Elephant Email

In today’s world, religion often stirs up controversy and animosity. However, for me, it has become an endless quest for meaning and truth. Growing up in a Hindu family in Old Delhi, I was exposed to various religions and understood that all religions aim to reach the same goal, but through different paths. As I grew older and studied engineering, I became more analytical and began to feel cognitive dissonance with my beliefs.

However, I still found value in religion, realizing that it is a never-ending quest for meaning and truth. Through my study at Harvard’s Advanced Leadership Initiative program, I learned about other faiths and gained a deeper understanding of my own faith.

I discovered that much of what I believed in as literal truth from the Hindu scriptures was actually best interpreted metaphorically. I found that reading other religions helped me become a better Hindu, and I came to realize that religions are part of a shared human meaning-making project that has been ongoing for our entire history as a species.

So, it became my quest to understand religion at a deeper level. And it was fascinating to see how much is common in them while they are one of the leading causes of division in our times. I believe that only through the understanding of these commonalities that we can see past these divisions. By doing so, we can all become more authentically religious and show true and unconditional love towards every “other.”