In Search of Religious Harmony

Now a days, talking about religious harmony, is the most common topic of discussion at every corner of the world in all possible levels of the human society. How to reduce if not totally eliminate religious conflicts, is not only bothers the world leaders but also agitates mind of every common people at some point of time or other. The most convincing answer to this problem, I got from a speech which has been delivered little before the 9/11 has happened. I believe answer to all the questions, todays world is asking, about the disturbing religious conflicts, are addressed in that speech, delivered in one fine day of September 1893 at Chicago. I dare not to touch the purity of the speech with my ignorance and limited capabilities, so just applying my the most used skill of my professional life : copy-past.

CONCLUDING ADDRESS - Chicago, Sept 27, 1893- By Swamy Vivekananda

Sisters and Brothers of America,

It fills my heart with joy unspeakable to rise in response to the warm and cordial welcome which you have given us. I thank you in the name of the most ancient order of monks in the world; I thank you in the name of the mother of religions, and I thank you in the name of millions and millions of Hindu people of all classes and sects.

My thanks, also, to some of the speakers on this platform who, referring to the delegates from the Orient, have told you that these men from far-off nations may well claim the honor of bearing to different lands the idea of toleration. I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true. I am proud to belong to a nation which has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations of the earth. I am proud to tell you that we have gathered in our bosom the purest remnant of the Israelites, who came to Southern India and took refuge with us in the very year in which their holy temple was shattered to pieces by Roman tyranny. I am proud to belong to the religion which has sheltered and is still fostering the remnant of the grand Zoroastrian nation. I will quote to you, brethren, a few lines from a hymn which I remember to have repeated from my earliest boyhood, which is every day repeated by millions of human beings: "As the different streams having their sources in different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee."

The present convention, which is one of the most august assemblies ever held, is in itself a vindication, a declaration to the world of the wonderful doctrine preached in the Gita: "Whosoever comes to Me, through whatsoever form, I reach him; all men are struggling through paths which in the end lead to me." Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilization and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now. But their time is come; and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honor of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal.

The World's Parliament of Religions has become an accomplished fact, and the merciful Father has helped those who labored to bring it into existence, and crowned with success their most unselfish labor.

My thanks to those noble souls whose large hearts and love of truth first dreamed this wonderful dream and then realized it. My thanks to the shower of liberal sentiments that has overflowed this platform. My thanks to this enlightened audience for their uniform kindness to me and for their appreciation of every thought that tends to smooth the friction of religions. A few jarring notes were heard from time to time in this harmony. My special thanks to them, for they have, by their striking contrast, made general harmony the sweeter.

Much has been said of the common ground of religious unity. I am not going just now to venture my own theory. But if any one here hopes that this unity will come by the triumph of any one of the religions and the destruction of the others, to him I say, "Brother, yours is an impossible hope." Do I wish that the Christian would become Hindu? God forbid. Do I wish that the Hindu or Buddhist would become Christian? God forbid.

The seed is put in the ground, and earth and air and water are placed around it. Does the seed become the earth, or the air, or the water? No. It becomes a plant. It develops after the law of its own growth, assimilates the air, the earth, and the water, converts them into plant substance, and grows into a plant.

Similar is the case with religion. The Christian is not to become a Hindu or a Buddhist, nor a Hindu or a Buddhist to become a Christian. But each must assimilate the spirit of the others and yet preserve his individuality and grow according to his own law of growth.

If the Parliament of Religions has shown anything to the world, it is this: It has proved to the world that holiness, purity and charity are not the exclusive possessions of any church in the world, and that every system has produced men and women of the most exalted character. In the face of this evidence, if anybody dreams of the exclusive survival of his own religion and the destruction of the others, I pity him from the bottom of my heart, and point out to him that upon the banner of every religion will soon be written in spite of resistance: "Help and not fight," "Assimilation and not Destruction," "Harmony and Peace and not Dissension."

I’ll wrap up this article talking about how I try to explain the issue to myself in simple or not so simple way. All religious or ethical practices encourage us to see god in every creature, in fact when we are in right mood or emotional state  momentarily we can get agreed to that also.

Next comes the never satisfying question, if  we consider same goodness or godness in all human beings  then why there is so much diversity, and why I am so unique from anybody else of the world. For this understanding Prakriti ( nature) is a very important.

Human life is expression of some behaviors sparked from our very own unique believe system ( sanskar). At first some elements of this believe system we get from parents and relatives, then comes contribution from friends and our educational systems, thirdly all the pleasant and painful experiences we go through in our life and some parts of it, nobody knows from where it comes, this is what some of eastern philosophies say, we inherit from our previous life. Characterizing of this believe-system into a person or in a living being, is called as its Prakriti (nature).

Just as we grew an unique nature, the unwinding process of this need to be very unique...but that doesn't mean no unwinding effort is required. But if I develop an idea my process of unwinding is the only correct one and this will work universally, probably that will not be a right assumption...all religious conflicts rises from that mind set. When religion is a mean to control self, it is divine, but when it is used to control others its pure evil.

At this point let me add a line in a low voice ( as I am not an authority to give statement in this faculty, as I don’t have enough study in all the religious believes, not even in a single religion, neither I very strictly follow any religious practice,  whatever I am talking is from my personal curiosity of solving puzzles and reading or collecting information in bits and pieces from here and there, whatever caught my interest or stimulate my thought process, and also attempt to make sense of whatever happening around us ) : All religious and spiritual practice have only one goal and intention in mind removing the Prakriti from us when its achieved there is no difference between God and his followers.

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