One God Many Names: We are Children of One God

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In writing this book, I have primarily relied on the following texts:

Srimad Bhagavad Gita by Shri. Jayadayal Goyandaka and published by Gita Press, Ghorakpur, India, containing the verses in Sanskrit and translation and commentary in English.

Eight Upanishads in two volumes in Sanskrit translated in English with commentary by SwamiGambhirananda and published by Swami Muktidananda, Advaita Ashrama, Champawat, Uttarakand, India.

The Holy Bible, New Testament, English Standard Version, by Crosby, Wheaton, Illinois, USA. The Quran, translated by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan and Ms. Farida Khanam of CPS International, published by Goodword Books.

I have given due credit to all the blogs, websites, published articles, the Encyclopaedia Britannica, Wikipedia, and religious texts I accessed for my research and to identify similarities in core philosophy in these religions backed by references to the respective scriptures and their verses and authorised commentaries.

Readers may ask why only these three religions have been selected for the study. The reason is while conflicts between Christianity and Islam have been happening from the time of the Crusades, the conflicts involving Hinduism are primarily with these two.

The author is a postgraduate in science and a diploma holder in Business Management and spent his career in marketing and distribution of chemical fertilisers. He was closely associated with the State and Central Governments of India and has travelled widely in India and abroad. Hailing from a middle-class Hindu family steeped in religiosity and spirituality, he studied after retirement the Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishads, the Holy Bible, and the Holy Quran, and the commentaries by theologians and scholars. He found the conflicts and riots in the name of religion, meaningless and futile and came out with this book One God Many Names to drive home the truth that God is One, and we are all children of One God.

He is 79 years old and lives in Bengaluru with his wife and son.

In venturing to write this book, as a first step, I tried to get to the root of the meaning of religion. I referred to the writings of various religious scholars on this subject. I came to the following conclusions:

Religion is personal, turned traditional.

. What started as spiritual teachings from gurus and prophets as a god-fearing way of life, religion converted slowly into institutionalised attitudes, beliefs, and practices. It also became the basis of service and worship of 'one's own god."

Thus religion came to be based on a scripture given by God or His chosen prophets. Rituals of worship were defined. Even where one can pray to God (a home, temple, church, mosque, etc.) was decided upon.

On the other hand, spirituality is defined differently, even though religion and spirituality have common features. It is basically understanding the self and self-realisation: Who am I? Why am I born in this world, and for what purpose? It is soul-based. It is an experience of the soul's association with the Supreme Personality.

Religious scriptures combine both religion and spirituality. Prophets appeared on this earth and presented the concepts to mankind and they became the 'Books.' The 'Books' came to dominate men.

It led to conflicts.

Men started claiming that their God is the only God and their religion is the "true religion". Followers of other religions should give up their religion and convert to the "true religion". This led to religious wars. Even men belonging to the same religion started fighting among themselves that only their interpretation of the scripture is the correct one.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages