A meeting in Mumbai, organised by the Inter Religious Solidarity Council on the theme of ‘Religion and Spirituality: Pathways to Peace’, was attended by over 70 leaders from different faiths
Neha Dabhade
‘EKAM sad viprā bahudhā vadanti’ (God is one but the wise people/the sages speak of it variously) is one of the important philosophies of Hinduism which has laid on universal compassion, said Prabhuji Keshav Chandra Das, from the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) and the Convenor of the Inter-religious Solidarity Council, Mumbai. He was giving the opening address at a meeting organised by Inter Religious Solidarity Council (IRSC) on the theme of ‘Religion and Spirituality: Pathways to Peace’ on 20 June. The meeting was attended by over 70 leaders from different faiths, including Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Zoroastrianism and Judaism, together exploring the perspectives on how different faiths explain and view religious diversity or pluralism amongst human beings.
Quoting the Quranic verse (49:13) “Mankind! We created you from (pair) of a male and a female and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise each other)”, Irfan Engineer, Director
Centre for Study of Society and Secularism, said that according to Islam, diversity is God’s gift. Religions, according to him, can be used as a marker of identity. In that role, he said, religion defines and determines the boundaries of a community. “When communities are so demarcated, religion is reduced to defining insider/outsider, and determining numerical strength of the community in terms of majority and minority”, he said.
However, according to Engineer, religion can also be a source of universal ethics and values like love, solidarity, compassion, dignity of all living beings, social justice and service to the needy sections. As a source of moral values, religion can be a unifying factor, he added.
The meeting witnessed an overwhelming and unanimous reiteration from the different faith leaders of the ethics of religion and shared values in them. These common shared values have historically helped societies and civilisations to be a bridge across cultural and religious barriers. The rich discussion was highlighted by the perspective from each religion on this diversity and how the respective religions deal with diversity. Most importantly, the faith leaders explained that these values should be demonstrated in practice while our society grapples with complex religious conflicts leading to tensions and challenges to peaceful coexistence.
The meeting also affirmed its commitment to explore ways to foster harmonious co-existence. The rich sharing from all religious traditions helped to work towards a vision and mission of the IRSC.
While faith leaders traced the spiritual resources and heritage of co-existence and shared values, Prof Kavita Pai cautioned that solidarity of religious leaders must help address conflicts in a multicultural society like India. What is needed is peacemaking engagement and persistence to address real conflicts in society. Prof Pai read out a conversation with Mahatma Gandhi on the issue of cow slaughter between Hindus and Muslims. Gandhi reveres the cow but makes it clear that he would not kill any human being to save the cow. He would rather persuade the Muslims to forgo cow slaughter. Gandhi would offer to sacrifice himself in order to save a cow.
Prof Pai elaborated by citing her research in Ladakh where there was a conflict over a place of worship which the Buddhist community claimed was a gumpha and the Muslims maintained that it was a mosque. This issue created tension in the society that lingered for 20 years. Prof Pai pointed out that with the help of mediators, both communities adopted certain common principles during the dialogue, such as social justice, forgiveness, sovereignty of God and atonement – acknowledge the wrong by the perpetrator. The 20-year-old conflict was resolved through dialogue.
Sister Muditha Sodder reminded that pluralism is indeed the keystone of Indian culture and it has enriched our lives. She said that true religion teaches that God is within all human beings. She cautioned that religion couldn’t lead to national integration/peace and harmony but spirituality could. Sister Sodder laid out four steps for harmonious existence – 1) Follow and have the right kind of role models; 2) Study of basic and universal values in all religions; 3) Accept and appreciate differences; and 4) Accept that God was too large an entity to fit into any one religion.
Other eminent faith leaders echoed similar sentiments. Ralphy Jhirad pointed out that Judaism emphasises on pursuit of compassion, peace and justice in the world. Swami Devendra Ji speaking from the perspective of Jainism underscored that not violence, but dialogue was solution to all problems. Jainism taught the principle of ‘live and let live’. Firdaus Shroff reminded all that God resides in each of us; thus, it is important to be good and kind to all human beings in our day-to-day lives. Bhikkhu Viratna Mahathero from Bhartiya Bhikkhu Sangha emphasised that these good common values from all religions shouldn’t be confined to interfaith dialogue in closed groups and halls, but should engage all communities and the common people. Akshay Dilip Ambedkar, grandson of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar and a doctoral student, urged the participants to spread love, happiness and humanity through such forums as IRSC.
Uzma Naheed, Director of IQRA Education Foundation, an organisation working for Muslim women, emphasised that knowledge about other religions is essential and helps to live in a plural society. She believed that kindness and justice have to be extended to all communities beyond our own for peaceful coexistence in plural societies. Shaikh Naseer from the Ahmadiyya Muslim community urged that justice and equality are universal and that the teachings of Islam were for everyone. Ziya Eshraghi reiterated that all religions taught us the same values. There was only one God who sent prophets from time to time to guide humanity and teach Divine laws. We must strive for unity in the world and bring oneness of humanity, and work to eliminate prejudices, Eshraghi said. Peace could come through spirituality, according to Eshraghi. According to Syed Shakil Ahmed from Ahmadiyya Muslim community, we must praise God and all his prophets and manifestations to inspire love. Mohammad Burhanuddin Qasmi traced misunderstanding and conflicts between religious communities to ignorance, and suggested that we all need to read all scriptures. According to Qasmi, religion was like a dress – an external identity. However, spirituality was more important and permanent. Salim Khan from Jamaat-e-Islami Hind pointed out that central to all teachings was solidarity. However, solidarity needed to be put into action to help each other in matters of well-being of humanity.
Prof Surinder Kaur from Guru Nanak College emphasised that it was equally important to turn words into action and implement the good values common to all religions. Prof Kaur pointed out that this included standing up for people from other religions when injustice was done to them. She urged all the participants to take this message to people outside. Iqbal Singh Gill from Sri Guru Singh Sabha, also emphasised that Sikhism accorded utmost significance to service to humanity and equality of human beings.
Anant Rupa Gaur Das from ISKCON said that religion and spirituality were the wheels of the same vehicle. He clarified that religion was not the cause of violence. Das further said that it was essential to understand spirituality and apply it to day-to-day challenges. That would help the transformation of the heart towards compassion. Sister Anju from Brahmakumaris also underscored that the teachings of all religions were similar. God, according to her, didn’t discriminate based on religious identity. Peace and harmony, Sr. Anju further said, were within each of us and all have to realise it through remembrance of our Creator. That would help us to transform our ideas for the betterment of humanity.
Astrid Lobo also cautioned against essentialisation of religious identity. She suggested that it was important to look at other identities. Religion could help us to grasp realities beyond our understanding. According to Lobo, there was a difference between debate and dialogue, and interfaith dialogue required us to be open to truth.
The meeting captured the essence of all sharing and suggestions into its vision and mission statement and authorised the core committee of the IRSC to finalise the statement in accordance with discussions and common agreements. It further resolved to implement the salient suggestions offered – including organising public events to popularise acceptance of diversity, address differences and conflicts arising from misuse or misunderstanding of religions, promote peaceful co-existence, educate people on prejudices and negative attitudes and counter extremism manifesting and expressed in religious garbs.
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Neha Dabhade is associated with the Mumbai-based Centre for the Study of Society and Secularism. The views expressed here are the writer’s own, and Clarion India does not necessarily subscribe to them.
