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DHARMA
The Secret of Religion
What does religion teach you? Does it show the right path to those who have gone astray? Does it give you the message of universal equality, fraternity and love? Does it exhort you to help and serve the poor and the suffering? Does it prompt you to quench the fire of hatred and animosity? If you know of any such religion, enshrine it in the temple of your heart. Adore it, worship it day and night. Such a universal religion alone can do some good to the world. If you have to lay down even your life for the preservation and propagation of such a religion, lay it down willingly and cheerfully.
Inner Awakening
107
The sweetness of sugar is within it; it does not come from outside. In the same way, the final truth is within you it does not come from outside. Therefore the seeds of good conduct and right living should sprout from within; they cannot be imported from outside.
Inner Religion
So long as religion remains a matter of inner consciousness and awakening. it remains immortal, all-embracing and living. But as soon as it comes out to depend upon outer paraphernalia such as sandal marks on the forehead, the holy thread, the beard or the lock, the rosary or the monasteries, temples and mosques, it begins to disintegrate and comes to die in course of time. If you want to preserve and keep alive any religion, let it remain an attribute of inner awakening; let it not depend upon external rituals.
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