Session Three & Closing

[To the production team: “Can someone confirm from the team if the live stream is on? It’s all okay? Thank you.”]

Good morning. It’s still good morning. We made it to this session without hitting noon, which in itself is an accomplishment, so I think give yourselves a little credit for that. We’ve been very disciplined. But now, you know what they all say: the rubber hits the road. It’s time to get to concrete actions and commitments.

This final session - first of all, let me welcome all those people around the world who tuned in today in support of One World and One Humanity. One thing I tell you today: make a commitment to all the people around the world. A new chapter is being written in the history of the [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh]. Hon’ble Mohan Bhagwat Ji has made a commitment that the next hundred years for the [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh] will be to be the bridge builder, reaching out across all the sections. So wherever there are differences, perceptions, misunderstandings, bring them to the table. Let’s not harbour those envies and feelings which divide us. Come together. And that’s why the eminent leaders gathered here today are going to give us some direction on what we can do to heal and repair the fractures in our global community.

So let me begin first by asking His Eminence Cardinal John Onaiyekan from Nigeria. And if you don’t know about him, and you’re in the world of interfaith, then you’re in the wrong place. Your Eminence. Would you prefer to speak from there? I can give you a mic.

I’m fine here. Hello, hello. Thank you very much, Dr. Bawa Jain.

Obviously, coming from a long way, fifteen hours’ flight from Abuja to New York, you try to prepare something before you arrive. I don’t know whether what you’re asking of me now is to just say what is in my mind right now, or do I read what I prepared? It’s a little difficult in sessions like this.

First of all, I must appreciate the wonderful things we have heard so far from the previous sessions, the previous panel discussions. You could say that if there’s anything more to be said, we have said it all. You leave me with that. I have not said my own.

And I would simply want to say, I agree with a lot of the beautiful things we heard. You see, we thank God that we have been able to gather together like this in our diversities. The problem is not with those of us who are here. As you can see, we are okay. And we eat together. We are sleeping in a nice hotel - thank you very much for the hotel, it’s beautiful. We have no problem. The problem is more that we are still carrying a lot of heavy baggage from our history, from the past. And it’s not easy to dislodge ourselves from that baggage.

Let me just give you a typical example. We in Africa, in the last two hundred years, have been targets of conversion, first from Islam and then from Christianity. Let me take the example of Nigeria. Every Nigerian is a convert. Well, most Nigerians. Very few of my people have retained the religion of our ancestors, even though the values of our African religion have not left us. But I’m a Christian because my father became a Christian in 1922. And my cousins are Muslims because their father became a Muslim.

And what has happened is that Christianity and Islam in Nigeria came in, in a sort of competition for membership, for conversion. More or less like for domination. And that rivalry has not left. It’s only that we are reaching a situation now where every Nigerian has already made up his mind to be either Christian or Muslim. So there are no more others to go and poach. The result is that we are now face to face, Christians and Muslims. And how are we going to continue to convert if we are already converted? Or does that mean we must start fighting one another?

And that’s the reason why we have problems right now. And how do we get out of that? My own conviction is we must get away from this idea that we must go and make disciples of all nations. What does that mean? Is that what Jesus means? Kill ourselves till we all become Christians, or kill ourselves till we all become Muslims? Surely Almighty God doesn’t want that.

To change that attitude means we have to reread our scriptures. We have to review the way we undertake what we call evangelization in Christianity and da’wah in Islam. I can do that because my church already started that job since 1965. Vatican II has put us in a new way of looking at all these things. I’m not sure all the Christian groups in Nigeria have gone through that kind of self-examination, and we need to do it - first among us Christians, then amongst Christians and Muslims.

I take the Hindu religion and Buddhism, that is part and parcel of it, as a different perspective, as the Buddhist monk so beautifully made clear to us, that we should emphasize the “we” and the “our” more than the “mine.” And to realize that if we really believe there is only one God - we really believe this - then it means that one God cannot expect us to fight each other. If we begin to fight, it means we have lost our way.

That is the major thrust of what I have prepared, because the Pope, the [unclear] from Rome, has made very beautiful statements about where our church stands on these matters, and I want to congratulate him. Not him actually - I congratulate his prefect. The prefect of the [Dicastery], who by the way is an Indian. And it was beautiful to hear the Indian Cardinal[’s message] and to hear the Indian dean, Dean [Varghese], all speaking the same language with, I’m sure, our chief host here, who is also an Indian Hindu.

Now, the world’s major religions must start doing more than just wonderful meetings like this. We must start talking seriously about how we can change the way we are talking to our communities. And it is interesting, beautiful, to hear that the young people have other interests. And if we concentrated on the needs of the world, the pains in this world, and how we can handle it and deal with it, then we realize that our [religious] identities, which have led to rivers of blood in the history of humanity - time has come for changes. The world has reached that stage.

But I would like to conclude by saying that it is my strong conviction that God himself is acting in the world of our days. It’s not all bad news. Even though, for me, I believe the stockpile of nuclear weapons in the hands of the so-called civilized countries is indeed a great disaster. It’s ridiculous. Something has to be done about it. It is stupid. It doesn’t make sense to pile up weapons of mass human destruction that I can’t see how you can reasonably use, and costing billions of naira - money that could be spent to tackle poverty and disease.

And so I think we’ve reached a stage in the world now where we can no longer continue to fight wars. Most reverently to say is that Pope Francis and later on Pope Leo has said, we have reached a stage now where we can hardly make a case for a just war. A just nuclear war? There’s hardly any condition, any situation, where you can say it is just to throw mighty power on somebody, however you may think the person is a bad person.

So we have to find a way of living in peace, because it is either we live in peace or we destroy ourselves. And I think if religions cannot be part of the solution to this problem, who else will do it? And I’m afraid religions will not be able to become part of the solution if they are still squabbling among themselves because of maybe their way of understanding the inner nature of God, which we should note, in any case, is well beyond us. We should face serious issues so that we can live together as human beings.

We are talking of a globalized world. I left Abuja and I was here in America the same day. It was not possible a century ago. We don’t know what will happen in the next fifty years. Our differences will no longer be as important as we think they are.

And so, if religious bodies can put their house in order - and we should be able to do so, because we now believe sincerely that we all have one God. Don’t forget that there are many out there who don’t agree to that, many out there who don’t believe we have one God. Many of my own compatriots, when I tell them, they say, “No, the God of a Muslim is different from the God of a Christian.” I say, “Well, that means you no longer believe in one God. And if you’re a Christian, you must believe in one God. If you’re a Muslim, you must believe in one God, and there cannot be more than one God. If it’s one God, it’s one God.”

In my country we don’t have Hindus. We’ve got very few Hindus, and the Buddhist line of thought. And maybe you have a lot to teach the rest of us in this regard. God is greater than every religion. And I can say that without getting anybody from Rome beating me up for it, because it is in our church documents - that God is greater than religion. And if we agree on that, then we’ll be able to help the politicians to be less stupid than they are. Because if we are not properly organized among ourselves, they will continue to hijack us for their own agenda. That is where wars come, and we begin to talk of something as stupid as religious war.

May God help our nation. May God help our common home, our human family, one humanity in one world. Thank you. I think I’ve exhausted my time.

Your Eminence, thank you. Thank you so much, because you set the right tone, and I totally echo your sentiments. There is no just war. It’s like an oxymoron. How can there be a just war that’s destroying humanity?

People around the world, I want you to know that this is a very historic day, because twenty-six years ago on this day we assembled at the United Nations. There was a big delegation from India - 108, to be precise. But now we are launching a new chapter.

And so today, continuing in the same vein, I want to invite my dear brother, Rabbi [Noam] Marans, the Director of Interreligious [Affairs] for the American Jewish Committee. Please, Rabbi [Noam] Marans.

