The Problem with Religions and Its Cure

The following is a trascript of His Holiness Younus AlGohar's speech. His Holiness is the Official Representative of Lord Ra Riaz Gohar Shahi.

We are a spiritual organisation and we represent His Divine Grace Lord Ra Riaz Gohar Shahi. We believe the fact that His Divine Grace Lord Ra Riaz Gohar Shahi is the Awaited One who has been awaited for centuries by all religions.

Sanatan Dharma (Hinduism) knows of the personality of the Awaited One as Kalki Avatar. According to the Muslim faith, they also await a mighty personality who will bring about Spiritual Revolution and will enlighten hearts. They title they have for the Awaited One is Imam Mehdi. Jews await this personality as Messiah. Basically, the Awaited One is [here] to unite hearts of humanity, enlighten their hearts, awaken their souls, reconnect them to God and make them an ideal human being on Earth.

There is a problem with every religion. There are at least two dimensions of every religion. Theouter aspect of the religion includes your servitude to God and your worship. It also includes your purified social behaviour: which is how to live your life peacefully, making sure that you do not deprive anybody of their rights or belongings while you spend your time on Earth; you want to make sure that you do not hurt anybody by your hands or tongue. But this outer aspect of the religion is obtained only when you are in possession of the inner dimension of the religion.

Those who practise a religion without being in possession of connection with God oftentimes end up becoming religious fanatics, extremists and terrorists.

For example, the Buddhist religion is very peaceful and calm - ‘Buddha’ itself means ‘Enlightenment.’ When they failed to enlighten themselves, they also became terrorists. What they are doing in Burma and what they have been doing in Sri Lanka is so shameful; they have lost their dignity. At one time, Buddhism was regarded as a peaceful religion and everybody respected them. But they too have become extremists.

Then we have Hinduism. Hindus who are not aware of spiritual knowledge and who do not practise spirituality also become extremists, fanatics and terrorists. For example, Gandhi Jee was a wonderful man. He did not disrespect any religion. He used to study the Bhagvad Gita, and at the same time, he would study the Holy Quran. He would follow both of the books. He raised his voice against tyranny and oppression. His political struggle and the silent revolution that he brought about in India were not just aimed at flourishing the Hindu community alone; he included Muslims as well. He fought for Muslims and Hindus both.

I would like to salute Gandhi Jee for his purified thinking and enlightened understanding of life. I pay tribute to the way he lived his life. He was an honest man who loved and respected humanity.

But then we have Hindu organisations like RRS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) who only spread mischief. The current Prime Minister of India is the butcher who instigated a massacre of innocent Muslims in the state of Gujrat - and, again, he wants to stir up the regional peace. This is because they do not know what spirituality is. They do not know why they need to follow a religion.

Why Religions Need Spirituality 

If you do not know why you are going to see a doctor, then you might as well stay home! This is the tragedy today among all religious people. They do not know why they follow their religion and what they are aiming at. They do not know what they want to achieve by practising a religion.

There is no religion on Earth which will allow its followers to insult other religions, deprive people of other religions of the principle rights of life, persecute somebody because of his belief system, discriminate, or to hate anybody to an extent that it becomes almost impossible for you to tolerate their existence. You make up a society in which you do not coexist with members of other religions - that is a problem today. All these problems are because of the non-availability of spiritual knowledge and grace.

Without spirituality, religion is like a man without his soul; like a car without an engine; like a sky without the Sun.

Now, all these religions have become monsters. Why? Because the inner aspect in every religion is either put aside, ignored or rejected. In every religion there is a group of people who fanatically worship and they don’t seem to understand their religion.

If you hit a child and you expect the child’s mother to appreciate it, you live in fool’s paradise. If you kill human beings and you are aiming at loving God, you live in fool’s paradise.

How can you love God and hate human beings? You claim you love God, who you have not seen, but you hate the human beings you see every day. Your love for God is not practical; it is a story created under the shadow of mythology. I do not see why a person will truly love God and truly hate his creation. It is impossible for a man to love God and hate his creation.

