Inaugural session February 3, 1974, evening

World Conference on Unity of Man

‘A memorable event and rallying point of the fraternity of man, spiritual awakening and moral regeneration’

- Dr. G. S. Pathak, Vice President of India

The inaugural session of the world Conference on Unity of man was remarkable for the high philosophic content of region, and his thought provoking address showed a rare grasp of the esoteric content of religion, and his wide ranging, comparative study of scriptures of different languages enabled him to support his contentions with a wealth of quotations organizations like the Manav Kendra and conferences like the present one can play a vital role.” The Presidential address by the living Master, Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj was remarkable for its wide sweep and deep in reaching analysis of the ills besetting man and his environ for which he also provided the remedy. He ended on a note of hope for the dawn of the new golden age in a not too distant future.

Welcome address by Chairman, Reception Committee

The chairman of the reception committee, Shri Radha Raman, chief Executive Councilor, Delhi, in his welcome address said, “it is great occasion and I am happy to see delegates from many great countries of the world gathered here in this capital city of India to participate in and word for the success of this great conference on the unity of man. India has always given out the message of universal revived the age old message of peace and non violence and Jawaharlal Nehru extended it to inter national relations through ‘Panchshil’. It gives me great pleasure to welcome you all on behalf of four and a half million citizens of Delhi, for you have come here on the same noble quest for peace and amity in the world.

This conference is a part of the multifarious activities of the Ruhani Satsang and its sister organization, the Manav Kendra, which have branches in all the six continents and most of the countries of the world. In the context of the present times when man, lacking realization and awareness of his own true self is beginning to find seeds of his own destruction in all the scientific progress he has made, there can be no better or greater task than to strengthen links of unity between man and man and to build an atmosphere for universal peace, love and friendship. The great step taken by param sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj in this direction is bound to lead to a better, happier world.

The teaching of all great Masters are one and the same. The concept of love given out by Christ, Buddha’s Compassion, Mahavira’s Ahimsa, Harmony of Confucious and Unity of lao-tse, are one and the same. This conference has been unbreakable bonds of brotherhood, and people all over the world are looking up to you gentlemen for light and guidance.

This great conference on unity of man convened on the level of man, sponsored and Presided by the living Master, param sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj is first historic world meet of its kind. Blessed is the auspicious hour, the occasion, this land of sages and saints, where we find ourselves united in high noble purpose and have the benefit of spiritual radiation of so many realized and enlightened souls.”

Inaugural address delivered by Dr. G. S. Pathak, vice-President of India

“ I thank sant Kirpal Singh Ji, sponsor of the inter religious world conference on Unity of Man, organized by Manav Kendra, for his invitation to inaugurate this conference . I congratulate the sponsor on his enterprise in securing this conference . I am sure, his endeavor will be fruitful and achieve the worthy objective of bringing about the spirit of oneness among the followers of different religious faiths and promoting universal well-being.

Man has made many conquests over nature and has acquired knowledge undreamt of, say, twenty five years ago, which he can turn to his benefit or to his own destruction. Crass materialism has grown out of the unprecedented advance of science and technology. Distance has been annihilated and people living in remote regions have virtually become neighbors. Yet, they have not learnt to live like brothers. Conflicts persists, both on the national and international planes. Nations are afflicted internally with evils like parochialism, casteism, stateism, inequalities, intolerance, ignorance, etc. in the international sphere armed conflicts and wars still occur. Their causes, for example, racialism, arrogance of Power, chauvinistic nationalism, and political greed, bedevil the affairs of mankind. However, it is being realized, to use UNESCO’s languages, that since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed.” But no fruitful effort has been made on an appreciably large scale to change of mind of men and to erect and fortify the inner defences of life. Nor are determined and sustained steps being taken to give a clear and definite direction to human thinking and action so that science and technology may be used only for the welfare of humanity and an end may be put to the frightening possibilities of their evils uses. Colossal amounts are spent on armaments every year which could be utilized to remove poverty, illness and ignorance of the less fortunate peoples of the world. No doubt man represents a great advance in evolution. Yet it is manifest that in this evolutionary process he has still greater heights to scale. Something vital is missing in human affairs. There is a cul through sac –a blind alley. Unless the thinking process are drastically altered, there is no way out.

You must have proper understanding of man and his place in the scheme of nature. By nature I mean here not only the physical universe but also the inner world, ‘the kingdom of heaven’. For this it is necessary that there should be a dialog between different religions in order to rediscover the meaning of man, and to restate it in the idiom of universality. In this connection I recall to my mind the observation of Prof. Parrinder: “The religions of the world face a completely new situation today. Never before this century have they been in such close contact as they are now. The ‘one world’ in which we live with its close communications, make nonsense of religious isolation.” It must be admitted that the unity of man must transcend all physical boundaries and over ride all man made barriers. The realization of the Unity of Man will impart an element of spirituality in human thought and action I am happy to note, UNESCO’s emphasis on the “influence of spiritual values on political structure and techniques.” In this connection organizations like a Manav Kendra and conference like the memorable event and the rallying point of the fraternity of man, spiritual awakening and moral regeneration.”

The element of ‘spirituality’ which I have spoken depends upon the correct understanding of the evolution of man in the environment of nature (in the wider senses as explained by me above) and the discovering of the true relationship of man with God or super consciousness. This effort has been the constant concern of manifested since he attained civilization. Religion is a relationship, personal and intimate, of man with his maker. It is a part of ones’ being and an integral part of one’s emotions and feelings. There is a diversity of races and nations in the world, and a diversity of religions, but the objects of all religions quest has been essentially the same through the ages. All religions seek to know the supreme truth which pervades creation. In spite of the diversity of approaches there is an underlying unity in the concept of the supreme reality. All religions seek to know the supreme truth which pervades creation. In spite of the diversity of approaches there is an underlying unity in the concept of the supreme reality. All religions seek to lead man to a common goal. They appear to differ from one another because they were originally preached at different times and in differing environments. A conference like the present one will doubtless promote an understanding and appreciation of the essential unity of all religions and help us perceive and compared the fact that all of them utter the same truth, through in their own idiom.

While it is a natural that each individual should cherish a special feeling of reverence for his own religion, it is necessary that every endeavor should be made to appreciate the true meaning and depth of other faiths. This is possible only through a dialogue with one who has personal experience of the particular religious faith which one may try to understand…….sankara had a comprehensive appreciation of different expressions of the one truth, even though he spoke of six orthodox systems of religion.

Whether it is Christianity or Hinduism, Islam or Buddhism, Jainism or Sikhism or any other religion, the goal is the same though the paths are different. They light different paths towards the same ultimate truth in the words of the vedantic dictum: “Ekam sat vipra bhuda vadanti.” (He is one without a second, but sages comprehend Him differently and call Him different names.) ……… the sufi, rumi said: “the lamps are different but the light is the same.” Mahatma Gandhi realized the universality of religion and invoked God by the various names by which names by which different religions call Him. Toynbee rightly held that “the missions of the higher religions are not competitive: they are complementary. We can believe in our own religions are not competitive: they are complementary. We can believe in our own religions are not competitive: they are complementary. We can believe in our own religion without having to feel that it is the sole repository of truth.”

The principle religions of the world reveal a large degree of unity in certain of their tenets. Toynbee observes the all the religions agree that our universe is mysterious as the phenomenon that we see must be only a fragment of universe that is spiritually greater than man; that knowledge is but a means to actions leading to the goal of human endeavors; that mans goal is so seek communion with the presence behind the phenomena with a view to realizing harmony with it. Describing the attributes of God, the holy qoran says: “he never dies. There is no God but he …. God is ubiquitous and he knows all. God is infinite and omniscient …. God is the truth.” According to Sikh scriptures:

There is but one God,

The eternal,

The all pervading,

The creator,

The supreme being.

In the world of max Muller, the vedantic philosopher declared that “in the beginning there can have been but one, as there will be but one, in the end, whether we call it atman or Brahma.” The Upanishads say “ekam eva advitiyam” one only without a second . . . . . . . . “

A close observation and study of the phenomenal universe around us will lead to the realization that the one God is manifested everywhere and that his law rules everything. There is unity in the laws of nature which is but the manifestation of the divine. This unity was inevitable as the maker is one. It is known that release of immense energy in the sun is the result of the hydrogen atom. The fission of the hydrogen atom in the laboratory results in the same spectacular release of energy. It is evident that the manifested of the divine law is the same in the macrocosm as in the microcosm. I am mentioning this expression to support the concept of an all pervasive divine Power which regulates and orders all happenings in creation with the same even hand.

An excessive materialism which has seized hold of the mind of man is said to have grown out of the blind advance of technology and science; it may be relevant to speak of the relationship between science and religion. In his essay on science and religion, Einstein says: “science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” This indicates Einstein ‘s faith in the humanizing influence of religion on science. “there is no anti thesis between religion and science. Indeed they are complementary. Religion is concerned with the law of the inner man perceived by extra sensory means. Science is concerned with physical laws governing the material world. Science and religion together complete the relationship with divine consciousness. A search and religion together complete the relationship with divine consciousness. A search for the laws of nature by scientific method, according science as an anti religious endeavor but the modern expression of man’s search for God.

If the process of the erosion of moral and ethical values continues unabated, the world peace is in jeopardy, might becomes right and only the aggressive, the wealthy and the strong can survive on earth. It is necessary that religion should temper the peace of the materialism and technological advance and make it possible for the good and gentle, the meek and the poor also to survive and lead their own lives in peace, quite and safely. All religions proclaim the brotherhood of man. Islam emphasizes it and so does Christianity. The message of Sikhism is contained in the words: “we are the sons of the same one father: thou art my great Lord.” Jainism, Buddhism for other faiths are the necessary corollaries. Only by a synthesis of the values help aloft by our great religions can we safeguard the security and happiness of the people and ensure peace and goodwill on earth.

In the words of Dr. Radhakrishnan: “it is the aim of religion to lifts us from our momentary meaningless provincialism to the significance and status of the eternal, to transform the chaos and confusion, of life to that pure and immortal essence which is its ideal possibility. If the human mind so changes itself as to be perpetually in the glory of the divine light, if the human emotions transform themselves into the measure and movement of the divine bliss, if human action partakes of the creativity of the divine life, if the human life, if the human life shares the purity of the divine essence, if only we can support this higher life, the long labor of the cosmic process will receive its crowning justification and the evolution of centuries unfold its profound significance…..”

He concluded by quoting swami savanna who had dreamt of the realization of Unity of Man thus: “there is one caste, the caste of humanity. There is only one religion, the religion of love or the religion of Vedanta. There is only one ‘dharma’, the dharma of truthfulness. There is only one law, the law of cause and effect. There is only one God, the omnipresent, the omniscient, omnipotent. There is only one language, the language, of silence or the language of the heart.”

“I have now much pleasure in inaugurating the world conference on Unity of Man and wishing your deliberations all success.”

The vice President’s inaugural address was followed by the presidential address by the sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj , complete text of which is reproduced on pages 34 to 40 of this souvenir. He was followed by Dr. Sarojini Mahishi, Minister of state for tourism and Civil Aviation.

Dr. Sarojini Mahishi thanked sant Kirpal Singh Ji for having lit the torch of peace and unity which reflected the light within Him. Dr. Mahishi said that it was upto every one of us, man or woman, wherever we were, to take up the cause. For millennia the ancient sages had seen unity in the diversity pervading the world. She stressed that every one wanted happiness and wished to be relieved of pain or misery. The attainment of this goal was possible only if men became enlightened and took everything with yogic unconcern. Citing the example of janak as a model of a king and householder who lived a life of perfect renunciation, she advocated that we must learn to renounce the material things of life because it was too evident today that affluence did not lead to happiness, through spirituality, like truth and unity, did. For the attainment of this goal of unity and world peace, man must develop himself spirituality, intellectually as well as physically and realize his oneness with the universe, for weak lazy, restless and divided people were those who were miserable themselves and caused misery around.

Man must ask himself, she said, such basic questions as to where he has come from, where he is going? Those who are fortunate in having material comforts and the wherewithal for meeting everyone of their whishes, should have the heart to share their blessings with their less fortunate brethren. Man must Master the language of the heart (which is understood by any one who has a heart) drown all linguistic differences and submerge other divisive forces, as all religions were in essence the same and extolled the unity of man. She concluded by saying that advances in modern science had cut across all barriers of distance and it was now meaningless, nay impossible, for man to live isolation. Man must therefore unite, and united March forward towards his goal.

Mr. Reno Sirrine, leader of the American delegation and vice president of Ruhani Satsang and Manav Kendra organization in the U.S.A., proposed a vote of thanks to the vice president. He said “Master, Mr. Vice president, Dr. Pathak, I came over here to participate in the unity of man and after this parade today I am sure I am going to need a lot of help. The thing that has impressed me the most in the things that I have read since I have been interested in religion is the Indian government has been partial and interested and helpful in seeing man improve himself and have tried at many times to give them more leeway than we would in almost any other country in the world. So you people have a great advantage.

I would like to point out a couple of things to you at this time. On this platform are some of the greatest religious leaders in your country and you should be able to, with their help, unify man in India and if you do that, if might even wash over to the united states and we could get unified. The thing that I like about the philosophy of Master Kirpal Singh is that all of us are equal in the sight of God –of course the responsibility this puts on us is tremendous. But with these gentlemen’s help and with your Governments help in this great conference , we owe them such a debt to be able to have all of the being part of the conference and perhaps one of the most important part.

Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, head of the Sufi order said, “Towards the one, the perfection of love, harmony and beauty; the only being united with all the illuminated souls who form the embodiment of the Master, the spirit of guidance; honored chairman, your holiness, excellencies, ladies and gentlemen! The conference that we have the grace to attend here is the first of its kind and might prove to be history making if we refrain from the temptation of looking ourselves in praise and metaphors, and are united in the staunch resolves of doing something positive, concerted and tangible, for unity. We pay our homage to the assembling us all here together during these days and we congratulate him for having placed the conferences convened were dedicated to unity strictly in the religious field. Moreover, we value the interest taken in this conference by the vice President and the Prime Minister who are gracing us with the patronage of officialdom.

We humans have both privilege and the disadvantage of living in the age of momentous achievement and dangerous turmoil, in fact the entire surface of a speck of dust called planet earth is rocked by the spasms of a breaking through of ineffable intelligence, which devotees call divine, manifesting sometimes in interesting human enterprise of personal initiative in controlling and exploiting natural structure so as to ensure respect of its essential features of the dignity of human beings, individual freedom, against tyranny, injustice, discrimination. Yet most times, in the heat of the battle, we fail to see the wider issue. If we could only watch ourselves shuttling for petty things and egotistical interests, by adopting the detachment of the rishi, scanning the depth of the trouble minds consulting him in his solitary chases, we would realize how easily, we get side tracked from the purpose for which we were sent on earth.

The cosmic kurukshetra is, as the Zoroastrian says, the battle of truth against the lies. It is being waged on earth as it is heaven, every time that valiant and spirited man intervenes in the destiny of a fellow man in such a manner that by holding their head high in adversity they opened the path of hope for the disinherited and the oppressed who, thus heartened, will press forward in the breach they have blasted, for hope gives man the courage to live. Every new victory of freedom is won at the cost of the opposition of those entrenched in the convenient personal unchallenged mental constructions that has become hackneyed, though sanctified freedom. Those human institutions that have avoided exposing themselves to tidal wave of renewal, systematically hemmed the mind of adherence into indoctrination to which they pay mental allegiance, sowing the seeds of disunity.

However, beyond personal freedom, beyond the cause and insight of individual mind, there is a further dimension –the consciousness of humanity as a whole mankind beyond the person, man as the archetype, prototype of mankind. As the definitions of words are proportionate to the scope of the consciousness of those using them, we will have to redefined the word humanity, to mean, not a collectivity of a persons, but a global person of its own individual larger self. The pressure of our time forces us to appraise the consciousness that humanity has of itself as a whole, by convergence of individual man and woman –yes the term man stands for the principle beyond the dichotomy man woman and therefore includes both. This English words many have originated in the Sanskrit ‘manas’. Humanity is passing through a critical stage –its puberty. From the thumping as the past, humanity is beginning to discover itself as a composite team. Something momentous is happening to discover itself as a composite team. Something momentous is happening in our times. We are all sharing the pangs of child birth of humanity as an integrated team born out of convergence of those fragments of itself that we are.”

Yogi Bhajan founder chairman of the 3h foundation and sikh dharman brotherhood in U.S.A. said, “it will be our privilege to start with closing our eyes for just one minute.” (he followed it with a silent prayer to the Guru.) he proceeded “My dear people of India and my people who believe in righteousness in the world! Beyond the boundaries of the physical, mental and spiritual aspects that we practice, that path we love to open in unity, in faith, and in love. For all of us to walk on that path for which I congratulate sant Kirpal Singh Ji for taking initiative and all his men who have taken pains to organize this conference . I think if your hands do not have arthritis do deserve a clap.

