Are all religions equal?
Question. I have been pondering the unity of religions or the universality of religions, specifically how the essence is the same although the external aspects may differ. Can you shed some light on this?
Answer by Romapada Swami: The principles of any bona fide religion would be based on certain universal regulative principles primary of which are austerity, cleanliness, mercy and truthfulness and not on any man made dogmas. By adopting such principles under the expert guidance of a fully realized soul, the conditioned Jiva-soul reawakens to his original identity as a loving servant of God. Any authorized process which brings the soul to this end is a bona fide religion. The details, traditions, costume or practices may differ but the essential principles must be the same.
Further, these principles can be adopted at various levels of realization just as mathematics can be understood at various levels from primary school to Ph.D. depending on the capability and previous training of the student in the subject. Similarly, the principles of religion are presented to various people in progressive stages according to their ability to accept and comprehend them by the prophets who are compassionate representatives of God, who fully understand the mentalities and spiritual needs of the people whom they address.
Srila Prabhupada answered this question as follows: dharma tu saksat bhagavat pranitam. Religion means what is given, enunciated by God. Now, we find many religious traditions given by so-called prophets. And, we understand from the Bhagavad Gita that religions that are materially derived as expressed through the modes of goodness, passion and ignorance.
The Vedas are compiled by Vyasadeva, an empowered incarnation of God, and also by God Himself in the case of the Bhagavad Gita.
In the Srimad Bhagavatam, the question is raised and answered, What is the best religion or dharma? The answer, sa vai pumsam paro dharma…is given. It is the standard of what true religion is. Anything that falls short is not sanatan-dharma or spiritual religion, but rather theologic materialism of different sorts. Pusta Krishna das