I would say my life has been a very adventurous journey since childhood. My father was the most influential person in my life. Although he was strictly religious -- having morning and evening prayer at home, going to church every Sunday and other important days, being very active at church, I never saw him imposing his religious beliefs on others. Being a school teacher, he was also active in the local library and in the local politics. I saw him dealing with all kinds of people respectfully regardless of their religion, caste, class or gender.
My father made me read the Bible in the morning and evening since I started reading. I had access to a library close to my home from my childhood, and I had the opportunity to be familiar with the world literature with its diverse cultures.
I heard about all religions and about the great people in all religions from my school teachers. I heard the story of Rama and Sita for the first time from a Muslim teacher. Among my teachers, I had a catholic sister I respected very much. Although she taught us Malayalam, she used every opportunity to ingrain moral values in our little hearts. She taught us these values mainly through little poems in Malayalam. The poems and stories she used were from literature and mythology.
I was very studious and enthusiastic in Sunday school. However, my Sunday school education couldn't satisfy my spiritual thirst. Week after week, our empty minds were filled with information, and we were supposed to remember all that for the final exam. I couldn't make sense of all that information by relating to life, nor did the Sunday school teachers help us to do so. I began asking questions during my Sunday school days about God's view of Christians and non-Christians, about evolution or creation etc.
Brainwashing happened when I was in college. It was a Hindu college, and the majority of the students in those days proudly claimed to be atheists. There I was in a group of Bible-believing, fundamentalist students who got together every day at lunchtime to study the Bible and to pray. I could easily relate what I learned there to my life. Although it provided me with some immediate relief of my spiritual thirst, it took a while for me to realize that what I was drinking in those days was not the water of life, but sugared poison that drove me to death day after day. It filled my mind and heart with fear of death and hell, with guilt-feeling, and slowly I was losing the power to think sensibly.
I am forever thankful to God for saving me from that wretched condition. It was not easy to recover, and it took a long time. The writings of Metropolitan Paulos Mar Gregorios are what primarily helped me to get out of that condition. I believe this experience has made me a stronger person.
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