14 Nov 2012
[This is an abstract of Shri Swami’s speech at the First World Parliament on Spirituality to be held between December 17-21 2012 at Hyderabad. The actual speech is scheduled to be delivered in the ‘Interfaith’ session in Hall-3 on December 21, 2012 between 11.00-13.00 hrs IST.].
Hinduism is a mini representative model of the unity among various religions in the world. There are different philosophies within Hinduism as there are different religions in the world. Unity within Hinduism represents the removal of different walls in the house to make all the rooms united—as one big hall. Unity among religions in the world is like uniting all such big halls to make the one biggest hall.
In Hinduism, the Advaita philosophy of Shankara stands for the monism of God and the soul. The Vishishta Advaita philosophy of Ramanuja speaks of the soul as an inseparable part of God. The Dvaita philosophy of Madhva speaks about the total difference between God and the soul. The basic point here is that these three philosophies apply only to the Human Incarnation of God, in which the unimaginable God has charged the imaginable soul in that human body. These philosophies do not refer the case of an ordinary soul and God. When the invisible current charges the visible metallic wire, both can be treated as one and also as different. This basic point has been forgotten and the quarrels started.
Similarly, the unity among all the religions of the world can be achieved by understanding that there is only one unimaginable God charging different visible and imaginable human forms like Krishna, Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed etc. Since God is basically unimaginable, there can be only one God; the existence of two unimaginable is absurd. Imaginable items can be many, but such imaginable (visible) items can be only different media for the entry of God. They cannot be God Himself.
Rigid conservatism can be refuted by a powerful argument in this way: If Jesus alone is the Savior, His message, the Bible, should have been propagated to all countries simultaneously. India was discovered only in the 17th century by the West and so 17 generations passed away without the fortune of coming in contact with the Holy Bible. The poor souls have gone to hell for no fault of theirs. Had the opportunity been given to them, at least some of them might have been saved. This clearly shows the partiality of God for confining His message only to Jerusalem for 1700 years. God is only one since every religion says that only one God created this entire Earth and there is only one Earth. The one God, Father of all humanity, should not be partial. Rigid conservatives of any religion have no answer for this absurd conclusion. This reasoning applies equally to every conservative religion. But there is answer from our side, which is: The same God came to all countries in different human forms giving the same message in different languages. Hence, God cannot be blamed for being partial.
You cannot say that an unimaginable item cannot exist. The boundary of the universe is unimaginable. Even scientists accept it. Hence, there is no objection for the existence of the unimaginable God. Similarly, the existence of hell need not be rejected just because I cannot show you the exact location of hell in space. You too have not shown Me the absence of hell in this infinite space! Therefore, a 50–50 probability of the existence of hell must be admitted. In that case, it is better to assume the existence of hell and avoid sin. A wise blind man will err on the safe side and turn back immediately, if hears two contradictory statements: one saying that there is a fire ahead in his path and the other that there is no fire in his path.
Today, powerful logical knowledge is required in philosophy since the analytical faculty of the public is well developed due to the growth of science. Lord Dattatreya, the Universal Preacher, is always ready with such knowledge to face the need of the time.
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