The Awaited One Lord Ra Riaz Gohar Shahi has come not invent another set of beliefs, but to revive spirituality in every religion!

For example, there are many wives and husbands but they are all fighting. Then, all of the sudden, a young, handsome man arrives at the scene and tells them, ‘This is how you love your husband,’ and ‘This is how you love your wife.’ If somebody were to suggest that the man was flirting with the wives, the man would reply, ‘I want to teach them how to love their husbands and I want to teach the husbands how to love their wives. I want to teach them to live in peace and harmony.’

It is very tragic and ironic that people think they will say they want to love somebody and they will just love. People do not know what the substance of love is. People do not know what the procedure is by which you will be able to learn to love human beings and love God.

Religions have a set of beliefs in which there are many dos and don’ts. But the problem is, you do not know why you have to do certain things and why certain things have been declared prohibited. But spirituality has answers for everything.

The Sources of Love and Hatred in You

In order to hate anybody, you do not have to go to school, but in order to love them you need help. You need to learn to love. For a period of time, I did think it was tragic and it was beyond the grasp of my brain to comprehend why one doesn’t have to learn to hate when he has to learn to love. I was not able to comprehend the Secretive Codes of God. But then when I met His Divine Grace Lord Ra Riaz Gohar Shahi, I was able to understand.

The Lord said, ‘There is an evil soul in everybody. That evil soul rests in your stomach. It is known as the Nafs (Self/Ego). Its Guru, the Shaitan (Devil) is always in his surroundings. That Nafs teaches you to hate people. Whenever the Nafs is incompetent, he calls upon his Guru, the Shaitan, who comes and helps him.’ 

The Guru that teaches you hatred is inside you. But you will have to look for the Guru who will teach you to love. He is not inside you; you will have to bring him in.

People don’t know [about this]! They know that they hate without going to school. They don’t have to learn to hate anybody; it is like an inborn ability that you begin to hate people without much ado. But they don’t know why. They do not know if they must learn to love. They do not know, because the knowledge which will make a man a human being has been kept hidden.

If you think reading the Bible, Quran and Bhagvad Gita will make you a good human being, then all these religious people are reading their holy scriptures - yet they are cutting throats. It is not this Bible [in the book form] which will make men good human beings. It is the secretive spiritual knowledge which will enlighten, awaken and teach your soul love. It is the secretive spiritual knowledge which will deter your Nafs from hatred.

The most these people can do is to take preventive measures and restrict themselves from doing certain things. When you prevent yourself from doing wrong, the desire stays there inside you, it doesn’t diminish. It accumulates inside you. You stop yourself from doing things that you desire to do; you restrict yourself; but then what happens? Sometimes, you feel overwhelmed [by the] rapturous desires of doing something - carnal desires - and you slip off the track.

When you are overwhelmed by those rapturous desires, you feel compelled to sway yourself with the flow of the sins. So these preventive measures can help a man to a certain degree, however spiritual knowledge is needed.

Without spiritual knowledge, you can prevent yourself for a certain period of time, but one day when the desire is accumulated, it reaches its peak and you feel overwhelmed by it. The cure is not available. It is only available in spirituality because spirituality will enlighten your heart, enlighten and awaken your souls and fix the evil soul that rest in your stomach.

His Divine Grace Lord Ra Riaz Gohar Shahi does not propagate any particular religion. The Awaited One is here to help humanity: to help everybody become a good human being and help everybody connect themselves with God.

I don’t call myself a Muslim and I don’t call myself a Hindu either. But I love all: whoever wants to love God, whoever wants to become purified, whoever wants peace and love. Our message and our help do not have boundaries.

This message is for everybody whether you believe in a religion or you don’t believe in any religion. The message of HDG is love, love and love. If you want to do extra, then love, love and love.

Once, a white man from Manchester came to see His Divine Grace Lord Ra Riaz Gohar Shahi. He kept looking at the comely face of the Lord without a blink of the eye. He looked continuously for 5-10 minutes. Then he said, ‘I want to know. Who are you?’

Instantly HDG replied, ‘I am all Love, from head to toe.’

Love which will not turn into anything else: unconditional love. To be honest with you, if you will ever see unconditional love, you will see it in HDG Gohar Shahi; nowhere else.

The Difference Between the Religion of God and Islam

The following is a transcript of His Holiness Younus AlGohar's speech. 

What is Islam and what is the Religion of God? I would also like to discuss today what religions which were established by messengers sent by God are still valid. From Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism or whatever religions there are - what religions are still valid and can legitimately be serving humanity and connecting them to God?

Number 1 - it is not any religion that connects you to God; it is the messenger or appointed, anointed spiritual guide in that religion which are delegated by God to render spiritual techniques, spiritual power, the production of energy and how to embark upon spiritual journey. When you are out of contact with these messengers and spiritual guides, then even if the religion is valid, you do not find connection to God. However, today, in the trouble-stricken society, in a society where mischief is vividly visible and observation of religious practice is not seen. 

In this society today where there are different people who come from different religions and groups of faith, you see them carrying out rituals, they are engaged in all sorts of worship and practice of the religion; however, these religious people, in their own personal capacity, appear to be manimals. A manimal is a man who looks like a man but behaves like an animal. 

It is very unfortunate that lessons on religions have been given to people by wrong teachers, by wrong clerics, by wrong seminaries, by wrong religious colleges. You needed somebody who was discerning and who had a profound insight into the outer form of the religion and into the inner form of the religion. The moment you were deprived from the auspicious company and association of such spiritual dignitaries, you got lost. 

Religion is not about carrying out different forms of worship, and like a parrot, reciting the Holy Scriptures. A religion socially teaches you to become a good human being, spiritually it connects you to God and economically it fills your heart with justice. There are so many things a religion can offer to a devout practitioner of that religion. 

If a man is not socially disciplined and he deprives others from their fundamental rights, that person can never be connected to God spiritually. 

When you are ill - for example, if you have the flu - you have so many complaints about your health, about your feelings, about your ability to perform your day-to-day routine. When you have the flu, you are coughing, you have a blocked nose, you have feverish conditions, you run down on energy, the entire body is aching badly; but the moment you take the first dose [of medicine], you start to feel better. 

In a similar way, a religion will definitely turn you into a good man; if a religion doesn't turn you into a good man, then either you cannot be a good man or the religion is invalid.

If you go to mosques, temples, synagogues and churches, you recite the Bible, the Quran, the Talmud, the Torah, Bhagvad Gita, and Guru Granth but still your brain is messed up, your character is screwed up, you are doing every bad thing of the book - and you still think you are a religious man? You know what God said? 'If your heart does not remember God, then in the eyes of God, there is no difference between you and an animal on four legs.' What does it mean? When your heart is not engaged in the remembrance of God, you have animal instincts; you behave like an animal, you have no respect for humanity. You have no respect for your mother, for your father, for your sisters, for your brothers or for your fellowmen and we can see that. Today we see every single Muslim is blamed to be a terrorist - it is not just Islam; it has happened to every religion.

When spiritual guides were discontinued in some religions, people were unable to connect to God and as a result of which, they were disconnected to God. Their practice of the religion filled their hearts with hatred, arrogance, jealousy and malice - either they are Christians, Hindus, Jews or Muslims. 

Muslims are not the only nation which has slipped into the lap of terrorism today. If you go back into history, you will see Hindus were extremists. As we see in Northern Ireland, there have been groups that are planting bombs. A few days ago, we saw Jerry Adams was arrested for some crime. Jerry Adams is from the IRA (Irish Republican Army). They [extremists in Ireland] were Protestants, they were against Catholics; they had so much hatred in their hearts that they couldn't bear the presence of Catholics. 

Catholics still have some spirituality. For example, a previous pope, John Paul II, he was a spiritual man. He was enlightened. The one who just retired, Pope Benedict XVI, he was also a good man. I read his book and his understanding about religions is remarkable; he carries an MFI attitude, an MFI understanding. 

