Transcription of the recorded speech of Swami Shantatmananda, Secretary Ramakrishna Mission, Delhi, India on the occasion of the World Conference on Unity of Man, Dec.10, 2007, Kirpal Sagar

Most honourable religious leaders present on the dias!

The prize we have to pay for adopting this course is unity of humankind. Many of you here I am meeting for the first time. That is the sign of the kind of unity that is developing, the kind of thought process that is taking place in this country (Refers to the speech of Father Dominic Emmanuel).

It is not advisable to talk further, but some more words – One thing is: to make people more and more aware of this shortcoming in the society to project it (the message of unity) in a bigger way before a larger audience.

It is such a huge forum to project these ideas, because people who take this message of unity, when they go back will again talk to the people who are near and dear to them or to the society where they live. That is how the message will spread faster and that is how we are able to usher in unity.

A second thing: (If) in 2017 a million people would assemble on this very ground to proclaim to mankind that they have achieved unity of man(kind) – not to discuss that we have to do it – but to proclaim: We have achieved it. So that way probably a gathering in 2017 might be very fruitful and worth considering.

Now so many things are happening – we are already talking about global dimensions, and quite often religion is held for the cause of much of disharmony and disturbance, the evils in the society. But if we examine deeply, quite often that is not the case at all. For example, one of the great conflicts of recent times, the war between Iraq and USA – certainly religion is not the cause, the reason is entirely different. So it is quite often: Religion is wrongly blamed for the wrong happenings in the society. Even if you examine in depths the conflict between different communities in India also – the communal disturbance or the disharmony between Hindus and Muslims, or whatever it is – if you go into the depths of such issues, quite often the reasons are extremely flimsy – surface level happenings.

And moreover, as recently seen, in Calcutta a Muslim author was condemned by Muslims – that led to a kind of riot between Hindus and Muslims. How can you blame religion for that?

So the problem is: Religion can hardly be blamed for such occurrences. The practices, some of the fringe level observances of some religions might lead to such happenings, but religions by and large preach only the greatest truths like harmony, peace, and wonderful co-existence in an atmosphere of love and friendship. And if that is so, what is that what we are witnessing in the world today and what is the solution?

Yes, in a positive way religions alone can usher in peace, love and unity in this world. In that sense religions have a wonderful positive role to play. But then, how do you unite people? Functioning under various banners, are we to do away with differences? Unsuccessfully Akbar attempted a kind of binding between Hindus and Muslims by taking some portions of Hinduism and some tenets of Islam and tried to start a new religion. It was a total failure. The beauty in this world is the unity in variety. The diversity is what gives charm to the earthly existence.

Swami Vivekananda also started the World Parliament of Religions where he really set a tone for such kind of attempted harmony of religions. There he clearly said that a Christian has not to become a Hindu or a Buddhist, nor the Hindu or Buddhist should become a Christian. Each has to assimilate the better aspects of the other religion and grow in his own way. Soamiji gave us a beautiful example, he said, 'You plant a seed somewhere and then you provide water, air, light and everything. That does not become air, water or light, but it assimilates all that and grows into a plant in its own way.’ So accordingly we have to take the best elements of maybe different religions, only then it is possible to usher in this kind of unity.

There is also one more aspect: We cannot do away with traditions of thousands and thousands of years of history. Mosques, temples, and churches did not come up the other day. They are there since the time of creation itself probably, and great things have been achieved through these institutions. Humankind do need all those things today, I tell you. We cannot do away with all that, because religion is a dire necessity of man or humankind and people at various levels need different approaches to religion. You may be surprised, or you do not know, you may remember that the revolution in Romania ushering in democracy started in a church. So you cannot say that a church or a mosque or a temple is not necessary or you can do away with that. We do need all that, but then: It is good to be born in a church but one should not die there. One has to transcend all that and go to a much higher level, if you are really to achieve that unity.

Because at the lower levels where people are not that grown into mature personalities, (being) followers of their own religion, there will be this kind of differences. And also, if we really have to love our neighbour as ourselves – why should we do it at all? Why not make profit at the expense of our neighbour? Why not rob him? People often come and tell us, "Maharaj, people are doing so much black marketing, they take so high prices, they are doing so well. But we are followers of religion, we are suffering."

That is because you need some fundamental aspect to unite mankind. This is also what some other speakers have talked about: that is the core element of every religion. Every religion talks about the divinity of man. That is what Swami Vivekananda has put in a beautiful message for mankind, he said, 'Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest this divinity.'

So when we link ourselves to a higher ideal – suppose I feel, 'I am divine, the other person is also divine', then all these surface level differences, the difference in the colour of the skin, some being fat or lean or tall or short, rich or poor, this caste or that caste, this religion or that religion – all these things would appear as surface level differences which might exist in the society. But deep within each person is divine, so there is no fundamental difference at the core level of personality, so that can be the starting point for uniting mankind as a whole.

So we must have that kind of a fundamental idea that would help us to grow into a greater and greater following of our own religion, and then we will be able to unite with mankind as a whole. So when we function in the society, we have to remember this.

Two small points I touch before I close: In such conferences in an atmosphere of friendship, love, affection, great kind of a fellow-feeling these things are extremely relevant and easy to talk about. What about the grassroot-level-people, what about the masses? That is where the relevance lies of those who attended the conference today and of the religious leaders who sat on the dias (stage), that is where our responsibility lies. We should carry this message down below and tell each and everyone with whom we come in contact, "That is what we should achieve, that is how it can be achieved."

And finally, so many forums have discussed such messages. Why is it that it is not becoming that effective? Yes, there is slowly created a greater and greater awareness through such initiatives. But each religion needs such exalted personalities as a Christ or a Buddha, a Mohammed or a Rama Krishna or a Krishna or a Rama or a Vivekananda. That kind of exalted personalities alone can bring about a radical transformation.

I know people, I have heard of people by authentic records, in whose very presence all thoughts of hatred or enemity vanish automatically. Each religion – that is what it should attempt – is to go deep in their inner Sadhna, unless our life is backed by a tremendous urge for a higher spiritual dimension, a higher life. Then and only then we will be able to really go into that kind of personalities, where all this appears to be meaningful.

Because many of the so-called social reforms, many of these social level reforms, are there. But these all will be taken care of in a total way, if people by and large adopt a different attitude towards life – a spiritual basis. Then and only then all these efforts in unity become really meaningful.

Thank you.

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