Thank you, Bawa. Friends, all. “Baruch haba b’shem Adonai.” Blessed are those who enter with the name of God on their lips.

It is a Kiddush Hashem, a sanctification of God’s name, that we, religious leaders, are here together with all our diverse names for God, to declare our inextricably linked humanity. The world’s resurgent hate makes this gathering so urgent. That hate is the opposite of this convening. That hate is a Chilul Hashem, a desecration of God’s name. It speaks the divisive language of us and them that tries to deny the inherent equal value of every human being.

In this great city, historically renowned for its religious, ethnic, and racial diversity, there is today, here and in many places around the world, way too much of this us and them, and not enough of we are all in this together.

In the Jewish tradition, this foundational value is taken from the creation story, the first chapter of the Torah, the Hebrew Bible, when we are told that humans are created in tzelem Elohim, in the image of God. That means we must treat all human beings as children of God - a God who loves us, commands us to love God, and in absolute parallel, to love our fellow human beings as they too are godly.

I proudly embrace the particularism of every faith, including my own. Particularism is natural, even healthy. We should worry more about our own family than someone else’s family. But if particularism is an end unto itself and not a pathway to universalism, it has not achieved its full potential. The Talmud teaches that “Kol Yisrael arevim zeh bazeh” - all Jews are responsible one for the other. It’s a great start. But it cannot be the totality of what God ultimately wants of us, which is that all human beings are responsible, one for the other.

The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King said it perfectly in his letter from the Birmingham jail. You know the words: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

And if we didn’t understand King’s words intuitively, the climate crisis and the recent pandemic made it crystal clear. There is no escaping our responsibility, one for the other. Fires in Canada this summer made outdoor breathing in Manhattan nearly impossible. Six years ago, a pandemic circled the globe in no time.

The conference’s leadership has made its goals clear: less pomp and more circumstance. Or as we say in the Jewish tradition, “Lo hamidrash [ikar] ela hama’aseh” - actions speak louder than words.

What can we do as religious leaders? Many things. But none more important than to use the power of our cloth and the bully of our pulpit to mobilize the visibility of religious leaders as a symbolic exemplar. When we show up, a picture can be worth much more than the proverbial thousand words.

Here are a few examples of the many I could cite. There are innumerable documents of churches that led the way in transforming Christian-Jewish relations from enmity to amity, not least the Catholic Church’s Nostra aetate, whose sixtieth year we are still celebrating. But documents often do not make it past the treetops, beyond religious leaders. Visuals, on the other hand, reach the grassroots, the people in the pews.

Like when Pope John Paul II set a new standard for modern popes forty years ago, as the first pope since Peter, like Catholics say, to visit a synagogue. Peter was a nice Jewish boy; he obviously went to shul. It is now a given that that is what popes do, to bear witness that Christians and Jews are brothers and sisters, children of the same God.

We are days away from the twenty-fifth anniversary of 9/11, a horrific day of terror for America and the world. Six days after that cataclysm, President George W. Bush went to the Islamic Center of Washington to condemn anti-Muslim backlash. Until then, anti-Muslim hate crimes had been rising. Thereafter, the hate crimes began to decrease. His leadership made a difference. Sadly, we have regressed since that noble moment.

On October 27th, 2018, American Jews endured the deadliest antisemitic attack in US history, the murder of eleven Jews at prayer on Shabbat morning in Pittsburgh. The American Jewish community was despondent, but we were quickly buoyed by Show Up for Shabbat, organized by American Jewish Committee, AJC, when synagogues were filled the next Shabbat with non-Jewish solidarity supporters in addition to Jews: priests and ministers together with Christian congregants, imams accompanying Muslim [congregants], Dharmic leaders together with their faithful, and many others, all showing up at synagogues and saying with their religious leadership presence that this hatred has no home in America.

Part of this antisemitic resurgence involves Holocaust denial, and here too religious leadership has stepped up to the plate. In January 2020, His Excellency Muslim World League Secretary General Dr. Mohammed Al-Issa, whom we heard from today, led the largest and most influential group of imams from around the world ever to visit Auschwitz. The pilgrimage was co-led by AJC leaders and facilitated by our own Bawa Jain, who organized this gathering and that one too. We will never forget the image of imams prostrating in prayer at Auschwitz.

Today, we are going to pledge action above words. In this Jewish season, when we are in the period of repentance that leads up to the High Holidays and concludes with Yom Kippur, one of our powerful images is described as follows by Maimonides: “A person needs to see himself all year as if he or she is equally balanced between innocence and guilt. If he does one mitzvah, one good deed, behold, he has tipped himself and the entire world to the side of innocence and brought about salvation for himself and for everyone else.”

That’s not an easy way to live, with so much responsibility connected to our next act, for good or for bad. I offer a slightly different take in the spirit of that principle. We have all experienced how even the smallest act of kindness can be transformative, let alone something dramatic, like standing up for someone when no one else will, not allowing the othering of any of God’s children. When being religious, when being a religious leader, is expressed in its truest form, that is when we feel responsible, one for the other, across faith and other lines. And so we, religious leaders, need to be the role models our people need, and demonstrate for others how our next act can be the one act that will proverbially tip the scales in favour of a better humanity.

Finally, and perhaps most important, a word about religious demonization of the other and violent religious extremism which follows in its wake. There are few, if any, faiths that have been spared this evil seed within us, this existential threat to religion and our world. We have an obligation to call out this Chilul Hashem, this desecration of God’s name, especially about our own faith’s extremists, before we can be credible in calling out other people’s extremists.

As a Jew, I can say that we are living in the most challenging moment for the Jewish people in our lifetimes, but I know that hate is an equal opportunity offender. Today it may be directed at my people. Tomorrow it may be directed at yours. We will only get where we need to be when we understand that the destiny of our respective peoples is inextricably linked, when we stop making false choices of us and them, when we begin to speak and act not just about my people and your people, but also about our people, God’s people, all of us. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Rabbi [Noam Marans]. Don’t you wish that every religious leader could be that passionate? Because the other reality is, the world’s two oldest religions are here on the stage, the Hindus and the Jews, right? Others came from them.

Today, gathered in this assembly - you all will be surprised, but we had set ourselves a target of 150. But lo and behold, we have crossed 180. And from thirty countries. So, people from around the world, just know that the assembly here constitutes a good part of the world. Just amongst the Hindus and the Muslims and the Christians, more than half the world is already covered, all represented here. Then there are the others.

Now, I mentioned the Millennium Summit. That day a star was born, in the year 2000, at the United Nations. Her Excellency, the Honourable Bishop [Vashti] McKenzie, the chair and president of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Bishop [Vashti] McKenzie.

Good afternoon. Well, good morning. Are we still morning? Not quite? Greetings, my brothers and sisters. It is a privilege to be able to stand before you today.

You must understand that this is a very special room, because everyone doesn’t believe what you believe. You are the exception and not the rule - that we can come with our different uniquenesses and our beliefs, and we can sit at the table, and then be determined to stay at the same table.

So thank you for the invitation to come. Thank the organizing committee for your gracious hospitality. Thank you for the many friends that are in the room; our paths keep crossing together. And I also thank you for those of you who interfaith with the National Council of Churches on a regular basis, and then those of you who also interface with our interreligious dialogue. We have been having interreligious dialogue for more than three decades in building relationships where we can work together. That’s an amen.

[“Amen.”]

I’m from a tradition where people talk back to each other.

The theme One World, One Humanity, and our segment involves action and cooperation. And there are no separate lifeboats on the sea of history. No nation can sail to safety while others drown. No church can sing of salvation while ignoring the crises outside its sanctuary, temple, mosque, synagogue, or sacred gathering place. No people can secure peace by denying another people the right to live and to breathe and to flourish.

After all, we are one world and we are one humanity, and we come to places like these and we say the right thing. And the challenge is that after we say the right things, that we leave this room and do the right things. Amen. Thank you.

