Inter-faith harmony: Need of the hour

If we travel down the history lane to study religion, then we would find that almost every religious preceptor has ordained that love is supreme and that is why it is believed that one cannot have a true love for the creator if one does not love the creation. Hence religion begins with the love of man for man.

Just as a child needs a good teacher to guide him in studies, society needs a good religious leader or a guru to make it understand the core of religion. That is why religious teachers are considered as conscience keepers of their community and their day to day lives are expected to be a practical demonstration of the moral values enshrined in their respective scriptures. Hence if they do not maintain their moral heights, whom shall the common man look up to? It has been rightly said that if the salt loses its savour, wherewith shall it be salted? Likewise, if the religious leaders lose their moral conscience, what will happen to the conscience of society?

We all have been witness to a large number of communal riots that have taken place all over the world in the last century. However, if religious leaders all over the world stress upon the original religious concept of ‘love your fellow beings’ and inspire their followers to experience peace to live in harmony then there is no reason for any communal clashes or riots. In fact, all religions are based on the belief that each living being is an embodied soul, hence if the spiritual gurus can give grounding to their followers in soul consciousness, then most of the problems in the world would be solved.

Today the need of the hour is to raise the awareness of the people to enlightened soul consciousness. If every individual realises his/her real identity then the task of social transformation would be much easier because most of the problems arise from the loss of identity and from an identity crisis.

Lastly, if teachers of religion can teach and encourage the practice of meditation that enables the practitioners to come closer to their real self, to have freedom from the negativity of mind and experience peace and bliss that would, perhaps, be their greatest service, for it would eliminate tension and bring peace, happiness and health to society.