Human history sometimes flows along without seeming to go anywhere.  At other times it rides fast on a flowing tide that can’t be stopped or turned to another direction.  It appears that we  are in such a swift moving  period today. The greatest enigma is a resurgence of interest in the role that religion or dharma as a source of social conflict, on the one hand, and as a force of social cohesion on the other.  Religion is a force of social cohesion, whilst dharma stands for clinging to that which is firm and true. 

Recent expressions of religious intolerance  and violence have made  policy makers and academics to ponder how religion or dharma can play a  constructive role in social integration.  How can this force that binds people together be aligned with the construction of a peaceful, just, and sustainable social order? “Witness how the world is being afflicted with a fresh calamity every day”, Bahá’u’lláh warns.  “It sickness is approaching the stage of utter hopelessness, inasmuch as the true Physician is debarred from administering the remedy, whilst unskilled practitioners are regarded with favour, and are accorded full freedom to act.”  

The crisis in India, calls for a  greater determination. How can we successfully harness the full potential of over one billion people of diverse cultures, religious beliefs, economic status, caste, and linguistic diversity,  perceptions inter alia that has caused a “million mutinies” now moving to a climax.  Conditions of justice  that foster both individual and collective well-being remain an elusive goal.  Dependency and poverty are accompanied by disillusionment with the modern ethos.  Hence, it’s not possible to maintain the belief that the approach to social and economic progress to which the materialistic conception of life has given rise is capable of leading our country to the tranquility which it seeks.