The Upanishad and the Koran.

In the Mundaka Upanishad, there is a verse which basically talks about the fact that there is but one God, and all the different religions (the “rivers”) talk about ways to reach to God:

As rivers, flowing down, become indistinguishable on reaching the sea [that is, God] by giving up their names and forms …

In todays day and age, we cannot live in a divisive manner; in fact – we have to understand that all religions have the same elements of truth. All religions talk about ways to realising God.

If we examine the following verse from the Koran.

The Opening

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.

[1.1] All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds.
[1.2] The Beneficent, the Merciful.
[1.3] Master of the Day of Judgment.
[1.4] Thee do we serve and Thee do we beseech for help.
[1.5] Keep us on the right path.
[1.6] The path of those upon whom Thou hast bestowed favors. Not (the path) of those upon whom Thy wrath is brought down, nor of those who go astray.

 

The day of Judgement is the act of understanding that all of us are a part of God/ Allah.

The “right” path is the path which allows us to understand God – that we are not separate from God; not to realize this – is to go “astray.”

 

The conundrum lies in the fact: can a “Beneficent” and “Merciful” God also be “wrathful”? a kind and generous God cannot be “wrath[ful]”. Does the cohesiveness of the text collapse as it deconstructs itself?