HARMONY OF RELIGIONS ... 2

HARMONY OF RELIGIONS ... 2

I wish Swami Sampurnananda would talk reason and refute my points on a rational basis rather than throw verbal tantrums like this. Had Ramakrishna-Vivekananda been the most effective harmoniser, which they are to an extent based on their spiritual realisations and philosophical articulations thereof, it would have been a grand world of harmonic co-existence that would have been here and elsewhere in the world. Unfortunately, despite their best intentions, they, like you, could not achieve the impossible as they were unable to alter the texts of Semitic religions as mentioned in the post and for the reasons cited therein. Thus, Partition took place on religious grounds. Riots have been rampant in India throughout with mass murder across communities an unceasing affair. These could not be addressed and will not be addressed in the foreseeable future as well unless deep thinking goes in as to how unalterable texts may be finally relegated to the margins of human attention as has been the case in Europe since the Enlightenment with regard to Christianity. Nonetheless, despite the so-called harmonious co-existence, proselytising in India by Christianity and Islam has gone on unabated and one needs only to read Vivekananda well to get to know the horrors perpetrated by invading religions for a millenium in India. To comprehensively brush under the carpet all such instances is to be untruthful both in intent and articulation and serves no good purpose for the real redress of the situation if it shall ever be. Perhaps, it is in the DNA of the human species to be intolerant this way or the other as Swami Sampurnananda's sudden diatribe bespeaks of so eloquently and proves the stated point.

My series of essays searching for solutions to this problem, which even Chicago, 1893, could not achieve, will continue in real earnest and I hope it will contribute in some small measure to clarifying conceptions about this persistent problem that has dogged humanity for at least two thousand years now.

Written by Sugata Bose

P.S. : The above text has been by way of my articulate response to Swami Sampurnananda's comment on my earlier post in this series. The comment was as follows and has been presented here for the readers' benefit in the exact form as it was :

Swami Sampurnananda : Harmony has always been there among real practitioners of religion. They tend to back their occasional ounces of talks with tonnes of practice. So their talks had strength. Ramakrishna Vivekananda has thus been the most effective harmonizer.

Harmony has been less among mere talkers of religion. Unfortunately we have more such talkers now and they hound the internet too.

Let is practice a bit more. Our words would then tell.

God bless us.