– True religion is eternal; it cannot be destroyed
Image above: The Blue Mosque, Istanbul, not to be confused with the Hagia Sophia Church, image below.
I had a letter recently from some brothers and sisters in Turkey. They told me that they had been invited to a meal with some friends and that among the guests was an old and very learned Turkish scholar who told them, ‘Islam is a marvellous religion and we are extremely fortunate to be Muslims, but how much better it would be if there were one universal religion.’ Obviously this learned old man realized that Islam was not the one universal religion, and he is certainly not alone in this. There must be many people throughout the world who are tuned in to the same idea and who realize that it is no longer enough to have so many different religions, each of which is suited to only one race, nation or tribe; that it is time we found a universal religion.

Perhaps you have the impression that I want to destroy religion. No – although if that were my intention I could safely leave it to others, for plenty of people have been trying to do this for centuries – true religion is eternal; it cannot be destroyed. Even though many holy books contain elements that are no longer appropriate for our era, they still contain thousands of essential truths that will endure for all eternity. No one can destroy these, for all those great beings, all those prophets who were sent to bring these truths into the world were inspired, guided and inhabited by the Lord. It was only later, after they had left this world, that certain distortions developed; either because they had not had time to explain everything fully or because others had misunderstood them. The further you advance, the more clearly you will see that if one of these really was the universal religion, mankind would be better off than it is today.

Istanbul2

Hagia Sophia Church, Istanbul

Anyone who wants to find a truly universal religion can do so. It has existed from all eternity. Men have still not recognized it, but it has always been there. Thousands of religions have come and gone in the world—it would be impossible to count them all—and they have all disintegrated and disappeared in the end. But there is one true religion and that religion will never disappear. The new religion must embrace the whole universe. It should be like the sun which illuminates and warms all creatures, all plants and animals; whereas existing religions light and warm just a few million people in the world. And who can tell just how much light and warmth those millions actually get from it, or how many millions more have never even heard of it and who are better off without it!

But now the Aquarian age is coming and bringing the universal religion into the world. Aquarius is the water, the stream of life and love from which all creatures drink, and it brings with it the new religion. Any religion that is incapable of giving mankind this water is not universal. Water is universal; there is not a single creature that does not need water. Water is universal just as air is universal; just as light is universal.

The new religion will be founded on universal elements capable of satisfying the hunger and thirst of all human beings. At the moment we still see Christians becoming Buddhists, Hindus or Muslims; Jews, Hindus and Muslims becoming Christians, and so on. This means that there is no one religion that is universal. When the universal religion comes no one will feel the need to wander in search of something else; all will belong to the one religion.

To be continued…
Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
Complete Works Vol. 26, A New Dawn, Chapter 2

Main image, The Blue Mosque, Istanbul