Surat Spiritual Conclave

Spiritual

Build respect for all religions

I want to share with you one of my childhood experiences at the Island town of Rameswaram. My father had two friends. Father Bodel and Shri. Lakshmana Sasthirigal. This was when I was at the age of 10, these three great human beings discussing together the Bible Quoran and Gita. Interesting part of these three - my father was a custodian and the head of the Mosque. Pakshi Lakshmana Shastrigal was the vedic scholar of Rameswaram Temple and Father Bodel was the founder of Christ Church of Rameswaram. I got the best learning from them. How in an island, where there was no school, these three enlightened souls could sit and discuss about the love and compassion of religions. For me they are the most important learned role models who taught me how a religion could be transformed into spirituality. These three great minds belonging to three religions working together in a small village had provided the foundation for promoting unity of minds for generations to come.

Rameswaram is also famous for a Siva temple where Rama had prayed, renowned Abul Kabul Darga and first famous Church in the island.

A flower as described in the Bhagwat Gita:

"See the flower, how generously it distributes perfume and honey. It gives to all, gives freely of its love. When its work is done, it falls away quietly. Try to be like the flower, unassuming despite all its qualities". What a beautiful message for all generation of this nation, on integration of minds and universal mind. We have a tradition of experience with noble leadership, indomitable spirit and universal mind.

At this point I recall a sura from Holy Kuran:

"O' Prophet, you proclaim to the people

Who do not accept your preaching,

What you worship I do not worship,

And what I worship, you do not worship??.

????????????????.

The result of your actions belongs to you,

The result of my actions belongs to me."

The Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace;

Where there is hatred let me sow love;

And where there is injury, pardon;

And where there is doubt, faith;

And where there is despair, hope;

And where there is darkness, light;

and where there is sadness, joy.

Oh Divine Master, grant that I may not

so much seek

? to be consoled as to console;

?.to be understood as to understand;

?.to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;

?it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

? and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Tawang Message

I learned in the Tawang monestry the concept of peace in the environment of violence in mind and body. The chief monk said that "If you look at the 3,000 years history of India, you'll find that the country has always stood for peace. It worked for peace; it prayed for peace and it will live for peace. But these days, peace does seem to be in short supply".

"So, how does one bring back peace?" the monk asked rhetorically. ``Paradoxically, the `I' in you wants peace. Nevertheless, to get peace you have to first get rid of the `I' and `me'. (This is what the Buddha realised after his enlightenment, when he grasped the principle of causation and the lack of self in all that is.)

"So, can you get rid of the self? Seems like a tough proposition. For in virtually every sentence, every thought we have `I' and `me'. But if you remove these entities, the ego will vanish," the monk said to me. "When the ego vanishes, hatred fades away. When hatred goes away then violence in mind and body will disappear. Therefore, peace comes when you forsake ego and the sense of self.

Acharya Mahaprajna's Message

All mindlessness begins with the body and being unaware of this fact is the root cause of the fear. Fear can exists only in a state of mindlessness. In a state of mindful ness fear cannot exist. Knowledge is an emancipator. A Child fears many things, which an adult does not, because the later has come to know many laws. Only that man can give others freedom from fear, who has attained such freedom for himself and whose whole being is resonant with vibrations of fearlessness. Only that man has complete protection from fear who offers such protection to others.

Maharishi Pathanjali's Yoga Sutra

"When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extradinary project, all your thoughts break their bounds, your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, you will find yourself in a new great and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be."

That is something addressed to all of us.

Conclusion

As an individual and as the president of this country, I have studied the democratic setup or any other form of government in many countries. In my view no society of billion people are found to be with such a multi-lingual, multi-community, multi-religious, multi-ethnic, multi-social diversity. Our core competence has been to provide democratic leadership and management for over one billion people. What makes such a big system to move. It is the civilizational heritage of our great country.

Each one of us has a page in history. Everyone has a religion, a family, a supporting society and a dream. We do not have time to observe what is happening around us. We generally tend to revolve around ourselves. Earth revolves around itself and orbits around the sun. The choice before us is of revolving round ourselves to die, or of revolving round the sun in order to live. Hence, our thoughts, ideas and actions have to constantly change and expand. Now it is the right time for all of us to think of the nation beyond the boundaries. National development has two components - economic development and life with value system. That comes from civilizational heritage.

I seek the help of the religious leaders and to be the partners in the national development task leading to a developed India by 2020.