The first, religion which is known to us as certain dogmas, laws, or teachings. And when we think and see the condition of the world, we see that the law is now given by the nation. Every nation now is responsible for the order and peace of the people.
Besides this, the second aspect of religion is the church and the form of the service. In this there are differences, and there will always be differences; it is a matter of temperament, it is a matter of tendency, and it also depends upon the customs and beliefs of the people who have inherited that tendency from their ancestors. Some have in their house of prayer different forms and different ceremonies which help them to feel elevated; the others have a simple service. The one appeals to the former and the other appeals to the latter.

No doubt the world is evolving to uniformity, and as now we see no very great difference between the forms, the form of everything-of different customs of greeting, of dressing, and many other things--so people are coming to a certain uniformity. At the same time, when we look at the subject from a different point of view, we shall find that uniformity very often takes away the beauty of life. In the countries so civilized and advanced, where the architecture and houses are all on the same plan, where all are dressed in the same way, people become so tired that they like to go to a different country and see houses distinct and different one from the other, and also the people.

For instance, the method of writing music and the form of notation for the whole Western world is the same, but the distinction between the music of the French, Italians, Germans, Russians, gives a stimulus to the lover of music. And so it is in the distinctions of the forms. To want to make all people live alike and act all alike means to turn all people into the same form and same face, and what would happen then? The world would become very uninteresting. It is like tuning all the keys of the piano to the same note. It is not necessary to change the notes of the piano. What is necessary is to know the way of harmony, to know how to create harmony between the different notes.
The third aspect of religion is the religious ideal, the Lord and Master of religion, the Lord and Master that a soul has esteemed as the ideal. It is something which cannot be discussed, something which cannot be argued upon. The less spoken about it, the better it is. It is the outcome of the devotion of a sincere heart which gives birth to that ideal which is too sacred to mention, an ideal which cannot be compared, an ideal which cannot be explained. And when the followers of diverse religions come to this question and dispute over their ideals, the sacred ideals of which they have only some tradition--which they have not known, but of which they have only had a tradition--and wish to prove one better than the other, they merely lose time and they destroy that sacred sentiment which can only be preserved in the heart.

The religious ideal is the medium by which one rises towards perfection. Whatever name a person gives to his ideal, that name is for him, and that name is most sacred for him. But that does not mean that that name limits that ideal. There is one ideal, the divine ideal. Call Him Christ, and let the same Christ be known by different names, given to Him by various communities.

For instance, a person who has a great devotion, a great love and attachment for his friend, is speaking about friendship in high words, and he is saying what a sacred thing it is to become friends; but then there is another one who says: "Oh, I know your friend, what he is; he is no better than anybody else."

The answer to this idea is given by Majnun, in the story told by the ancients, where someone said to Majnun, "Leila, your beloved, is not so beautiful as you think." He said, "My Leila must be seen with my eyes. If you wish to see how beautiful Leila is, you must borrow my eyes." Therefore, if you wish to regard the object of devotion of whatever faith, of whatever community, of whatever people, you will have to borrow their eyes, you will have to borrow their heart. There is no use in disputing over the points of history, over each tradition in history; they are often made by prejudice. Devotion is a matter of heart, and is made by the devotee.
The fourth aspect of religion is the idea of God. There will always be fights and discussions about it; one says, "The God of our family is one, and the God of your family is another." There have always been fights. In the old times there was a dispute between the people saying that the God of Beni Israel was a special God; and so every community and every Church made its God a special God. If there is a special God, it is not only a special God of a community, but a God of every individual. For man has to make his own God before he realizes the real God. But that God which man makes within himself becomes in the end the door by which he enters that shrine of his innermost being, the real God, Who is in the heart of man. And then one begins to realize that God is not a God of a certain community or people, but that God is the God of the whole Being.
And then we come to another aspect of religion, which is not necessarily the law or the ceremony or the divine ideal or God, but which is apart from all these four. That is, something living in the soul, in the mind, and in the heart of man, the absence of which keeps man as dead, and the presence of which gives him life. If there is any religion, it is that particular sense. And what is that sense? The Hindus have called it, in the Sanskrit language, Dharma, which, in the ordinary meaning of the word, is duty. But it is something much greater than what we know in our everyday life as duty. I do not call it duty, but life itself. When a person is thoughtful, when a person is considerate, when a person feels the obligations that he has towards his fellow man, towards his friend, towards his father or mother, or in whatever relation he stands to man, it is something living, it is something like water, which gives the sense of the living soul; the soul is not dead.

It is this living soul which really makes a person alive. And the person who is not conscious of this, this tenderness, this sacredness of life, he lives, but the soul is in the grave. You do not need to ask that man what is his religion, what is his belief, for he is living it; life itself is his religion, and this is the true religion. The man conscious of honor, the man who has the sense of shame, who has the feeling of sincerity, whose sympathy, whose devotion is alive, that man is living, that man is religious.

It is this religion which has been the religion of the past and which will be the religion of the future. And religion, if ever it was taught by Christ or any other great ones, was to awaken in man that sense which is awakened when this religion is living.

lt does not matter into which house you go and pray, for every moment of your life then is religion. Then it is not a religion in which you believe, but it is a religion which you live.