Humanity has been wrought many times over during the course of history. Humanity has been refashioned, reshaped, embellished and course-corrected. From being animals to being humans, humanity has achieved the ultimate attainment Sahastrar—the thousand-petalled lotus. That is what humanity ought to be.
What is humanity? How humanity is different from animality? It is not an abstractism denoting crowds of humans. In fact, when someone thinks beyond one’s nature. To be able to do something beyond one’s own personal nature is empathy. It is said that one becomes human when one learns empathy and empathy becomes one’s nature. Empathy enters into the wounds of others and heals them. Buddha calls it compassion. Empathy and compassion are to be human, that is, the humble beginning of humanity. Humanity is a flowering of consciousness. Humanity carries the seed within. The seed of awakening.
When someone is awakened. Awakening brings course correction to humanity. History is replete of those who attained Godhood who showed the path to humanity. When humanity starts stinking, existence corrects the course and someone who is on the verge of awakening awakens. New love is born a new religion is born a new culture is born. When humanity is replete with Gods, religions, cultures, doctrines, rituals to cloud one’s vision leading to dogmatism, the need for a new contemporary religion arises. Humanity coins Gods for all purposes all seasons to make religion a burdensome dead affair. When Gods emanate out of the sermons of priests, religion becomes dead. Some 2500 years ago, a young prince Siddhartha left his young wife Yasodhara and his newly born son Rahula and declared that there was no God. Not in the sense that Siddhartha felt that there was no God. But Siddhartha felt that if there was a God, surely it was unlike the one which he has gotten by observing ritual practices spelt out by priests. Surely the God cannot be that mundane and unexciting routine affair.
The young prince became an ascetic. He fell to the feet of all Masters who were available then who had been practising religion and Godhood. All proved a sham. To be one with That-Which-Is Siddhartha abandoned all dependences that he had then, the religion, the society, the culture, the God, the Master, the Dharma, the body, the spirit. Siddhartha Gautama became Gautama the Buddha—which means Gautama the Awakened. The flowering of awakening flowered in Siddhartha Gautama who has become the Buddha. The fragrance of Buddhahood circulated in all directions. Buddha said there is Dukkha and there is a way to go out of Dukkha and told humanity the path to go out of Dukkha.
Religion is a personal flowering. It happens to humans. Religion does not happen to humanity. When the fragrance of religious flowering is sensed by those who are searching That-Which-Is it becomes milestones for them. But otherwise, it becomes mere words, rituals, ideas, thoughts, society, culture and dogmas. Humanity becomes conditioned by such rituals, words, thoughts, societal dogmas and follows robot-like existence. Religion is the experience of the experiencer who has experienced but those following robotic rituals, religion never becomes an experience to them. The true religion that is Dharma flowers in the experience. Dharma is something that we are born with. We are born Sat-Chitt-Anand (Truth-Consciousness-Bliss). Sat-Chitt-Anand(Truth-Consciousness-Bliss) is our Dharma.
In dogma in culture, there is security. In robot-like existence there is security. Going to the temple to perform what the priest asks you to perform has the psychological security of being religious. It may not make you religious. It may make you irreligious. You may become a member of the organised religion which is not a religion but an organization of religion. Because religion is personal. It is a very personal affair. It has nothing to do with the crowds performing rituals. Crowds performing rituals have a society in them because humanity breeds a society, that is, dependence. But individual lives in individuality. A truly religious man says no to a dogmatic religious organisation that becomes his religion.
When Siddhartha Gautama left his kingdom he kept looking for dependences. In the end, he realised that what he is looking for in security is in fact dependence. Because society is conditioned by the past. You have to let go of society. It so happened that after a decade of awakening, Buddha went to his father’s house and met Yashodhara his estranged wife. Yashodhara asked him, ‘I don’t know what you got but whatever that you had gotten, whether you could not have attained that by being here being with us in this house. Buddha replied in the affirmation that ‘yes’ it could have been attained without leaving his wife and son also.
Dogma is status quo. Dogma and rituals are like you are getting God at the cost of enslaving your soul. Asking God look we are doing something. Priests go on preaching ancient languages as if God understood just those languages and not the ones in modern use.
Buddha is a revolution. Buddha is a revolution against the dead religion. Buddha is moving beyond dogmas. Buddha is one man on earth who said that there was no God and finally attained Godhood. That was the ultimate that one can get. Like a scientist who doubts everything and begins his thesis assuming an anti-thesis to bring home the point that is exactly the opposite of what he perceived in the beginning.
The flowering of Buddha in the presence of Buddha is a contagion. It infects you. It infects all those infected by dogmas rituals scriptures. Dogmas and rituals are to make you copies of what man has been doing primitively.
But you live today. You need a new religion of your own. Buddha births the new religion. He does not birth the new religion for others. But he births the new religion for himself so that dogmatic religions melt in the sheen of what Buddha births.
It happened to Jesus when he overthrew the tables of moneychangers and few rebels saw in him the rebellion. Thus Jesus was crucified by the organised religion. But the presence of Jesus was infectious. Jesus was a contagion. Even long after Jesus had gone, Jesus lives. His presence lives among us. Buddha is as much alive today as he was 2500 years ago. It is a matter of understanding and be contagious. But those mired in dogmas of Buddhism or Christianity will never be able to know the Buddha or the Christ.
Whenever humanity is deep under slumber someone is awakened and the awakened one tends to awaken humanity. Those who are on the verge of awakening awaken. Those who are moving towards awakening get their feet reinforced. When someone awakens the seed sprouts without any reason. That which is lying in us as the seed of awakening sprouts.
It happened to Nanak. When Nanak found Godhood, Nanak said Ek Omkar Sat Nam (There is One God and Thy name is the Truth). In those times belligerence between Islam and Hinduism was growing. Nanak would trash dogmas of both Hinduism and Islam to tell the world that dogmas are not religion. Don’t live in the status quo. Live in the real religion. Thy Name is the Truth. The real religion that was contemporary then is not contemporary now. The Truth that needs to be redefined. Awakened ones discard what that was once the truth to re-establish the truth to renew the truth. All religions are thus manifestations of renewal of the truth. New religion brings new consciousness. New flowers of consciousness flower and the man of religion are born who value the truth and freedom.
The author is a spiritual teacher.