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Shed all assumed identities
for spiritual liberation We are blessed to be living
in an open, multicultural and multiethnic society where there is not only
tolerance but also respect and acceptance for people of different ethnicity,
spiritual traditions and beliefs. Over the last couple of
years, I have participated in quite a few multi faith dialogues. I am thankful to my Christian friends and
local churches for taking the initiatives to organize such dialogues. These
initiatives are true gestures of open mindedness and liberal thinking. Being
from Hindu tradition, which has always accepted many paths to spirituality,
I truly appreciate the opportunities for such dialogues. It is hoped that,
through these dialogues, we will come to understand and accept our neighbours
from different faiths. However, not all faiths have shown the same liberal
attitudes. That leads me to ponder on
an interesting conundrum. Why do we
humans so much love to impose various identities on ourselves and then become
prisoners of those self-imposed identities? Are any of our identities even real
or just self-assumed or imposed on us by others? Certainly in our complex human societies we do need identities. If all of us were addressed as “Hey you “ which one of us will answer? That is why we identify ourselves by various names. We also identify ourselves based on relationships such as son, sister, or husband of so and so. Then come our occupational identities such as carpenter, painter, teacher, doctor, scientist, and identities of our ethnicity like being Jews, Arabs Indians, and our national identities such as Americans, Canadians, and Chinese etc. Those identities are based on our physical material existence and are transient in nature. They do serve a beneficial purpose of identifying our place in nature, and how to relate and interact with our surroundings. Beyond our myriads of
material identities lies our one spiritual identity, realization of which is
the goal of Dharma (virtuous,
right code of conduct). Our spiritual identity is One Indivisible Whole and
quite different from our assumed faith based identities such as Christians,
Moslems, Jews, Buddhists and Sikhs etc. Instead of realization of our
Wholeness, these strong faith based identities create boundaries around us and
end up making us prisoners of our convictions. We now divide the world between
US versus THEM. These divisions lead to our prejudices against THEM. Our
prejudices are at the roots of our dislikes and or fears of THEM. These dislikes and fears agitate
our minds loosing our tranquility. Without peaceful minds it is impossible to
make spiritual progress. Just as it is impossible to see our reflections in
whirlpools, it is impossible to connect with our spirituality with agitated
minds. To live in spiritual harmony peaceful, tranquil minds are first
requisites. That is why ancient Indian
spiritual wisdom teaches us “Bhuva
eva sukham, na alpum” meaning “peace, tranquility and everlasting joy
reside in One Infinite Eternal Indivisible Reality, and cannot be found
in its constituent parts”. There is
no room for divisions in such wisdom. Perhaps, one day, we will
all be blessed with such spiritual insight and realize our One essential
spiritual identity uniting us with our Ultimate Cause, liberating us from our
self imposed prisons of various faith based identities. Then our interfaith
dialogue will become even more meaningful and we will truly learn from each
other to coexist in peace and harmony. Not just with our fellow human beings,
but also with all the other creatures and our environment. |