To see the real consequences of what we are doing, we must purify our minds and hearts by both right living and meditation. Just as a person who puts his hand in a fire must suffer (though there is no intent on the part of fire to hurt anyone), so when we violate natural law we must suffer. Greed, anger, and hatred are negative forces that harm us as well as those we injure. 

We have only one basic choice in life. We can choose to be dharmic, which is to follow the laws of the universe, or we can choose to be adharmic, which is to try to impose our personal desires on life and thereby separate ourselves from the great stream of creation. To be religious in the true sense is to be dharmic, which is to recognize the sacred nature of all beings and embrace all that is. 

Unfortunately, to be irreligious has been portrayed by organized religion as the rejection of some arbitrary dogma (like the divinity of one particular human being), rather than living out of harmony with the universe (like being violent or greedy). This view must be changed if we are to discover what is really true. Religion must base itself upon the pillar of natural law and immutable truth, not on human opinion and transient convention. Otherwise it is not wholesome and real but artificial and arbitrary and must lead us down the road of decay and destruction.

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