Religion was never about belief or ritual—it began as a deep inner longing to be free from suffering and truly awake.
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Originally published in the The Sunday Guardian on 13 jul '25.
Religion was never about belief or ritual—it began as a deep inner longing to be free from suffering and truly awake.
Religion, in its truest essence, began as a stirring within, a call to look deeper than what appears on the surface. It was never meant to be about commandments or ceremonies, belonging to a group, or defending a tradition. It pointed toward something more essential: a different way of seeing, a different way of living.
Yet, as that sacred impulse entered the world of systems and structures, something began to shift. Not out of malice, perhaps, but out of habit. We started clinging to the shell and gradually lost touch with the core. What came as pure compassion and unwavering clarity was often met with fear, greed, and confusion. It came to uplift, to guide, to liberate; not to divide or dominate. But like anything deeply precious, when it passes through our conditioned hands, it risks being shaped by our compulsions. Without inner vigilance, even the sacred can be misunderstood.
