Sai Baba on the essence of religions

In Negombo, Sri Lanka, there is a sweet little Catholic Church. Saint Mary of the Rosary is full of idols of saints and statues of Mother Mary. People come to say the rosary there daily, praying the "Hail Mary", salutations to the mother of Jesus.

The prayers are offered for various intentions. It's my habit to visit holy places whenever I can, no matter what religion they represent.

When I moved to India to be with my Guru, Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, I felt loving all religions was natural. He reinforced my beliefs. He greeted us one afternoon with his traditional discourse opening. We were in the hot open air, the sun beating down on us. (This was before the construction of Sai Kulwant Hall where we now congregate.)

He said, "Embodiments of Love, it is essential to realise and act on the basis that the purpose of religion is to promote unity in diversity, banish divisive tendencies and make human beings lead ideal lives."

I felt that a long-held belief of mine was being validated. Puttaparthi Swami noted, "The essence of all religions, the message of all scriptures and the destination for all mankind is the same. But because of selfishness, narrow-mindedness and concern for self-interest, religion is used as a pretext for promoting differences and conflicts. All religions teach only what is good if they are studied intelligently. If your mind is good, what religion can be bad?"

Then he recited a poem. Swami's speeches were always in Telugu, translated into English. When ever he presented a poem, he sang it.

His enchanting voice lifted the heart like the scent of jasmine, "Morality and integrity, righteousness and charity, truth and tradition, forbearance and non-violence are basic tenets of all religions. These basic truths are common to all religions. But over the years men have forgotten these truths and have fostered divisive tendencies in the place of unity. As a result, respect for human values has gone. It is essential to recognise the Divine unity that suffuses all the diversity in human existence."

Many people today know very little about other people's religions. Our Beloved Puttaparthi Preceptor is known for putting things succinctly. He said, "Muslims regard Allah as the Supreme Lord, while Christians hail Jesus as the Savior; Buddhists worship Buddha as the Supreme Enlightened One; Jains accord the highest place to Mahavir; Paarsis adore Zoroaster; Sikhs deem Naanak as the Supreme teacher; Baba devotees adore Sai as the Supreme. The wise regard all of them as equal. All religions should be revered equally because God is one and the same God for all of them. God is Truth. He is Righteousness. He is peace. He is the embodiment of love."

For those who do not follow a religion or do not necessarily even believe in a higher power, Sathya Sai pointed out, "Follow the conscience.... Realise that there is no one greater than each of you."

Undoubtedly, this is why he always referred to us as, "Embodiments of Love."