Today here in this ancient land of sages and saints who have led humanity into the righteousness and loftiness of the micro consciousness and macro consciousness, who have been leading man into the state of ecstasy of consciousness, it was essential and very necessary that we should have this conference at least here, for which I congratulate you. it is a great day indeed for the mankind, for we have laid the foundation of a great task before us. The world has become so small that political, geographical or economical boundaries have no meaning to day. we have in the west. The technology, and we are Master in that technology, but in the east there is a great technology, but in the east there is a great technology of the mind, which can be bartered and exchanged. That is why people in the west need people in the east and people in the east need people in the west. It is a great task to see an old man is his eighties, going from town to town, morning to evening, giving the message of peace and joy and I ask you what has gone wrong to your five thousand years of learning of spirituality? Why couldn’t all of you get up and go to the world and give what than you are need here and this imbalance is only which is causing trouble in the world. Excuse me when I say that it can be only the vice president of this country who can be so philosophical, so true and at the same time so precise. People of India and people of the world are today getting united for one thing only and that is the peace, the unity and the prosperity of all mankind. It is a great day today when we can all be united in one name that is that we are born from the light of because and we should live in the Light of God and may the grace of God be with you.”

Maha mandleshwar swami ved vyasanand (Maha Mandleshwar is Equivalent of archbishop in the Sadhu hierarchy) said, “India is not a rich country in a worldly sense but it is rich in spirituality and this ancient land of saints and sages has even today Masters of spirituality and this ancient land of saints and sages has even today Masters of spirituality like sant Kirpal Singh who are giving right light to the whole world. It was appropriate that the conference On unity of man should be held in this country.

Swami chetnanand chidakashi Ji Maharaj said, “God is one and the same, ornaments may vary in shape and size; cotton is one, cloth made from it may have variegated patterns. Similarly there is one light, the light of God animating and sustaining all creation. When we rise above outer differences and realize the inner unity of life, only then we can develop as a man. This is the great task for which sant Kirpal Singh has convened this world conference on Unity of Man.”

Raja mahendra pratap, a legendary figure in India’s struggle for freedom, now a whole time missionary of the cult of universal love said, “the various religions are like so many medicines prescribed by eminent physicians from time for the purification of soul. They are related to the need of the times. And so we find that Master have been coming here from time to time under the divine plan to guide mankind. And in the same line of light givers we have today, sant Kirpal Singh Maharaj, with his great mission of man which is just the need and requirement of the present time when the world is torn by rifts and divisions. Wars cannot be ended by wars and large armies cannot protect a nation. Ten million soldiers of the Czar could not save him. Germany and Japan went under despite their huge armies, 8 millions and 6 million strong respectively. We have to have a revolution of thought and the simple criterion for that is that thoughts that divide are wrong and should be eschewed and those that unite right and should be inculcated.”

Shri Raja Ram Shastri M.P. Vice chancellor, Kashi Vidyapith said, “there are many things that divided humanity. Religion was the sole uniting factor. How did religion change to become a dividing force and what is the remedy for it? The reason for deterioration in religion is that with the lapse of time the outer forms and formularies of religion gained in importance to the detriment of its exoteric content. The outer form changes according to the needs of time, it is only the shell and not the kernel. The core and kernel of religion if spirituality which is constant and changeless and true for all times. Unless we recognize this basic unity as the fundamental and truth of religion, religion will remain a dividing factor and not a uniting force which it is in reality.”

Sardar Tirlochan Singh Khanna, one of the oldest workers of the Ruhani Satsang in U.S.A., traced the history of the mission of the Master and the transformation brought about in the west by the teachings of the living Master sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj and his illustrious mentor huzoor baba sawan Singh ji Maharaj. Mr. Khanna explained in detail how the seekers in the west were getting the benefit of the living Master spiritual radiation thousands of miles away as if they were sitting before him.

Dr. D. P. Pandy principle, the manav Bharti and a general secretary of the world conference on Unity of Man , who conducted the proceedings, thanked the national leaders, heads of the various formations, the spiritual luminaries and the vast audience for attending the conference . he particularly commended the admirable discipline of the audience throughout the proceeding.

Second Session Feb 4, 1974, Morning

World Pace Conference

World peace conference was held under the aegis of jain muni acharya tulsi, founder of the Anuvrat mission for moral regeneration of man and the Chairmanship of Venerable Nichidastu Fuji, head of Buddhist order in Japan. The conference was inaugurated by Baba Jagjiwan Ram, Union Minister for Defence.

Dr. Madan Mohan Chopra, one of the general secretaries of the world unity conference called upon Babu Jagjuwan Ram to inaugurate the conference. In his short introductory speech he sought to answer the question as to why Babu Jagjiwan Ram, who mainly concerned with the preparation of war in his capacity. The reason was that Babu Jagjiwan Ram was not only a defender of the physical boundaries and sovereignty of India, but also of its cultural heritage, its great traditions of truth, non –violence and universal brotherhood which was amply demonstrated by the way he conducted the war of liberation of Bangladesh and the high sense of humanitarianism and character displayed by the Indian army forms a glorious chapter of our history.

Giving his views on the World conference on Unity of Man, Dr. Chopra said: it is the very long desired goal of unity of mankind that has been and magnetic influence of the divine personality of Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj a sacred platform has been raised to fulfill this goal.

A reflection on the recent shift in world affairs makes us optimistic that the near future is going to better the lot of Man. To quote from a speech of Leonid Brazhnev: “On the whole , it may be said , perhaps, that our planet is now nearer to stable lasting peace than it was at any before”. (In U.S.A 1973).

So the meeting ground for all Nations is getting ready for a new dawn over Human Unity. Unless moral and spiritual links are re- established between the various countries of the world there cannot be effective pace and amity.

The spirit of Dharma, with high standards of ethics, clear-cut codes of behavior and wider acceptance of non-material values is more essential now than ever before.

Inaugurating that session devoted to World peace, Shri Jagjiwan Ram Defense Minister of India, stressed that in essence the major religions of the world, such as Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism Jainism, etc., were the same and each one of them preached the essential unity of man . He said that scientifically speaking , man was the most powerful in God’s creation and had within him the main attributes of God himself: he also had some of the attributes of Satan. The preponderance of Satanic influence within him was responsible for the ills of our times. The moment we realize this basic fact, do away as much as we can of the Stan within us, we shall have tipped the balance in favor of the Godly attributes and led the world towards peace and prosperity.

He drew an analogy from and realm of biology saying that in Nature just as union and multiplication was possible only between the same law, thus proving beyond found that mankind was one .Notwithstanding this unity, he asked, why man sought the destruction of man in any part of the world, if it weren’t out of the greed and lost for Power? It was a pity, he said, that whilst a few people were living in too much luxury and affluence which had dehumanized them completely, the multitude could not even afford the bare necessities of life. This imbalance, in his opinion, was responsible for the present bitterness and conflicts besetting the world. Some sections of society worked day and night to produced the wealth of the country and the world, but were deprived of the fruit of their labour and denied the barest minimum of the necessities for their existence whilst the chosen few enjoyed unearned comforts and riches. This state of affairs could not be rectified by politicians alone who always produced socio economic solutions. What we needed today was “a revolution can be created and successfully created by those people who have nothing to loose, nothing to gain –I will say, “lose nothing to gain except to lose the misery of mankind and to gain the bliss of mankind. It is therefore heartening that under the auspices of the call of these wise men who have been trying to arouse the consciousness of man, so that he can see the good and realize that conflict anywhere in the world.” Continuing, the speaker emphasized that disparities between various sections of society shall have to be eliminated, not, wholly by government actions but the reformation of man and that reform can be affected only by the wise and holy men, who alone could prevent man from behaving like a mad man. As an illustration Mr. Jagjiwan Ram cited an example of the effect of war and said that the present conflict between Israel and Arab countries, though one between Israel and Arab countries, though one between two small countries in some corner of the world, had affected all the citizens in all the counties of the world and our interdependence was amply reflected by the debacle of petroleum products which had effected the citizens of India in every city, also in Washington and new York, in Moscow and in perking –in all the countries of Europe. He asked if it weren’t enough justification for all the sensible people of the world to put their heads together for devising ways and means of eliminating war and uprooting the seeds of conflict from human society? The solution that he proposed was that all there was no greater crime than war. Only then can we “dream of a better world, a happier world when man will regard another man as his own image and treat him as a member of his own family.” He felt that man had not developed fully and had therefore not attained his full stature, consequently he suffered from inequality, disparities and other imbalances. He stated that today oppressors suffered more than the oppressed, exploiters suffer more than the exploited: the sooner man realized this, the would come to begin a whole man, appreciating that his neighbours had the same feelings as himself and therefore deserved to be treated with love and compassion and not hate and oppression. This transformation can be achieved by the teachings of evolved souls who could bring happiness into the world.

Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj, sponsor President of world conference on Unity of Man said, “this is a gathering for peace and we have here heads of many religious formations and our worthy defense minister there is not much left to say on the subject. I have only this to say that God made man the roof and crown of all creation. Next to God is man, the scriptures proclaim:

Sarb joon teri panhari, sarb miein teri sikdari

- Gurbani

O man, thou art the highest in all creation, the whole is world is created for thy service. But fist he has to become man in the true sense of the word. We are all born the same way, endow with the same privileges from God and have the same inner and outer construction. Man is, however s composite being, a s entity, having a body.

What is the meaning of man? One who is overflowing with love and compassion; who knows himself and knows God. He loves God and since God resides in all hearts he loves all creation. God is love, and man, who is of the same essence as God is an embodiment of love. One who gives out the God radiation of love may truly be called a man. The outer labels of the various formations that we are carrying are all right. The real purpose of all formations or social bodies is to the indweller of the body, the glory of God. He should realize his true self of being God plus man i.e., God man and as such be an embodiment of love. And love knows service and sacrifice, so he should think of the good of others and not of his own self interest.

So the ideal of manhood is that should he a brother into all creation. He should earn his livelihood by honest toil and share it with others. If we have such pak (pure) people in large numbers the world will become Pakistan (i.e., the land of the pure) and if we have a preponderance of khalis (pure) people the world would kingdom of God on earth. That country is good which has a large number of such people. So man should live for others. He who will not let his brother man go hungry naked thereby ensures his own fulfillment for God who resides in all hearts will surely provide for Him.

The teaching of the Masters is given out both directly and indirectly, i.e., through parables. There is a beautiful parable in the puranas that God invited both the devatas or angels and the danvas or demons to dinner. When the food was served God said, “your welcome to enjoy the food subject to the condition that wile eating you may not bend your hands.” Now the danvas who were slow witted and prone to act without reflection said, “God has insulted us, for how can one take food without bending hands?” and they walked out in protest. But the devtas pondered over it for the suggestion had come from the God and there must be some reason for it. After some time they understood the purpose behind the seemingly strange condition and started to feed each other and in this way all were fed without bending their hands. Kabir stresses the same point. He says, “so long as you live in the man body give, give, give. When you leave the body who will come to you to ask for anything.?”

It is a blessing to be born in a social formation but the real purpose of joiing a social formation was to rose above it into universality. If you do not achieve this purpose it is no use merely carrying the label of one or the other formation. The celebrated poet iqbal (sir Muhammad iqbal) says in a couplet that Moses went to mount Sinai in search of God. (did he not know that God was himself searching for mam? (i.e., a perfect man). All mankind is one. They should all be good and be one. Live and let live should be their motto.”

Jain muni acharya shri tulsi, founder of the anurvat mission for moral regeneration said: “I am really glad to be here on this plat form where we talk of peace. On the political platform, generally talks on peace are being talked out, discussed, and decisions taken, but here this time it is on a spiritual platform that we talk of peace. Now we must take note that we are discussing the problem of peace on a platform of religions. We must find our whether religion has got the Power to establish peace in the world.

If religion is devoid of two important principles I am sure religion will not be able to deliver goods that will establish peace in this world. One is sacrifice and the other is self control. These two powers must be there in religion.

I feel the mass mind is sick now a day. it is on account of this sickness of mans mind that the whole thing is going in the reverse direction. Where the man must become individual he must become social, and where a man must become social he must become individual. That is the difficulty now, therefore the necessity today is that the religious gurus must come forward and correct the mind; remove the sick ness in man mind now a days. This is sickness cannot be remedied by ordinary doctors and hospitals. It can only be remedied by gurus assembled here.

Lord mahavira has declared land ago that if you want to be a religious Guru, the head of a religious order, you must leave two things. One is Aham that is I the ego, and the other is mamta –that is everything is mine, the feeling of selfishness. If we want to remove the Aham and the manicure , the ego and the “mind self” in the man, then we must try to become the accomplished shield , ‘gasuna’, we must try to compress ourself in our zeal. It is only such kind of religious heads who can try to bring world peace now a day and I would like to tell you what exactly peace means. Man has got two aspects in him; one is called shakti, that is Power, and the other is shanty, that is peace. If the Power goes externally, them we call it Power; if the same thing tries to move inside, internally, them we call it shanty, that is peace.

We must have two things: one is love; affection, and the other is unattachment; non attachment. If we develop these two aspects, then the different oceans between man and man would disappear.

The religions and the heads of religions, if they try to establish peace among themselves and try to work whole heartedly and remove the hurdles which are now in the peace, I am sure that world peace will automatically come.

Anuvrat in brief, means if you do not attack others, no other person will come and attack you. anuvrat (mission) says don’t consider any man to be interior. If you try to feel the other man is inferior and you are superior them naturally the other man will feel that you are inferior to Him. Anuvrat transcends colour, creed, race, religion, land, countries. It wants you to work for all human kind. If you want to be rally a man, if you want really to transform mankind into good people, your habits of eating and drinking, your habits of behavior must be good. That is what anuvrat emphasizes at the outset.

Them I appeal to you; if you really feel that we must try to establish world peace you must not do anything that will disturb world peace, at least peace. That’s the central path of determination that you must take now. Through your mind, through your action, through your speech, you must not anything which will affect world peace. That is the determination, which you must take, one and all. If a small mistake is committed somewhere, in some corner, that will have the greatest result, a terrible . . . . .results else where. Therefore we must be able to keep ourselves under control.

Venerable Nichidatsu Fufi, head of the Buddhis order in Japan said:

“Seven hundred years ago, a Buddhist monk of Japan had said that without ahimsa (non violence) religion was meaningless; one must not steal, one must give alms, and for satisfying one’s hunger one must earn but inculcate the spirit of non attachment (renunciation). Today socialism is spreading and we are told that those who do not work have no right to eat and more people are dying of hunger and starvation than due to war. We must, therefore, strive towards providing food for all. Disregard of well being of another person is responsible for the growth and spreading of poverty which destroys one’s consciousness of all the higher values. A poor and hungry man will do anything to gain bread, he can even commit murder. Whenever we turn our gaze, we see the differences between the rich and the poor, but, when this differences goes beyond limits them it borders on injustice. We must therefore work for an even distribution of the available wealth.

The cult of selfishness is spreading wide. But in the Buddhist philosophy the banishment of greed is achieved by inculcating in man the consciousness and need for the welfare of the other man. After independence India, too has tried to develop on the basis of principles of socialism. The Buddhist religion advises that food, clothing medical facilities etc., should be provided to every human being only can peace be established. For removing the ills of man, aggression and oppression will be of no avail: love and non violence alone can achieve the desired peace, happiness and unity.

Unless the greatest consideration be given and respect for the other man be inculcated, true peace cannot be established. He advocated nonviolence and tolerance towards others, respect for the other man, sharing one’s wealth (at least that which can be spared) and eschewing greed for the achievement of peace and unity.

Yogi Bhajan said people stand today for oneness of the man to bring peace to the world. It is a very small start. Blessed is sant Kirpal Singh who has taken this initiative to bring us together. When the mind is filled with spirit, it flows. So in his old age he went around the world with one message: come, let us get united. Let us bring peace to our hearts and let us be peaceful. Shanti and shakti is merged and this merging is the start we get today. It is a message to us that we will from today onward work for it. This world needs it; we need it, and someone has given us a start. This is the most beautiful, most unique day for all of us. Today as children of God we are learning to love God in the loving way in which God is.

Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, head of the Sufi Order said:

We have not come here simply to demonstrate a wish for peace but also come in order to find a way of overcoming all the obstacle to peace. There are people even today who are living in terror, in a condition of oppression, terrified by those who have Power over them. there are people who are ruling the lives of people and there is tremendous conflict in the lives of the people, even in families between husbands and wives or father and children, in all the realms of life. Wherever you look there are conflicts. There are conflicts within the mind of a person, too.

What are the obstacles? How can we remove them? we must understand that every one is pressing forward. There are conflicts between the interests of human beings. Just like in a crowd –everyone tries to push the other to get forward.

