The spirit of all religions: A parable on unity & truth
Imagine insisting that a single perspective holds the exclusive rights to a boundless reality. This short reflection dives straight into the timeless conflict between rigid institutional compliance and fluid individual insight. By dissecting how easily shared human pursuits are hijacked by collective tribal defenses, it offers a radical shift in perspective—showing that competing, seemingly contradictory viewpoints are often just different angles of the exact same truth.
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“Q: There is much similarity among the different religions, in matters of rituals like ringing of bells. Why should there be so much bickering among religious groups?
– T.M. Sundararaman, Mylapore
A: Yours is more an observation than a question; but a fine observation. The spirit of all religions is the same — a quest for Truth. A religious faith is expected to expand our knowledge, teach us that Truth is vast, rich with many aspects.
The first thing necessary to prepare ourselves for receiving that Truth is to come out of our ego. Yet, a religious faith, like any other platform, becomes a platform for exercising our collective ego.
Once there was a king who believed that God was infinite. One day he was disturbed when he heard that in the frontiers of his kingdom there was a sage who declared that God was both infinite and finite.
The king summoned the sage to his presence. “How dare you hold a view of God that is different from ours?” he demanded.
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The sage said, “I’ll answer that question only after you and your three ministers had answered my question.” The sage wrote down his question in four slips of paper and handed them to the king and his ministers, asking them to write the answers on the respective slips.
The sage collected them and read them out. To his question “What is earth?” the king’s answer was: “Earth is that to which all of us would be reduced when dead.”
The three ministers wrote: “Earth is that which gives us crops”, “Earth is that on which we walk”, and “Earth is that which lies under the sky”.
“My lord,” said the sage, “if to a simple question there could be four different answers, each one of which is true, why do you expect an answer to your question as to what is God must be the same? They can be different and yet true!”
The king understood.”
from Chandamama May 2004
World Religion Day
Established in 1950 by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States, World Religion Day is observed globally on the third Sunday of January. The annual event spotlights the foundational unity of spiritual paths, advocating for interfaith harmony as a cornerstone for world peace.
Image 1: Sri Lanka made history in 1985 as the first nation to dedicate an official commemorative postage stamp to the event. The design weaves together the sacred icons of eight major global faiths, framed by the words “World Religion Day” in Sinhala, Tamil and English.
Image 2: The Republic of the Congo followed suit on January 20, 2007, releasing its own official philatelic issue to celebrate the message of universal interfaith unity.