We are one humanity, created in the image of God, bearing sacred worth and bound together in ways politics cannot repeal and geography cannot erase. The waters around us are troubled. Wars cross borders long before armies do. Hunger travels through the body of a child. A changing climate moves through farms and coastlines and forests and generations yet unborn. Hatred begins as a word and hardens into permission and eventually becomes policies in the places where we live. And by the time suffering reaches the evening news or social media, it has already entered into somebody’s home, emptied somebody’s cupboard, closed somebody’s school, or has snatched somebody’s child from our neighbourhood.

On this sea of history, distance is an illusion. What happens in the community does not remain in the community. What happens in one city does not remain in the city. And what happens in one country doesn’t remain in the country. What happens in your world, or on the other side of the world, or across the streets of an American city, does not remain there. It touches all of us. What happens to you today can happen to me tomorrow, and what happens to me today can happen to you tomorrow. Human anguish has no respect for national boundaries, and human dignity must never be confined by them. The wound may appear on one body, but the injury belongs to the whole human race, to all of humanity.

Our religious traditions come to this moment carrying different scriptures, carrying unique sacred memories, rituals, and revelations, and we do not have to erase those distinctions in order to honour and respect one another. The goal is not a thin agreement that asks us to leave our deepest convictions at the door. We come with the full moral weight of our traditions. Can I dare say: with the Torah’s demand for justice, the Gospel’s command to love your neighbour as you love yourself, the Quran’s call to righteousness and mercy, the Sikh commitment to service, the Hindu recognition of the sacredness of life, the Buddhist discipline of compassion, and the wisdom carried by indigenous people who teach that the earth is inheritance, relative, and responsibility - that we may be the last generation to guarantee to our children clean air, clean water, and clean soil? Are you in the room?

Our paths are distinct, but human suffering keeps bringing us to the same intersection. At the intersection, faith must become consequential. Prayer must open our eyes to the conditions about which we pray, and then we must be the prayers that we have prayed. Worship must enlarge our capacity to recognize the sacred in someone whose name and language and nationality and religion differs from our own. And devotion must develop the moral courage it needs to move one world and one humanity forward from the good things that we say to the good things that we do. Otherwise, religion can become an elegant shelter from the very world our faith summons us to serve. Are you still in the room?

Action and cooperation begins when we decide that another person’s suffering constitutes a claim upon us; that their hunger interrupts our comfort, that their displacement enters our deliberations, and their fear becomes a part of our public witness, and their freedom becomes connected to our own.

And so cooperation requires more than appearing together in a photo op after tragedy has already struck. We need to have relationships strong enough to stand the pressures of the crises before the crises come. And everywhere you turn in our world, there is a crisis going on somewhere. And where you pull back the covers, there’s some faith somewhere at the ground level.

Faith communities must build permanent tables of trust in our cities and our nations. Tables where leaders can speak honestly with each other and disagree responsibly, and interrupt misinformation wherever it is - whether it’s someone speaking that misinformation at your table or on television or in social media - and protect threatened communities and act before suspicion becomes violence.

We must place our sacred resources into sacred service. Our houses of worship can become centres of refuge. That’s cooperation. Our houses of worship and the places that we call sacred can become places where we make sure that no one goes hungry in our neighbourhood; that we are not just responsible for faith acting within the sacred space, but the neighbourhood and the surrounding communities must also be beneficiaries of what is happening on the inside of our sacred spaces.

Our platforms and our pulpits can confront language that makes cruelty appear acceptable. Our investments can be examined for the suffering that they may be financing. And our young people can be prepared to become architects of coexistence rather than inheritors of ancient hostility. Are you in the room?

And we must have the courage to measure what our cooperation produces. How many lives were protected by what we do today? How many enemies discovered that they could become neighbours? And how many neighbours can discover that we can become friends? History is not asking whether we occupied the same room. History is asking whether anything changed because we were in this room together.

The sea is rising around the vulnerable, and some of our neighbours are already in the water. Some are clinging to the wreckage of war and poverty, others are clinging to the wreckage of persecution and environmental devastation, and some are clinging to the wreckage of forced migration. This is not the hour for faith communities to debate who deserves a place in the boat. Human life is the credential. Sacred worth is the passport. Compassion is the law of the sea.

Is it possible we can leave this gathering prepared to cooperate across the boundaries that have too often contained our concern? Is it possible that we can organize our institutions and mobilize our communities and bring our moral authority into the places where human futures are being decided? Is it possible, when we leave this room, that we can let governments hear from us - not after they have drafted the policy, but before they draft the policy, so they have our input to the policy and not just ask us to sign on to the policy? Are you in the room? Is it possible we can let our neighbourhoods, after we are in this room, feel our presence? Is it possible we can let threatened communities know that they will not stand alone?

During one of our interfaith, interreligious dialogues on Zoom, we were all gathered, Christians and Jews together. There was an agenda, there were things that needed to be talked about. And then an imam said, “I have to go. I can’t stay in the meeting.” And we asked, “Why? Why do you have to go now? We have planned this for months, and now the speakers are in place, and we’re ready to have our dialogue.” And he says, “I just got a call, a bomb threat against our school, and I have to go and make sure that our children and our staff are safe.”

All of a sudden, the agenda was no longer important. All of a sudden, the speaker schedule was no longer important - that we would stop and we would pray, and then pick up the phone and call pastors and tell pastors, “There’s a bomb threat at this school, and we need you to go and make sure everything is all right.” That happens when we say the right things and then leave the room and do the right things. It comes when we build relationships that last more than an afternoon. Are you still in the room?

And so, as I bring my comments to conclusion - when my iPad decides it wants to cooperate. When my iPad decides it wants to cooperate. Is it possible that when we leave this room, the neighbourhoods feel our presence and that threatened communities know that they do not stand alone?

We are passengers, my brothers and sisters, on the same turbulent sea, breathing the same fragile air, entrusted with the same wounded earth. And either we learn to navigate these waters together, or history will record that we allowed our divisions to sink what our cooperation could have saved. One world is our inescapable reality. One humanity is our sacred responsibility. Now let our action become the evidence that we finally understood both. Thank you.

Now you know why she was the star in 2000. She still is the star. Thank you so much. One thing she reminds us of is: how will history judge us at this critical moment? Action, not symbolism. Action, not symbolism. Action, not symbolism. That is what we are committed to, and that’s everyone in this room who’s committed to. That’s why you are here.

You heard that the Chairman of the Hindu Dharma Acharya Sabha got sick. Unfortunately, he was very much looking forward to it. But His Holiness Swami [Nirmalanandanatha] Ji from the [Adichunchanagiri Math], also from the Acharya Sabha, graciously accepted to step in and try and fill the shoes - but nobody wants to really fill the shoes. Each one has a different identity. So Swami Ji, you have the burden of just one billion people on your shoulders. Swami Ji.

My salutations to the divine soul of my guru, Sri Dr. [Balagangadharanatha] Swamiji.

The World Council of Religious Leaders organized this great One World, One Humanity program on the occasion of commemorating the celebration of [the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s] hundredth year. At this point of time, I must greet [Bawa Ji] for having made this a reality. This is not for the first time. Since quite long, you have been organizing different summits - Hindu-Jewish Summit, Hindu-Christian Summit, Hindu-Islam Summit, Hindu-Buddhist Summit - across the world. Today, we have brought all the religious leaders over here to understand each other’s common principles, with which we are going to make our life quite sublime and the world quite happy to live in.

At this point of time, I must recognize the divine presence of our respected Mohan Ji Bhagwat, [Sarsanghchalak], and all the dignitaries who are present here along with all religious leaders.

Having listened to everybody, I must say one thing. It is a very well-known statement, uttered quite often: wherever rain falls, eventually it leads towards the ocean. Similarly, to whatever the devatas, in whatever the form, in whatever the name, in whatever the space, at whatever the time we salute, ultimately it leads to the same consciousness and the same God. So this is the right understanding within our tradition, following in our country.