And it takes a higher consciousness to accept another person as good as oneself. It is a matter of respect for the dignity of the human person. We have to find a way of composing the different forces that are conflicts in the world. War is not the only scourge that is to be found deeply rooted in the hearts of men. This can only be done by accepting this law which may be expressed in that Hindi word ‘Vairagya’ (detachment). I think that we have to learn how to be in the world and yet not of the world. We have to learn how to apply the rules of the Sanyasin, but in life.

A conference like this wouldn’t have been possible a few years ago. It is the expression of the desires of those people of humanity as a whole, that want to compose their differences, come together –want to find a way of harmony, want to find way of understanding. This can only be done by extending tolerance to the intolerant. It is easy to tolerate the tolerant but the great challenge is to be able to tolerate the intolerant, and even with those that oppose you, find a way –a way of dignity –which you can assert your right and at the same time respect their right.

The following resolution proposed by Dr. M. M. Chopra and seconded by Shri Bhani Ram was road out and passed by the house by a show of hands.

This world conference of Unity of Man proposes organize local forums of well meaning and enlightened persons, all over the world, to bring about frequent small gathering in order to afford on opportunity to the representative of various religious groups to meet more often and more intimately. This forum would not only discuss the pragmatically purpose of world alliance and peace but would establish a personal sympathy and understanding as well, without which genuine co operation would not be possible.

The conference accepts reverently and unanimously the ideal for man expounded by revered sant Kirpal Singh ji as “man is incarnate soul, a conscious entity and is of the same essence as God, and as such we are members of one family and related to each other as brothers and sisters in God. Human body is the temple of God. To be born in the body temple is a blessing, but not to rise above body consciousness (i.e., to know self and God) is sinful. While remaining in our respective faiths, we must rise above them and should become followers of true faith to love God and love all his creation.

“A true lover God will love all his messengers who came in the past, all the scriptures records of their self communion and communion with God. He will love all mankind the rest of Gods creation in many forms. He will love all holy places sanctified by the presence of God man at one time or another and now revered as places of pilgrimage. He will never injure nor molest anyone in thought, word or deed.”

The world conference on unity of man records its sincerest gratitude to Ruhani Satsang to Ruhani Satsang, Delhi, Manav Kendra, Dehra Dun, and their benign originator, God man sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj for giving a new motivation in the sphere of religious unity, world peace and solution for perplexing problems confronting human progress and prosperity; and an opportunity to meet at one platform leaders and thinkers of various religious and faiths having spiritual consciousness and conviction determining the actual lives of significant groups of people.

The conference proposes that ‘unity homes’ should be established, wherever possible, all over the world, where people of different colour, clan, caste, creed and nationalities can meet and live with perfect amity, unity and understanding like in their own homes. The home should also be used for celebrating national days of all the national day of all the nations, religious and social festival and cultural nights and exhibitions.

Shri B. M. Shamsukha of the Anurvat Mission and a general secretary of the world conference on Unity of Man who conducted the proceeding thanked the leaders and the audience after which the meeting dispersed.

Vigyan Bhavan Feb. 4, 74; evening

The Panel Conference

On the afternoon of February 4, the conference split up into four panel conferences or seminars, in which different aspects of the idea of the unity of man were examined in depth. The four panes were as follows:

UNITY OF MAN –ONE WORLD
CURRENT WORLD PROBLEM AFFECTING THE UNITY OF MAN
WORLD HARMONY
THE ESSENTIAL UNITY OF RELIGIONS

The talks that follow are, hopefully, a cross section of the vast amount of material that the panels produced; many excellent talks were necessarily left our, due to space limitations.

FROM PANEL NO. 1

One World –The Dignity of Man P. 99 Yogi Bhajan

The Path of Oneness P. 100 Sant Kirpal Singh Ji

FROM PANEL NO. 2

The purpose of Education P. 101 Rev. G. J. Christo

True Love P. 103 Frederick Aye

FROM PANEL NO. 3

Love as Fearlessness P. 104 Kaka Sahib Kalelkar

Universal Harmony P. 105 Dr. Sean Sieglen

FROM PANEL NO. 4

The Posion and the Nectar P. 108 Dr. Karan Singh

Foundations of Religious Unity P. 110 Russel Perkins

Toward the Unity of Conscience P. 113 Archbiship Angelo Fernandes

One world –The Dignity of Man : Yogi Bhajan inaugurates the first panel

Mr. President and friends: it is a privilege today to speak on a very important subject, the unity of man. Surprisingly enough, man wants to practice unity, and he knows where unity lies; but rituals have overcome reality to the extent that man is not able to practice unity.

The mightiest countries like the united states and the USSR are following the gunboat policy less today because the voice of the people is against it. To day there is more talk about the common development of the world, more talk about peace, and more talk about development of the undevelopment countries. There is self can be realized, the technology through which self can be developed –the method of acquiring consciousness. People are seeking truth today, and want to understand each other.

The world has become very small and we can reach any part of the world in no time. There are no geographical boundaries between countries. For the last five years I have been working in Europe and the United States, and I feel that the time has now come when man is beginning to realize that it is only in unity that we can live on this planet.

The rich countries have suffered the embargo on oil, but they have not attacked the Arab countries; they talk of starting negotiations with them. now it is for the spiritual leaders to show the way to the people of the world . India is a land of saints, and they agree that the creator has created us and in every individual we can see the creator. Therefore I say that man wants unity and peace, but the rituals have bifurcated him to the extent that he cannot achieve it.

When all our minds are sick, we seek truth; and this is the right moment to meet heart to heart. There is the greatest need for love at this time. I am hopeful these words I am grateful to be called to inaugurate it, and I am hopeful that you will give a very positive and concrete exposition of the subject and offer solutions to the problems of humanity, so that hatred may be wiped out from the face of the world, and there is dignity of man; and man can develop himself in the spirit of love and peace. Thank you very much.

The Path of Oneness: Remark by Sant Kirpal Singh Ji

DEAR BROTHERS AND SISTERS: I have to say a few words on inner concentration and connected thoughts. To achieve eternal unity one must be able to get self consciousness and try to recognize that great Power who is controlling the world . you all know mans body is one and we believe that it consists of five elements and that there is a Power behind it who is controlling all this system; so we must try to understand this truth and have the reflection of the divine which is in man.

Of course, you all know that to get any fruit some labour is required and to be self consciousness we must struggle until we get it. We have before us many examples of our ancient leaders like Guru Gobind Singh Ji, and most of us are following their path; some of us have achieved something is this line.

It is very difficult for narrow minded people to this path and to meet each other. We must exercise in the right direction. The present urge for unity is a call for self consciousness, and we must be eager to achieve it and share our good effort to achieve it. I stress that we must go ahead on the path of oneness of man which is the real path of God, and whatever differences come in our way must be removed in a coordinated manner. If you have faith in Him you can change your fate, as well as others fates. My best wishes are there and I hope you will come to this conclusion. Thank you.

The Purpose of Education: The Rev. J. Christo, President of the Northern region, seventh day Adventist church of India, exposes the emptiness of present day education and suggest alternatives.

MR. CHAIRMAN, delegates: only one who has an ostrich like outlook on today’s law and order situation will deny that something has gone wrong somewhere, and that the picture of society and civilization in this generation is grim. Those born today will inherit as their legacy an era in which crime has soared as on wings. If we study statistics on all types of crimes we find the figures are higher than ever and going higher.

Is there something wrong with our present educational system, or our home environment, or perhaps in our social and political order? I would like so submit that the predicament we find ourselves in today is a result of neglecting one of the most important factors of life. Much stress has been placed on the mental and physical development of our generation. To a lesser degree, scope has been provided for certain social development; but little has been dome bout the spiritual or moral health of the individual. This, I contend, result in the moral decadence which is destroying the foundation of everything we hold precious and dear. Mankind has been able to conquer outer space, but has failed to find the meaning of his inner space. When man began to understand the intricacies of the universe, he considered himself to be the arbiter of his own destiny. The industicadies revolution uprooted man from his ancient traditions and propelled him into an atheistic mechanical world. Men orbiting in outer space declared that their journey into space justified their belief that there was no God, he should now be consider dead, as mankind really had no need of Him any more. Some believe that God is a creator of the “haves” to lull the masses into submission.

Education includes more than the formal three “R’s” taught in the classroom. True education includes the whole begin and covers the entire span of life given to an individual. I submit that the education offered to our children and youth today is too narrow. True education teaches the best use not only of one but all our acquirements. Thus it covers the whole circles of obligation –to ourselves, to the world, and to God.

“Character building is the most important work entrusted to human beings; and never before was its diligent study so important as now. Never was any previous generation called to meet issues so momentous; never before were young men and young women confronted by perils so great as confront them today.

“At such a time as this, what is the trend of the education given? to what motive is appeal most often made? To self seeking. Much of the education given is a perversion of the name. In true education the selfish ambition, the greed for Power, a counter influence. God plan of life has a place for every human being. Each is to improve his talents to the utmost; and faithfulness in doing this, be the gifts few or many, entitles one to honour.” (E.G. White)

The home is the foundation of all growth and it must also be the place for spiritual growth. Psychologists tell us that a Childs learning process begins at birth. It is therefore imperative for a child to have adequate moral and al influences during babyhood. With so many broken homes, and working mothers and fathers anxious to work more than one shift a day keep up with the joneses, the Childs training is often relegated to an occasional growl from papa.

In our secular society the safeguarding of the spiritual development has been left to the parents and to the religions organizations to which the parents subscribe. The schools supported by public funds concentrate mainly on mental and on the physical development. Man is a four dimensional personality –physical, mental, social, and spiritual –and inasmuch as true education includes the development of all these faculties, schools also share a responsibility in providing opportunities for all these faculties to develop. Oscar handling professor of history at Harvard, recently concluded “that colleges are actually killing education. In the 1970’s we sentence more of our youth to more years in school than ever before in history, so that never before have Americans been so poorly educated as now.” This perhaps could also be said of education in India.

It would be well for us to consider the aims of education:

Foremost is the formation of character. The object of education should be to restore in man the likeness of his creator –bringing him back to that perfection in which he was created. All true knowledge will tend to make the being perfect. A sound character is real in the sense that it deals with substance and not show.

Secondly is the development of the intelligence. A good moral education is not meant merely to take away our “simian” characteristics or the tiger within us, but to strengthen minds weakened by self indulgence and lack of control. The mind is to be activated and placed in contact with an all intelligent creator.

Equipment to earn one’s living. True education is not primarily to help equip one with the ability to earn a living; that is necessary, but too narrow. True education is more than a preparation for the life that now is; it has to do with the whole period of existence possible to man. This includes eternity.

More and more educators recognize that our present system of education has neglected the important aspect of manual aspect of manual labour. Jerry L. Pettis, a U.S. Congressman who recently visited China, made this comment:

“I was keenly interested in the philosophy that prevails in China on the subject. All students are required to spend two years on a farm. After a student finishes the equivalent of the American high school, he is assigned to a farm, or ‘commune’. At the end of the two years period, the other members of the commune decide whether he is college material and whether he should obtain further education. In such a vast country, it is impossible to provide advanced education of everyone; therefore, a student must, in the opinion of his peers, have a reasonable chance of success plus the motivation to succeed, or he will not be given the opportunity…. As the peasants and youth work side by side, helpful philosophies are communicated, and the young maintain a solid contact with reality.”

Finally the advancement of knowledge must result in the pursuit of truth. This should be the end of all education. Truth is acquiring a knowledge of God and finding out his plans for our lives.

Many a growing child is repelled by the seeming hypocrisy evident in today’s adult world . double standards confuse the child, and the gap between precept and practice is puzzling. The knowledge of hypocrisy breaks out in rebellion against society. Someone has said hypocrisy is bad at any time, but doubly so when it is clothed in religion.

Glaring differences between riches and poverty, gluttony and hunger, love and hatred –these contradictions lie within the human breast. The unlovely instincts can be conquered and subdued as an individual realize his role in this world in relationship to his God and his brother. What the world needs today is not more theology it needs a demonstration of God love, described in the Bible as: “Love is very patient and kind, never jealous or envious, never boastful or proud. Never haughty or selfish or rude. Love does nor demand its own way. It is not irritable or touchy. It does not hold grudges and will hardly even notice when others do it wrong. It is never glad about injustice, but rejoices whenever truth wins out.”

Unselfish love and concern can break down barriers of neglect, suspicion, and hatred. Unselfish love can unite the world in one brotherhood. Unselfish love is the universe greatest need.

True Love: Frederick aye of Ghana spoke briefly and to the point

My subject will be true love, and I will be very brief. All human beings are told that God is love and if they have been created by God, they are the creatures of love and they must love fellow beings. But we find in actual practice that from the day we are born we imbibe religious hatred, fanaticism, etc. we are taught that our religious is the best, and also that if we achieve materially, it will be in our best interest. So it becomes the duty of those people, young or old, who have got some spiritual enlightenment, to teach what true love is and how we should love each other. We should first set examples ourselves by good deeds rather than by preaching to others. We should have the feeling and desire to share everything that we posses. That will be the guarantee for unity of mankind. Thank you.

Love and Fearlessness: Kaka Sahib kalelkar, one of the closet associates of Mahatma Gandhi, shares his thoughts

Our great strength must be love which is fearless non violent love. It is time the world was viewed as a great family; I think it is ripe for the establishment of a familyhood of all religions, all cultures, and all races. If it doesn’t come about, a world war mat well happen; and with the present development of science it could be an unprecedented disaster.

Sant Kirpal Singh Ji is doing this work that of making all religions and races one –and as a humble servant of mahatma Gandhi, I congratulate him for organizing this conference. Now we have to establish that familyhood –through love, complete fearlessness. If we want to establish peace, we have to work for others. Sant Ji wants to give thought to these things, and to do service for the whole world. We are in a country where people of all races and religions are gathered together. We must love each other. All our energy should be saves for actual work.

We invite Muslims, not as Hindus, but as members of one human family. We should have hope for our towns and villages. In the villages, people do not understand economics; but they understand religion and they understand culture that has been the tradition of our country. We must now have a great organization and go to the villages and tell the people the central part of their religion is to love others. We must ourselves stop hating others and start loving; mere speaking wont do. Under sant Ji initiative and guidance, we should have small groups all over the world; we should, as members of the same family, build a new culture, a new civilization.

Science is very useful, because scientists worship truth. We want to make science more spiritual, and only saints can do it.

So I express my gratitude to sant Ji for organizing this international conference. I belonged to Mahatma Gandhi’s group; I was vice chancellor of the university started by him, and worked under him for 50 years. Sant Ji Maharaj is doing the same work which Gandhi Ji asked to do –establish harmony and unity of man. Religions are different but we are all bound together by love. My definition of love means fearlessness you don’t threaten anybody and you don’t fear anybody.

Universal Harmony: Dr. Sean sieglen of the Manav Kendra of Maine, U.S.A. discusses in depth the problems involves

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: when addressing ourselves to the question of “universal harmony,” we must determine first what manner or style of harmony we are seeking in the world . certainly mankind is agreed that harmony is wanted, is in fact desperately needed. It is commonplace by now to assert that unless international relations are made harmonious, mankind will destroy itself in various technological and political wars. Also becoming equally imminent is mans lack of harmony with the very earth the sustains his physical life. Disharmony in this ares of ecology threatens to cripple civilization, even wipe out large segments of the population within a century –some authorities say within decades. However, it is not my intention within a century –some authority say within decades. However, it is not my intention to elaborate upon these problems, since we are al familiar with the alarming dangers involved in these conditions; I will rather pose the question:

1) What king of harmony can man feasibly pursue for himself? And

2) How might man best obtain his goal?

One form that many persons have selected as the kind of harmonious relation they wish to carry on with other persons –or rather nations, or other religions, or with common words, ‘he and I will get on amiably if he stay out of my way, or if we have no contact whatsoever.” Hence there arose in the United states a popular attitude that two subjects not to be discussed were religion and politics. Racial tension also has grown because of such disguised bigotry, and I call it this name because underlying such isolationist viewpoints are the convictions that I am separate from him and I am correct. But of course this conference by its very existence isolate ones person, ones religion, or ones nation from the rest is at best an equivocal position to take.

A better pursuit of harmonious relations perhaps would view harmony as an acceptance through understanding of his neighbors way, or an acceptance because of respect for that other nation, or religion; in general respect for ones fellow man. If such integrated style of harmony is preferable to the isolationist style of harmony that has been most rife in our various countries histories that is to say, if strong nationalism and chauvinism on any scale to religious, from vocational to personal are undesirable –then to what or to whom are we to turn for us to get a clearer understanding of just what sort of harmony I am indicating?

First comes to mind the United Nations; but well known that though certain valuable results have been attained, that organization isn’t able to produce the sort of far reaching harmony(or brother love) for which we are seeking in this panel.

Then we are reminded of the many religious ecumenical conclaves which succeeded world war II. In the west Catholics, protestants and Jews met to dissolve differences; in the east, Buddhist, jain, Moslem, sikh, and Hindu sat together to emphasize their oneness. Everyone here is well aware of the achievements made on these line by the world fellowship of religion, presided over for so long by the sponsor of this conference , sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj. Here some definite from before, come together to speak of unity and harmony. Yet at this level of religions or institutions, full unity has not been realize because each group again sought for the unity of its own body, rather than for the integration of all groups to become united under God.

