Gandhi's Way To God

At work we were surveyed about our "summer reading lists." What will you be reading over the summer?
My answer was:

"No God But God" (about early Arabia and the beginnings of Islam), "Her Voice" (woman's role in each major religion), "The Gospel of Judas", "Twelve Modern Apostles" (a book with twelve testimonies from twelve different religious people explaining why they are the religion they are), and "Gandhi's Way to God"

 Stuff like that. Yes I know, it sounds like homework. And of course we can't forget that I'll be brushing up on Qu'ran and Dhammapada verses as well as keeping up with passages from the Bible and raiding the house's philosophy books. This is what I do for fun (seriously).

I'm particularly excited about "Gandhi's Way to God." His philosophies are incredible, and thus far I haven't found anything conflicting philosophies of the Bible. Or the Qu'ran or the Torah for that matter!
Gandhi was a Hindu, but at the same time he says firmly "God is one." Not quite the polytheist many of us would take him to be. Then in stark contrast Ghandi says he venerates YHWY, Jesus, Allah, Brahman, and others. So how is this not polytheistic?

To Gandhi these are One. Just different names for the same god. The one God who is, according to Gandhi (and Christians and Jews and Muslims and Sufis and Sikhs) omnipresent, omnipotent, gracious, personal, loving and fair.
In spanish the word for god is dios, does that make Dios somehow different for a spanish speaking Christian? Of course not. Gandhi feels if you broaden the scope here you will find the same truth, especially in relation to the three religions "of the Book," Judaism, Christianity and Islam which each base themselves on the stories of Abraham, Moses and David.

Last night I attended an Egyptian church service in the chapel at my school. This weekend a group of Arab Christians have gathered for a retreat on campus and I was lucky enough to run into them and speak with a few members who invited me along. I sat in the back with a young Egyptian woman named Christine who translated some of the Arabic service for me.


I was able to pick up a surprising amount. Things like "heart", "life", "patience", "love" and then of course "but", "and", "yes", "no", "he", "she", "you", "sweetheart", "beloved". (and the Egyptian colloquial terms no one else would use like "yanni" which means "you know?" but is used like "ummm.")

The part I recognized the most was this:

"Allahu Akbar"

 A saying associated with Islam for anyone with any familiarity. A saying associated with terrorists by those who "learned all they needed to know about Islam on September 11th." (the above quote has been seen on bumper stickers around the States and is absolutely repulsive and unacceptable, but that rant will be kept away from this blog)

So... what?! Christians say Allahu Akbar?
Well do Christians ever say "God is great" in english speaking churches? God is God is God. In english, his name is God. In arabic, his name is Allah. In spanish, Dios. In hindi, Brahman.
 Same guy? I think so.

Last night we greeted one another with the familiar phrases I learned from my Muslim arabic teacher "salam alaykum," peace be upon you and "ilhamdoullah," praise God.

I believe each form of worship is valid and valuable.
Whether you meditate, go to church every Sunday, sing, pray in an Ashram, face Mecca, volunteer and give back, tithe, take a vow of silence or chastity, dance, speak in tongues, show kindness to others in general... I think every expression of worship and faith that comes from a genuine place honnors God. And I think, or I would hope, that He enjoys the wide range too.

We should never feel threatened by another person's faith or expression of that faith. We only fear what we do not understand.
When I have a hard time showing love for others I try to remind myself that they too are part of God's creation. And he or she is as much a child of God as I am, no matter what they do or where they're from; if God can love me, God can definitely love them.


Pastor Melissa told me this little rhyme: "if God can love turkeys I can love you. Because I am a turkey and you are one too!"

So lets take some time to try to understand our neighbor and show love for everyone we meet. If you believe God loves you, you must know that God loves them as well


 On top of all that, I've found this idea very comforting in times of self doubt or feeling unimportant. Never forget that you are part of this beautiful creation and that someone made you for a specific reason.

This is my favorite quote (so far!) from Gandhi's book:

"We may not be God, but we are of God, even as a little drop of water is of the ocean." 

He then says if that drop of water was flung several miles away from the ocean it would be helpless. But if someone were to point out to it that it was a part of the ocean it would rejoice and dance in the thought of being a part of the ocean's might and majesty.

So REJOICE because you are part of an incredible creation! 

And LOVE those who are different from you because they are too!