Beyond Religion by Swami Rama

I do not believe in any religion, for they seem too petty, bound with blind regulations of no essential observance. No religion shows the path of truth, the path of freedom. They create fear that invites danger. Thus liberation remains an unrealized dream. What good are these blind injunctions and laws enveloped by fears, selfishness, egotism, pride, and prejudices? Why this multiplicity of shrines, which dissipates the single-pointedness of humanity and robs its chastity, purity, and divine love?

There is something beyond religion. Religion is an act that is man’s relationship with God. It is essential in the preliminary stage, but surely does not allow one to be one with the whole. God’s existence in reality does not depend on our proofs. There is something untidy in the thinking of theologians, for they have the curious notion that God is a kind of hypothesis that can be analyzed and discussed. Everywhere in the realm of religion I encountered locked doors. If ever a door should chance to open, I was disappointed by what lay behind it. Religion is man-made, and only a preparation for attaining the Divine.