The harmony we seek here, then, must sought at the level of man not nations, not religions, not institutions. This brotherly love is of a nature that embraces each individual and emphasizes similarities instead of dissimilarities. Harmony of this kind presupposes one God, one mankind. Every individual is only separate temporarily –that is, until he realize that he isn’t really separate at all. He them wont choose isolationism or chauvinism or any ism, for that matter, since all isms tend to divide rather than bring together. So we can define “harmony” as the congenial interaction of entities or groups of entities who all feel that they are portions of the same God, drop of the same ocean of all consciousness. This joyful interaction or brotherly love comes up because each person knows that thought their bodies may be several, their souls contain the same essence; and that essence is greater than any prejudice or separation.

With this definition and ideal of harmony before us, lets approach the next question of how to obtain so difficult a goal, especially at a time in history when there exists a large percentage of mankind who accept only material values, ignoring or rejecting values of a spiritual nature. How is it possible to live so harmoniously that anger, jealousies, hatreds, injuries and wars diminish and cease altogether?

Such society and world living in that type of concord must be viewed as a utopian ideal. Practical utopias haven’t fared well in history. The celebrated brook farm of the nineteenth century, in which Emerson and Hawthorne participated, typically represent the main problem –dissension. The participants wrangled about leadership, duties, etc., and though equality was sought, none was found. Some of the best utopias comprise people whose lives are so simple that they have little cognizance that their community is ideal. One illustration is the hunzas, north of here in the Himalayas. Their vallyis a veritable Shangri la, and the reason seems to be that they do not stress material achievements. They have no high, no low, thought they respect the wisdom of age, all are equal in their group. They have a simple diet, exemplary morals, and a clean disciplined environment.

At present I help to coordinate a utopian attempt in the state of Maine in the U.S.A., it is a man center the Manav Kendra of Maine instituted for God service, man service, and land service, parallel to the two centers which exist here in India at Dehra Dun and Baroda. This center seeks to establish a unique situation where an undetermined number of men and women live harmoniously without anger or dishonesty. They live chaste lives, and try to serve and love every one with whom come in contact. In simpler words, they try to serve and love every one with whom they come in contact. In simpler words, they try to do good, be good, be good, and be one, not only with human beings, but also with animals and land service being of prime importance. Manav Kendra attempts to become a complete community in self sufficiency so that it may show the surroundings society how harmonious living may be achieved. But again the question: how is this goal to be obtained?

The answer is the heart of this presentation: universal harmony on the scale of which wave spoken is only to be achieved when personal harmony is first realized. At the level of man each person must admit harmonious ideals and practice into his own life, so that he radiates peace and contentment in all his activities and with all his associations. Three billion people need to overcome their emotions to the extent that they are in control of their faculties and senses. When a mans mind is under his own control, driving the horses of desire that pull the chariot of the body, and the rider never lets any of these (body, mind, emotions) turn wild, he may be said to have inner harmony.

That man who keeps his mind like a tame elephant will be at ease in all situations and with all persons. He will not get angry even with those that abuse Him, nor will he be flattered by praise. Needless to say, that man will radiates harmony and infect all those around him with his joy. A man like that can affect and improve thousands, so that they too may reach that level.

We have seen illustrations of this kind of man in the lives of the saints. Buddha evinced such great compassion that millions of people of thousands of years have tried to emulate him. (I am not speaking of Buddhism as such, but of the effect of the radiation of a great saints.) Jesus preached eloquently of love and has stirred men for two thousand year whether or not they all comprehended his message. Many followed his radiation and rose to great height of peace and understanding: Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, John of the cross, Theresa of Avila, Jacob boehme, to name a few. That radiation does not die with the body of the man. Guru Nanak produced a string of Master who affected countless numbers deeply in their spiritual natures, just as the prophet led to great Sufis like hafiz, rumi, and mansur. And of course we can name mahatma Gandhi to demonstrate further the developments possible in men of God, men whose lives carry on the impulse that might have been first sent out thousands of years ago by someone who took the time to rein his desires and sought to promote harmony for mankind by first attaining it in himself.

What can the three billion persons do? What can we here do to achieve that harmony? Certainly no more religions are needed. We have quite enough religions, for all three billions have been reached by those faiths as they seek to gain more adherents and converts. One step would be to delve more deeply into the existing religions to find what universal truths lie there; another would be sit quietly and meditate in the closet of ones body until the silence become vocal. Great peace derives from this practice; but someone who has achieved the mastery of it is required, by the very nature of the difficulties involved, to teach us how to go within and still our minds.

Some sort of quiet upon God is definitely needed; but very few men are at all conversant with God even if they have tried. Most don’t try, of course. They seek Him instead in outer ways, but they only get further entangled and drawn out. it becomes apparent that a strong quitting factor is needed.

This paper has arrived at three preliminary conclusions:

1) That universal harmony must commence with personal inner harmony;

2) That many great saints have not only achieved such a state, but have also radiates this calm to their followers; and

3) That in the present we must find someone who has the practical capacity to give the peace and harmony that he has attained.

The Poison and the Nectar: Dr. Karan Singh, Minister of health & family planning, Republic of India, inaugurates the fourth panel

After hundred of thousands of year of evolution on this planet, the human race has finally reached a decisive crossroads in its destiny. On the one hand, science and technology has given man Power, if he uses it wisely, to eliminate poverty and suffering and ignorance and disaster from the face of the earth; on the other hand, the same science and technology, if misuses, will end up by eliminating not only the human race itself, but all other life on this who went. They left the rest of the earth behind. But if man ever goes. He may well take with him all life on earth. He will leave nothing but a planet so polluted and spoiled as to be totally uninhabitable I think this is symbolic of the difference between the human race and other creatures who have inhabited this planet.

The special capacity of man lies in his ability to transcend himself. All other creatures are bound within the confines of their own evolution; but man is the first his kind – a very special creation on this planet. He has the capacity to rise above himself and come in contact with what may be called “spirit” or may be called “God”. What ever name we call it, we have to be very careful with words, particularly when speaking about religion. Certain words can have certain meanings for a particular religion and when used by other religions, can be misunderstood.

The basic point I want to make is that the old is dying and the new is coming. They’re no doubt about it. Old customs, old formalities, old ways of behavior, have totally collapsed, that is, died; and the new is struggling to be born. Ourselves in a very precarious position.

Now what is the role that the great religions of the world are to play? They have played a marvelous role in human history, resulting in great creativity and inspiring millions. On the other hand, it must also be recognized that in the name of these very religions many terrible atrocities and cruelties have been committed by man upon man. There has been much exploitation in the name of religion, and many questions can be put as to whether religion in any way can help mankind to overcome these present difficulties of this nuclear age. I think this is a question to which we must address ourselves, and the theme of this particular panel is extremely important in this context – “The essential Unity of religions.” Quite frankly, the time has gone when religions fought with each other for the allegiance of mankind. I think that is a thing of the past. The position now is, whether religion as such is to have meaning, or whether religion as it is has to disappear from the face of the earth. It is a question of trying to discover what “essential unity” means.

There are lots of rituals and different interpretations, and each religion had its followers. But it seems to me that the major point: that every religion seeks to bring about in its followers a direct relationship between human and something that is superhuman or divine. In other words, it is the capacity of man to transcend himself into the divine that lies at the root of religion – what is called mysticism.

Every religions has stressed this point between man and the divine. To my mind, it is this fact – that it is essentially indefinable, it cannot be put into words that is important. I am reminded of story about a Zen Master and his disciple; the disciple was reporting to the Master, and the Master realized that the disciple had had the experience before he could say the words. So the Master went and banged the gong. The disciple said, “But Master, I have not said a word.” The Master said, “Exactly. Don’t say.” The difficulty arises when we try to put into words that which is essential; when we attempt an intellectual formation of an experience that is beyond words. Because words are unable to pinpoint or experience which lies, and I see it, at the root of all religions, whether it is Christianity or Sikh Gurus or the great Hindu mystics of the Vedas and Upanishads; there is something that they are all talking about and it is the same thing. They may say it in different ways and in different languages, but nevertheless it is the same.

I am not saying that rituals and spiritual descriptions are not important; they have their place. What would philosophers do without them? But the real essence lie in the indefinable experience.

Another thing is that this experience is not incompatible with activity in the world. This is very important because there is a tendency in some disciplines to, once this experience is attained, try and withdraw from active involvement in life. But this is the basic point made in the Gita: “At the same time involvement in life yet detachment” – it is the comprehending of both the way of Krishna and the way of Buddha. Both have got to be Comprehended, but they must be put into a single experience if a person if to make any sense whatever of the human predicament.

So today there is a need for churning the ocean of consciousness, as in the ancient myth. But remember that before the nectar comes the poison. If you recall the myth of the churning of the ocean, you will remember that the nectar came after dreadful poison in the great mouth of Shiva. That day immorality came to man. So today the ocean of consciousness is being churned. The poison has now got to be integrated within human consciousness if we are to break through into a new level of consciousness, a new awareness of the tremendous potentiality of man. And in this lies the unity of man. Therefore it seems to me that what a conference of this type should address itself to is the task of refocusing the attention of the human race upon this indefinable quality of transcendence and, if you are able to do this, I think you will be able to meet the tremendous challenges that face us.

Foundation of Religions Unity: Russell Perkins, the Editor of Sat Sandesh, U.S.A., discuss concepts common to all religions

Dear friends: Dear friends: some of the most pleasurable moments of my life have been spent studying the scriptures and traditions of all religions. Though I am a Christian by birth and bringing up and bringing up and I love Bible dearly, I have also loved studying the lives and teachings of Milarepa, Ramakrishna, St.Francis of Assisi, Guru Nanak, Kabir, and many others too. And there are certain thing to do run though all of their teachings, even though there are certain things that do run through all of their teachings, even though there are outer differences; if it weren’t so, I don’t think it would be possible to read the writing and lives of all of them and get the same degree of inspiration.

There is one thing that is found in every religion and is basic to the religious way of looking at the universe; and that is, coming to grips with the fact of death. Everyone dies; yet life as it is set up in the world is predicated on the assumptions that we will never die. People work, take on connections, and treat each other as though they were going to live forever. And if we look into our own actions and ways of life we will find that this is so.

Jesus told a story about a farmer whose harvest was in, and he was content within himself and very happy; and God came to him and said, “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee.” So suddenly all that he had done became irrelevant; it just didn’t matter any more. If we go into the lives of these great saints and Prophets, we find that what they did and said was relevant to the fact of death. After all, the only thing that happens to everyone without exception is death; it seems that any way of looking at life, or any school of thought, that doesn’t take death into consideration is silly.

So that’s one thing we find in every religion. The other thing is this. Everybody knows that when Jesus was asked what the great commandments were, He said, “ Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and soul and mind; and the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” But what a lot of people don’t know is that Jesus didn’t invent those commandments; they are found in the law of Moses, who gave them out 1500 years before Christ. So when Christ gave out those commandments as the essence of his own teaching he was showing in very beautiful way the continuity of Gods revelation.

A little later Peter and James and John witnessed Jesus’ transfiguration; but when they saw him transfigured, he wasn’t alone – Moses and Elijah were with him. You see? Two great saints who had come before. And so, even though Jesus was manifesting the greatness of God working through him at that point, he was also showing that he was not doing anything new; that those who had come before were with him.

In the same way, when the Koran was revealed through the Prophet Mohammed, explicit references were made many times to Moses, Jesus, Abraham, and many others who came before him. And when Guru Arjan compiled the Adi Granth, the scriptures of the Sikhs, he not only included the teachings of Guru nanak and his successors, he also collected the writing of Sheikh Farid, of Kabir, of Sheikh Bikhan, who were Muslims, as well as those of Ravidas, Ramananda, Namdev, etc., who were Hindus. And if he had know any Christian saints, he would have included them too.

Closer to our own times is the life of Ramakrishna, who demonstrated very dramatically the essential unity of religions by becoming, actually becoming both a Christian and a Muslim at different times, as well as being a Hindu. And everyone knows Mahatma Gandhi in his prayer meetings used to have read out the teaching of all traditions.

The point is that each of these great men has demonstrated graphically that he was not doing anything new, that the people who came before him are those whom he derived what he had. So all religions must be derived what he had. So all religions must be respected; as the great Buddhist Emperor, Ashoka, said, “He who reveres his own sect and despises the sect of other has failed to grasp the basic truth of religion.” How much trouble, even in the world today, is due to just this: the inability to grasp that God reveals Himself to different people in different ways. The way we think he comes is not necessarily the only way or the best way; it may be the best way for us. As Ferderick the Great said, “In my state each man is free to be saved after his own fashion.”

The content of this continuing revelation, as we have noted, is the necessity of loving God and loving man, and I think that this unity is oneness –not a collecting together, but a looking deeply and seeing that we are one. In the parade yesterday we were all shouting, “All mankind is one.” And this is the point: the command thyself,” can be lived up to when we see that our neighbor is our self. When we serve others we are serving our self. The Sermon on the Mount can be understood only when this is grasped, and the great Christian saints have understood this. I have gone into the lives of St.Francis, St. Anthony, St. Theresa, St.Ignatius, and they did understand this; but so we can understand this but so can we understand it.

And it’s not even a matter of understanding in any abstract way. Our neighbors is not all humanity spread out enmasses; our neighbors is whoever we meet each day. If we are married and have a family, our neighbor is to start with, our family; and who do we take for granted more? Whether we are married or not, our neighbor is anyone we meet at the moment we meet him, even if we don’t like him. Liking has nothing to do with it. We love him for him for his essence, for what he is. The point of the parable of the Good Samaritan is that the Samaritans were despised by the Jews of that day; they were what we would call a minority group.

So loving God and our neighbor is something for each minute of the day; not just once a week on Sunday’s or Friday’s, or Saturday’s or whenever we go to the temple. It is something to be done once each second, I would say. Because it’s important that we never lose sight of the fact that we must respect and love each man’s way of being – his essential “is-ness”; as it is said, “There is a divine purpose behind the life of everyone who comes into the world; no one has been created for nothing. We have something to learn from everyone. This is the mystery of humility.”

Toward the unity of Conscience

Dr. Angelo Fernandes, the Roman Catholic Archibishop of Delhi, outlines the steps

If you take the religious experience of man down the centuries, the different aspects of facets that figure in all them constitute a seven-dimensional organism containing doctrines, myths historical events, ethical teaching, rituals, social institutions, and religious experience of various kind . . . If you have rituals without personal impact, that is disastrous. But it is ritualism that unfortunately seems to be unduly prominent in the world today; and that is not good enough. Spirituality is not some of this, some of that; it should be all, it should be a wholeness. A truly spiritual person is not just one who is given to spiritual exercise or who has opted out of society for prayer or contemplation, or one who pursues the path of austerity, or is solely committed to ethical or moral enterprises or social work and social service. Here too there must be a harmony, for the person is concerned at three levels Physiological , supernatural; all these come into play. Since we are here in a spiritual conference, we can say that holiness is this wholeness of life, and it must be seen and put into effect with regard to all aspects of religion described above – we can’t pick and choose. Man must grow; we are here , and our only business is to help each other to grow. I am saying these things in the things in the hope, under God, that they may help us to grow. Man must grow simultaneously in his mastery over himself, the closeness of his relationship with God our Father, and in love and service to his neighbor. A spiritual person is a whole person; such a person enjoys and grows in fellowship with God and man in a positive, active dynamic, ever –increasing way. This is more than just not doing wrong, or any sin, or any harm against one’s neighbor – that’s negative and that’s why this world is in a sorry mess: there are far too many people today, so-called good people to pull the chestnuts out of the fire. And they say to themselves, and perhaps to the world go by; they want other people to pull the chestnuts out of the fire. And they say to themselves, and perhaps to the world, “I mind my own business” – as if we were not all concerned about each other. A correct attitude seems to be to call for an open, expansive, “love is in joyful service” attitude, which is at once the recipe for happiness and the best contribution to society.

What is fellowship? It can stem from religion understood in his quest for wholeness of life. True fellowship should derive from the wholeness of approach taken in both these ways. The world is very rich; it is we who have been very poor in our attitude to the existing riches; we who have been limited in our grasp, appreciation and understanding of the problems facing us.

The second part of this approach is collaboration between all living faiths all together working to bring about these possibilities: the possibility of wholeness of life for each individual - as a whole man, and as man on his way to God – for all men everywhere. We should be committed to such an approach of fellowship; only then could we say we are really spiritual people, otherwise we are not.

