By: BK Usha
Source: The Daily Guardian https://epaper.thedailyguardian.com/view/1928/the-daily-guardian%09/15
Dated: January 18th, 2025

If we liken the emergence and development of various religious traditions over the course of history to the growth of a tree, we find that Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism are the main branches of the human family’s tree. The adherents of these religions make up the major chunk of the world’s population.

While Christianity began with Jesus Christ about 2,000 years ago, the origin of Buddhism dates back 2,250 years to Gautam Buddha, and the roots of Islam can be traced back about 2,500 years to Abraham.

The parents of the founders of these religions obviously belonged to religious traditions that existed earlier.  The Adi Sanatan deity religion is the trunk of the tree of humanity from which the branches mentioned above have emerged.

The Adi Sanatan deity religion was the religion practised in India originally. This religion originates with Prajapita Brahma, who is known by the names Adam and Adinath in different religious traditions and is recognised as the first human, or the originator of humanity.

Brahma is said to have started a ‘yagya’ or sacrificial fire from which emerged the deities. This fire is not physical – it is the fire of intense spiritual effort that burns away our harmful, unwanted traits, transmuting human souls into pure, divine beings. This is the key to creating a new world, because physical reality is a manifestation of human consciousness. The world we live in today, with all its myriad problems, is a reflection of the state of mind of the people in it. So, establishing a new world requires the creation of a new consciousness first.

Brahma is the corporeal medium through whom incorporeal God Shiva, the Supreme Soul, gives us spiritual knowledge to create an enlightened consciousness. God Shiva does this by awakening us to our true identity - that we are souls, not bodies. He reminds us of our relationship with Himself, the Father of all souls, and tells us that by remembering Him we can establish a mental connection by which His powers and virtues flow into the soul, cleansing us of old, damaging habits and making us healthy and whole again. It is by this process that humans metamorphose into deities. This transformation is accompanied by major changes in the world as the wheel of time turns, marking the dawn of a Golden Age, peopled by the deities who emerged from Brahma’s yagya.

With the passage of time, the deities gradually lose their spiritual powers. Eventually, a time comes when they are no longer divine - they have become ordinary humans. Memories of the Golden Age linger in their minds, and they remember that happy past, longing for its return. They begin to worship their ancestors, who lived in that glorious age. This practice, and the traditions and rituals of the people who engage in it, later come to be known as Hinduism.

The other religions are established in due course, as the tree of humanity grows new branches. This process continues, and various sects, sub-sects, creeds, and cults are born, giving rise to the bewildering variety of religious traditions and beliefs we see in the world today. 

When we draw the tree of this variegated human family and trace our roots, we find that Brahma, worshipped as the Creator, is the corporeal forefather of all humanity.

BK Usha is a Rajyoga teacher 
at the Brahma Kumaris headquarters in Abu Road, Rajasthan.