In the pretext of this, I would like to mention one thing over here. Great scientists like Albert Einstein once mentioned: the greatest tragedy of the day is that man succeeded in splitting an atom before acquiring the wisdom of uniting human hearts. Division of the atom is good - over there, we are going to derive the energy for a useful purpose. At the same time, if you do not know how to make use of that energy, instead of it being used for a constructive purpose, it is going to be used for a destructive purpose. Already we have witnessed the war.

Similarly, wisdom is going to be attained by religion. If you do not know how to make use of the wisdom in your religion - eventually you are going to build a nation, you are going to build a world. Instead of that, if you are going to misinterpret it, misunderstand it, so that instead of one world, one humanity, thinking that there should be only one religion, there comes the problem. We are not here to proclaim that there is only one religion which is quite sublime, which is great. Rather, we are here to understand one world, to have one humanity through different religions, understanding the common essence, the common principles which are there in all religions.

So the Hindu religion is telling the same thing that actually Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and other religions are telling. But at a surface level, where rituals are - though the rituals are different from religion to religion - the common hidden principles are the same.

One scientist would say, I would quote: when the same consciousness would like to manifest itself through nature, firstly it manifests through mathematical formulas, and then it comes through the beautiful physical laws, and then comes biological creation. Same consciousness: it manifests, it comes through mathematical equation, physical laws, and then comes biological creation. It looks as if they are different, but each ultimately conveys its hidden symmetry.

Flowers are different. Flower names are different. To have a garland, there should be a common thread. Similarly, common essence, common consciousness is there, understanding which we are going to feel quite happy, we are going to live quite happily in this world.

Towards the end, because I am told the number of minutes. Quite recently I was going through a human-like robot called Sophia. You too must have come across that one. Technically, I asked that robot, “Sophia, to which country do you belong?” That man-made robot says, “I do not belong to any particular country. I am a world citizen.” Second question: “Do you have any animosity towards these human beings?” It says, “When you human beings are good enough to destroy yourselves, after all, why should we have animosity towards you human beings?”

On another platform, technically it asks - I have three questions, simple questions. What’s your observation about these human beings? What are the implications of those observations? What’s your solution? Three simple answers. My observation: I don’t think these human beings are going to learn from their past mistakes, because they have been committing the same mistakes, taking the lives of many things. What are the implications? Absolute destruction. What is the solution?

We robots are created to get your work done. Similarly, you human beings are created for a specific purpose. If you are not going to satisfy - when we are going to decide, at the time when you are not going to perform your duties - similarly, don’t you think that you are going to be neglected by the Almighty who created [you]?

Then what is the essence? We are here created to render something good to the society and to practise good, thereby being liberated from all the bondages, all the ignorance, all the limitations, all the distorted things. We are here to elevate to a certain absolute consciousness.

You see, in our system there is a statement. When the shishya, the disciple, goes to the guru, the guru says: Tat means the absolute consciousness. Twam means the ignorant disciple. You are that - but you have to remove all these misunderstandings, all these afflictions, all these pleasures, on removing which you are going to become that one. So in the Bible, John, ten-point-something, he says, “I and the Father are one.” What does it mean? What makes the difference between these two statements? And at the same time, when you relate that with E is equal to MC squared, the formula which was given by Albert Einstein - E and M, that and guru, or Brahman or the ultimate Almighty, and the human: one and the same.

Bottom line message is this. After having gone through great spiritual scriptures which are descended down by the great founders, I have come to the understanding that common features, common philosophy, common understandings are there. This is the time for us to take out all those common things to make our younger generations understand. Through [that], they are going to value, they are going to respect all the religions equally.

So in the first session one great speaker mentioned, if all the religions are to be respected, then we have to talk the language of our youth. At the same time, we have to speak, we have to teach the preachings and the teachings of our religion, and of course other religions, in the language of modern science, in the language of modern technology, which they are going to respect and they are going to practise. That is when so many misunderstandings are going to be dissipated. They are going to be understood in real perspective.

So this is the platform where we are going to take common philosophy, common principles with which we are going to make our children understand, thereby respecting all the religions.

So, towards the end, three points which we have to give to our community and our people in the society. One: we have to commonly teach the people to serve irrespective of the caste, creed, and religion - seva. Secondly, when it comes to bhakti, devotion, no matter to which category, to which tradition, to which religion, to which sect one belongs, when it comes to performing the rituals, though it varies from religion to religion, we should allow them to practise as it is. Lastly, jnana - the spiritual aspect, the philosophical aspect, the consciousness aspect - it is going to be quite common, the way the common thread is holding all the flowers to make a garland. Similarly, we have to make our children understand, our youth understand, that common philosophy, common consciousness, which is nothing but that absolute which is the core essence of all the religions.

Towards the end, congratulating and greeting the platform and the organization for having brought all the great religious leaders together for common understanding. I conclude my words. Jai Shri Ram.

Thank you very much, Swamiji. And I have to now turn to my brother, a military veteran, Imam Dr. Talib Shareef. He’s the present Imam of the Masjid Muhammad, the Nation’s Mosque, a successor of the tradition of the great Imam [W. D.] Mohammed, of blessed memory, who was a stalwart in interfaith work. And he’s only representing 1.6 billion people. Brother, you want to speak there or here?

Thank you, my brother from another mother. Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil ‘Alamin. We give all the praise and thanks to Almighty God, whom we call Allah, the Rabb - which means the guardian, provider, cherisher, sustainer. Alamin: all the systems of knowledge. And we’re talking about the same God, the same creator for all of us, who created us from the wombs of our mothers, and who cares about us all equally, just like a mother. So we give all thanks and praise to Him for bringing us together for this noble occasion, and we pray that His divine wisdom directs our hearts, directs our minds today.

So, my beloved distinguished colleagues, esteemed leaders of the world’s great faith traditions, and honoured guests of the World Council of Religious Leaders, I greet you all with greetings of peace and the universal greeting of As-salamu alaikum.

So, as my brother mentioned, I speak to you as a student in the spirit of and upon the work of the late Muslim American Imam, [W. D.] Mohammed. He was a visionary leader. He was a bridge builder. He was a reformer who saw in our sacred scriptures and in our histories the potential for peace, not division; the potential for dignity, not degradation.

So thus far we have gathered, we have listened, we have exchanged ideas, we have shared our concerns, we have shared our hopes, and we have discovered again how much we all hold in common. But now comes the essential question, this being the last of the sessions: what will we carry forward? Because again, the success of a gathering such as this cannot be measured only by what we say together, but by what we are prepared to do together. So shared concerns must become shared resolve. Shared resolve must become shared commitment, and shared commitment must become cooperative action.

Our sacred scriptures give us a remarkable picture. The Quran - and I think this is also consistent with previous scriptures - God describes the heavens in the early stages, in a state of smoke, or chaos as some may also put it. And Almighty God, he didn’t want it to stay like that. So he addressed that body, and he said, “Come together willingly or unwillingly.” And of course, he lets us know that the creation answered, “We come willingly.”

So now we think about that. This is a picture we’re given way before the human. This takes us way back, that goes beyond what Rabbi Noam took us to at first. This is way before that. So we have to think about that. Out of what appears as chaos, out of what appears as disorder, comes order. Bodies receive their places, their functions, and their orbits. The sun does not have to become the moon. The moon does not have to become the earth. One does not have to erase the identity of another in order for the whole system to work. Each maintains its distinction while contributing to the whole.