The second point is to focus all this on man. If you want to apply this, notice that down the centuries there has been a common belief in all religions that there was a golden age when men lived in peace and innocence; and the something happened that disrupted this blissful existence and ever since man has lived in misery and turmoil. The fact is that greed, Selfishness and stupidity continue to plague the dealings of men with each other at all levels of life. And religion today, if it is to be relevant to the young people groping and questing for meaning – if what we are all here talking about is to be relevant, then this multi-dimensional experience of God must relate to God’s children everywhere. We can’t limit it to a purely individualistic approach; we cannot just be concerned about ourselves. We can’t pretend to be having a loving experience of God who is the Father of all, and ignore any single person who goes by the name of man.

And I now want to ask you to pause a while and ask yourselves: What are we doing to each other in the world of today? No man is an island. In an independent world, it is a common good of all men that must be part of the quest if we are wedded to any religion whatsoever. Material progress today has outstripped the mind, and threatens to do so even more. It is time the spirit caught up with the race, to give the much-needed soul to society and the world and this whole entire enterprise in which we are engaged. Such a goal, which must always have this in mind – wholeness of life, for each and all – is a consummation devoutly to be wished,

There are many obstacles to be met with, and they must be faced. But when the world is burning and rotting to pieces, how can we profess a religion and an experience of God – how can we sit on the sidelines and watch? Isn’t it for all to enter the fray? In whatever way they can, to contribute their insights, their vision, their dynamism, their motivation, whatever they have, in the service of God’s children as a religious experience? Stemming from the personal intercommunication which they have with God Himself?

Religion – our experience of God and our dealing with each other – has to be situated in the reality of today’s world. We cannot afford to bypass the legitimate hopes and aspirations and striving of the working class, for instance; their aspirations to equality and to responsible participation in the economic and cultural fields and in political activity. You may wonder how I am deliberately straying into these fields and in political activity. Man and his life are intertwined with all these activities; and if we want wholeness of life foe each man, and all men, and wholeness of life in our approach to God, then we have to touch all these. But: with a breath of the spirit.

In India, the U.S., and Europe today we have secular states – naturally so – where no premium is put on any religion and all are free to worship in their own way and follow their own paths. In India, our constitution guarantees your freedom to practice, preach and propagate, within the limits of law and order, your own religious convictions and faiths. The United Nations is also a secular organization. But isn’t it sad that in this whole process of the modern, secular world, which is trying to create some sort of cooperation and brotherhood, striving after peace in a variety of ways – isn’t it sad that religious motivation is not in the picture? Isn’t it sad and isn’t it sad and isn’t it almost futile for people to think that this development in its true sense – wholeness of life for each an all – can be had without bringing in the insights, the values, the vision, the strength, the force, which comes from religion in one way or another? The harnessing, therefore, of religious motivation for the process of development, brotherhood and peace, is one of our big challenges in the world today: not just that we personally relate well with God, ourselves, and each other, but that we reach out in ever-widening circles to bring people of all faiths together in this fashion.

What is the quality of life today? Who has this wholeness? Three-fourths of humanity can’t have it because they lack the simple precondition for human existence. And those who have too much, they cannot be said to have wholeness of life; they have to be cut down to size in order to have wholeness of life. Why can’t our relations one with another in the world of today be so organized, be so inspired, that all can grow in this fashion? That’s God’s plan.

When two people get married in a church, there are two places where the couple kneels down; but notice they are not facing each other. Though they are going to take each other for man and wife and live with each other for the rest of their days, the two kneelers are facing the altar, God, and the future.

In that I see a method of approach: that we can work together and learn to appreciate and understand each other and go from tolerance, which is only a beginning, to respect and reverence for each other – to fellowship in the full sense. And it’s through living and working that this happens; not just by talking about it. So as a practical measure, I would like to suggest that this is the kind of thing that could be done everywhere, I think the task is the creation of unity of conscience. Nations are made up of human beings, and the real task is to build brotherhood, harmony, concord, peace into their minds.

The independent investigation of Truth will lead to this: the acceptance of the oneness of humanity; the conviction that all men are brothers and that they must work together – for the full human rights for each and all who are called by the name of man. Universal brotherhood and peace is of great importance, but to achieve this we need a unity of conscience, which means the abandonment of all prejudices which divide men into hostile sects, groups, etc. And a unity of conscience must be created and deepened around the basic convictions shared by all living faiths.

Where will the force come from to bring this about? Form a deeper interiority which will make each of us full harmonized human being. Signs ourselves, and symbols of that wholeness of life. Which we want for others, and the dynamic, corporate quest for which is what I call Peace – Sahlom. The distinctively human part of us – our freedom in the spirit – must be given full play; only so will we be able to transcend our limitation and become Peace ourselves.

If experiencing God in the fashion, the mystic element of religion referred to just now – if experiencing God in the intimacy of the heart (in true Bhakti ) – if this became the experience of men everywhere, then thy would live in harmony with themselves and with those around them, and bridges of understanding and brotherhood would be built at the grass root levels. And therein lies man’s greatest hope for brotherhood and peace in the world.

First Open Session Feb 5, 1974, Morning

‘India Always Stood for Unity’

- Prime Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi

‘India was the mother country of individual

religious accomplishment’

- Reno. H. Sirrine

Prime Minister Shrimati Indira Gandhi had a big surprise when she came on an unscheduled and consequently unscheduled and consequently unpublicized visit –the scheduled visit was charge gathering, reminding her of multitudinous election crowds she had torn herself away same with the difference that this was an international gathering. Another remarkable thing was the absolute quite and disciplined manner of the vast multitude with practically no security arrangements and wholly redundant in a situation where the vast pandal filled to capacity was just an island surrounded by a surging sea of humanity –a remarkable thing indeed!

On the specially constructed unusually wide and deep platform were seated with the sponsor President H.H. Sant Kirpal Singh Ji, Yogi Bhajan (with his whiterobed American disciple kirtan group in turbans and dupattas seated on one end of the stage) the stage secretary Shri Raja Ram M.P. Vice Chancellor, Kashi Vidyapith, Shri Gulzarial Councilor, Delhi, Giani Zail Singh, Chief Minister, Punjab, Maha Mandleshwar Swami Ved Vyasananji, Swami Chidkashi jain muni Sushil Kumar, Venerable Nichidastu Fuji head of Buddhist order in Japan, Baba Bhatt, Shri Parmanandji, Minister Jammu and Kashmir, Swami Arvindanandji and others.

Shri Radha Raman Chief Executive Councillor, Delhi, and Chairman Reception Committee formally welcomed Prime Minister, Shrimati Indira Gandi and said, “we are glad to find, on this auspicious occasion, our topmost leader, Prime Minister Shrimati Indira Gandi, in our misdt. This great world conference on the Unity of Man has been convened to propagate the idea of unity of man. We are glad that all enlightened people of different faiths and schools of thought from all over the world, who believe in the unity of man have responded of thought from all over the world, who believe in the Unity of Man have responded to our invitation and traversing long distance have come here to participate in the deliberations of his conference. We are happy that shrimati Indira Gandhi has found time even in these extremely busy to come and address us today for which we are grateful to her.

We have made rapid all round progress in science and technology, but it is set naughty when there is a decline in human values. And so we find that a search is on, in most countries of the world today, to find ways and means to preserve human values and standards. It is against this background that the world conference on Unity of Man has been convened. And once again I welcome prime minister Indira Gandhi to this conference , on behalf of our sponsor president sant Kirpal Singh Ji and the heads of religious formations and others collaborating with him, on my own behalf and of delegates, both Indian and foreign, and finally, on behalf of this vast gathering here.

The President, Satguru Kirpal Singh Ji welcoming Prime Minister Shrimati Indira Gahdhi said, “the inner feelings of heart cannot be expressed through words, for love is always dumb; the Power of love works through radiation. I have love and good will in my heart for all of you sitting here. And the love and affection that I have for indira ji cannot be expressed in words. She has devoted her whole life to the cause of unity of man.

Before this we have been holding many conferences at the level of religion. These were instrumental in mitigating bigotry and narrow mindedness to a very large extent. So far so good. But there was yet considerable work left to do for unity and for that we now have this conference at the man level, the first of its kind. I recently went to the west. The idea appealed to them greatly. Here in India too the need for it is being felt in all quarters. Man has first to become man, in the true sense of the word. Even God is searching for man – a perfect man. The great urdu poet iqbal says in a couplet that Moses went to mount Sinai in search of God, did he know that God himself was searching for man?

Who is a man? He who represents the ideal of manhood, who loves God and since God resides the ideal of manhood, who loves God and since God resides in all hearts he loves all creation: his body and soul should give out radiation of love, of humanity; he should have love and regard for everybody –his compeers, his superiors and those who are below him for God is in all of them. man is the roof and crown of all creation and so this conference is being convened on the level of man. Our dear prime minister has taken time from her busy hours for which find no words to thank her. I thank her on my own behalf and on behalf of all of you for coming here to address us.”

Yogi Bhajan thanked the Prime Minister an behalf of foreign delegates. He said, “Distance has no meaning today. In the west we have always looked to mother India to give birth to an illustrious son through whom we should be able to give the message of ancient life to the world and thus serve mankind. We have come here from all parts of world to learn from the way of developing spiritual consciousness which the west has to learn from the east an which would be the basis of world unity. It is a unique situation in the world today that out of the great personalities today three are women and our respect Prime minister, Shrimati Indira Gandhi, is one of them and she is a pillar of light in the world.

It is an inspiring thing to all of us in the west that today, once again, the message and call for unity has come from India and it is a great day, a blesses day that the great son of India, sant Kirpal Singh has accomplished a great task, a unique and unparalleled task, of bringing people from all over the world together here. It is a great day in history that has given us the message to leave words and take to action. Thank you and God bless you all.

The Prime Minister, Smt. Indira Gandhi addressed the conference first in Hindi and then, in English. She said:

“Since we have many friends from outside the country, I would like to say just a few words in English. It was very good idea of Sant Ji to call this conference of all religions. As I said in Hindi Just now, one of the books that had a profound influence on me when I was quite small was called The Essential Unity of All Religions. I saw from it how in fundamental thought, in the encouragement of an atmosphere of love, of harmony, corporation, of helping others, all religions had a deep message to give. We in India have for many years tried to practice these ideas, but being human beings we are full of failings and we do not always live up to our ideals. We were also taught that, just as the rain falls in many parts of the earth and ultimately most of it finds its way to the ocean, in the same way, whatever path we find of worship. If we do it with sincerity, ultimately it leads to truth and to a greater understanding of the world and our ourselves, and give us the inner strength with which to meet the challenges of life.

There has always been materialism and evil in the world, but along with, there have also always been forces which have tried to combat them, which have tried to forge a path of peace and harmony. Today perhaps we nee this more that ever before, not because man is worse, but because he has more power to do bad things. And we see that this power, which could have gone such a long way in relieving the suffering of many people who have been deprived, underprivileged and oppressed through the ages, is used for warlike efforts, for threats, and for creating disharmony rather than cooperation. So conference like this, with different trends of thought and philosophies coming together, may find a way which can inspire people today to give of their greater knowledge, their greater capacity, their greater power to forge a new path for mankind.

Many people have written that 1973 was the end of an age. We do not know what the new age will be like, but it will be different. In what way it will be different lies in the hands of all of us, especially the young people – because it is they who will make this new age. It depends on them whether they want to follow the path of peace and they have the capacity to create, harmony, to create better understanding out of the ancient truths. A remarkable thing about these truth is, that although they are ancient, you will find that they apply to modern life – in the context of what is happening today, they are relevant; they give the answers wee need. But unfortunately the world doesn’t seem to have time to think, to study these things, to find out their deeper meaning; time to let them act and to take real strength from them. Whatever this new age will be, it will be an age of man – of the common man – and therefore whatever direction can strengthen man – and by strength I do not mean the strength of weapons, the strength of power, organizations, but the real strength of weapons, the strength which lies within each one of us – whatever will strengthen that part of us will enable us to use this power wisely and make the world , and make a man better human being. So the challenge which faces humanity today is greater perhaps than any challenge it has faced before.

Along with the challenge is the opportunity. Never had we had such an opportunity for molding a new way of life, because with better communications, as was said just now, distance is not a barrier. The seas, which we thought divided one continent from another, are like bridges which join the continents together. The mass media also give the opportunity of bringing also gives the opportunity of bringing different thought to different parts, of creating a better understanding can grow cooperation, and out of cooperation can come peace for the individual, for the world as a whole, so that we can go towards what many people have dreamed – the concept of one world. In our philosophy it has often been said in many different words that all of the human family perhaps as only those people who lived around them, because they couldn’t see any farther, they live – not only through words, but through bridges of understanding, of thoughts, of concepts and we should use this opportunity for strengthening the forces of peace and understanding.

We are talking here of harmony, of peace of the oneness of man; but I am very sad that in my own country there is a great deal of disharmony. There are forces of violence - forces which want to exploit the difficulties between people. Sometime we quarrel over religion, sometimes over caste, or language, or we quarrel over one state and another; and the net result is not the spirit of disharmony and the spirit of discontent. We are facing very great difficulties, but the question is how do we combat them? How do we get the get the strength to meet them and to find a way out? It cannot be through disharmony. We are naturally very sad when people die through these violence’s, whether it is because of those who try to prevent them; and our full sympathy is with the families of the bereaved with those who have suffered in other ways. But when we look back after some time we find that these kinds of eruptions do not achieve what we want. They achieve only disharmony and encourage, what is not good in man because each of us has the good and the bad. It is up to us which part we encourage, we allow to come out. And this I think is the message this conference can give to India, which needs it just as much as the rest of the world. So all of you here some have traveled long distance, but the distance we have to travel in the spirit is much is much longer than any distance which you can cover by ship or by plane or by the train, and if we can go in the right direction, lift up our spirit for right action, then I think all of us together can contribute to the making of better world. So I think that this conference has served a very valuable part; all these steps are not big steps, they are small steps; but any journey however long is completed by the steps one take toward the goal. So I think that Sant Ji and all those who have cooperated with him in this great venture are to be Congratulated and we seek their blessing in our work; and to all of you who have come I give my good wishes. Thank you.

Thanking the Prime Minister, Mr. Reno H. Sirrine, the leader of the U.S. delegation to the conference , said: “the Prime Minister mentioned that this was the age of the common man; and I am sure that this includes all of us without vidual religious accomplishment. I came here because I want to walk without feet, I want to fly without eings, I want to see without wings, I want to see without eyes and I want to hear without spiritual as an individual. and this is our job: to individually develop ourselves so that we become a worker for world peace, for one religion, man to man understand each other. And with this great thought and this great challenge which is even greater than the physical challenges that we see around us day by day, I again want to thank every one of you for attending.

As I walk back to my seat, would you, instead of applauding thank God for the privilege of being here in this wonderful country, where we have an opportunity to really get to know ourselves and our creator.”

Giani Zail Singh, Chief Minister, Punjab, Congratulated the living Master, sant Kirpal Singh for convening this world conference for promoting unity, love and understanding which were the crying need of the time in a world torn by hatred and fear. Sant Ji belonged to the line of luminaries who gave the message of love and since love knows service and sacrifice, a call for selfishness service. Service of man was in fact service of God since God had made man in his own image. This was the message of all Master who came but their followers went against the teachings of their own preceptors and that is the reason for all our woes and for the hatred and fear today. Sant Ji has revived the old teachings of the Master and it would do a lot of good if young men were to follow in his footsteps and act upto his teachings.

Kaka Sahib Kalelkar, a close associate and follower of Gandhiji said, “we are very fortunate to have been born in a land where we have all races and cultures living together. Our culture forbids us to speak ill of other religions. We only see the good in all religions and cultures and strive to promote a sense of kinship and family feeling among votaries of different religions. And in conformity with our culture we have a secular government. Love knows service and he who loves is never afraid, the modern age is the age of universal love. The petty conflicts today may flare up into world wars. Love and service of man are the tow effective antidotes to that. It is therefore most essential to propagate the ideal of love and service among the people and sant Kirpal Singh is doing this most important work, I wish him all success in his endeavor.”

Shri Paramanand, Minister, Jammu & Kashmir State said, “in this age of proliferation and stock piling of weapon that scientific progress has placed at the disposal of man, the message of humanity takes on a special significance and sant Kirpal Singh deserves our gratitude for having organized this world conference on Unity of Man. It is a glimmer of light in the all pervading darkness, this message of Unity of Man that we are all one and no physical barriers and boundaries can divide and separate us.

Swami Arvindanand Ji said, “By Gods grace or by merit of karmas, you are blessed with the man body and if you cultivate and develop certain human qualities you are a man and if on the other hand you adopt evil ways and develop tendencies and develop good qualities. And man making or regenerating man is, therefore, the very basis of the mission of Satguru Kirpal Singh and his Manav Kendra. He has taken the first step in the right direction by organizing this footsteps and stop not till we reach the goal, of unity. To err is human and we have our shortcomings, we always had them, but we have a competent guide in Param Sant Kirpal Singh, the cosmic man, to light our path to the top leaders and administrators seek his guidance and blessing. There is no other way than to take refuge under the sheltering wings of Godman.

