Speech Shantilal Karamshi Somaiya, Chairman of the Indologikal Research Institute and Inter-Faith Dialogue

Friends,
Permit me, at the outset to state that I am grateful to His Excellency N.A.Nazarbayev, the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan for giving me this opportunity to participate in the II Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions.

This is a unique meeting of its kind in the world, where the President of the Nation takes personal interest providing intellectual and physical inputs. I can mention that in the last Conference he spent three full days with us. He wants to send a Message of Liberal Islam that believes in living with peace, in the spirit of coexistence and fellowship with the rest of the religions.

For me the President who is a model of moderate Islam has shown us the path for Inter-Faith Dialogue, Brotherhood and Universal Peace. I present my views on "Freedom of Religion and Respect for Representatives of Other Religions".

Definition of Religion
Religion primarily deals with man's relation with divinity, the constant interplay between man and the Almighty. It also comprises the external aspect of beliefs and practices related to sacred things. It is the way of life that includes every aspect of human life and transcends it. Religion is the casket in which man has kept his most valuable treasures: the eternal values.

It is the means to cleanse ourselves of all evil tendencies. Religion is essentially a bond of piety.

Religious Freedom and India

India is a land of diverse faiths. She welcomes with open arms whatever is worth accepting from all the corners of the world. Her eternal message has been, "May benevolent thoughts come to us from all directions"¹. This has been the quintessence of Indian culture for years. Followers of diverse creeds and faiths have lived here a life of co-existence in harmony and peace in spite of minor differences -stressing similarities in outlook and dwarfing what was irrelevant and dwelling only on the spiritual essentials. The secularism embodied in the Constitution of India, ensures the right to freedom of religion to every citizen as a fundamental right. Everyone is free to practice his religious faith and no one enforce his religion on others. Secularism is a cornerstone of Indian democracy.

Today, the world is getting fragmented on the basis of religion and ethnic differences and is facing the threat of destabilization of normal civic society by terrorists trying to impose their will on the majority. What will be its fate? Will religious differences destroy the world or will they contribute to a harmonious diversity in the world? How do we face the explosive forces in the world? How do we protect ourselves against extremism? How do we prevent injustice that takes place in the name of religion? Here comes in the vital concept of the "Freedom of Religion".

Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, the great Philosopher and the former President of India, observes, "All the religions of mankind under the stress of modern thought are moving forward to a realization of the spirit of religion, and reaching forth to the fundamental and lasting verities of truth and love. Many of their followers are slowly realizing that exclusiveness is blight on religion. Any religion, which generates pride and a sense of intolerance, is not authentic. We must develop a spirit of cooperation among the different religions. Mutual respect helps us to interpret other religions at their best and learn from them. We cannot have respect for another religion when all the time our attempt is to obliterate it. We should not try to undermine faith and allegiance of other peoples"².

Religious Leaders and the Challenges

Today people tend to test religious faith on the touchstone of reason. People who give utmost importance to scientific and rational approach in their life are unwilling to accept the authority of religion. They do not follow any faith.

On the other hand, in spite of a period of seventy years of the communist regime in the Soviet Union, there was a tremendous upsurge of Christianity when Communism collapsed. Similar was the case with Mongolia; even though the Communist Party had destroyed the Gumpas- the temples, slain the monks and destroyed the scriptures, Buddhism has survived and flourished. Nearer home, in Kazakhstan and all over Central Asia there is an upsurge of Islamic faith.

Sometimes, secularism is misinterpreted to mean absence of faith in religion. This type of secularism is almost a synonym for hedonism, consumerism and materialism which is a threat to whatever is good, auspicious and noble in human life.

Responsibilities of the Religious Leaders

It is the duty of the religious leaders to stand above national politics and to make an earnest appeal to people to change themselves. The religious leaders should volunteer themselves to minimize the events of violence in the name of religion for the reason that religion is vitally concerned with social order. We find that even though there is law and order within a nation, there are some individuals who take the law in their own hands either to impose their views or to react violently on something which they strongly take as harming their freedom in religious matters. Avoidance of force in the matter of religion is the important rule that should be followed by one and all. Exclusiveness is to be avoided. This follows that the religious leaders have to develop a spirit of cooperation and respect for one another, they have to encourage mutual understanding and appreciation for other's religion and assimilation of whatever is valuable. The religious leaders must now acknowledge that the era of conversion is over. Alluring hordes of people into the fold of one's religion is a misguided practice of conversion. It serves only worldly purpose. Conversion if at all, should take place only for spiritual pursuit. The process of conversion should be very transparent and open. The religious freedom of the people concerned has to be honoured.

