What is religion?

That is the question. Many people have an answer for that. I myself have my own opinion. Last week at a Hindu program I attend a young man well versed in the Gita gave a mini-class on this exact question.He also attempted to talk about the Gita. Very young and ambitious equals missing the main target and partially hit two.

We ended up talking about Arjuna and not about what religion is, in my opinion. It could be also that my brain works on a completely different level than most people, at least those people in that room that night.

Religion is not about Arjuna, per se. It's about GOD. It's not in what you call GOD either. Krishna, Buddha, Lord, Jesus, Mother, Father, Allah, Spirit, Goddess, heck you can call God The Great and Powerful Spaghetti Monster. What matters is that you realize that in the end you search will bring you to the Supreme Being, the Cosmic being, the One and Only Supreme Personality of Godhead.

All religions have dogmas for you to follow. You should not follow them unless you know why. If your religion said to cut ties with your family, you better find out what benefit that is to your soul. Same if they tell you not to eat meat. What is the benefit? Will you get closer to God by disowning your Mother or Father, your Sisters ad Brothers? Will you soul awaken if your are prejudice to others? Will God disown you if you eat meat? My thought is, no, but I will not advance as far as I could in my spiritual quest if I do not follow the dogma. I also feel what is right and what is wrong. Drinking all night and having casual sex feels wrong. Wrong in the sense it seems more animalistic than animals. How can I get closer to God if we are so foggy with gin?
How can we feel cleansed with some strangers semen dancing around in my body?(The semen energy remains even if you use condoms, chew on that)
How can I get closer to God if I have filled myself up to the brim with Ego?

Ego, the true soul killer. It's what fuels you to sleep with someone casually. You have this false sense that this person finds you attractive (for the moment they do because they want what you have) and you get a high from that first. That is your ego. You later find pleasure physically, now you have drained all the soul into a person that is not caring or deserving of that energy. You have given your soul away for a night of pleasure with a stranger so you could build up your ego of, "I am hot." or "I am wanted."
You get a false sense of power, a momentary high until reality sets in and your ego feels low again and you need the pick-me-up high of someone telling your sweet words in your ears that turn your into that Ego Goddess and back into the sack you go. Ego is the real Satan.

Ego is powerful. It can make your think you are not cool unless your drink while out with friends. It makes you think you are less important than someone else. You base this on something you want that they have and feel bad you do not have it. Too skinny, too fat, small boobs, big boobs, straight hair, curly hair, fair skin, dark olive skin, etc....?
Think about it. You give into your ego and let go of God in the process.

You can follow dogma all day but will not get you closer to God until you drop the poisonous ego and see yourself as the soulful being you are. You cannot love God until you love yourself. You cannot love God until you can love others, even your enemies. Once you have stopped the monster of ego you can then begin real soulful work in this world of loving, accepting, and cleansing your soul for God. Drinking, un-abandoned sex, and self destructive qualities will be a thing of the past, you will not crave these. Then you have reached real religion. Every religion wants this from you. You don't see it because you are too busy being stuck in your ego world of "Me! I am the Supreme ALL Important!" Even if your feel low of yourself, you act in this way with your ego. Sympathy hounds. Sick, sick, sick, miserable, woeful, pitiful poor you. This encourages others to fawn all over you with get well cards and well wishes, your ego gets a high, so you get sicker to get more well wishing. It's a vicious cycle we humans play to get attention for our ego.

What we need to do is be kind to those that are in our presence. Send love to all, accept people as they are and move away from the being living in Ego Land. Drink the nectar of God, breathe in God's love, dance in God's ardor for you and bask in God's light. Look for God's attention. What you seek will not be found in a bottle of beer, or tube of lipstick, a pill, or in a new pair of designer shoes. You will still be, as John Lennon put it, "crippled inside."

Next time you go to church, look around. Look at all the miserable people all wrapped up in their Sunday best, make-up, hair just so, clean-shaven faces reeking of cologne. All aimed to impress you and not God. All aimed at filling up their weekly quota of Ego. Not filling themselves up with God. You cannot attain God by checking in once a week and saying, "Hey, I am still here."

How long would you keep a wife or husband if you only called home once a week?

Not to mention your hungry soul you deprive the rest of the time.
Does a child or pet live if you only feed it once a week?

Neither does the soul, neither will God be open to drop in visitors. He wants to see you are committed. God wants you to call home a few times a day, God wants you to feed your "child" many times a day.

So what is religion?

Drop the ego.
Let in God.
Work towards love, peace, and acceptance of others and yourself.
Be good to ALL, cause no harm, even to animals.
Make that weekly trip to church a time to share your deep love of God with everyone. Be the example of great it can be.

Also, don't forget, God wants you to feel joy!

Joy for God, joy for others, and joy in your own heart.

It does not matter what church you go to. If it feels right, it is right. That is where YOU are suppose to be. If others want in, let them, but don't go hounding people. Each person is on their own path. They will find their own home in due time. Over zealous pushy proselytizers push those teetering people further down the slope away from God. They fear your reasoning behind it and will not advance any further. Be kind. Be love. Be patient.

We will not all get it in this life time, but we will get it sometime.

Take care.