I do not wish to ask you to raise your hands but would ask all of you to make a firm resolve that from now on you will cleanse your hearts and minds of all parochialism and see man as fellow man and brother and not as Hindu,Moslem that you have some understanding of the teachings of sant Kirpal Singh Ji. It is the Power of lo of the living Master Kirpal Singh that draws you to him and you sit with rapt attention from morning till evening. If he were to leave this stage there would be nobody left here except the loudspeakers and the poles supporting the vast canopy left here except the loudspeakers and the Power of love, the uniting and cementing force, a minute vibration of which can span distances of mountain and sea. And so we should all become living embodiments of love and carry the message of the cosmic Lord whom we call by the name of Satguru Kirpal Singh to the whole world.

The living Master, sant Kirpal Singh, cast his glance of grace at the vast assemblage sitting patiently from the early hours of the morning for a few words from Him. He seemed to be looking far into the future into the streak of light which he had frequently predicted, but something in the deepening shadows of the last hours of kalyuga must have cause him much concern, for in all his speeches standing and strength to “change our angle of vision.” And he himself led the mass prayers after fully explaining its techniques in a few simple words.

He said, “yesterday, the day before and today, the ideal was places before you that mankind is one. We are all one it is true, but for that some effort is required on our part. We should pray to the almighty to give us strength to change our angle of vision. So I would request all brothers and sisters here to sit still, close your eyes and withdraws your attention from all outside and pray God in all sincerity and from the depth of heart. A true prayer which comes from the heart is always answered. An what is the true prayer? When mind thinks, the hear feels and the tongue expresses. The almighty heeds such prayers. Gurbani says this context: -

Sat santosh Kare Ardas,

Tan sun sad bahalai pas.

First of all the prayer should be true; it should come from the heart, the tongue should express it the same way and the mind fully concurs with it. That is a true prayer. The next stet is to sit at the door and patiently wait. Hurry wont do. So I say to you, the ideal before us is that mankind is all one. The labels of various formations that we carry on our bodies came later. You are welcome to have them, they are the distinctive labels of the different schools that we have joined to know self and to know God. That school is best which turns out a large number of successful student who pass the examination.

Now please sit still and meditate for just three minutes. Close your eyes. Withdraw your attention from all outside. Pray to God sincerely and from the heart. He is within you and hears all your prayers. He knows the very trend of your thoughts, the way they are shaping. Now sit still, withdraw your attention from all outside and pray, “O God , we are stranded. We have lost the way. Show us the way. We are all one family, children of the same father. And you are our father.” And the vast gathering sat still meditation for 3 minutes after which the session dispersed.

Second Open Session Feb. 5, 1974 evening

‘Know This that we are all One’

- Satguru Kirpal Singh

The evening session, originally scheduled to be the opening session of word conference of Unity of Man became just an extension of the morning session with some forceful speeches from swami Arvindanand, Raja Mahendra Pratap, Bhikshuni pal Mohammedan and justice Bhatt, ending with a spiritual discourse by the living Master, Satguru Kirpal Singh Ji, wherein he stressed the point that ‘we are all one.’ And once again he asked them all to join him the prayer to God that He grant His special grace that we may have first-hand experience of Reality.

Swami Arvindanand in a forceful speech called upon the saffron robed community of Sadhus to rise above the narrow confines of their order and play and effective role in world affairs. He began as usual by reciting the prayers of all religions and explained that he did it “because our minds have got so polluted that if a Hindu were to utter the ‘Allah’ in a temple, or a Moslem were to say ‘Ram’ in a mosque, it will cause such a stir as if a bomb was thrown. I recite the prayers just to clear the air. These are the things that cause rifts and divisions. “Swamiji paid a glowing tribute to Sant Kirpal Singh Ji. The whole credit for this great conference goes to him it was he who attracted eminent people from all over the world to him. He had no hesitation in accepting the fact that the entire Sadhu community – he was giving his own personal opinion jointly could not have organized this great international meet. His eminence had raised all Sadhus in the estimation of the people.

Raja Mahendra Pratap said the crux of the problem was that we profess to be Hindus, Moslems or Christians, but we did not act upon the teachings of our own religion. For instance Lord Krishna Says, whenever Dharma – right understanding or path of duty – is on the decline and evil is predominant, I come to ameliorate man. If this be true then Christ, Buddha, Mohammed were all incarnations of Lord Krishna. Similarly the holy Quran says, that Allah says to mohammed that ‘We have sent our Hadis at all times and in all climes’. This means that Lord Krishna, Buddha, Jesus Christ and Guru Nanak were all Hadis.

The scriptures are full of such positive thoughts that will serve to unite man. If we were to apply the simple criterion to shed all thoughts that divide us and to accept thoughts that unite us and the same toke to recognize the man who unites us as worthy of respect and he who divides as a man of evil, it would be helpful in cementing unity.

Bhikshuni Pal Mo Sikkim, a Buddhist nun Mahayana sect of Buddhism, speaking in chaste English said that it was just an accident, a chance remark of a friend informing her about this conference that had brought her. In fact a conference on unity of man did not require a formal invitation. Paying a glowing tribute to the sponsor she said, “In the tenets of Mahayana it is clearly said that there is a no gain in looking for enlightenment for one’s own self. We must seek enlightenment for all mankind. I look upon this conference , sponsored and organized by sant Kirpal Singh, as not only a monument to his great love for all but also a monument to his great work for all. This is an example of supreme self-sacrificing work. It does not come, a meeting like this, just by thinking about it. It comes by sacrifice – Kurbani – and handwork. Santji could have sat in his Ashram very happily and the world would not have come to an end, but he called all his followers in the villages and I am happy, I cannot tell you how happy, to see all these Punjabi and U.P villagers with their Bistras (beddings) on their heads and their families coming to this camp city. This is the meaning of his care an selfless work for all. I give this message on behalf of Buddhist brothers of Himalayaa region – in Sikkin in Bhutan, in Himachal Pradesh – and in India. Perhaps you do not know that that there are 18 millions of us and some millions in the frontiers region.

Justice J.N Bhatt (Jammu- Kashmir) Said, “You have heard so much on religion and on unity of man during these three days from eminent of religion, ministers, scholars, savants that I do not wish to say anything more, I would like you just to have something to help digest all this. And that chooran or digestive is the ‘dristhi’ or glance of grace from the God-intoxicated eyes of the living Master, Sant Kirpal Singhji Maharaj.” Citing an example from Gita, Justice Bhatt said that after explaining in detail the various aspects of the Dharma to Arjuna, Lord Krishna manifested before him his real face and forms of Cosmic Universal existence, which staggered him for he had till then taken him as a mortal like himself, a brother, a friend. “I too am at my wits” end at all that I have seen during the last 8 days, how thousands of men and women from all walks of life, of all ages, strata of society, religions, leave their homes, offices and other interests and devote themselves solely to the various activities, and during sessions sit still, in a pin-drop silence from morning till late in the evening. What is the power that attract them here, and holds them to their seats? And in the grand processions I saw well over a hundred thousands men women even small children waling a whole 3 mile distance in the hot sun. Why? For what gain? The Master has no money to distribute, no worldly power or influence, no temporal benefits to confer that men should flock to him like that.

It is for a greater gain, of spiritual elevation, it Singh the Power of telepathic communication, the radiation of inner life that draws people to him. He preaches something which is very much desired and needed today. I am very proud of that India has contributed so much to the notion of Unity of man and unity of all religions. The living Master, Sant Kirpal Singh, showed to the west that there was something beyond material progress and amenities that they had in such abundance and were still unhappy. It was the elevation of human beings to spiritual dimension – which is more needed in the west than in the East. His teaching is very simple: Man, know Thyself. God is in you, in fact you are God personified. Develop your consciousness. That doctrines he has preached through platform, writing, discourses, tours and it has endeared him to men, women and children, all over the world. And it is not preaching alone, he gives the life impulse, the quickening touch from the abundance of his limitless reservoir of life eternal. It is God’s work – or raising people spiritually ; of making them God-conscious.

The Master, Satguru Kirpal Singh said, “All Master who came said the same thing: God is Light and we are all children of Light. The same Light enlivens all creation. Just as bulbs have electric connection give light when the switch is pressed, the same way the Power and God enlivens all creation. When that Power withdraws from the body we have to leave this body. So you see we are children of Light, which is one and not two, the one Power that is our source and sustenance, called God, who is Light.

Kabir has explained why he cannot see God. He says, ‘So long as we are identified with the Indriyas, the outgoing sense-faculties, we cannot see him. When we rise above them only then we can see God.’ All Master say the same thing. Kabir further says in the same context: I saw that all pervading Light in me and in all creation and all my doubts were dispelled. Lord Krishna says the same thing in Gita: He who sees Me in all and all in Me, he is dear to me. So you see that we are all offspring’s of the same Light. All are equal; high, no low. All are born the same way. Is there any doubt about it? Where then is duality?

When a baby is born we cannot recognize whether it is a Hindu or a Moslem. Let us take the example of foundling Homes where abandoned children are sent. When a child is received there it carries no distinguishing marks to show whether it is Hindu or Moslem child. It is a man, as God made it. This is a fact and needs no reasoning.

So we are all one, no proof is required for that. Only we do not perceive Him ( in the present state of close identification with the body and outgoing faculties) and that is why there is duality. We have a body and we have a mind but we are a conscious entity, the soul. With all our physical and intellectual advancement we are unhappy. Because we do not know our real self that we are children of Light. Great is man. The supreme Being once wished: ‘I am one, let me be many’, and with one thought wave of His the whole creation came into existence. As Guru Nanak says, ‘There was one source eternal from which flowed countless millions of streams.’ He is all Light and we are children of that Light. When He can create millions of planets by a mere wish, a single thought-wave we, who are conscious entities and of the same essence as that of God, can we not, by withdrawing our soul current from all outside and concentrating within create even a city?

Master who came from time to time, all proclaimed: O man, you are attached to outer labels when the source of all joy and happiness is within you. God, all supreme Father, is in you. Father and son both live in the same house ( the man body ) but you, the son of the Almighty through identification with outgoing faculties, wander outside. Rise above the body consciousness. Maulana Rumi says: O dear heart rise above this physical life of flesh and you will realize the life Eternal that enlivens this body. As I said before, the Master one and all, laid stress on unity of man. For that one to unravel this body and know carry on our bodies. We forget that purpose and got attached to the outer labels. The same light burns in temples, in mosques and in churches. Which light is good an which is bad? Why these conflicts and fights? We revere the temples, the mosques and churches but fight each other.

This is all due to lack of right understanding. We are already one, no proof is required for that. But we have forgotten that unity. If you want to have a first-hand experience of that go to a person who has realized that unity within himself. He will put you on the way up and give you practical demonstration of it that we are one, the children of Light. He will open your inner Eye and you will see that Light within you. What is knowledge? Gurbani says: ‘By contacting Naam (i.e. God - in - expression Power) within, one sees the Light of millions suns.’ That Light is within you. All Master says, God is Light. Kabir says, ‘Formerly I had some doubt about it, but when I saw that Light in al, my doubts were dispelled.’ Why then fight each other? If you strike two stone of different colours against each other they give the same spark which has the colour of fire. You may have a cow of any colour, black brown, or red, the colour of mild is the same – white. We may have many labels and badges of any shape and colour we are all children of light. But we have forgotten ourself. Master come to awaken us that we are all one. We have to realize that unity. We are man first: labels came afterwards when we became Hindus, Moslems, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains and further we had labels of East and West and became devotees of countries and nations. Unless we rise above these labels we cannot realize God.

During my third world tour I was asked in T.V interview: “How can we cement unity?” I said: “When people will rise above isms and labels that they are carrying and kings and Presidents rise above countries.” Labels only indicate which school one has joined ( for self-knowledge and God –knowledge). Master never gave any labels, these came when, after their demise, social bodies were formed to keep their teachings alive so that more people may benefit from them. they were formed with a noble purpose but the same good old customs corrupts itself and with the passage of time there was stagnation in the social bodies followed by deterioration. Master come from time to time to revive then same age-old teaching. They give the call: Brothers! Wake up. You have forgotten yourself.

How long will you remain asleep? They see the reality within the speak from that level, therefore, what they say is cent percent true.

The outer preaching is all true, but without first-hand experience there is no conviction. Remain in the formations to which you belong and keep your forms and formularies. These are just to show that one should realize the porpoise for which one has joined a particular formation named after the Master one professes to follow. It is a blessing to remain in a formation one should keep away from parochialism and narrow-mindedness which in turn lead to deception and delusion.

The basic purpose of this conference is to bring home to all the fact that we are already one, but we have forgotten that. This is the basic teaching of all Master and the formations set up to keep alive their teaching of all Master and the formations set up to keep alive their teachings. The highest knowledge is to realize the unity which is innate in us. The various places of worship – dome shaped temples (made after the head), nose shaped churches, forehead shaped mosques and others are all modeled on the man body, the true temple of God. They are just to remind all those whose inner Eye is not opened and who do not see the Reality, that such Light shines within you and such sound reverberates in each one of you. Those who realize it – the twin principle of Light and sound, the manifestation of God - in - expression Power for them body is the true temple of God. And one can realize it the feet of a competent Master who has realized him in the man body

This is what the Master give us. They give us direct first-hand contact with Reality. They come to make people see who do not see and they who see outside may be blind. Those who only see the outer physical phenomena are still blind from their point of view. Don’t you feel it? If your mind were to be still for just a moment and all thoughts nullified, you would feel this oppressive blindness. Ramakrishna Paramhans once cited the example of a tree with many birds sitting on its branches. If some one were to clap his hands the birds would all flay away. We have the Sanskaras or impressions of countless incarnations filling the reservoir of our mind. A few moments ago some sadhus were clapping hands on the stage. Let there be a clapping of hands through nullifies all thoughts except this that we are all one. Is there any doubt about it in anyone’s mind? If there is let him seek a Master who has realized unity within Him. He will open your inner vision and make you see and that will dispel all doubts.

Let us all pray to God: “O God Almighty who ever who are called by different names it is only through your names that we can wake up from deep slumber of ages. The Vedas say: ‘Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reaches.’ Kabir says the same thing: “Wake up O sleepy head wakeup. It is not time to sleep.’ This is the lesson that is repeated before you. It is the message for the whole world and a panacea for all our ills today. They asked me in the west (U.S.A) during an interview: How can we evade the disaster of atomic war? I told them: when king and President would rise above countries. Then they asked me if I would meet their President? I told them: Well, this is my conviction. And surely I would like to meet your President. I told them that they should not only tend their own garden but help others to keep their garden in full bloom.

It is a matter of right understanding, right understanding would lead to right thoughts and right thoughts would result in right words and right actions. Remain in your own formations but rise above body consciousness, rise into universalism and leap into the Beyond and know you are already one. These are three things have been put before you with one purpose – there is no intention to break bodies, ‘they come do not come to destroy but to fulfill.’ The Master after whom the various formations been set up, are all one. Their teaching is one and the same. As I said this morning, let us pray God to awaken us. Who can awaken a man from sleep? God or God manifested in man, in other words a God man.

I have all love and regard for all you who have come from India or from far off places. The teaching of all Master who came, in East or West, is the same. I have love and regard in my heart for all Master who came, those here present now and those who may come in future. They are sent by God from time to time to awaken mankind from the slumber of parochialism and narrow-mindedness. Guru Nanak came in this context and recently both hands and said, ‘O Hindus, O Muslims, you are my own’. So what I say to you is nothing new. I would request al of you to spread it, all that you have heard here, wherever you go. Proclaim it from the house-tops that there may be peace and happiness on earth. So I pray God and you pray with me that He grant us His special grace and provide for us to have first-hand experience of Reality. The ideal before us is this that we are all one.

Birthday celebrations pre dawn session Feb,6, 74

‘Rejoice ye all the beloved has come to my home’

-Gurbani

6^th February, the hour is pre dawn, Brahm Mahoorat, the hour of meditation, of grace: the location, sawan Nagar, the improvise town of tents put up in the vast Ramila Grounds, for the duration of the world conference on Unity of Man. The Master, Satguru Kirpal Singh is seated in his tent, distributing ‘Prasad’ (gift of grace). Seated by his side are Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, Head of the Sufi order, yogi Bhajan, Swami Chetanand Chidakashi and other heads of Sadhu orders there is a strong radiation of love, of grace. The magic moment is indescribable. The giver gives freely with both hands, to all that come to him. The receivers come forward to receive, each according to his or her receptivity. Writer producer Rajinder Singh Bedi brings along his film unit. He proceeds with extends with extended hands, tear laded eyes upraised, to receive the ‘prasad’ and to catch the first rays from the sun of spirituality and carrying the light in his own heart tries to fix it in the film. It is an unending procession of receives, but there is a spell of deep silence and stillness here that smothers all bustle.

