Various religions offer various ways to salvation. Christian believe that belief in Jesus and his dying on the cross for our sins has the power of purification and salvation. The Indian school of Yoga recommends sitting cross leg and focusing the mind in between the eyebrows and mental standstill as the way. Muslims insist performing certain rituals at certain times is needed for salvation, Chinese buddhism posits repeating the name of "Amituofo" will lead the soul into the land of pure and the heaven of Buddha.
Noble indeed are all these, but they don't lead to salvation by themselves. In our path the path to real God is through good work only. What is good work? It is to develop virtue in ourselves, to develop ethics, to develop morals and manners. It is to ease others' pains, it is to solve society's problems, it is to treat others with a smiling face, it is to knock on the neighbors door and say "how are you?!", it is to care about the environment, about trees, about rivers and never pollute them, it is to keep our house clean, it is to not play loud music which disturbs others. On a more advanced plane it is to oppose oppression and injustice in society, it is to fight for fairness.
And in this fight a light is produced, light of joy which is the true joy, light of peace which is the true peace, and the much sought after state of salvation and perfection. The Mahabarta war described in Hindu epic never ended, it is always on. Similarly, the battles of Haftkhan described in Persian epic Shahnameh never ended and are still on. These are symbolizing the battle of life indeed: when the armies of Light and Darkness are arrayed against each other, when Ahura (God) and Ahriman (Devil) willed for a battle of a certain time, there formed the life and essence of this world.
Thus, life is a battle between Good and Evil as the ancient wisdom testify to that in allegorical or non-allegorical language. We are made for this battle and our salvation is in our participation in this battle. More participation, more perfection, more damage, more improvement, more engagement, more peace, and thus the dilemma of life explained for those with deep understanding.
Neither by ritualistic worship, nor by cup of blood and bread, nor by church membership, nor by Sharia, nor by Asana and mindfulness meditation, nor by picture of Krishna, nor by statue of Buddha, nor by chanting mantras, nor by devotion to a master, the true salvation and true peace can be obtained.
Yet, all these acts can act as aids in our battle with Evil. They can be arms and spears in this holy war. For rituals and chanting can remind us of the Divine and induce motivation and energy for the rest of the day, going to church and temples can lead to fellowship with other holy people and induce courage and guidance, following Sharia or any set of religious rules can lead to discipline, mindfulness and other forms of meditation lead to more self control and better remembrance of God throughout the day when the battle of Good and Evil is on, devotion to a teacher who teaches these truths leads to better internalizing them.
All these various acts proposed by various religions are useful, and I might say are even necessary in many cases if we want to have a safe pass from this battlefield. But yet it should be born into the mind that they are just aids to salvation not part of it. They are like light for a traveler at night which shows the path but is not the path itself.
All these religious actions, rituals, chantings, meditations, etc should eventually translate into good work. You perform a service ritual at church, the result should be when you step out of the church you treat people with a smiling face and respect. You pray five times a day, the result should be that you have consideration for people and do not talk loudly with your phone at 2am in the apartment hallway which disturbs others. You spend your morning in meditation or a yoga practice of some sort, the result should be that you spend the rest of your day solving people's problems.
Same is true at social level: When people of a city worship in their church or temple the result should be that equality established in that city, justice establish in that city, nobody earns thousands times more than others while work one tenth of them, nobody struggles for job, nobody sorrows for rent, nobody is left alone and forgotten. If we see such results today then it means our religions are true. If not, then we have to ponder and wonder why.
For as John the Baptist said: "every tree that bears not good fruit shall be axed and thrown into furnace" [Mathew 3:10], and by fruit it means good manners, good behavior, consideration, caring, justice, equality and other virtues both at individual and social levels. Religion and religious practices should lead to these virtues, meditation should lead to these virtues, church should lead to these virtues, if not then they have to be axed and thrown away.
For these virtues are the manifestations and names of God. God is the source of beauty, knowledge, charity and all the virtues and good things in the world. The myth talks about the tree of life grown in the middle of earth in ancient times, and from its trunk nine thousand nine hundred ninety nine rivers flow into the earth. The tree symbolizes the Divine and the rivers symbolize its manifestations which flow into the world. One river is the river of gentle behavior, the other river is the river of friendship, the other river is the river of justice, the other river is the river of charity, the other river is the river of beauty and harmony, the other river is the river of knowledge, and each river represents a virtue and its water is like shining milk.
God and virtues cannot be separated just as bow and its strap, just as fire and its heat. And that is why we say the path to God is through virtue. For virtues are attributes of God and when we develop them inside ourselves we become like unto Him and closer to Him. Similarly, vices and defects are attributes of Evil, and when we develop them inside ourselves we become like him and closer to him. So a two-way fork is ahead of us and we should choose the right path by developing virtues in all aspects. We should keep our rooms clean and organized, since cleanliness and organization is an attribute and manifestation of God, while dirtiness and mess are attributes of Evil. We should have gentle and polite behavior since respect and politeness are attributes of God while rudeness and insolence are attributes of Evil. In the same way we should develop all other virtues.
To develop virtues, we first need to learn what virtues are. For the list is not trivia as it's been assumed so far. This way, the science of virtue, a science forgotten today, rises to a central place in our path. The devotees of this path gather in a circle and chant the names of God or do other meditations, but afterwards they spend a larger portion of time learning about the science of virtue and ethics, about what ethics are, what virtues are, how they are applied in different situations, their examples and illustrations in today's world and other such topics to examine.
And when they step out of the circle, those virtues they just learned about will be at play and you will see them with kind faces and gentle behaviour. And people will know the followers of this religion, which is the pure religion, by this purity, kindness and good behaviour as Jesus said: "let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven" [Mathew 5:16]
Followers of this religion are not to be known by any special clothing, or special hair cut or hair style, but by their good manners and actions only. And this good manners is like the scent of flowers that attracts others to our religion. And so it will spread on the face of earth organically like the gentle spring breeze.
And this way no father has to force his son to go to temple, for the son will go by himself. And no missionary has to go to remote continents to evangelize, for people will come to him themselves. For people go where they see love and goodness.
Thus the path to God is through Good (goodness) and all else, rituals, historic beliefs, meditations, and others, are aids to it. The ancient formula of Good thought, Good word, Good deed, summarizes the pure and primal religion. This is the religion taught by all true prophets and sages throughout the time. It is the common ground and the resting place. The truth and appeal of all other religions come from this. The four noble truths and the eightfold path of Buddhists, the holy spirit of Christ, the Ren of Confucius, the Mazhab of Muslims must have been referring to this path of pure religion, and if not then we are not in charge. For our duty is to follow the pure religion only, and for this reason we are called Pakdin (pure religion followers).