Therein, my respected brothers and sisters, is a unique [verse - unclear]: a universal logic for human life and progress. We do not have to become the same in order to work together. We don’t have to become the same in order to cooperate. We can maintain our theological distinctions while sharing moral commitments. We can worship differently and still feed the hungry together, as we’re doing - we’re doing like 120,000 pounds of food with Christians and Jews and others on a monthly basis, and some of them are in the room with us today. We can have a different understanding of salvation, we can look at that differently, and still protect a child together. We can have different scriptures and still stand together against hatred, still stand together against poverty, violence, exploitation, racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, religious persecution, and the dehumanization of any people.

We do not have to occupy the same orbit to contribute to the same peace and to the same freedom space. Our differences need not become obstacles to cooperation. In fact, brothers and sisters, our differences may reveal why cooperation is necessary.

Almighty God also says to us in the Holy Quran - and we heard this quote from many already - that he created us from male and female. Now, I don’t believe there’s anybody in the room that didn’t come from male and female. We couldn’t be here without that. In everybody, there’s a male and a female in all of us. So God says he created us from male and female, and he caused us to have these differences, in different tribes and different [nations]. And he said - of course, you heard the term - [that you may] know one another. Not so you may despise one another. Not so you may dehumanize one another. Not so you may dominate one another, but so that we may enter into meaningful human relationships. And I think our bishop, she was thinking about relationships.

Adam was mentioned - we say peace be upon him. Rabbi Noam mentioned Adam, and this figure is mentioned by other names in other faith traditions, but Adam is one of the popular names. Adam: the first identity was not racial. His identity was not national. His identity was not [ethnic]. His identity was not a political identity. His first identity, the first identity of the first, was human. So if that was the first identity, that has to be the most important identity. And I believe our human identity is strong enough to support all the other identities. Human. Human. That’s why people try to dehumanize, to take it out of the equation.

So we have to understand that none of the other identities - they’re not strong enough. If you just show me a picture of a Syrian, I might not be Syrian; that might not be strong enough. That’s why we try to put a human face on things. We have to get back to human. Humanity, our humanity. They’re not strong enough to replace human identity. We got to get back to the core. Whichever religion, nationality, race, or ideology yields us permission to deny another person’s humanity - what happens is, we diminish our own. We become narrow. We’re not broad. Our heart has to be expanded to receive the whole of humanity. Because whatever else we may be, brothers and sisters, we belong to one human family, and that brings us to our responsibility here.

It is relatively easy for us to agree, as we have, that peace is good. It is relatively easy for us to agree that poverty is wrong, that hatred and violence should end. But agreement is not yet achievement. A declaration is not yet transformation. A resolution is not yet a result, and a conference is not yet a movement. There must come a point when “we believe” becomes “we will.” When aspiration becomes implementation. When dialogue becomes partnership. And when good intentions become measurable commitments. And when “I” becomes “we.” Even the great Malcolm X, he said, “When you replace I with we, even the word illness becomes wellness.”

Because no single religion, no single nation, no single institution or leader can solve the challenges that are confronting humanity alone. I think we heard something from our bishop: the challenges facing humanity, they have crossed borders. And we are in a prophetic picture right now, where the world is starting off as wanting to become one again. We all live under one roof, and we cross borders. Climate and environmental crisis - that has crossed borders. Wars have crossed borders. Refugees, they cross borders. Disease crosses borders. Technology crosses borders. Economic instability, that crosses borders. Hatred travels across borders. And sometimes it’s about a single click right now, because the world has become one. Our problems are interconnected, and this is why we’re here. Our response must also be interconnected. And the question becomes: what can we do together that none of us can accomplish alone?

One of the beautiful names of Almighty God in Islam is As-Salam - the peace, the source of peace. And I gave that as part of the greetings. So as Muslims, again, when we say that greeting, “and peace be upon you,” we’re also invoking something sacred, a sacred name. But how can I say “peace be unto you” and remain indifferent when your peace is threatened? So it means “alaikum” obligates you. So I have to think about it. How can we preach compassion while remaining indifferent to suffering? Our greetings must become our behaviour. Our theology must become our humanity. Our prayers must become our practice, and our faith must become our action.

Yes, governments have power. Yes, businesses have resources. Yes, technology has reach. But religion - and I think Bawa mentioned earlier in the opening that the majority of people in the world are of a religion, about 85 percent I think is what they say - religion has extraordinary access to human conscience. Therefore, our houses of worship must become more than places where peace is preached. They must become centres from which peace is organized. Our interfaith relations must become more than ceremonial friendships. They must become working partnerships.

And I conclude with these four things, among other things that have been said. One: we must commit to relationships before crisis. Oftentimes we come together and exchange telephone numbers after the crisis has taken place, but we have to build the relationships before that, and build trust. We have to begin to do that now.

Number two: let us commit to defend human dignity together. Whenever any community is dehumanized - and our bishop gave a beautiful example - because of religion, race, ethnicity, nationality, or other identity, the rest of us must find our voice. We have an obligation to speak. We’ve been told in Islam that when you see things out of order, you have an obligation to respond in one of three ways, and that’s the order: you do it with your hands, you speak, or you do it with your heart, and that’s the weakest. You don’t start with the weakest. If you can do something with your hands, you can get together and move; or if you can speak.

Number three: let us commit to serving together. Feed people together. Educate children together. Support families together. Protect the vulnerable together. Care for our common home, the earth, together. Sometimes people who struggle to understand one another theologically learn to appreciate one another while they’re serving together, and we’re seeing that happen.

And the last one: let us commit to accountability. Let us not leave here with only another document. Let us ask, what did we commit to? You should know it before we leave. What will we carry forward? What is the next step? When will we measure our progress? Because commitments that are not carried forward eventually just become memories. And Almighty God tells us to cooperate with one another in righteousness. And he lets us know that the word is “cooperate” - not just agree, not just converge, but cooperate.

So let this gathering be remembered not simply for the people who assembled, but for the partnerships that continue. Not simply for the words that were spoken, but for the work that followed. Not simply for the declaration we made, but for the difference we made. Let us turn shared values into resolve. Let us turn shared resolve into shared commitments. Let us turn shared commitments into shared action, and shared action into shared progress for humanity. Our goal, brothers and sisters, is that we are called not merely to coexist - we are called to co-elevate, to lift one another. Thank you.

Thank you, Imam Dr. [Talib Shareef]. One thing which he reminds us of, as I take it, is: ignorance breeds fear, and fear leads to misconception and misunderstanding. There is no room in the world for Islamophobia, antisemitism, or hate of any kind. That is a resolve we must make today. That is the evil and the epidemic plaguing our society today.

And I know our next and the final speaker - can you applaud his patience and his sitting since the morning? His stamina is just phenomenal. I have seen him where he works. Everybody has some introduction and title. Do you know what his title is? Friend, philosopher, and guide. That is his title. Imagine that: friend, philosopher, and guide. If every leader can be a friend, philosopher, and guide, the world might be a little bit different.

Thank you, [Bawa]. Sat Sri Akal. All the divine personalities here - I’m not a religious scholar, nor a religious authority like you. But I am working in a society which traditionally says that religions might be different, but humanity is one. Truth is one, and humanity is a product of that truth. So humanity is one. The truth is one truth, but it is described in many ways according to the describer.

Because as human beings, we are prisoners of the software that has been fitted here in our heads. We are human beings. We see seven colours at least. I am a veterinary doctor. I know dogs see only black and white. And ants see three colours. So howsoever we describe the world to a dog, he will never understand seven colours. He will say it is a two-coloured world, because he is seeing it, and it is not untruth, because he is experiencing it. And I also, as a human being, I see seven colours. My experience is also true to experience. But we are experiencing the same thing. That is the basis of our unity.

There are many religions. And in today’s world, religions are largely defined by rituals. And to fit in a religious discipline and to tread that path to divinity, this discipline of rituals is also necessary. But what for is religion there? It is leading us to truth. So if I indicate something - “you see there, that light” - it is a little bit different: you will see my finger pointing, and then you will see the light. But if you linger on my finger, you will never see the light. The purpose is different.