Exactly at 5 a.m. the Master comes on the stages and looks at the vast gathering, large than all the crowded sessions of the conference. Gentlemen of the Press, Radio, TV, rub their eyes in wonder, unable on believe the evidence of their own eyes. How can all these people leave the warmth of their quilts at home and sit here, virtually in the open, at this unearthly hour, unmindful of the bitter cold of a near freezing temperature? It was with great difficulty that the Master, on the earnest request of maha Mandleshwar swami ved Vyasanand, backed by the voice vote of the whole gathering, had greed to hold the predawn session in the Ramlila grounds. He did not mind personal inconvenience, it was the inconvenience to others that deterred him. But love will have its way and as the Master says, ‘it is he who loved us first’ it was all a reaction of his own unbounded love for his children.

Sweet strains of music of Gurbani recitation by Yogi Bhajan’s American disciple fill the air followed by a shabd by Bhajan kaur (Mrs. Darshan Singh). Rajinder Singh bedi, who is no singer, follows with a few pertinent lines from Gurbani –“hard-hearted, cunning, deceitful and lust ridden I am. Have compassion on me: ferry me across the stormy sea of life as thou will.” The song becomes the hearts cry of all in the vast audience. Some moments later a lone voice of the village woman rises from the audience and reaches the stage. There is no microphone before her and yet the solitary voice fills the whole vast pandas as well as the stage. The secretaries –Darshan Singh, avatar Singh, M.M. Chopra, Prem Chand Gupta, who conducted the proceeding, sit still and just listen. The whole gathering sings with her. The song, set to a popular film tune, is of her own composition and speaks of rapturous joy at the advent of the Master and the loving soul calls on the bracing air of spring and the free flowing rivers to sing with her to celebrate the great event. The whole gathering is now singing, looking up to the Master for grace and the compassionate one gives then all, ‘the Prasad’ of his glance of grace.

Swami Chetnand Chidakashi, speaks of the magic of Brahm Mahoorat and asks the Master for his grace, ending with the words; “I bow my head to him in reverence and seek his blessing and his grace that I should have the way, the having complete their task of liberating souls yearning to go back home, returned to their source which is all light. You are of the same line of light givers and I pray that the light that you have lit keeps shining for all time to come. My humble ‘Pranam’ (bow) at the feet of the Master, again and again and yet again.”

Mr. Reno Sirrine comes up to the stage, his face creased in smiles, and rising to his full height he moves his hands in a wide circle and sings in a very sweet voice, ‘happy birthday to you Master’ and all the five hundred delegates stand up and join him and the whole house rings with the joyful tune.

T.S. Khanna follows his colleague and single the famous lines a Gurbani, ‘Hun deco wadhaiyan Ji ke hum ghar sajan aaya’ (the beloved has come to my home. Join me in celebrating the happy event and wish me all joy.) tears of joy flow from his eyes and his voice rings out loud and clear and tuneful and soon the whole house takes up the line and goes on repeating it long after Mr. Khanna has returned to his seat.

The general secretaries, felicitate the Master by turns and pray for many happy returns of the day that they continue to bask in his life giving radiation ending with darshan’s off repeated poem and its memorable couplet, “from thee I have learnt to love all mankind. I have thy message of love to give to all humanity.”

The Master Satguru Kirpal Singh, looks at his children for sometimes and says: “I heard all that was said about me and I was ashamed:

Kale mainde kapre, kala mainda ves,

Gunaheen bharya haum phiran log kahen darvesh.

- Gurbani

(i.e. Black is my form and black my robes. Full of sins I am, yet people call my a holy man). My Master, the great Hazur (Baba Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj) used to say off and on that he (Kirpal Singh) would do the work after me.’ But I could not believe it. For when I looked at me I was assailed by doubts –how can it be possible? At last one morning –it was assailed by doubts –how can it be possible? At last morning –it was march 12, 1948 –Hazur called me to him and said, “Kirpal Singh, I have assigned all other duties to different persons but the work of giving Naam –initiating seekers after truth into the science of the Master I have not entrusted to anybody as yet. That duty I now give to you so that the teachings of the Master may grow and flourish.” Tears came to my eyes. In my mind was the thought, what is he saying today? What is life worth to a disciple after the Master? And the Master said, “this work you have to do.” I said, “it is all your doing. Your orders will be carried. We are mere puppets in your hands, whichever way you wish we dance.” And he said, “it will be so. It is my work.” It is he who is running the whole show behind the scenes. And that is the fact. I listened to all that is said by people and look at my self and silently pray, ‘O Master, it is all thy grace working. The credit is all thin. It is none of my doing.’

This –the search after truth –was my hobby from the very childhood. I had the gift of transvision and would have a vision of things happening behind walls and in far off places – in Bombay, in Calcutta, in America . and I pray, ‘O God, keep these supernatural Power in reserve with thee and grant me that I live like an ordinary individual. secondly, if anybody were to have some benefit from me, I should not be aware of it.’ So this is all his (the Master) grace working. What is a Power. He is omnipresent and resides in all hears. He gives of his grace at his will and pleasure, sometimes even manifesting himself in human form, to his true devotees. So as I said, it is all hazurs grace.

We celebrate the birthday of small children too. But what is a real birth? The siddhas asked Guru Nanak, ‘when did you end your coming and going?’ and he said, “when I was born in the home of Satguru I was freed of the cycle of coming and going.’ And what is meant by taking birth in satguru’s home? Where is his home? Satguru is the name of the God into expression Power that created. Sustains and controls all creation. He is omnipresent and all pervading. The same Power controls us in the man body, which we have fortunately got. It is a golden opportunity, for it is only in man body that we can realize God. Gurbani says:

Those who contacted Naam with, their labours were fulfilled.

Hallowed are their faces and many others got liberated through them.

My birth in satguru’s home came in 1917. I used to pray: O God, if you could manifest yourself directly to devotees like prehlad and Dhruva in the past why not grant me that experience? And by the grace of God I saw the radiant form of the Master, Hazur Maharaj, in 1917. I thought that he was Guru nanak. That form used to guide me in the inner planes. I am a great lover of rivers and this craze took me to the beas. When I detrained at Beas station and asked the way to the river, the station Master, bua das, said, ‘have you come to see the saint?’ ‘is there any saint here?’ I asked. ‘yes he said, he lives by the river bank.’ I thought I shall have both my desires fulfilled: seeing the river and a meeting with the saint. That was in 1924.

When I reached the Dera, Hazur Maharaj was taking his meals. I waited outside. The moment he came out I looked at him wide eyed with wonder. It was the same form that had guided me in the inner planes for seven years. And I asked, ‘Master, why this delay?’ ‘This was the opportune moment from our meeting,’ he said.

As I was saying, Hazur told me then that I was to carry on the work after Him. I was really faced with the thought problem, for it is very difficult to live after the Master. When I was writing ‘Gurumat siddhant’ there was mention of a disciple in the context of separation from the Satguru. The disciple, hearing the news of the demist of his Guru, went to his grave, lay down on it and his soul left the body. The name of amir Khusro was also mentioned. His Master, hazrat nizamuddin had left strict in junctions that Khusro was not to be allowed to come near his grave for if Khusro came there it would split open. The name of Guru Angad was also mentioned in the same context. Nazur Maharaj, to whom I took all my writings for approval, heard the whole chapter once, twice, three times and I pondered over it and prayed that I may not have to bear such separation.

We should have a birth that we may not have to be born again. Gurbani says, ‘those who die while living, they are accepted in his court.’ Christ says the same thing: ‘except ye be born anew ye cannot enter the kingdom of God.’ Whereupon necodemus said, ‘Lord how can we re enter the womb of the mother and be reborn’? and Jesus said to him: ‘Necodemus you are a learned man and people hold you in high regard. Don’t you know that flesh is born of flesh and spirit of spirit’? to be born in the home of Satguru means to rise above body consciousness and to awaken in a new world into the beyond. As Jesus says: ‘The Kingdom of heaven cannot be had by observation. It is within you.’ one has to tap inside to find it. It is a sea of life and one has to plung headlong into it. By the grace of a competent Master one can rise above body consciousness in trice otherwise there is an endless gyration of incarnations. It is indeed difficult to rise above body consciousness. The yogis spent hundreds of years to do it. With a little attention or life impulse a competent Master can give first hand experience or rising above body consciousness to any number of aspirants at a time.

All Master say, ‘Learn to die while living so that you may have everlasting life.’ The holy Quran says, ‘Die thou before death.’ the Sufis and saints –Dadu and Kabir –say the same thing. St. Plutarch says: ‘those who have been initiated into the mysteries of the beyond, their soul has the same experience of leaving the body as it has at the time of death.’

Our attention –which is the outward expression of soul in the body is identified with the body, so much so that it has forgotten itself. Guru Teg Bahadur, the ninth Guru says the just as flowers painted on a wall cannot leave the wall, likewise, our soul is so identified with the body that it cannot analyze itself. The Master liberate us from the cains of outer attachment and take us above the body consciousness and we wake up in a new world. This is just a beginning. There are many stages after that. Macrocosm is in the microcosm. It is a long journey to the ultimate goal. Where the world philosophies end there the religion starts –it starts when you rise above body consciousness.

We can discuss it but unless the sense faculties are controlled and mind and intellect stilled, we cannot analyze ourself.’ Guru Amar Das says in this context that the competent Master gives you a practical first hand experience of death while living but what that experience is cannot be described in words. It has to be experience. And what happens? Guru Amar Das says, ‘ Satguru teaches us to invert our outgoing faculties –from outside.’ That is why the path of the Master has been described as ‘Ultra Marg’ or ‘inverted path. The man body too has been described as an inverted tree with roots above and branches below.

The end of knowledge is fellow feeling, freatenity – a feeling of kinship that we are all brothers and sisters in God. With the strengthening of this feeling comes civility and culture. Such a man can adjust himself to all sorts of circumstances. He is fearless and unworried. And last of all comes humility, second humility, and third, again humility. Water always to God is first humility, second humility, and third, again humility. Water always flows downwards, it cannot stay at a high level where there is a slope. The little understanding I got by sitting at the feet of my Master, Hazur baba sawan Singh Ji Maharaj, that is being given out to you. his authority and his will prevails. Currency is controlled by the government and not by cashiers, who come and go. Thousands have been, are being, benefited by his grace. It is his dispensation –he is the sender, he the giver. People are having practical first hand experience both in the east and the west and seeing the reality with their own eyes, are fully convinced. There is no conviction without seeing. Says Gurbani, ‘unless I see with my own eyes I will not fully believe even the Gurus words.’ The realization that we are not the body but the light that animates it, comes only by seeing. And for that we have to withdraw our attention (soul current) from all outside and concentrate within, at the still point, back of the eyes, form where the whole machinery of the body is controlled (in the other words to die while living), only then we begin to know Him. A practical demonstration of this can be had at the feet of a competent Master.

As I said before, fellow feeling is most essential. Without it knowledge has no meaning. A Giani (one who knows Realty) will see Him in all from his own level. There are different levels of the knowledge, come have studied upto primary standard, some up to middle or high school and some others have a college degree. People come to me and say things from their own level. I tell each one of them: ‘you are right from your own level.’ What else can one say? The world never appreciated the great light givers. They were persecuted and tortured. Guru Nanak was not allowed to enter the town of Qasur in the Punjab. Some were nailed to the cross, others burnt alive. who were the persecutors? Those whose inner vision was not opened; who did see the reality within. those who saw the reality within. their word can be taken as true. They said: body is the temple of God. Says Gurbani: ‘by the grace of the Master you will see that body is the temple of God.’ And again: ‘the whole world that ye see around thee is the image of God, and I actually see it as such.’ This is the statement of those who realize God and saw Him in all.

The digest of the understanding that I got through a comparative study of scriptures and by sitting at the feet of the Master is that we are all one. Man body is golden opportunity that we have got, to know God. First, we have to know ourself, then only we can know Him, knowing oneself is not at the level of feelings, emotions or drawing inferences from a study of books. These are all subject to error. Seeing is above all. And seeing is believing. The Master come to awaken us from the slumber of delusion. They come to make people see who do not see. They open our inner eye and make us see the Reality within. they affirm that one can see God in this life. Tulsi Sahib says:

Behind the eyes is the still point, the till

And in the til is the whole secret.

One has only to penatrate the veil of darkness

And see the reality beyond.

Shams Tabrez says in the same context: ‘one should see God with his own eyes and hear his word with his own ears.’ And how can one see the reality within? moinuddin chishti says: ‘Pentrate deep into the darkness and you will see the light.’ Tulsi sahib says: ‘if you wish to see the reality go to a competent Master.’ The formations are all right. They are the different schools for turning out perfect men. And what is the qualification of man? Who has knowledge realized knowledge. The first step to that is fellow feeling. And secondly, a capability for adjustment. He should be able to adjust himself to all sorts of circumstances and be able to get along with every body. For that one has to have culture, the hall mark of which is toleration and love, even for one’s enemies. When mansur was led away to be executed some people who had stood by him, asked him to pray for them. and he prayed to God and said, ‘God bless you.’ he also prayed for those who had got him arrested and condemned to death. Christ also prayed: ‘O father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’ So dear brothers, you are all graced with the man body, which is a golden opportunity. This is the first step towards realization of God. God is there is no doubt about it. If you sit at the feet of a competent Master you will get the awakening and that would change your angle of vision. Reading of scriptures and biographies of the Masters kindles in one an interest and longing for spirituality. When we read that such and such person realize God we naturally ask, can we also see Him? We sing the songs composed by Master who realized God we naturally ask, can we also see Him? We sing the songs composed by Master who realized God , with great enthusiasm as if their experience was our own experience and we were the same. Where is the use? If a thin person wears milestones for our guidance, telling us how they progressed, step by step, to reach the ultimate goal. You can compare and see where you stand. You say, ‘happy birthday to you’. I say to you. ‘happy birthday to you.’ you are getting the thing (first hand experience of reality) by the grace of Hazur Maharaj. It is his words that are bearing fruit. Pray from the depth of heart. A prayer that comes from the heart is accepted and answered. I think it would be better if yogi Bhajan were to sum up in a few words in English the digest of what I have said.

Yogi Bhajan spoke a few words, sharing with others what he had received. His words gave an indication of his receptivity to the radiation, that makes every word come alive with new meaning, beyond communication and expression through words, which can only be caught through heightened consciousness, which was a gift of grace from the living Master. He said:

“It will be my privilege to translate within the scope and orbit in which I can help. The first fellow feeling of being is living in the fellow feeling of universal love, and that universal love is the manliness within one’s own self.” When sant Ji says, “I have gone and I have talked to you all over and you have heard me saying one thing over again and again –that we are one in the oneness of God,” and when you get to the man of God consciousness, it comes to you as a feeling and then there is no need for diversion from their higher consciousness or the applied consciousness of the mind. It is privilege of every fellow being.

And he said, “I am the humble of the humble because it is the grace, it is the grace of the great one who has chosen me for the job.” It is a privilege that so many people have loved him so many people have come early in the morning to be with him. But still his oneness with God has not separated him even at this moment. This was an experience which we went through and we saw it. It might be for you a unique experience, he said, ‘when you walk on the path of righteousness; you may have to go on the cross, you may have to be skinned alive, you may have to be boiled or fried on the hot plate just to test your faith, your integrity, your divinity, and your love of the universal consciousness, but at that time you develop an attitude to bless those who have done whatever they have done to you. when the forgiveness and the greatness of you prevails beyond scope of boundaries and oneness of God shines through you, that is when man has achieved the love of God within himself’. Thank you.”

Streaks of light from the morning sun had filtered in from the opening in the canopy breaking the spell of the Brahm Mahoorat. It was morning now with all the bustle and noise of the work a day world when the session ended for a brief interval for breakfast.

0Birth anniversary: Public function Feb. 6, 74, noon

‘Sant Kirpal Singh Ji has revived the old old teachings of the Vedas’’

- Swami Gangeshwaranand

The huge Pnadal at Ramlila Grounds, venue of crowded sessions of world conference in Unity of Man, wore a festival look when the living Master, Satguru Kirpal Singh, was honored and felicitated in his 81^st Birth Anniversary by the denizens of Delhi – the citizenry and the elite – at a public function presided by the mayor, the Deputy mayor, the Ministers and other prominent persons who in turn were garlanded on behalf of the Master and his Manav Kendra, by the eight general secretaries of the world conference on Unity of Man – A. R Manocha, G.M Ahuja, M.Mchopra, B.M. Shamsukha, Darshan Singh Duggal, A. S. Oberoi, D. P. Pandey, Prem Chand Gupta – and others. The foreign delegates, all disciples, looked happy and relaxed after the nonstop exhausting work of the conference.

