Unity in Diversity

Swami Shantarupananda

Swami Shantarupananda is a monk of the Ramakrishna Order and the Minister-in-Charge of the Vedanta Society of Portland, USA.

We live in a relative world. So we need to renew and review our approach to the Reality. We need to have more of interactions, exchange of ideas in order to keep pace with the changing circumstances of time.

The most striking phenomenon of the modern age, rather for the Third Millennium as we stand today, is the mingling of people, races, cultures and religions. Thanks to the great achievements of modern science and technology, computer, internet, email and so on, we are very close to each other. Any subject we intend to know we will just type it on our Internet, and there it comes. So the whole world, past, present, and future, is in front of you. No man, race, culture, or religion can ever retreat from this modernity and science. Unlike the past of human history, the paradigm of modern life is gradually and steadily shifting to its broader spectrum than ever.

My experiences with our neighbours in Portland, Inter-faith councils, meditation and prayer groups, schools, colleges, and universities, reveal to me that this neighbourhood is going to be transformed into a true everlasting brotherhood!

There was a small sign, apparently somebody wrote by hand, at the Mount Tabor Park that read: 'God is too big to fit into one religion.' The Vedanta Society in Portland is situated on the western side of Mt. Tabor. I was so happy to learn about that sign. Because that is the voice of Vedanta! God is Infinite. How can we limit the Unlimited? Infinite is God, and infinite are the ways to reach God.

We find the present students are quite open-minded. At one time I was giving a lecture at the Evergreen High School, Vancouver, Western Washington, on 'Hinduism--its theories and practices' to 10th and 12th grade students. And the students were quite attentive, receptive and appreciative. I remember at the end of my lecture during question-answer session one girl student asked lot of questions. When I was going to finish my talk that girl student raised her hand again. Everybody was smiling. I asked, 'Didn't you finish all your questions?' 'Oh, no, I have no more question, but I have a comment to make,' she replied. 'What's that?' I asked. She said, 'After hearing you we should not think that our ways are the only ways, others are false.' 'Thank you,' I replied with great satisfaction.

Wherever we go we notice that the students, the new generation, are quite appreciative of other Faiths too. That is what is wanted by Vedanta. You don't need to give up your own Faith. You grow in your own way, but accept the spirits of others, rather assimilate those ideas. Because Unity in variety is the law of nature. God is the centre of all religions, and each of us is moving towards Him along one of the radii. And at the centre, where all the radii meet, all our differences cease to exist; but until we reach there, differences there must be. 'All roads lead to Rome.'

It is not toleration. Harmony of all Faiths is a positive force that generates powers to grow in my own path as well as to accept and assimilate the spirits of others. The religions of the world are not contradictory or antagonistic to each other. They are but various phases of one eternal religion which existed all through eternity and will ever exist. Therefore, we must respect all religions and try to accept them all as far as we can. It is wrong to say, 'Your methods are not right.'

At the end of my lecture on 'Hinduism' at the University of Utah one gentleman asked me the question, 'If someone says, "My religion is the only religion which takes you to heaven, others are going to hell", what will be your answer?' My answer was, 'It seems to me totally illogical, unscientific, and childlike to make such a statement. It is just like saying, "I will not play with you unless you play with me the way I want to." If you read anywhere that says, "I am the only way", know for sure, that means God is the only way, the way of the divine, not the materialistic way. The only everlasting peace is attained through spiritual realization, not otherwise. That is my explanation.' Presumably, the answer satisfied that gentleman.

Some time back, I gave a telephonic interview to a research scholar at the Princeton University. In course of conversation she asked me, 'Suppose someone comes to you to convert you into his faith, what will you do?' 'I'll simply say, "Convert yourself first into your own faith, then come to me."' 'What do you mean by that?' 'Well, I mean by that he should live the life according to the teachings of his faith first. Life is much more powerful than words. It is the life from where inspiration comes, not from the intellect or brain. Earn spirituality first, acquire that first. Show by your life that religion does not mean words, but spiritual realization. In other words, we want a Christian to be a better Christian, a Muslim to be a better Muslim or a Hindu a better Hindu.'

Isn't it more confusing? Yes, it is. But out of this chaos and confusion harmony and peace will certainly emerge. If all the brothers and sisters of a family already live in peace and harmony, can you preach to them to 'live in peace'?

So, we live in the world of multiplicity. Vedanta recognizes that aspect of the reality. But we lead to the Unity. Variety is the first principle of life, and Unity in variety is the plan of the Universe, as Swami Vivekananda puts it. The concept that all religions are leading to the same goal is inherent in the Vedantic tradition, broadly speaking, in Hindu tradition.

Swami Vivekananda learned that lesson from his great teacher Sri Ramakrishna, who was the Incarnation of harmony of all ideas. Following this great teaching of harmony of all faiths Swami Vivekananda designed the logo of the Order indicating different paths leading to the same goal.

Thousands of years ago ancient sages of India declared, 'ekam sat viprah bahudha vadanti'--Truth is One, sages call it by various names. It is not that Krishna is superior to Kali, not that Kali is everything and Krishna is nothing, but it is the same one whom you call either Krishna, or Kali, or by a hundred other names. The names are different, but it is the same one.

