Learning Religion from Modern teachers

 Religion has always been a topic for discussion and debate and when I picked up the Parsi Junction last week I came across an advertorial for a Structured Religion course on Zoroastrianism by Er. Ramiyar Karanjia I just spontaneously decided to enrol for the same. 

The factors which prompted this decision are multiple and I intend listing them out in general without any particular order of greater or lesser importance. 

• The word structured Religion made me think positively because mere general talks are ephemeral and will lead to general well being without change. 
• The credibility of Er Ramiyar Karanjia, his story of a simple student from Baroda who seems to have worked hard and taught himself to understand and interpret an od religion of which not much is known. 
• I have heard that Zoroastrian religion has lot of scientific and environmental connotations which I would like to understand and learn. 
• Power of chanting Manthravani which I am oblivious to, I hope to discover the benefits of that. 
• A religion and it's followers are known by certain ethos and therefore create an image of a community. I feel that the reputation of honesty, obsessive cleanliness and hygiene and an ability to laugh at oneself must have come from religion. I want evidence that religion was the reason for this.
• One factor was that Er. Ramiyar Karanjia is young and intellectual and more likely to be a teacher open to accepting questions contributed to my joining the class. 

My take on the word Structured is that it connotes an organized body of work or scriptures which create a form of belief system which in turn binds people to a course of action. I am a firm believer in organized study of a topic and going to first principles is important. 

The most important thing about  joining a class is to surrender oneself to a teacher and be ready to learn, but one must not be a blind bhakta and accept everything without questioning. 

Having been a seeker after truth and a person who is ready to keep the windows of knowledge open, I have done a 3 year course in Vedanta based on Hindu scriptures.Having been nurtured on a diet of reasoning my main objection to teachers of as religion is arrogance of exclusivity and snobbishness which can mar the pursuit of knowledge. The community is ageing and Er Ramiyar Karanjia faces a challenge to keep his classes interesting and relevant without dumbing down the content too much. 

I attended the first class and my impressions are favourable except I fail to understand how much complete study is possible in 12 classes. The students in the class looked like veterans already well versed in scriptures and having already completed the classes, I felt a little inadequate and out of depth. So I feel a bit of Self study will be needed. 

As many of my blog readers know I am a firm believer in the existence of an entity we may call God which is within us and not outside of us. The concept of our existence in the form of the trinity of creation, preservation destruction gives man a story to help him realise that our life is not a mere mundane existence where we live to satisfy the senses eat, drink, work sleep and follow a routine life. We are not immune to sorrow and we run after happiness. The world is full of distractions and sensual objects which create likes and dislikes and in turn attractions and repulsions. Soon we realize that even the sweetest mangoes which we love excessive consumption of the same, will make us dislike them. The bitterest of medicines will taste ok if we take them to become better. So the paradox of things which give passing pleasure like over sleeping, junk food, binge watching and loud music will lead to misery in the long run whereas the temporary pain of getting up early to meditate, eating healthy natural food, pursuit of knowledge and calming sounds will lead to happiness in the long run. I am hopeful that the Structured Religion course which to me at present sounds boring unattractive and an old persons club will transform into something beautiful. The key for me to learn is surrender to the teacher with faith and without being judgemental. The essential unity of religion will help me get to the essence of the religion into which I was born. 

In conclusion, two things are important we need to realise that man is not a body in search of spirituality but man is essentially spiritual person having a body experience which is so strong that he has forgotten his true Self. Finally, since every person is unique religion is a very personal thing and there are as many religions as there are persons and finally Truth is God is to me the best definition of religion structured or otherwise. 

Vispi Jokhi