Religion trigger

 Again, got triggered by a video post were someone was drawing parallels of worship at Kaaba (Kaaba stone) by the Muslims with Idol (stone) worship practiced by Hindus with both being seen as idolatry. The so-called Islam expert in the video profusely rejected it by saying that for Hindus idols is a window to the divine and rightly so whereas the Kaaba just points to a direction of worship which is revered by Muslims. As per him it provides a vital edifice where all Muslims can congregate and pray to Allah which seemed fair.

But this kept me wondering whether how much people or the likes of the interviewer know before posing such a question. Hinduism is a religion which multiple paths to seek the divine - via blind devotion to stone sculptures at home or doing regular poojas or by going to temple and meditating or by even just chanting mantras on your own. The seekers also tread the path by questioning why even one should worship gods, why not serve the poor instead. Even that is accepted in Hinduism. 

There may be a rational seeker who is fed initially through family on stories of gods and their wonders. Then the seeker is taken to temples where he sees the gods and goddesses enshrined in marvelous structures which fortifies his or her devotion. And as the seeker grows up, gets aquatinted with the realities of the society starts questioning if God is all pervading why people suffer (a la Buddha journey). And when the young seeker sees how violence happens in the name of religions, he feels cheated. Whas all those stories of gods all sham? Why they are even temples? I won't go to temples from now on and become an atheist or an agnostic. Maybe the seeker even starts having sympathy towards other religion who he misinterprets as being othered rather than understanding that they are very different (and much more) rigidity structures as well. Only when he toils in life has seen the society enough, introspected, sought to understand other religions, debate his own past thoughts with his current does the seeker graduate to the next path. That is the path to understand that his mind was endowed with rationality to form an initial opinion, strengthen it, then distrust, tread a different though process, then again correct it and circle back to his initial opinion but with a much more well-formed mind. 

This journey perfectly encapsulates what Hindusim is. It's a graduation path from school to self-employment, it's an evolutionary journey, some might evolve less and some may evolve to ultimate state. Their path to the divine differ - via idol worship or self-meditation but trust in the divine and the intent to attain the divine remains the same.