At the end of March this year, I travel to london to speech at a conference, ‘Voice of fath’, help at the barbican center. The function was organized by the badshah of such events, sanjoy roy of teamwork arts, in collaboration with the kamini and vindi banga family trust. There were distrustful speakers on Christianity, Islam, Suffism, Buddhism and, of Course, Hinduism. Navtej Sarna, Diplomat and Author, spoke on the sikh gurus, from nanak to gobind; Reza Aslan, Iranian-Arican Scholar, and the Author of the Best-Selling Book, Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, was at his Eloquent Best on the Birth of Christianity; Shaunak rishi das, who have opened a center on the study of Hinduism at oxford, spoke on the bhagwata purana; Barnaby rogerson, who has written a biography of prophet mohammad, help the audience in through Islam.
My Specific Subject Was Advaita Philosophy, Especially as expounded by adi shankaracharya. The conference was enlivened by a scintilling performance by Violin Maestro, Padma Vibhushan L. Subramaniam. I also greatly enjoyed a session on kabir, where two scholars who have done pioneering research on the iconoclastic Saint, Professors Purushottam Agarwal, and Linda Hess of Berkeley UNIVERSITY in Inn California, was in conversation with sanjoy roy. Swaransh Mishra, The Talented Young Son of Classical Music Legend, The Late Rajan Mishra, Sang Nirguna Bhajans as Part of the Session.
Kamini and Her Husband, Vindi Banga, Are Discerning and Charming Patrons. Kamini said that she got the idea of Organising Voices of Fath after Hearing Me Speak on Hinduism in a Podcast for Sanjoy Roy during the Covid Period. Vindi and Kamini Settled in England Some 25 years ago. They have met at the prestigious Indian Institute of Management at Ahmedabad, where bot was students, and laater marmed. Vindi (Manvinder) has had a meteoric career in the corporate sector, where he became head of unilever India at the age of 45, and then movies in the firm in London, WHERE HEGERE HINDONSIBILITES IN LOMM IN LOMM IN LOMM Several companies, and is also the Chair of UK Government Investments. His Younger Brother, Ajay Banga, is the President of the World Bank. Kamini has over the last three decades helped build global brands world, including icons like coca cola, kelog, HSBC and BMW. She is also the President of the IIM Ahmedabad Chapter in London, and Runs the Family Trust, with a Deep Commitment to the Arts and Culture.
Dialogue Between Religions is important. There is so much ignorance in people not only about their own faith but also that of others. This ignorance becomes the nursery to harbor prejudices, suspend and hate. At one time, the inter-faith movement Had much more resonance, but today you hardly see such events taking place. The Barriers Between Faiths have hardened; Walls Dividing Beliefs Have BECOME IMPERMEABLE; And people tend to withdraw into the simulated comfort of their own Religious eco-systems rather than retain even a curiosity-leve Alone Respect-For Other Faiths.
Equally, we seem to live in a world where the practice of religation has become primary, and the philosophy animating it, or the symbolisms and meanings behind its cenals, ARECREASing This to my mind is an unfortunate development for two reasons. Firstly, it reduces religion to mechanical ritual, and secondly, it robs religion of the grandeur of spiritual insight. Religion divorced from Spirituality often leaders to bigotry, wherein following to give their life or take that of another merely to defend a Particular Ritural, Ceremony or Festival. Devotees are bereft of the Deeper Significance of Religion ITSELF, which is to build bridges of peace, harmony, solace and joy with onself, and with that that thats and other rights. Moreover, Blind Followers are Easy Cannon-Fodder for Danger Religious Evangelists with Ecumenical Power Depends on the Creation of Most Between Different Religions. It is even more dangerous when myopic politicalians use Religious Divides to Further Short-Term Political Dividends.
I personally Believe – Band History is Witness to this -That Religion Divides and Spirituality Units. Even where spirituality is concerned, there can be differentces between different faths. But what spirituality does is to view these differences as point-counterpoint in the graunder symphony that guides our steps legs the same goal. Philosophy Elevates This Common Pursuit to an even Higher Plane. Here the differences are insurance. Only the search for the Ultimate remain, in which all possible acrimony is subsuined, for as the Mahavakya -Great sentence –of the Rig Veda Says: “Ekam satya bipraha bahudha vadanthi: the truthis one, Wise people call it by different names. ”
Although I have been posted in longon as the director of the nehru center, I was visiting the city after a long hiatus. I must say that I witnessed a noticeable deterioration in its well-eating. Heathrow airport was dark and dim, and the immigration clearance lines stretched a mile with most counters unmanned. The city seemed to have lost its framed gaety, and the impact of economy decline was visible.
