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Questioner: Is not the worship of God true religion?

Master: First of all, let us find out what is not religion. Isn't that the right
approach? If we can understand what is not religion, then perhaps we shall begi
n to perceive something else. It is like cleaning a dirty window - one begins to
see through it very clearly. So let us see if we can understand and sweep out o
f our minds that which is not religion; don't let us say, "I will think about it
" and just play around with words. Perhaps you can do it, but most of the older
people are already caught; they are comfortably established in that which is not
religion and they do not want to be disturbed.
So, what is not religion? Have you ever thought about it? You have been told ove
r and over again what religion is supposed to be - belief in God and a dozen oth
er things - but nobody has asked you to find out what is not religion; and now y
ou and I are going to find out for ourselves.
In listening to me, or to anyone else, do not merely accept what is said, but li
sten to discern the truth of the matter. If once you perceive for yourself what
is not religion, then throughout your life no priest or book can deceive you, no
sense of fear will create an illusion which you may believe and follow. To find
out what is not religion you have to begin on the everyday level, and then you
can climb. To go far you must begin near, and the nearest step is the most impor
tant one. So what is not religion? Are ceremonies religion? Doing puja over and
over again - is that religion?
True education is to learn how to think, not what to think. If you know how to t
hink, if you really have that capacity, then you are a free human being - free o
f dogmas, superstitions ceremonies - and therefore you can find out what religio
n is.
Ceremonies are obviously not religion, because in performing ceremonies you are
merely repeating a formula which has been handed down to you. You may find a cer
tain pleasure in performing ceremonies, just as others do in smoking or drinking
; but is that religion? In performing ceremonies you are doing something about w
hich you know nothing. Your father and your grandfather do it, therefore you do
it, and if you don't they will scold you. That is not religion, is it?
And what is in a temple? A graven image fashioned by a human being according to
his own imagination. The image may be a symbol, but it is still only an image, i
t is not the real thing. A symbol, a word, is not the thing it represents. The w
ord `door' is not the door, is it? The word is not the thing. We go to the templ
e to worship - what? An image which is supposed to be a symbol; but the symbol i
s not the real thing. So why go to it? These are facts; I am not condemning; and
, since they are facts, why bother about who goes to the temple, whether it be t
he touchable or the untouchable, the brahman or the non-brahman? Who cares? You
see, the older people have made the symbol into a religion for which they are wi
lling to quarrel, fight, slaughter; but God is not there. God is never in a symb
ol. So the worship of a symbol or of an image is not religion. And is belief rel
igion? This is more complex. We began near, and now we are going a little bit fa
rther. Is belief religion? The Christians believe in one way, the Hindus in anot
her, the Moslems in another, the Buddhists in still another, and they all consid
er themselves very religious people; they all have their temples, gods, symbols,
beliefs. And is that religion? Is it religion when you believe in God, in Rama,
Sita, Ishwara, and all that kind of thing? How do you get such a belief? You be
lieve because your father and your grandfather believe; or having read what some
teacher like Shankara or Buddha is supposed to have said, you believe it and sa
y it is true. Most of you just believe what the Gita says, therefore you don't e
xamine it clearly and simply as you would any other book; you don't try to find
out what is true.

We have seen that ceremonies are not religion that going to a temple is not reli
gion, and that belief is not religion. Belief divides people. The Christians hav
e beliefs and so are divided both from those of other beliefs and among themselv
es; the Hindus are everlastingly full of enmity because they believe themselves
to be brahmans or non-brahmans, this or that. So belief brings enmity, division,
destruction, and that is obviously not religion.
Then what is religion? If you have wiped the window clean - which means that you
have actually stopped performing ceremonies, given up all beliefs, ceased to fo
llow any leader or guru - then your mind, like the window, is clean, polished, a
nd you can see out of it very clearly. When the mind is swept clean of image of
ritual, of belief, of symbol, of all words, mantrams and repetitions, and of all
fear, then what you see will be the real, the timeless, the everlasting, which
may be called God; but this requires enormous insight, understanding, patience,
and it is only for those who really inquire into what is religion and pursue it
day after day to the end. Only such people will know what is true religion. The
rest are merely mouthing words, and all their ornaments and bodily decorations,
their pujas and ringing of bells - all that is just superstition without any sig
nificance. It is only when the mind is in revolt against all so-called religion
that it finds the real.
~ Aum

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