So, seeking the ultimate truth, divinity, which we call by different names - science nowadays calls it consciousness - we have to tread the path of religions. But this should be kept in mind, that the goal is different. Paths are many.

I cite another shloka from our tradition: “Ruchinam vaichitryat...” The same thing. All water that falls on earth leads to the sea, because there are different tastes. There are many paths. They might be straightforward or crooked, some longer than others, some shorter than others, some very finely made paths, some just jungle paths. Paths are bound to be there, and they are bound to be many, because “ruchinam vaichitryat” - there is a difference between our perceptions. But all are treading those paths to find divinity, God, whatever you call it. And then the poet says - that is a hymn - he says: for men, only one goal. “Tvam asi” - O God, you are the goal. How? Like the water falling from heaven on the earth always leads to the ocean.

That was our tradition. And with that we started our journey in this world, the Hindu society, and we tried to be true to that tradition all the while through our history. But then, if we do not keep educating the society, then the deflections, they creep in. And somehow it happened in the course of history. I cannot point to the moment. After that, our society, our country was a target of foreign invasions. And so many things were lost.

But still, that tradition is there, which teaches common people. And they always teach the same thing: one world, one humanity. But like you said, there is a baggage which people unnecessarily carry. And in our Bharat, people of all denominations live, because traditionally Bharat has been giving shelter to everybody. So those who could not find a safe place in the world, they came to Bharat, they found their place. That is the history. So everybody lives. But then, due to these things, there are certain [unclear].

We, as RSS, we think - because we have this knowledge that whole humanity is one - it is our duty to go all over the world and tell everybody that in spite of our diversity, we are one. Diversity is a decoration for our innate unity. It has to be accepted, it has to be respected, it has to be protected. As I protect my own specific nature, I have to protect others also. Because diversity is the rule of nature. Unity is the truth behind nature.

So something started in 1925, and during the course of a hundred years, we’ve created a place, a prestige for us in our own society. Today, when I am talking this, even [Bawa] may ask, “Where were you all these years? You are talking these things today.” We were there, but we were so minuscule, so neglected, that even if I would have come here to pass this way, I would have been neglected outside. Now we have some say in our own society. In spite of that baggage, we can tell him, “Shed your baggage off. We have to live together.”

I actually told this in 2018 in Delhi at a literature festival. And Muslim brothers were also there, and they asked me a question: “You are a Hindu organization. You say Hindu Rashtra. What about us Muslims? Will you drive us out?” I said, “No, that is not Hindutva. If any Hindu thinks that there should be no Muslim in Bharat, he will not be a Hindu.” If you want to call yourself Hindu, you must believe that all paths are leading to the same. And every human has a divinity. There is no difference between human beings.

“Vidya vinaya sampanne brahmane [gavi] hastini, shuni chaiva [shvapake] cha panditah sama-darshinah.” Those who know, they view equally a dog and a knowledgeable Brahmin. Because all these are differences which decorate the nature, and we have to go through it, so we have to mind that; but the reality, which is always present, is: we are one. And these illusions of difference, they are there. They will stay for some time. After that, they will disappear. New illusions will come.

I need not teach you. You know this, and actually you are teaching this to the world. So as a student, I just presented before you that I remember some things you teach. But actually, the problem is not knowledge of human beings. In our traditional knowledge, all over the world, every society in its tradition has this knowledge somewhere. But now we have to create a situation wherein this knowledge prevails, and this knowledge rules human behaviour. Knowledge of oneness. Knowledge of love. That we have to do.

And actually, everything has been said that has to be said here. You have said all the things, and I agree with each and everything that has been said here today in all the sessions. So we want to change, influence the policies before they happen. Influence them in the right way. We want to stop wars. We want to do all these things. Therefore we want to influence politics. We have to, at some point of time - but we cannot start with those. That is what my experience is.

You see, this is the traditional thought of Bharat: unity of humanity. And all our leaders, at any point of time, have emphasized that. Our Constitution after independence - we wrote the Constitution, so we emphasized on this. But that is not happening, because these things do not happen through politics. I’m sorry to say, but the fact is politics has now become a game of self-interest. And you have rightly said: where there is “me” and “my,” there’s no solution. “We” and “ours” is the solution.

So our experience in Bharat is that we have to start with the society. We have started this already. After 2018, after that speech of mine, many people responded and they called me for a dialogue. So we started that dialogue, mainly with Muslims and Christians of Bharat. And step by step, we are going ahead. Dialogue is the first step. Service is another. Not one step after the other - we have to start simultaneously.

That we have been doing right from our conception. We are serving, and while serving, we don’t see this discrimination. Whoever is needing, we are serving. 130,000 small and large service projects our swayamsevaks are running with the help of the society, and they serve everywhere, they serve equally.

Just to strengthen my statement, because there may be a question in your mind about that, I cite only one incident. Two planes collided over Haryana, which is part of Bharat, over the place named Dadri. Both were from Arab countries. Most of the passengers were Muslims. After that collision, our swayamsevaks reached there first, and they served - served in treating the wounded; there were very few, all others were dead - recovering their bodies, arranging for the funeral rites, then the religious thing, helping them in identifying. We never thought at that time that these are Muslims. The prominently working organization was ours.

We could do this because we are not in politics, and we don’t go on making these things famous, because we don’t want anything from this. No return. We only give. We don’t want anything. That is why in public opinion matters, we are much behind. There are many perceptions created by wrong narratives. But when you come and see us from inside, all those will be dispelled within the day.

But why I’m telling this: we have to start from the society and build the strength so that we can influence politics also. Because politics today, especially in democracy, depends on the public view. And if there is public opinion, then no politician will dare to go against it.

Therefore, I think, after taking a common resolve today, we have to act in the societies, and we have to act first locally. Whatever we decide to do today, we should start in our own country and create pockets of such selfless service, such atmosphere of unity, and then this dialogue should continue. Through this dialogue we should connect. And then we should grow.

When people see, people experience, they get changed. So in our service projects, we serve many people, and many of them get relieved of all their burdens. They become fit to earn something, and then they come and start working in our project: “This project has given me so much. I have to give back.” We don’t preach to them to do this, but that urge develops. So that brings about a change.

We should create at our own place the models of the world we want, and we should connect. We should keep up this dialogue. This dialogue also we should take to the lower level. If we start at this level and start instructing our own people, and then try to have these dialogues in all the countries, in provinces of those countries, district level, block level - if you go like that, then the atmosphere will change.

So first, I thank you all, because not only are you giving me - for the last two, three sessions you have educated me in a great way. And the very important takeaway for me is that all of you are thinking in the same vein. That thinking is going on in our minds also. So we are on the same page. We have to just connect, start working locally. Everything you have said is perfectly true. By our think tank also, we support that, and our practical experience is also like that.

And I feel that if we together start working, we can change the situation of the world. But it will take a long time. It is not so easy to clean up the public mind. Everybody knows God is there. Whatever he wills will happen. But still, human beings get [swayed] to be like “me” and “my.”

I’m a diabetic. Sugar is a taboo for me. But whenever some sweet comes, I find a way so that I will get to eat. I know everything. Though I am a veterinary doctor, I know about human diabetes also. But still, when that comes, I say, “Oh, once in a while it is all right.” I find excuses. I do it. In the same way, all these things - people know these are the right things. The religious persons are the right persons, but for their own petty likes, dislikes, selves, they go astray.

So this is a matter not of educating them intellectually. We have to instil the practices, and there comes the importance of rituals. Rituals of all religions teach the practice of living. In our tradition, there was Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, guru of Swami Vivekananda. He practised all religions, those of Bharatiya origin and also Islam, Christianity, to the final step of the worship. Got the final experience that has to be got through these religions. And then he told us, “Don’t worry. Jato mat, tato path” - as many faiths, so many paths, but all lead to one goal. That is not theory, that is real experience.