In the Bhagavad Gita Sri Krishna preaches the harmony of all Faiths, all aspects of God, all different attitudes. In Krishna we find this idea of the harmony of different ideas stands supreme. He says, 'In Me they are all strung like pearls upon a thread.' But at the time of Sri Krishna other religions did not come up.

In modern times Sri Ramakrishna realized God through different paths and reiterated the Rig Vedic dictum in his own fashion saying, 'As many views so many avenues--yato mat tato path'. He wanted the harmonious development of all the ways of knowing the Truth. These ways are known as Yogas: Jnana yoga, the path of knowledge, Bhakti yoga, the path of devotion, Karma yoga, the path of action, and Dhyana or Raja yoga, the path of meditation, the psychological approach. All religions can very well be fitted into these ways of knowing the Reality.

On the importance of Unity in Plurality, Blaise Pascal said that plurality which is not reduced to unity is confusion, and unity which does not depend on plurality is tyranny. How true he is! Almost on the similar terms Benjamin Franklin, on the Declaration of Independence (1776) said that we must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.

Look at the whole of cosmology. From the existential point of view, we all differ physically, mentally and spiritually. But still we all belong to the generic name 'Humanity'. Throughout the history of the growth and developments of all religions we observe that they all differ in their philosophy, mythology, and ritual. Still they all call on God. God is neither a Hindu, nor a Buddhist, nor a Christian, nor a Muslim. God is what God is. God runs through all religions, and yet God is beyond all of these.

There are three formidable obstacles on way to the unity of religions. These are--first, the spirit of science and reason. No dogmas and doubtful events can any more be accepted with certainty; second, the awakened social conscience which protests against the inequities which are being practised in the world; and third, provincialism of religion. Vedanta presents before us a universality of outlook, what we need today the most. Subsequently it enables us to overcome all these obstacles and eventually to reach the highest goal of human life.

Now, what is the basic principle of Vedanta? I will give you an answer to this question with the help of an anecdote which I heard from a doctor. It is like this: once the richest man of the world, who was an adept in the computer technology, passed away. God appeared before him and said, 'Since you were the richest man of the world, I will give you a choice. You can go to heaven or hell whatever you want.' The richest man replied, 'Well, I don't know what is heaven or hell.' 'Okay, I will take you to both the places, then you decide,' God replied. So, God took him to the hell first. There he saw people having all kinds of fun like dancing, singing, and so on. After that he was taken to the heaven, where he saw the similar picture. Then God asked him, 'Have you decided where to go?' 'Well, I don't see any difference between your heaven and hell. Let me go to the place where I started.' So, God took him to hell. This time, to his utter surprise, he got a totally different picture of hell. People were screaming, yelling, shouting, crying. It was awful! It was really a hell! He asked God, 'What happened? It was not the same picture what you showed me at the first time?' Then God replied, 'That was the screen saver!'

This anecdote gives us the insight of the Vedantic teachings. Whatever you see, whatever you can conceive of, is nothing but the screen saver. The Reality is beyond this appearance.The first principle of Vedanta is: each soul is potentially divine. Your body-mind complex is nothing but the screen saver. Your real nature is beneath this screen. You are Atman, tat tvam asi. The glory of the human soul is sung all over the Vedic teachings. There is no scope of any dogmatic idea, or parochial outlook here.

In this connection, I would like to point out to you the concept of Plato's Idealism enshrined in the image of a cave in the Republic. All the prisoners in the dark cave were living in shadows. They were content. One of them turned round and freed himself from his shackles. Eventually he came out of the cave, and saw the bright sun radiating brilliant rays of light all over. Then he realized that the fire in the cave was nothing but a small reflection compared to the blazing sun. He did not remain content there. He went back to the cave, and apprised the prisoners of the brilliant sun light. But they did not believe him. Rather they thought he was insane!

It reminds me of Goethe's drama Faust where he started with a very interesting heavenly prologue. God and the Devil discuss about the highest image of Deity human being can frame. After a long discussion, both agree that God imagined by man is a pitiable creature, compared with the Reality of God. We should not confuse the image of God as man conceives with the Reality of God. We need to perceive the spiritual unity beneath the divergent symbols and individual preferences. We must have love, compassion, mutual respect and acceptance of the spirits of others.

In my opinion, religion has emerged mature from the criticism of science and social conscience, accepting whatever is valid in other religions. When different Faiths interact, our own religion is imperceptibly modified. The unreal yields to the Real. That's why, we pray, asato ma sad gamaya, tamaso ma jyotirgamaya, mrityorma amritam gamaya -- lead us from the unreal to the Real, lead us from darkness to Light, lead usfrom death to Immortality. We need inter-religious understanding. The new religious situation will be not an endless homogeneity, but an organic Unity where we will have sympathetic understanding and appreciation of other Faiths too.

Vedanta is a religion, a philosophy, and a way of life. Its teachings are based on these three basic principles; first, each soul is potentially divine, secondly, the goal of human life is to manifest that latent divinity, and thirdly, Truth is one, sages call it by various names.

The third principle of Vedanta is a message of harmony and peace. Let this third message of vedanta be the central theme of the third millennium!

Let us remember what Swami Vivekananda declared, in his prophetic vision, at the final session of the Parliament of Religions, Chicago, '... upon the banner of every religion will soon be written, in spite of resistance: Help and not fight, Assimilation and not destruction, Harmony and peace and not dissension.'