Is there actually a difference.????

Is there actually a difference.????

20 December 2008: As the sound of the bus's engine roared with the click of the key, my journey to a place on which stands one of India's most visited temple began. About 296 kilometers from Mumbai, Shirdi is a place of worship which is blessed with a divine force that pulls you towards itself and at the same time provides peace to your mind and soul.

For me the force, the thought that made me undertake this journey was to pray and beg for the only dream I saw, the only wish whose fulfillment was my hearts desire.
However it not only gave me a chance to request for my dream to come true but also made me realize, made me understand that there actually isn't any difference.

At 8.30 am after ensuring the set standards of shuddhi were met I started walking towards the place which I felt possessed a culture different from where I came from, but I realized I was wrong. On entering the lane I saw a long queue of devotees awaiting their chance to set their eyes on the few preserved belongings of Shri Sai Baba at the Dwarka Mai.
The dedication, the feelings, the respect, the tears, the faith, the emotions were same as that of the devotees standing in a queue at the Ajmer Shareef Dargah, The Mount Mary's Church.

Standing amongst them while awaiting my turn to seek blessings of the saint who chanted "Sab ka maalik ek hai" I realized that all of us standing in the queue weren't any different, though from different origins, we had the same respect, similar prayers to offer though the way of offering them just differed.

While standing for the noon aarti, it struck me that whether you offer your prayers through joint palms or with folded hands or bowed heads, whether you get prasad or nyaaz or a comunin at the end of your worship, the faith that enables your heart to converse to the force you consider divine is the same-the tears that roll down the eyes while making a prayer, the honesty with which you chant religious couplets or prayers is the same.

Aarti equals Namaaz equals a Mass at church. From a naked eyes view it is all the same, then with blinds on our eyes, with preconceived notions why do we say they are different. Why create a difference which would be a cause for so much hatred and discontent among people, why create a difference which would deprive a person of the love of his life, indirectly depriving him of his life… why create the difference?

This man-made difference can be eliminated from its roots, the world would be a happier place, and Love would be the only religion, if we with open minds ask our self only one question "is there actually a difference?"

The answer to it would be no! there isn't any difference.