In ancient India, there was a practice of philosophical debate (Shastratha) an open forum for philosophical discussions in which even spiritual masters were converted to other philosophical disciplines. Even today, Kumbhamela, the great congregation of Hindus at certain holy places is a fine example of religious gathering offering people an open platform for intra-faith exchanges.

Terrorism - a great threat for humanity

We must learn from other peoples' beliefs and experiences. Religious leaders have a great potential to save the world from anarchy. They have to make a resolve to remove the obstacles that stand in the way of maintaining peace and harmony in the world. Terrorism which is founded on religious discrimination and persecution is one of the greatest threats for humanity. It arises from closed dogmatic interpretation of scriptures and ignorance about the nobility of thought of the scriptures on part of the masses. The religious leaders have to interpret the scriptures and remove the ignorance of the masses so that religion is not instrumentalized for terrorist activities. This is a great responsibility for the religious leaders in the changing world.

Education and Freedom of Religion

The religious leaders have to work at the grassroots level to foster religious freedom in the citizens of the world. The representatives of various religious traditions at the Inter- Religious Assembly held at Vatican in 1999 to commemorate the eve of the Third Millennium noted, "Education is a key for promoting inter-religious harmony, religious freedom and respect for people of different religious traditions... Education is committed to seeking truth, justice, peace and reconciliation. A very practical program, which already exists in various places, is the joint examination of textbooks, not only of religion, but also - and perhaps especially- of history. The lamentable ignorance and misinformation with which we sometimes bring up our children concerning other people's religious traditions needs to be rectified...We must strive to present all religious traditions in an objective manner so that individuals belonging to these traditions can recognize themselves in that representation"¹.

Religious Freedom, Unity and Differences

The differences are to be seen as the varied expression of one single truth. The variety of creeds does not reject the truth of religion. The differences are related to the context of the historical and geographical perceptions of the age in which religions are formulated. No single religion should claim to possess the whole truth. According to Anekantavada of Jainism, reality has infinite aspects. They are all relative. No one can claim that he knows all the aspects. One can know only the partial truth. The theory of Anekantavada makes people aware that their judgments are relative, conditional and limited. This theory allows others a right to hold a different opinion, a different view than our own which need not be criticized or discouraged.

Many Pathways to God

The Truth is presented in diverse ways. There are many pathways to God. Once the aspirant reaches the goal, once the Divinity illumines him, the pathway becomes insignificant. All persons are entitled to freedom which must be used with moral responsibility.

Swami Vivekananda says that he accepts all religions and is not prepared to reject any of them².

The Holy Koran says,

"Have you not seen how that God sends down water from the sky, and then we bring forth with it fruits of diverse hues? And in the mountains are streaks white and red, of diverse hues, and pitch black.

Men too, and beasts and cattle are of diverse colors. Even so only those of His servants who have understanding fear God"³.

The scripture of Sikhism tells us, "Know all human beings to be repositories of Divine Light"¹. Religion teaches man that the whole of the creation has one single root. "Have we not all one father? Has not one God created us?"²."On mankind! We created you from a single pair of a male and a female and made you into nations and tribes, that you might know each other [not that you might despise each other]. Verily the most honored among you in the sight of God is he who is the most righteous"³.

This follows that all living beings are related with each other. They have in-built unity. The religious leaders through their sermons and actions shape the minds of the people. Since they command respect and reverence, they should present the religion as a binding force and not as a divisive one.

The timeless message of the Rigveda, the ancient Hindu scripture is, "Meet together, speak together, let your minds be of one accord...May your counsel be common, your assembly common, common the mind and the thoughts of these united. A common purpose do I lay before you...Let your aims be common, and your hearts of one accord, and all of you be of one mind, so you may live we'll together"⁴.

Respect to Representatives of Other Religions

The glory of the religious leaders can be restored if they pledge to build a new world which is devoid of fanaticism; where everyone moves towards fundamental principles, gains strength from his faith and comes back to the world of peoples with a firm resolve not to shed innocent blood in the name of religion. Today, the religious leaders are required to develop the concept of the world community instead of the Muslim community, the Christian community or the Hindu community. What is needed is the basic unity and harmony. What is not needed is thoughtless uniformity. Unless we preserve the differences which are the identities of different religions we will not cater to different needs of the peoples of different nations and faiths. The religious leaders have to profess the positive approach to religious diversity and freedom. They have to rise above the fanatical zeal. Their loyalty is to God, the Ultimate Reality, to religion, and to the mankind.

