Great Minds Think Alike
(May 1983)
"If anybody here is hoping that the unity of all the various religions will be achieved by the prosperity and spread of only one religion and the destruction of other religions then let me tell him, 'My brother, your this hope will never be fulfilled'. Do I expect that the Christians should convert themselves to Hinduism ? Let God never do it ! Do I expect the Hindus or Buddhists to convert themselves to Christianity ? Not at all.
A Christian need not convert himself and become a Hindu or a Buddhist. Or a Hindu or a Buddhist also need not convert himself to Christianity. Everyone should preserve his specialty and grasping the essence of other religions, he should develop his personality and prosper according to his individual nature".
Can our readers say at once whose thoughts have been expressed in the above extract ? Our Sadguru Shri Sai Baba of Shirdi is known as a champion of religious equality and fraternity. He believed in the equality of all religions and therefore in His darbar people of all faiths had equal status. His devotees therefore comprise of all religions and creeds and there is perfect harmony in them. The devotees of Sai Baba consider themselves as brothers and sisters of each other though in the census of India they may belong to different castes, creeds and religions. One may therefore feel that the above quotation is from Shri Sai Baba's advice; but it is not so. This extract is from the speech , of another great son of India, who had deep study of the Indian culture and Hindu religion and who knew the greatness of Hindu philosophy viz. Swami Vivekanand.
In 1893 a conference of all the religions of the world was held in Chicago. Swami Vivekanand had the honour to be the representative of the Hindu religion at that conference. On the very first day viz 11-9-1893 he had occasion to address the gathering after a few representatives of other religions delivered their speeches. No sooner Swamiji rose to speak he addressed the gathering, "My American brothers and sisters". This very beginning of his speech appealed so much to the gathering that the whole venue of the gathering echoed with heavy clapping for nearly three to four minutes. The very beginning of Swamiji's speech indicated the broad outlook of the Hindu religion and Indian culture in as much as he considered all humanity on equal level and addressed them as his brothers and sisters though they belonged to various religions and creeds; As the phrase goes “Well begun is half done" the audience was much impressed by the speech of Swamiji which expounded the broad base of Hindu philosophy that recognised the importance of every individual and allowed him to follow his own faith. Unity in diversity was in short the essense of Hindu philosophy which impressed the audience very much in the very first speech of Swamiji.
India was a nation of slaves in those days. The British imperialism was at its zenith at that time. The British people were ruling over countries in all the five continents of the world. At that time they used to say very proudly that the sun never sets over the British Empire and it was perfectly true, because the sun was always shining on some British territory or the other. Under such circumstances the picture of India known to the world was the one which was painted by the conceited British people. Hence in the eyes of the other nations India was a nonentity; but on listening to the speech of this great Indian, Swami Vivekanand, they had to revise their opinion and impression about India. Swamiji therefore became a very important person throughout the conference and he was treated with great honour. His speeches were listened by all very attentively and his opinion was sought on various points. On the concluding day of the conference viz 27-9-1893 he was again requested to address the gathering along with other religious heads and the extract quoted at the beginning of this article is from that speech of Shri Swamiji which he delivered at Chicago on the concluding day of the conference.
It is quite interesting to note here how the minds of the great people are thinking alike. Swami Vivekanand was never known to have visited Shirdi. Nor Sai Baba had any open discussion with Swamiji in His life time. Still the thoughts about religion expressed by both these saints are quite alike. The tension between the Hindus and Muslims, in particular, was rising in India and as the basic principles of all religions are more or less the same, the great thinkers of the world have always been thinking why there should at all be a conflict among the religions of the world. The prophets or saints who started a religion, always had the thought of the people before them. They had to think of the society and enunciate such principles which would hold the society together. The religion is a common tie among a group of people though apparently they may have some differences in their customs. Therefore the base of a religion, which lays down the moral principles is bound to be uniform. No religion in the world says that a person can commit theft or that a person can kill another person or that a person can abduct or seduce another person's married wife and therefore there is no real ground for conflict between religions; but as stated in his speech by Swami Vivekanand some followers of a religion become so fanatic that they feel that their religion is the only true religion which should exist in this world. They therefore feel that all other religions except their own religion should become extinct and this fanaticism leads to crusades. This unrest in the world was analysed properly by great thinkers like Shri Sai Baba and Swami Vivekanand and they bad come to the conclusion that it is no use trying to destroy or overpower any of the established religions in the world. The only solution to end the religious conflict is tolerance. Every staunch follower of any religion should learn to honour other man's religion. It is necessary for every one to understand the good principles of other religions and to inculcate them on one's mind. Swami Vivekanand has therefore ruled out the conversion of one person from one religion to another and he therefore says, "Every person should preserve his specialty and grasping the essence of other religions, he should develop his personality and prosper according to his individual nature". Shri Sai Baba has also expressed similar thoughts on several occasions while dealing with persons professing different religions.
Though apparently we wonder how the great minds think in the same direction, really speaking there is no reason for expressing any sort of wonder in this behalf. The spiritual level of all great thinkers and saints is so high that they are communicating with each other without any visible media. Telepathy or wireless telegraphy are inventions of modern world; but the saints and thinkers are above them and their ways of thought cannot be easily understood by the common people. From Sai Satcharita we can cite several examples to show that there is a communion among the saints. Though they may be far away from each other they can talk with each other without any difficulty.
In chapter fourteen of Sai Satcharita the story of Shri Ruttonji Shapurji Wadia has been described at length. When Shri Wadia offered to pay dakshina to Shri Baba, He said, "I have already received Rs. 3-14-0 from you so you may only pay the rest". This statement of Shri Sai Baba simply stunned Shri Wadia who could not remember having paid any dakshina to Shri Baba before. When this riddle was referred to Shri Baba's staunch devotee Shri Das Ganu, it transpired that some time before Shri Wadia had felicitated a Mahomedan Saint by name Moulisaheb in his house when an amount of Rs. 3-14-0 spent for the function. This was the amount referred to by Shri Sai Baba. How could Shri Baba have known about this function and about the amount spent on the occasion unless He had some spiritual connection with Saint Moulisaheb ?
In chapter twentyone the story of Shri V. H. Thakur is told. He met one Kannad saint (Appa) at Vadgaum near Belgaum. When Shri Takur bowed before the saint, he said to him, "When you go to the north in discharge of your duties in future, you will come across a big saint by your good luck and then he will show you the future path and give rest to your mind and make you happy". The saint (Appa) had referred in his above talk to the future visit of Shri Thakur to Shri Sai Baba, which came true later on; but how could, Appa refer to that earlier without having any spiritual connection with Shri Sai Baba ?
subhasrini
OM SAI SRI SAI JAYA JAYA SAI!!!
Let us pray at the feet of Sai Baba who is the incarnation of all gods and protector of all, to show mercy on us, and increase our devotion towards him.
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