Aab's Musings-13 -Without self respect life is miserable

Author: Dr. Ali Khwaja

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Because of his unusual name, and since he does not have a surname, people often ask Aab what religion he belongs to. And as usual, Aab is stumped. He would himself like to know what faith he belongs to, if any. Everyone seems to have a religion, a community, a caste and a series of rituals. The only ritual Aab indulges in is – wandering on the roads and watching people closely. He wonders whether they can be a religion called “Life”. What a fool Aab is. He does not know that a religion needs to have a guru, a scripture, a long hierarchy of sub-gurus, and an elaborate system of do’s and don’ts. Every one seems to know that except Aab. He hears learned and pious men thundering from high platforms about God’s wrath. They sound so convincing, as though they have just come from a personal conference with the Almighty in His sanctum sanctorum. Aab even hears the common man quoting the pious ones, dead and alive, seen or unseen, with such conviction. At times Aab wonders if he is the only one who is illiterate in matters of religion, while others seem to be graduates and post-graduates. No, Aab is not an Atheist. He has enough intelligence to know that this Universe cannot be spinning away in abandon without certain forces controlling, directing and moderating it. He know enough to understand that the tiniest and most helpless creatures would not have survived on this earth for thousands of years side by side with predators, unless there was a law of balance of nature. But he is not intelligent enough to give a name to this cosmic source of energy that binds us all together. What he sees and has to acknowledge very sadly is that religion divides humanity, and any division goes against the laws of the Universe, which all stand for Unity.