You see, those who do not have respect for their prophets, for their messengers, they are always extremists. Wahhabis in Islam: they do not respect the Prophet. Because they don't respect the Prophet, their hearts are harder than stones. Wahhabis in Islam, they don't like anybody praising Mohammad; in a similar way, Protestants do not like anybody praising Jesus Christ. Wahhabis say, 'An image is haram (prohibited),' Protestants say the same. 

Gandhi Jee was a wonderful man and he respected all religions. From time to time, he used to study the Quran. Because of his efforts with Mohammad Ali Jinnah - the non-violent movement that he carried out - the British had to pull up from India. He didn't hate anybody. When Gandhi Jee said, 'Muslims who are migrating from India to Pakistan should not be killed, they should not be disgraced, they should not be disrespected,' Hindus turned against Gandhi Jee. One of the Hindu extremists killed Gandhi Jee. Even today there are fractions in Hinduism. You can clearly see them: they are being very, very racist, like the party BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) - they are Hindu extremists. And Narendra Modi was an activist in RRS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) initially. 

So, why every religion is stained with hatred, extremism and fanaticism? Do you know what fanaticism is? Fanaticism is when you lose sanity of your mind and you lose rationalism. For example, if one of the priests said, 'Go, rape that girl. That girl is Kafir (infidel),' you do not rationalise this, you blindfoldedly follow the instructions and do it. This is fanaticism; when you do not use common sense, when you do not use your brain. When you do not ask yourself, 'This thing is really bad. Why would God want me to do this bad thing?' [It is] when you don't use your brain, when you don't rationalise, when you have lost the sanity of your mind when you only follow the [orders] of your extremist bosses, this is fanaticism. In fanaticism, you are brainwashed. You are not allowed to make decisions; you do as you are told to do. 

It is very unfortunate that today, it is not extremism in Islam, Hinduism or anywhere else; it is fanaticism. Extremism is lower than fanaticism, but people have gone far beyond extremism.

What is the difference between the religion of God and Islam? I am going to tell you, in the light of the Holy Quran, if any religion today exists and is legitimately allowed by God to connect people to God. 

Quran:

يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ مَن يَرْتَدَّ مِنكُمْ عَن دِينِهِۦ فَسَوْفَ يَأْتِى ٱللَّهُ بِقَوْمٍۢ يُحِبُّهُمْ وَيُحِبُّونَهُۥٓ أَذِلَّةٍ عَلَى ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ أَعِزَّةٍ عَلَى ٱلْكَٰفِرِينَ يُجَٰهِدُونَ فِى سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ وَلَا يَخَافُونَ لَوْمَةَ لَآئِمٍۢ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ فَضْلُ ٱللَّهِ يُؤْتِيهِ مَن يَشَآءُ ۚ وَٱللَّهُ وَٰسِعٌ عَلِيمٌ

[5:54]

Is it addressed to one religion? Like, 'When some people from among you will renegade from the religion, then God will bring a kind of people'? Or is it, 'O' those who believe, when people will renegade from their respective religions, then God will bring a nation'?

For example, there are 11 players in a cricket team, right? If the middle order is not performing well or the openers are not performing well, what will be said? 'I will replace the openers.' Have you ever hear, 'Oh, the openers are not performing well, so I will replace the entire team'? No. 

I say, if somebody is becoming Murtid (Apostates) and God will bring another nation - there have been so many incidents after Islam was established by the Prophet. Even at the time of Prophet Mohammad, so many people became Murtid, but God didn't bring a nation. Whoever became Murtid, he was killed. Even in that era, people became Murtid but that nation didn't come. So what is it? 

The Quran says that when people in different religions have left their religions, then God will bring forth a particular nation of people - and what will they do? 'They will love God and God will love them.' 

The gist of every religion was love; when they left their religion, they didn't acquire God's love. Now, God will introduce, God will bring forth a nation and that nation will love God. Those people will love God and God will love them. God is not mentioning the religion of these people. God didn't mention any religion in respect of this nation.