The religious leaders should teach people to make a distinction between the essence of religion and the external form. They have to teach people to do away with egoism, intolerance, exclusiveness, hatred, fanaticism and a sense of superiority. They should emphasize that their followers can enjoy the freedom to practice their respective religions only if they grant the same freedom to the followers of other religions. They should inculcate a sympathetic understanding of the needs of others and a willingness to take responsibility of the needy. They should not lose the sight of the fact that out of the six billion people on the earth two billion people live on the verge of poverty line. Hence the need for the social justice. "Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like "verse-flowing stream".

The respect for the representatives of other religions can be fostered only when we see others with the eye of a friend. In this context I would like to narrate a story. A master once asked his disciples, "When can they say that the night is over and the day has dawned." When the disciples could not answer the question, they thought that as it was the master's question, he must know the answer. They said, "Let him answer the question". Then the master said, "Listen attentively to what I say. When you look to your neighbor's eyes and recognize your brother or sister, then the night is over and the day has dawned. If that does not happen, no matter what time of the day it is, your night is not over, you are still in darkness, light has not come into your life". So I pray to God let all of us see that light.

The concept of universal brotherhood has been very important in Indian thought. It believes in the maxim that the world is a close and well knit family Vasudhaiva kutumbakam.¹ The same concept has been professed by Buddhism as Metta.

Mutual Relationship

The Golden Rule that appears in Gospel of Matthew sets the norm of conduct for the mutual relation. It says, "Whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them". Love should not be merely reciprocal. Hence the message, "Love your enemies". In the Hindu epic, Mahabharata says: "In joy and sorrow, in pleasure and pain, one should act to others as one would have them act towards oneself. What oneself Shantideva, the author of Bodhicharyavatara, the Buddhist work on the Mahayana, describes as the Bodhisattva ideal can be described as characteristics of every religious leader:

In reward by all this righteousness that I have won by my works I would become a soother of all the sorrows of all creatures.

May I be a balm to the sick, their healer and servitor, until sickness never comes again.

Laghuyogavasishtha V 2.62

May I quench with aims of food and drink, the hunger and thirst for the needy.

May I become an unfailing store for the poor, and serve them with manifold things for their need.

My own being and any pleasures, all my righteousness in the past, present or future I surrender indefinitely, that all creatures may win to their end.

Confucius gives us the word, ^cShu', as the rule of conduct for life which means "to act to others as one would act toward oneself, or as "he is translated by his disciple Tseng Tze "to love others with the heart with which one loves oneself.

Towards Universal Religion:

I do feel that Institutionalized religions tend to constrain the freedom of their followers by imposing certain rigidity on them. With the onset of the 3^rd Millennium of the Christian Era, the World is becoming a "Global Village". Rigid barriers of different practices are disappearing, and I do feel that the world is ready for the birth of a "UNIVERSAL RELIGION". The Veda, Indian scripture, had proclaimed, "Let the world be a single nest because all religions are meant to lead us to the Ultimate Reality". This Ultimate Reality may be pursued differently by different people. The Vedic seers said, "Truth is one, the wise speak about it in different ways." The pioneers and visionaries of different faiths want to break the narrow walls of religions or sects. Each individual should have freedom to practice his own faith as a matter of choice. Further an individual should not be compelled to be tied down to only one faith and should be free to adopt the practice of various religions of his choice depending on his temperament, attitude and perception. This would create a climate in which all of us can live in peace and harmony.

Conclusion

I conclude with what Prof. K.L.Seshagiri Rao, a renowned scholar says, "Religions, in cooperation with one another, can do a great deal to rehabilitate mankind and give to life meaning, purpose, and value. They can also do much for the establishment of peace in the world. Where politicians have failed, religions may succeed, provided they cooperate and recognize their mutual worth and potentialities; and provided they pool together the tremendous resources of religions and channel them in the direction of world peace. The major world religions, in cooperation with one another, may bring out the latent treasures hidden in each religion and help humanity at a true when it is facing one of the most acute spiritual crises in history".

Thank you.