I lost interest in religion when I realized people are people, not religious labels – Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Jews, Sikhs, Buddhists etc. The understanding came late in life but it changed me in ways I’m thankful for.
It could not have happened if I was not convinced of the Way, the Truth and the Life. Only then did my religious walls self-destruct. I began noticing the spiritual dimension in all creation and the universal longing for the Truth sublimely expressed in poetry down the ages.

I was passionate,
filled with longing,
I searched
far and wide.
But the day
that the Truthful One
found me,
I was at home.
– Lal Ded (Kashmiri poet, 14th century)
[translated by Jane Hirshfield]