A HINDU A MUSLIM AND A CHRISTIAN

A HINDU , A MUSLIM AND A CHRISTIAN

I was sitting in the Coffee shop at a Borders book store in downtown Washington DC when a middle aged man came up to me , asked my permission to sit at my table and introduced himself as a Pakistani, doing research at Georgetown university. Even as we exchanged pleasantries an elderly American joined us proclaiming himself to be an India lover. Soon we were talking like long lost friends when the conversation took a serious turn. The Pakistani said that he envied India’s progress and attributed his country’s lack of development to an absence of democracy.

The American interjected by saying that ‘ ‘jihad’ was what was holding Pakistan back. ‘ How can God ever command anyone to kill in His name? God is Love’ he said.

The Pakistani , at first rattled, gathered strength and admonished ‘ ‘jihadis’ for misusing religion and cleared the air by informing that less than 1 % of Muslims anywhere believe in such an ideology.

‘Hindu fundamentalism’ the American added was India’s bane though he was gracious enough to clarify that very few Hindus believed in such an ideology.

When I asked him what else he knew about Hinduism he quoted Pandit Nehru as having in turn quoted Gandhiji as saying “A man may not believe in God and can still call himself a Hindu. Hinduism is a relentless pursuit of truth.... Denial of God we have known, denial of truth we have not known’

I was impressed and asked him for more. He said that among the major religions Hinduism alone had no single holy book. no ‘church’ no one best way to salvation, no standard rituals and no one way of approaching the truth. Hence, he added, any Hindu can envision God in his own unique way. He got up and as a farewell he said something remarkable ‘ Ravi you are blessed to be born a Hindu’.

As for Christianity he felt that it was the ‘ cocksureness’ of the faith that the path to salvation has been found that he did not find appealing. Christ’s message of love and compassion was what he personally subscribed to.

I did not ask him what faith he subscribed to. That sounded too trivial a question.

As he gathered his bags and put on his overcoat he gave me his visiting card that gave his calling.

He was a pastor in a local church!

K.R.RAVI

USA