Chapter 13Religion

God gives Himself to His whole creation; no one religion holds the monopoly of His Grace.

* Instead of excluding each other, religions ought to complete each other.

* The spiritual spirit is not contrary to a religious feeling of adoration, devotion and consecration. But what is wrong in the religions is the fixity of the mind clinging to one formula as an exclusive truth. One must always remember that formulas are only a mental expression of the truth and that this truth can always be expressed in many other ways.

6 December 1964

* You express your faith in Sri Aurobindo with certain words which are for you the best expression of this faith; this is quite all right. But if you are convinced that these very words are the only correct ones to express what Sri Aurobindo is, then you become dogmatic and are ready to create a religion.

5 March 1965

* In a severe tone:

“Madam, you are pledging your word.” Very quietly: “I know it, sir, and when I make a promise, I keep it. But for me these things don’t have much importance. I have no attachment for any religion, and when one has no attachment, one has no aversion either. For me religions are forms, much too human, of spiritual life. Each one expresses one aspect of the single and eternal Truth, but in expressing it exclusive of the other aspects, it deforms and diminishes it. None has the right to call itself the only true one, any more than it has the right to deny the truth contained in the others. And all of them together would not suffice to express the Supreme Truth which is beyond all expression, even whilst being present in each one.”

In a dry tone: “I am sorry, madam, but in this field I cannot follow you.” Smiling and peaceful: “I know that very well, sir, and I told you all this only to explain to you why I did not reply very seriously to the promise you were demanding from me.”

* Why do men want to worship?

It is far better to become than to worship. It is the reluctance to change that makes one worship.

24 June 1969

* One may abstain from worship only on condition that one changes, for there are many who want neither to change nor to worship!

June 1969

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The attitude to be taken towards religions A benevolent goodwill towards all worshippers.

An enlightened indifference towards all religions. All religions are partial approximations of the one sole Truth that is far above them.

April 1969

* A benevolent goodwill towards all worshippers.

An enlightened indifference towards all religions. As for the relation with the beings of the Overmind, if this relation exists already, each case must have its own solution.

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Why do men cling to a religion?

Religions are based on creeds which are spiritual experiences brought down to a level where they become more easy to grasp, but at the cost of their integral purity and truth.

The time of religions is over. We have entered the age of universal spirituality, of spiritual experience in its initial purity.

*

(About an article entitled “Religion in the New Age”)

I have read the article — it is all right. I have made only one change — in the last page, where you write “since it will be the age of God” (God is still too religious) I have put “of the ONE” — because it will truly be the age of Unity.

* I approve of your continuing this practice in the Arya Home provided those who live there are absolutely free to attend or not according to their own conviction. Practices of this kind have no spiritual value if they become a habit or a compulsion, even if it is only a mental compulsion. I mean to say that no propaganda spirit must be used.

With blessings.

* Religious thought cannot be used unless it is liberated from the influence of religions.

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