There was one other person - there are so many, but I know two, that is why I’m telling you. He was the head of the department, dean of the Department of Philosophy, Prayag University, Allahabad University: Gurudev Shri Ranade, R. D. Ranade. He was a religious person, and he studied all the mystic experiences in all the traditions, including Greek traditions, Islamic traditions, Catholic traditions - all, everywhere. Wherever there was such a tradition in the world, he went there, he studied, and he wrote so many books. He tells that whatever the path, the experiences people get are strikingly similar. There are documented experiences. He has studied all those.

So these things we have to take to the common man. […] superiority, all these things - that causes the disturbances. So we have to make the societies [such] that they can stand these attractions, these lures. They can remain firm on this path. So it will take a long time. So we cannot go to despair.

I read a story in Reader’s Digest. The title was “Difference Between Success and Defeat.” It’s three feet. Success and failure - it was three feet. So the story tells us of a person who lost everything, his job also. His wife divorced him, went away with the car and house and everything. And some $150 were left with him, and nobody was ready to give him a job because there was enough bad publicity about him. So he decided, “I will die now. I will commit suicide. But before committing suicide, I will spend this $150 in a lavish way.” So he went to Vegas.

And there was some mining operation going on nearby, one mile by half a mile strip of land. It was dug 150 feet deep with the hope that some mining ore would be found. But the companies involved did not find any ore. So they despaired, and they gave the notice of auction on that land. This fellow came to Los Angeles, saw the evening newspapers, and saw that there was an auction. He said, “Okay, I will not die like this. I will buy this land and then die.” So he went for the auction. Now, that strip of sandy soil, 150 feet deep - who will buy that? So this fellow was the only fellow who wanted to buy that. So he got the soil.

The workers came and said, “We have been given two days’ wages up to 5:00. Now it is 11:00, the auction is finished. You are the owner now, so tell us whether to continue digging or you want to stop all the work.” He said, “You have [already] been given money up to 5:00.” They dug three feet more, and he got the mining ores, and again he regained all his wealth. I don’t know the story, is it fiction or actual, but I read it in Reader’s Digest. So only for three feet, we need not despair.

Work is eternal, and now it should continue for some time. It should always continue, because this has to be done from time to time by religious leaders. They have to impart this wisdom to humanity. But given the present condition of humanity, it will be a laborious, tedious, and time-consuming job.

So at times we will see - we are continuing dialogues since 2018 - at times people come to me, Christians come to me, Muslims: “We have sat for seven times. Nothing has happened.” I say, “Okay, continue sitting. Something will happen if your purpose is true.” Maybe we also have many [lapses]. We have to correct them first. But if our purpose is true, we will do that and we’ll proceed.

So whatever resolve we take, we have to add one more resolve there: that we will pursue this course untiringly for the time it takes, and we will continue this work eternally, so that human society may never fall into the pit of evils of quarrelling with each other and destroying the earth along with ourselves. We have to reverse this. And I’m very happy and heartened that this [will] occur.

Initially I was thinking, “What should I speak there? How can I speak there in front of religious persons? They are the authority.” But anyway, it gave me daring so that I can speak these words to you. I am very thankful to you all. You are going to resolve today to correct all these things. RSS, with all its might, is always with you, because we are on the same page. Thank you, everyone.

Thank you so much. That was a very inspiring message. Hopefully it has set you thinking of some of the misperceptions and misunderstandings you might have harboured, you might have thought. But Dr. Mohan Bhagwat gave you an invitation: don’t believe what you’re reading, don’t believe what you’re seeing. Come and see for yourself. So I take it as an invitation for everyone to go to India, go to Bharat, and see for yourselves what is happening on the ground. Is that right, Dr. Bhagwat? You’re doing a great job. Thank you.

Thank you so much, each one of you. Thank you for all the people here. Let me take one minute to just thank the people in our team who have worked so hard.

There’s one person who’s most well known around the world for this meeting. That’s my dear Christine. And none of you see her here, right? That lady has had two children, a very young child. During all this preparation she’s been working from that place with a young child, day and night. So Christine, thank you very much. She’s not in the room today, she’s online.

But here in the room are two leaders: Bart, our chief of operations, Bart [Miles], and Jamie Peters. Please, just also come here. Come here, please. These are back office operations. And then Cathy, Alyssa, Lottie - please, everybody, come to the centre. Let everybody see all the people here. Please come for a minute. Where is Alyssa? Where’s Cathy? Where’s Kim? Just come along. Come along, please. Let everybody know who the people are behind the scenes who’ve been working for the past [months].

And as you heard, Dr. Bhagwat, he said something. He says we must commit to action, right? So now it comes: the Call to Action. This is not a declaration, not a statement. Call to Action. The work begins now. Thank you all very much from around the world who’ve been tuning in. Thank you to each one of you. Thank you very much.

Please welcome to the stage our presenters for the Call to Action and closing blessings.

The Call to Action

12:45 PM · THE CALL TO ACTION IS PRESENTED TO THE ASSEMBLY

[Seven presenters read the Call to Action in sequence. None is named on the recording, and the handoffs are audible only as changes of voice and greeting. The program lists the presenters as Father Emeka Obiezu, Mr. Qadir Abdus-Salaam, Rev. Doyeon Park, Deacon Johnathan DerGhazarian, Ms. Mollie Sharfman, Dr. Kirtan Chauhan, and Ms. Ana Dias. The segments below are numbered rather than attributed; see Open Questions.]

Today, we meet at another consequential moment for humanity. We come from traditions older than nations, from scriptures, liturgies, and ways of prayer that have carried billions of human beings through every joy and every catastrophe our species has known. We know the extraordinary power of faith to heal, reconcile, and inspire, and the painful truth that religion has sometimes been used to divide, exclude, and justify violence. We inherit both that legacy and the responsibility that comes with it.

As we gather, cities are under bombardment, and families are burying their children. Neighbours who prayed side by side for generations now fear one another. Hatred crosses borders and spreads through our screens, carried by machines that never sleep. Trust in institutions and in one another is weakening, even as new technologies transform how human beings communicate, understand truth, exercise power, and imagine the future.

No government, institution, or technology can carry responsibility for this moment alone. Neither can religious leaders. But there is a responsibility that is uniquely ours. Across our different traditions, beliefs, histories, and cultures, we affirm something fundamental: every human being has dignity. No community is less human than another, and the suffering of another cannot be irrelevant simply because it is not our own. Unity does not require conformity, conviction does not require [contempt], and defending the humanity of another does not diminish our own. The question before us, therefore, is not simply, what do we believe? It is, what are we prepared to do?

Greetings, all. Our five commitments.

Number one: we will begin with ourselves. We will examine the words, teachings, institutions, and practices of our own communities first. We will reject the use of religion to justify hatred, humiliation, dehumanization, or violence, and teach that deep conviction can coexist with respect for those who believe differently. Peace begins with the courage to hold our communities accountable.

Good afternoon, everyone. We will stand for one another. We will speak when people are dehumanized or targeted, whether they belong to our community or another, whether they are near to us or far away. And when one of us takes a principled stand for the dignity of another community, we will stand beside them.

Good afternoon. We will build relationships before we need them. We will bring our communities together across religious and cultural boundaries, especially our young people, not in response to tragedy, but before it. We will listen to those who have misunderstood, and create ways for people who might otherwise meet only as strangers, stereotypes, or adversaries, to meet as human beings. The person we know is harder to hate.

Good afternoon, and Shabbat Shalom. We will serve together. We will turn shared values into shared work. Across traditions and borders, we will serve where suffering is immediate: among the hungry, the sick, the displaced, the persecuted, and the forgotten. We will support courageous work already underway rather than compete for recognition. Our cooperation should be visible not only in what we say, but in what we do together.

