Regional Interfaith Dialogue

Lecture by – Dr. Pranav Pandya, MDHead – All World Gayatri Pariwar,

Shantikunj Chancellor – Dev Sanskriti University,

Haridwar, Uttarakhand

Common Perception

• Interfaith is essentially Inter-religious

• Problems and/or Benefits of Beliefs

• The bottleneck

From Interfaith to Intrafaith

• Major point of discussion should be based on Material V/s Conscious Views of World

• Science V/s Spirituality

Great Moments of Change

• Till 17th Century Religion was dominating factor in development of Human life.

• Since then, Science become more prominent.

The Ideological War

• The First Phase: Advent of Swami Vivekananda

The Ideological War

• Second Phase : Life and Mission of

Acharya Shriram Sharma

The Ideological War

• The Final Phase : Intercommunion of Science and Spirituality

The war within

• Differences in the name of Religion

• Differences amongst followers of Same Religion.

SectarianismApart from Catholic and Protestant

• The Latin Catholic will not enter Syrian Catholic Church. • These two will not enter Marthoma Church.• These three will not enter Pentecost Church.• These four will not enter Salvation Army Church.• These five will not enter Seventh Day Adventist Church.• These six will not enter Orthodox Church.• These seven will not enter Jacobite church. • Like this there are 146 castes in Kerala alone for

Christianity• each will never share their churches for fellow Christians..!

Sectarianism• Among Muslims, Shia and Sunni kill each other in all the

Muslim countries.• The Shia will not go to Sunni Mosque. • These two will not go to Ahamadiya Mosque. • These three will not go to Sufi Mosque. • These four will not go to Mujahiddin mosque. • Like this it appears there are 13 castes in Muslims.  

SectarianismHindus -  

• 1,280 Religious Books, 10,000 Commentaries,• more than one lakh sub-commentaries for these

foundation books,  330 million gods, variety of Aacharays, thousands of Rishies, hundreds of languages...

• still everyone goes to the SAME TEMPLE ...• Hindus never quarreled each other for the last ten

thousand years in the name of religion.   Only Politicians had tried to divide and rule…  

• Keep Religion out of Politics and India will be the most peaceful place on earth.  

The battle before the war

• The path of bright future will be cleared, only if we overcome these hurdles first.

• The prime being Prejudice based on religious teachings of " Metaphysical Nature"

Have Faith

• All the religious teachings are aimed at only one goal – i.e. to enrich human life,

• To harness human potential of emotions and thoughts to promote interconnectedness and make this world a better place.

How to overcome the Religious Divide

• Promotion of Interfaith Dialogue

• Research and Development of Inter-religious teachings.

• Look towards Science for Guidance.

History of Science is the History of Abandoned Theories

• Despite having its foot in the mouth, progress has been made and benefits are being enjoyed by all.

• Classical Physics V/s Quantum Physics

Classical Physics V/s Quantum Physics

• Lack of Unified Theory explaining laws that Govern Macrocosm and Microcosm.

• So What?

• Do the Scientists hate each other?

• Do they discriminate each other?

Folly of the Wise

• Now consider what we do as a follower of a particular religion or sect….

• So why can’t as a believer in higher dimensions of consciousness or a religious persons we develop two streams of faiths or understanding.

Practical Approach to Interfaith Harmony

• Two different approaches for human development

• One that essentially deals with our outer life - human values, ethics, thoughts and behaviour

• and the other which deals with our inner life, our conscious self.

The Death-knell for all the superficial differences

“ As the different streams having their sources in different places all mingle their water in

the sea, so, O Lord, the different paths which men take

through different tendencies, various though they appear,

crooked or straight, all lead to Thee.” - Swami Viveknanda

Let’s realize his vision

Chicago Address of Swamiji

“ Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilization, and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now.

Chicago Address of Swamiji

• But their time is come; and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honor of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal.”

The Second Phase

• Life and Mission of Acharya Shriram Sharma

27

Advent of Age of TruthTranslated all the

Vedic Scriptures

Started the Movement for the Reconstruction

of the Era

Founded All World

Gayatri Pariwar

(www.awgp.org)

• > 100 Million Followers• > 5000 Centers• > 60000 Regional Groups

Wrote more than 3000 books on

almost all aspects of humanity

Constructive Movements in the Fields of Spiritual Penance, Education, Health, Self-Reliance, Women Empowerment, Environment Protection & De-Addiction

28

Pt. Shriram Sharma AcharyaTranslated all the

Vedic Scriptures

Started the Movement for the Reconstruction

of the Era

Founded All World

Gayatri Pariwar

(www.awgp.org)

• > 100 Million followers• > 5000 centers• > 60000 regional groups

Wrote more than 3000 books on

almost all aspects of humanity

Constructive Movements in the Fields of Spiritual Penance, Education, Health, Self-Reliance, Women Empowerment, Environment Protection & De-Addiction

All this isaccomplished byTime Donation

& Resource Donationby the Masses

Scientific Spirituality - The Religion of Tomorrow

Great unification Theory

• Towards human unity and equality - The essence of teachings of Swami ji.

• Intercommunion of Science and Spirituality

God Particle

Limitations of Science

Limitations of Science

The Fabric of the Cosmos

• Acclaimed physicist Brian Greene In his book Fabric of the Cosmos, acknowledged that the world may be a projection or manifestation rather than, what we consider, A MATERIAL REALTY.

The Final Phase

• So, ultimately Science will come closer to Vedic knowledge of Conscious Origin of Universe, with matter being manifestation of Consciousness.

»é‡ææˆ×·¤ âëçCï çÁâ·ð¤ ×êÜ ƒæÅU·¤ ãñ´U ™ææÙ, ç·ý¤Øæ ¥æñÚU ¥™ææÙ - âÌ÷, ÚUÁ ¥æñÚU Ì×÷

New Age of Synthesis

• This will pave way for new Age of Scientific Spirituality.

• The material, reductionistic view of the Universe will be ruled invalid.

• Materialism will be replaced by a new age Spirituality.

• Reductionism will be cast aside by a New Holism.

May our intellect lead us to the Sunlit path of

human unity and equality.