Unity

Duality was on the fore in the first ever inter-religious dialogue held in Bangalore, between Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (Art of Living) and Dr. Zakir Naik (Islamic Research Foundation) to understand the concept of God in Hinduism and Islam. One spoke of love as a channel to God whilst the other seemed to insist on a more scholarly path to Him (to resounding applause from the gathering). Of course, the former was being really humble in declaring his ignorance of the scriptures being quoted by the latter. Interestingly, the very scriptures that he feigned ignorance of and resisted quoting from, teach that simple trait that he already embodies - that of humility, ignorance and of love. For if not for ignorance, how does one prepare oneself to learn? If not for one's acknowledgement that one doesn't know enough, how does one open his heart and mind to gain from other viewpoints? Thoreau once said, 'How can we remember our ignorance which our growth requires, when we are using our knowledge all of the time?'

The dialogue in brief:

Dr. Naik laid the litmus test in deciding if an entity is to be regarded as God -

1. God is only one without a second. God is only one but sages call him by various names. There are 33 names given to that Entity in the Rig Veda and 99 names given to him in the Koran.

2. God is the absolute and eternal. He has no beginning and no end.

3. He begets not nor is he begotten. Of Him, there are no parents and no offspring.

4. There is nothing like Him; He has no likeness, no image, no picture, no statue. He can't be compared to anything.

He further added:

- Judge not a religion by what it's practioners do or the customs and traditions they follow. Judge it rather by it's sacred scriptures

- Hinduism preaches that everything is God whilst Islam teaches that everything belongs to God. Hence, the difference between the two great religions is only of an apostrophe and an 's' (God vs God's)

Sri Sri insisted: 'See not what differentiates one another. Rather look at the similarities and enjoy the dissimilarities.'

My 2 cents on the whole affair: We all worship the same God. Call Him what you may, He is the sole creator and sustainer of this world.

The takeaway from this event is summed up by Sri Sri's recalling of Kabir's teaching: 'You can read all the scriptures in the world, but all that is required is two words of love.' This is surely what we need in this time of disquiet, uneasiness and strife all across the world.