God, statues and religion

THE EDITOR: I’m responding to a letter published in your newspaper on May 7, 2003 where a resident of Port-of-Spain had the audacity to say that my religion, Hinduism, is “foolish to honour anything that was made by man”.

This resident also went on to say that they “pray that the eye of our understanding will be opened to the true and living God this day”. I’m fifteen years old and I was taught never to criticise another person’s religion because everyone has their way of worshipping God. But I ask, what is this person implying? That my religion worships stone? That our god isn’t real? Well, I’ll try to enlighten not only this resident but the public as well on why we worship this god which is made of stone as this person seems to put it. First of all, if anyone has ever been to a church they will see either a statue of the Lord Jesus or at least a statue of the divine Mother Mary.

Now I wonder, what are these statues made of and how were they made? Are they made of the pure blood of Jesus and did he send them down on Earth? I think not. They are made of the same material that Lord Hanuman, the same “stone-god” that this resident seems to dislike so much, is made out of. That’s right, stone. And the question of how it was made? I think it is fair to say that man made it. And isn’t it true that the Roman Catholics or Pentecostals honour this statue? So what is this resident trying to say? That the Roman Catholics and Pentecostals worship stone? There is only one statement in the published letter by the resident that I find is the truth. That is: “Man cannot crate anything greater than himself”. So why does the Hindu religion worship this god made of stone? We don’t worship the stone itself.

We worship the god that this stone represents. The Hindu scriptures say that God is everywhere and can take any form that his devotees want him to. Lord Hanuman is just one of the many forms that God can take. He can take the form of the Lord Jesus, Lord Brahman or Mother Saraswatie, another Hindu god. Surely if this person had at least done some research she wouldn’t have had a reason to lash out at the Hindu community the way she did. Everyone has their own way of worshipping God and I ask this person and the public to please respect everyone’s way of worship. Like I said before, I’m only fifteen years old but at least I have the knowledge to know that I should respect everyone’s religion. So as you can see Miss Beckles, Jesus is not the only way to go. Lord Brahman, Lord Hanuman, Lord Shiva and even the Almighty Allah is also the way to go. If you find the Lord that your religion worships, in Miss Beckles words, you’ll find the way the truth and the light.

NYLA  BARAN
Sangre Grande