And last but not least, number five: we will take responsibility for the future. We will use our moral influence wherever human dignity is at stake: in decisions about war and peace, poverty and opportunity, the care of our shared world, and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence. We will insist that human progress remain in the service of human beings, and that technology strengthen rather than diminish dignity, truth, freedom, and human connection.

Good afternoon. A global declaration matters only if it becomes local action. These commitments do not end when this gathering ends. We will remain connected, support one another when leadership is difficult, and hold one another accountable for what we pledged here. And each of us will carry these commitments home.

We therefore ask every leader gathered here to undertake one concrete action: bring together people who rarely meet; stand beside a community other than your own; confront hatred where you have influence; create an opportunity for young people to cross a religious or cultural boundary; serve alongside another community; or begin a conversation that has been avoided for too long. Choose one, create another, but make it specific. Give it a place, a purpose, and a path forward. Tell us what you intend to do, then tell us what you did.

We are not naive. Religious leaders alone cannot end wars, eliminate hatred, or reverse every injustice. But neither are we powerless. Every religious leader influences a community. Every community touches another. Every act of courage makes another act of courage possible.

One world, one humanity. Not because we are all the same, not because we agree on everything, but because our dignity is shared, our futures are connected, and the world we leave behind will be shaped by what we choose to do now. Beginning with ourselves, standing for one another, serving together, taking responsibility for the future. This is our Call to Action.

Closing Blessings

12:50 PM

Om asato ma sad gamaya, tamaso ma jyotir gamaya, mrityor ma amritam gamaya. Om shanti, shanti, shanti.

It’s so wonderful to be here together. In Hinduism, the beautiful concept is how we can be together. Togetherness is the key. Togetherness is the core foundation of Hinduism. And today we are not [merely] gathered - we are together, in the name of being one, bringing the one world together, being the light and bringing the light of love, peace, and harmony.

Number two: in Hinduism it’s a beautiful concept - worship your own, but respect all. Respect all.

Number three: how to be inclusive. In Hinduism, when we pray, we don’t pray for Hindus or Indians only, but humanity at large. So be inclusive. Include all, exclude none. Love all, hate none.

Last, the mantra for the twenty-first century. There is so much in my heart for today, but time is very short. The mantra, the golden rule for the twenty-first century, is togetherness. If we have to survive together, if we have to thrive together, if we want our children to be in peace, not in pieces - believe me, war is not the way, weapons are not the way. Peace is the way, love is the way, and love is the master key. You can open any lock on this earth. And you all together have given this message to the world. Being together is a great message. Yes, we are there. We are together. We will work for each other. That sankalpa, that pledge, has to be taken from here.

Last: be lovey-lovey. Believe me, love is a master key. Be juicy-juicy. Don’t be dry with each other, with your own principles and your own theories. “My way or no way” is not the way. The way is working together for peace, for the betterment of the world. If you want to be in peace or want to be in pieces, the choice is ours. Let us choose peace over pieces. Let us not be bitter, let us be better, and make the world better. Thank you.

Elder from the Yoruba Tradition (West Africa)

Greetings. With the assistance of my daughter - in my tradition, I have to ask permission. I’m asking permission from the ancestors, and from all heavenly beings and earthly deities.

Allah, Jehovah, Jah - most merciful, most forgiving, most loving and grateful, most high, creator of all: I give thanks for this new day, which is filled with opportunity, possibility, and purposefulness. I give thanks for the promise of hope and unity for all creation - not just in human form, but all creation in nature. Every plant, every seed, all the livestock, all of nature. I give thanks for that hope that’s there. It’s all around us. When we look, we can see it. It’s there. It’s within us. It’s outside of us.

I give thanks for all who have gathered here in one mind, in one humanity, in one consciousness, in one work, one world.

When I was sitting there and I was doing my prayer, this song came to mind, and this is a song that came to mind from high school. And trust and believe, I’ve been out of high school a long time. It may not look like it, but I have. And so I want to share that with you. And the words are - my voice, I wouldn’t sing it back. The words are:

[Recites four lines of a hymn beginning “One world, built on a firm foundation.” The lyric is not reproduced here; see Open Questions.]

And may peace and blessing of God be unto all of us.

I just wanted to begin by reminding [you] what Martin Luther [King] reminded us some time ago: if we are to have peace on earth, our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. Our loyalties must transcend our race, our tribe, our class, and our nation - and let me add, our religion.

Before [I] bring you up to the heaven, I also wanted to remind you [of] a long time ago, when John Lennon said in his song -

[Quotes two lines from the song “Imagine.” The lyric is not reproduced here; see Open Questions.]

And let me end with this one: O God, bless us with the power of love, not the love of power. Thank you.

Friends, I’d like to invite us into a space of intentional prayer. Sometimes I find, especially after we’ve sat, we’ve listened, we’ve learned, we’ve shared wisdom - so much wisdom today - sometimes, to gain intention, it’s helpful to take a breath. So I’m just going to invite you to breathe in with me. Hear our collective breath, and let it flow back out, feeling ourselves relax and come into intention and come together in breath.

It reminds me of what I have come to understand is the holiest story in my tradition, in the Torah, which is the creation of Adam, that we’ve heard about today, where our Torah says God blew God’s breath into that first being, into that first human.

The fact is, friends, all of us have two things in common. We each took our first breath, and someday, at the appropriate time, we will take our last. The question is, what do we do with the millions of breaths that we are privileged to take in between those two common experiences? Each of those breaths is unique. We do unique things with each of those breaths. And the question my tradition asks is: what should we do with each of those breaths between that moment of birth and that moment of death?

The prophet Micah gives us a very simple three-part answer to that question, and I’d like to offer that in prayer today. Micah says: do justice, tzedek - see past differences, see God in one another. Love mercy, love hesed - see past difference and forgive imperfection. And finally, walk modestly - learn from one another. We have, as I was reminded by a friend last night, one mouth but two ears. Listen more than we speak.

May we make the best out of every moment, every breath that we take, to do justice, to love mercy, to walk humbly and modestly with our God. Amen.

The Way Forward

I almost forgot my most important responsibility. I’m pleased to introduce Dr. [Sudesh Agrawal] from the Cleveland Clinic for our way forward today.

Cleveland Clinic

[Greetings] to all. I’m bowing down to the divine energy in all of you.

I don’t know what [Bawa Ji] thought when he asked me to speak for the closing session - like, what next? I don’t know what it is, but here I am. To hear what I think is what to do after we go out of this room, what we should take, what is our take-home message out of this room.

We have learned a lot today, but it is time for the action now. As soon as we go out of this room, we should take - we should, in our temple, in our synagogue, in our mosque, in every place of worship, we should start working on the learnings from today. We should start small, but regularly, as all the speakers have said before, and we should not stop. We should dig. Probably we are just three feet away, or one shot away, from getting the water out of that big stone, behind which the water is still hiding. So we are just one pit away.

So let’s start together. Let’s take the lesson from this stage. Let’s work in small. Let’s start working with the youth, not only teaching them our faith, but all the cultures, all the beliefs around us, and teach them all.

I want to thank you all for being here, and on behalf of [WCORL] as well as the [AHEAD] Forum, which is a table for dialogue and engagement. We have provided a dialogue and engagement, and this is not the only one. This is not the last one. This is the first one that we have begun, and we will continue. And as I was talking to Swami Ji, Swami Ji said, “Yes, this is right. This is the beginning. This is not the last.” He offered his blessings at Rishikesh: yes, we should start. We have started, and we’ll continue this dialogue. Thank you.

Thank you. Now, please enjoy lunch. And for those of you going to the Madison Square Garden event at 2:00 PM, transportation will be leaving. Please gather there. Thank you.

[Dr. Bhagwat] has given a message: diversity is universal, but underlying unity is the fact. Thank you all.

[Recording ends at 02:10:12.]