Rare Camaraderie Of Different Faiths…
Monday, November 20th, 2017
Session-2 of the ongoing Veda Conference and Multi Faith Symposium this evening at Sai Kulwant Hall was marked by a rare camaraderie among various faiths. The session began with a Multi Faith prayer session aiming at Global Peace and Harmony led by heads of various religions. The participants were Swami Shantatmananda from Ramakrishna Mission, Hon. Karma Gelek Yuthuk of the Tibetan Government, from Dharmasala, Himachal Pradesh, Mr. Sherayer Vakil representing Zoroastrianism, Maulana Md. Shafique Qasmi representing Islam, Father Felix Jones representing Christianity, Giani Gurbachan Singh of Akal Takht, Golden Temple, Amritsar, Rabbi Ezekiel Isaac Malekar of Judaism, Acharya (Dr.) Lokesh Muni of Jainism, Sri Dinesh Rao of the Baha’i Faith.
What ensued was an interesting session of rare camaraderie, a Multi Faith Symposium among various faiths, wherein each single representative spoke in tune with ‘Unity In Diversity’ and Unity In Divinity’, as often professed by Bhagawan. Three topics for discussion were: Service As A Unifying Factor In All Religions, Love All Serve All – the bedrock of all faiths, Help Ever Hurt Never – the persona of followers of all faiths. Sri Kalyan Ray, a veteran with SSSSO introduced the participants. Touching upon the beauty of 2005 Interfaith Conference held in Bhagawan’s physical presence here, Sri Kalyan Ray recollected what Rabbi David Zeller of Judaism then spoke, hailing Prasanthi Nilayam as “Our House”. Strumming his guitar, he sung then…
This is the house, the house of the Lord
I wish the best for you!
This is the house, the house of the Lord
I wish the best for you!
Bhagawan had guided a young David long ago when he had visited Puttaparthi to go back and study his own religion instead of longing to stay back in Puttaparthi.
Air Chief Marshal Dr Nirmal C. Suri, Former Chief Of Indian Air Force chaired the symposium and Sri Jatinder Chima, State President, Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisations, Delhi-NCR moderated the session that lasted over 90-minutes.
The participants were Swami Shantatmananda from Ramakrishna Mission, Hon. Karma Gelek Yuthuk of the Tibetan Government, from Dharmasala, Himachal Pradesh, Ven. 7th Chungpo Gyalton Rinpoche from Palpung Sherabling Monastic Seat, Kangra, HP, Mr. Sherayer Vakil representing Zoroastrianism, Maulana Md. Shafique Qasmi representing Islam, Prof Ali Mohd. Naqvi from Aligarh University, Father Felix Jones representing Christianity, Giani Gurbachan Singh of Akal Takht, Golden Temple, Amritsar, Rabbi Ezekiel Isaac Malekar of Judaism, Acharya (Dr.) Lokesh Muni of Jainism, Haji Syed Salman Chisty of Dargah Ajmer Sharif, Maulana Abdur Rahaman Molla of All India Imam Association, Sri Dinesh Rao of the Baha’i Faith, Sarvasree Kunal Bhat and Bharat C Mehta of the Swaminarayan Akshardham Trust.
It was a rare sight of Unity, Unity In Diversity, with all the participants sounding positive on the major commonalities than focusing on the differences, which is a bare minimum. Vasudaiva Kudumbakam is in the offing and Prasanthi Nilayam is paving the right path for this Global Unity, Global Harmony.
Sri Nimish Pandya, All India President, Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisations then gave vote of thanks, profusely thanking all the participants for their active participation and camaraderie expressed. Identifying selfless service as a unique binding factor, Sri Nimish Pandya recollected a beautiful incident from Kerala wherein a whole village of Muslim majority welcomed the state sponsored Sathya Sai Ratha Yatra, hailing Bhagawan’s holiness and selfless service.
Dignitaries were then felicitated and bhajans next was followed by Mangala Arathi to Bhagawan.
II Samastha Lokah Sukhino Bhavantu II
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