to show me her favorite bead. “This one, and this one, this one, and this one,” she replied, distinctly pointing at every single bead for what seemed like an eternity.

However, a few seconds later, Shanta’s attention was drawn toward the single stranded pearl necklace I was wearing. Losing her earlier interest in the scattered beads, she said: “But I like your necklace the best, Mommy.”

While I was fixing dinner later that evening, I remembered a shloka (stanza) from the Bhagavad Gita — a Hindu scripture — in which Lord Krishna gives a discourse to his beloved disciple, Arjuna:

“Nothing is higher than I am, O Arjuna.
All that exists is woven on me,
Like a web of pearls on thread.” (Bhagavad Gita 7.7)

Musing over it’s deeper meaning, I was reminded of yet another verse — this time from the New Testament — where Jesus chastises his disciples for keeping children away from Him. “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven. It is to such as these that the Kingdom of Heaven belongs.” — (Mathew 19:14)

Gradually, a picture came to my mind, and I could envision God sitting like a small child in the midst of His creation — full of wonder and joy — marveling at its beauty and in total love with every entity. And then, in another image, I could visualize the different religions of the world as beads of different colors of light. Intuitively, I believed that God would want all His creation to be in harmony and in love with one another.

“But given the divisive nature of religions, is it possible?” I wondered.

Even Professor Hans Kung, a German expert on inter-religious dialogue, has said: “Until there is peace between religions, there can be no peace in the world.”

Once again, I thought about Shanta’s fascination with the necklace and beads, recognized its hidden analogy with the shloka from the Bhagavad Gita, and realized that the necklace was made possible only because of the externally invisible thread.

I pondered on the similar teachings of the various spiritual teachers:

“There are these two gifts, the carnal and the spiritual. Of these two gifts, the spiritual is pre-eminent.” — Buddha.
“We deal not in the letter but in the Spirit. The letter of the Law leads to the death of the soul; the Spirit of God alone can give life to the soul.” — Apostle Paul.
“I go into the Muslim mosque, and the Jewish synagogue, and the Christian church; and I see one altar.” — Jalaluddin Rumi (Islamic mystic).
“Do not care for doctrines, do not care for dogmas or sects, or churches or temples; they count for little compared with the essence in each man.” — Ramakrishna Paramahansa (Hindu mystic).
“Where religion ends, spirituality begins.” — Ram Chandra (Founder of Sahaj Marg).
Regardless of what religion we are born into, we owe it to our children to consider the striking similarity between the original teachings of the founders of all faiths on concepts such as love, mercy, compassion, brotherhood and tolerance.

Because the teachings have become calcified into dogma with the passage of time, the sincere seeker has to dive deep into the myriad of religious teachings and rediscover its true essence.

No matter what name or form we have for God, ultimately we all are worshipping that Supreme Spirit or the Divine Light that is present in every human heart.

Let us recognize that spirituality is the divine thread that unifies the pearls of truth.