On stage with Master were seated, beside Mayor Sahini and Deputy Mayor Khandelwal, Union Minister of state for Communication, Prof. Sher Singh, Deputy Railway Minister Mohammed Safi Qureshi, Deputy chief minister of Gujran Shri Kantilal Ghia and other prominent persons and among sadhus the most respected figure was Maha Mandleshwar Swami Gangeshwaranand, the greatest living scholar of the Vedas, who recently presented to the nation the fruit of thirty years of unremitting toil – all the four Vedas in one volume, complete with commentary. He rarely addresses public meeting (the sole exception being Satguru Kirpal Singh Ji’s birth anniversary celebrations many of which he has attended.) Beside him there were, Swami Chetnanand Chidakashi, M.M. Swami Ved Vyasnanad, Muni Sushil kumar, Pt. Sunderlal, Raja Mahendra Pratap, Shri Gulzarilal Nanda, Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, Yogi Bhajan and others. General Secretary Prem Chand Gupta conducted the proceedings with great aplomb and not a little ready-witted humor.

Shri kidar Nath Sahni, Mayor of Delhi said that when man elsewhere in the world lived like a jungle beast, in that pre-civilization era India had given the call of ‘Basudhaiv Kutumbukum’ that all mankind was one family. That man could think so high necessary the so-called dark ages in an object of wonder for historians and researchers. Our history shows that when people forget this message of universal love and unity of man, Master come and by their living example and precept infuse new life in the people and raise them to new heights of consciousness. Sant Kirpal Singh Ji belongs to the same hallowed line of light-giver who come to awaken humanity from the slumber of sloth and delusion. On the auspicious day of his 81^st birth anniversary we pray God to spare him for long long years so that his message may grow and spread all over the world and he may continue to glorify mother India and add luster to his mane.

On the conclusion of the Mayor’s speech Shri Prem Chand Gupta thanked the Mayor and his administration for their all-out help in the various arrangements like sanitation, water and electricity, cleanliness, security, health, etc, and asked him to convey the grateful thanks of the organizers of the conference to the various concerned departments of his administrations.

Communication Minister Prof. Sher Singh said that it was a happy coincidence that six hundred years ago on this very day (6^th February), Sant Ravidas was born in this sacred land and today we are celebrating the 81^st birth anniversary of Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj who belongs to the same line of Godmen. As the Mayor said just now, our land is not rich in material resources but the message of love, equality of man, truth and fraternity given out by our Rishis from times immemorial is a message that unites all mankind in one common fold of humanity. it is a message which is as relevant today as it was in the times that it was given. and the same message is being revived and propagated by Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj in our times for which we are beholden to him. I pray God for his long life that he may continue to give light to India and all humanity.

Shri Mohammed Safi Qureshi, Deputy Railway Minister, speaking in chaste Urdu, first of all congratulated Satguru Kirpal Singh Ji on his 81 birth anniversary and quoted a couplet from Ghalib:

May you enjoy a life-span of a thousand years.

And every year thereof should have fifty thousand days.

He continued, “The message of unity is not new. Sant Ji has picked up the link of the chain started many thousands years ago, with new links being added to it by prophet and Avtars who came from time to time. Guru Nanak, who came five hundred years ago, provided another link to the chain, and it is the same link that has been picked dup by Sant Ji. By taking up the great mission of unity in these dark times he has put a balm on the festering sores of humanity. God has not only given Suroor (ineffable joy and bliss) to his message but has also given Noor (divine radiance) to his face. I feel that the soul of Guru Nanak, whose message Sant Ji is spreading far and wide, must be present at the moment to bless him.

Shri Kantialal Ghia, Deputy chief Minister, Gujrat, praying for long life to sant Kirpal Singh Ji said that the world had not yet forgotten the terrible holocaust of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Hydrogen and Neuraton Bombs today were a hundred times more destructive. In a world racked by fear of impending atom war Sant Ji has brought a new hope. May he live long to continue his work of amelioration of man.

Maha Mandleshwar Swami Gangeshwaranand, the great scholar-savant and teacher who was born blind and yet has served as a beacon to light the halls of learning for the last half century paid a glowing tribute a Satguru Kirpal Singh. In a speech studded with gems of scholarship he said: I am happy to see that the great mission of Unity of Man , a work dear to my heart and to which I have devoted myself for a fairly long time, has been taken up by sant Kirpal Singh Ji on a global scale, it is the old old message of the Vedas given thousands of years ago. Quoting extensively from the Vedic texts, Swami Gangeshwaranand gave quotations form RigVeda, the most ancient scriptures, which addresses all mankind as sons of God, which rendered in modern terms may be expressed as brother hood of man under the Fatherhood of God. Quoting Rigveda again, Swamiji said that there was reference therein of ‘Panch Janan’ the people living in the five regions of earth. The five main divisions of earth today are Australia, Asia, Europe, America and Africa. These are the ‘Panch Janan’ mentioned in Rig Veda, for whom the injunction is given that, ‘we should have brotherly relations with the people of these regions; we should give them something and they should give us something and we should love them as they should love us.’ And I find in this assembly a fulfillment of the Vedic injunction ( for we have here representatives of Australia, Africa, America, Europe and Asia (since we Indians are all Asiatics). So this message of unity and equality and love and brotherhood given out by Sant Kirpal Singh Ji is the old old message of the Vedas that is given to the world and I thank him for that and pray for his long life and health to enable him to fulfill his great mission.

The Master, Sant Kirpal Singh Said: “the object of the conference on Unity of Man is to propagate the idea of Unity of Man that all mankind is one, all are born the same way, their outer and inner construction is the same and all are endowed with the same privileges from God. No high, no low – all are equal. We are drops of the Ocean of All – consciousness which is God. So we are all brothers and sisters in God. Our ultimate goal is to attain atonement with the Supreme Power which controls all creation and also controls us in the body.

The whole world is His abode, and on a small scale, body is the Temple of God in which His eternal Light is shining. ‘Take heed that the Light which is in thee be not darkness’. That Light is in all of us. Our Surat or attention has identified itself with the body and the outside world, so much so that it has forgotten itself. If it withdraws from all outside and rises into awareness of its true identity as a conscious entity, it can know the supreme Power – God. For that we have to learn to die while living by rising above the body – consciousness. What is death?

It is like the sun setting on one side and rising on the other. That is all. We have to realize the Controlling Power, the source and sustenance of all that is. Why do we not see Him now? Because our attention is identified with the physical body and the world outside, so much so that it has forgotten that it is a conscious entity, the Controlling Power behind the body. Let me give an example to explain the point. Suppose I am looking in front of me. I cannot at the same time see what is behind me unless I withdraw my gaze from the front and look behind. Likewise, outside and recede within, to know itself. And which is the eye that can see the Reality within? That eye is different – it is the self luminous inner Eye mentioned in the scriptures as the third eye, Single Eye or Shiv Netra, of which it is said, ‘If thine withdraw our attention from all outside and rise into awareness of our true identity and then realize the Supreme Power. And when one sees Him immanent in all and working in all, one would love all creation.

Man is he who is perfect all round – physical, mental and spiritually. ‘Be ye perfect as your Father, which is heaven.’ We give food to the body, we also feed the intellect, but what food do we give to the soul, which is a conscious entity? What is the food for soul? Man cannot live on bread alone. The food for soul, a conscious entity, is to contact God – the Ocean of All-Consciousness, the Supreme Power that enlivens all creation. It has to know that Power, to contact It. Such a man – who has developed all round – may be called a perfect man. The object of all formations or social bodies is to turn out such perfect men.

God made man and gave all men equal privileges. There is no high, no low – all are equal in the sight of God. And God does not reside in temples made by human hands but he does reside in the Temples He has Himself made in the Womb of the mother. And that Temple is the man-body that we are carrying. In this Temple we live and He also lives in it. It is a wonderful house we live in, that with so many apertures or outlets of eyes, ears, nose etc., we cannot escape from it. Some Power is controlling us in this body and that Power is God.

All Master who came in the East or in the West say that God is Love. Soul, which is of the same essence as that of God is also love. Love needs an object for attachment. The natural object for our attachment was God, but we got attached to the world, because we see it. All Masters say, ‘Love thy God and since God is immanent in all forms, love all creation.’ We say, how can we love Him whom we do not see? The answer to that is, seek the company of a Master who has realized him. He will give you a practical demonstration of how to rise above body – consciousness and see the Reality within. The Masters come to make people see who do not see. When the attention recedes within to concentrate at the seat of soul between and at the back of the two eyes, it realizes its true identity that it is the indweller, controlling the body and there is a supreme Power that controls it ( the soul ) in the body, Guru Nanak says in this context; ‘The Lord of Nanak is visible everywhere.’ And Kabir says: ‘I saw Him, the Uncreated Light Principle immanent in all and my doubts were dispelled.’

Love comes with seeing. One cannot love him whom he does not see. How can we see God? The Upanishad says in this context: ‘Unless the outgoing sense-faculties are controlled, and the mind and the intellect stilled, one cannot realize God.’ When one sees Him in all the would naturally love all creation and seek the good of everyone. Guru Nanak was moved by the same experience to say. ‘Peace be unto all, under thy Will O Lord.’

Love knows service and sacrifice. Man is he who lives for others. An animal lives for itself and for its progeny. There is no dearth of preaching to day. One may read all the books but unless he acts up to what they say it is no use reading. We have developed the head and neglected the heart. That is the reason for all the conflicts we see today. There is nothing new in all that I have said just now. I have given out the gist of the understanding I got by sitting at the feet of the Master and from a parallel study of religions and that is, ‘O man know thyself, who you are, what you are?’ A Persian Faqir says:

O man you know the worth of everything.

If you know not your own worth you are a fool.

The Master make a man a true man in the first instance and then raise him to the level of an angel and finally to that of God. The three pre-requisites to God-realisation are: Right diet, right conduct and right dealings. Guru Nanak says in this context: -

O Nanak, utter the name of God with a pure heart

The worldly defile themselves by their evil ways.

And Kabir says:

The fish from the river of heart the sacred water of Ganges,

Even then it wouldn’t wash clean and the foul smell wouldn’t go.

Guru Amar Das says in the same context:

When the mind is unclean all is defiled.

Washing the body does not make the mind clean.

The whole world is in the rut of delusion

Few there be who know the Reality.

What is that pollution and uncleanliness? The life of the senses. God + Desire = Man, and Man – Desire = God.

There is a great awakening now which I observed my third world tour recently. The regeneration of society depends on the regeneration of man. Bricks may be manufactured in may kiln. If they are strong and of good quality the house will be strong. If the bricks are not properly burnt and the material is substandard, you cannot have a strong house. So whichever the formation, man should be man in the true sense of the world. There is a general awakening today in every direction. People are so unhappy, may God grant them peace and happiness. The way to that is to seek company of awakened men.

Shri Prem Chand Gupta Thanked all concerned for participating in the public function to felicitate the living Master, sant Kirpal Singh, in honoring whom we were in fact honoring ourselves and this sacred land which had produced universal light-giver throughout the ages. Commenting on the great success of the world Christ on the Unity of Man he said that the conference fully reflected the idea of unity in its organization and working, it had eight general secretaries drawn from different organizations who had never worked together. It was the harmonizing influence and impact of the personality of Sant Kirpal Singh Ji that brought them together and made it possible for them to handle the many- sided complex problems of organization and administrations of this – perhaps the greatest in the history of Delhi international meet so successfully.

Last lesion 6^th February 1974, evening

‘Carry the idea of Unity Practically in your life’

– Satguru Kirpal Singh

The evening session, which was the concluding session of the conference was remarkable for the high order and variety of speeches. The Foreign delegates were given full opportunity to express their views and their short, precise, thought – provoking speeches, in French, Spanish, Latin, German, Greek and many other languages including African, ably translated into English by their compatriots, delivered in a spectacular milieu – a conglomeration of race, cultures, costumes – lent a colorful touch to the proceedings. More remarkable was the fact that the vast Indian audience listened to all these speeches with rapt attention as if they were following each and every word, even as the foreign delegates listened patiently and attentively to Hindustani speeches in the preceding sessions – a living proof that there are levels of communications and contact away and above the reach of words.

The report of the proceedings including the four resolutions drafted by the steering committee were presented to the house and passed.

The two guest speakers of the evening, foreign Minister Sardar Swaran Singh, who made a dash straight from the airport (where he had landed on return from Bhutan) and Shri Gulzarilal Nanda surveyed their respective fields – international relations with particular references to unity of man and moral values with special emphasis on fighting corruption in every sphere of national life.

The foreign delegates who spoke – Stan Kozitsky (U.S.A) Dexler (Germany) Ernest Stephens (Canada) Dr. Dukey, acupuncture specialist (Cali Colombia, South America) Eva Cardja (Greece) Joseph Betta (France) Piero Mercenaro (Italy) Frederic Aye (Ghana) and many other dwelt at length on the university and validity of the teachings of Satguru Kirpal Singh in the context of the complex problems of today. The five minute speeches, condensed and chiseled with loving care, sought to express in words the vibration of grateful hearts. They told their story, directly and simply, without literary flourish and embellishments of the greatest blessing that a man can have – the company of a living Master and myriads of benefits flowing there from.

Mr. Reno Sirrine, leaders of the U.S delegation thanked beloved Master Kirpal Singh of the unique honors of invitation to tea at Rastrapati Bhawan to 15 leaders of foreign delegation by the President of India, Dr. V.V Giri and the opportunity Bhavan and its ravishing Moghul Gardens. Dr. Giri told them that he was not a Moslem, a Sikh, a Christian, a Buddhist or a Jain: he was a humanist and he believed in humanism. They presented the President a copy of the conference souvenir, copies of resolutions drafted by the steering committee of the conference and the New Year Calendar brought out by the Manav Kendra, which the President graciously accepted. Mr. Sirrine concluded, “Once again I thank all my Indian brothers and sisters who worked hard to make this conference possible. It is the greatest experience of my life and I hope, of all my brother from the West. I also thank all those who made our visit here enjoyable, looking to our comfort, serving us delicious meals, providing transport, taking care of the sick and attending to all our needs, and more especially, I thank our gracious Master Kirpal Singh Ji and all his staff. Thank you.

Mr. Russel Perkins, editor, Sat-Sandesh (English) published in U.S.A quoted the parable of two gardeners, one of whom worked hard tending the garden and kept it in full bloom and when the Master came to see the garden, presented him a bouquet from his own garden. The other gardener just slept and did no work but when the came he danced attendance on him, singing his praises and making much noise. “Now we who love somebody and who are deeply interested in this conference and its work, it is not sufficient for us just to praise our Master or somebody else but to live up to the ideals placed before us every minute, every second, every hour, all our life. Unity means that we love our neighbors as we love our own self and we are that neighbor so we should feel that the way we treat others is the way we treat ourself. If this be our viewpoint how can we do anything mean or selfish?

I think that this conference has a great significance and from the day it started I have felt a great upsurge of spiritual radiation enlivening and uplifting everyone. I feel it even now. A great deal is happening at this time at different levels of which we have no awareness. But one thing is definite, that this conference will be fruitful only when we go back and reflect it in our loving treatment to our wives and children, to the people we meet in the street, to our friends and companions, to those under whom we work and those who work under us.

Pandit Sunderlal, he veteran freedom fighter and one of the foremost thinkers and philosophers said that unity of man was possible, even needed, on political and economical level but that would not stay. Real unity that would abide for all time, can only he cemented on a spiritual level and the greatest and most fundamental work in this direction is that which is being done by Satguru Kirpal Singh Ji and his collaborators and followers and unity will be cemented on the lines suggested by the Satguru. Pandit Sunderlal quoted extensively from the scriptures of both Hindus and Moslems to prove that religion had nothing to do with rites, ceremonies, modes of living and worship. It did not even concern itself with belief or disbelief in God. The basic tenet of religion, any religion, is unity of man. According to Mahabharat, the Rishi Lay down unity as a criterion of religion – that which unites all is Dharma, that which divides is not. And the more ancient Manusmriti lays down ten commandments a the basis of Dharma – patience, forgiveness, self-discipline honesty, cleanliness, control over sense-organs, quest for knowledge, non-violence, non-anger etc. There is no mention there of any beard, sacred thread, keeping a tuft of hair on the head or anything of that sort. Can a Moslem or a Christian or Jew for that matter anybody deny such a religion? ‘God is love and God is Light,’ says the Qoran. In the end he quoted a couplet from a Sufi Saint saying that all places of worship and all holy books were worthy of respect but from him there were only one God which was love.

Shri Shanker Dev M.P secretary, ‘One world’ movement said that this conference with delegates from all over the world presented to him the picture of a world parliament. “The world is going to be one and unity will be cemented by a Godman like Satguru Kirpal Singh and those who work under his guidance. It is a pity that four thousand million of rupees are spent daily on the maintenance of armed forces and preparations of war by different nations. The hard-earned money of innocent men and women who do not want war is being squandered on preparations of war. This money would go a long war to remove poverty in the world. The crying need of the hour is to change our values of life that make us cringe before wealth and influence. We run after ministers and M.P’s. We should bow our head to Saints and Sadhus who unite man with man, propagate love and unity and not to politicians and party bosses who divide and sow the seeds of discord. With these words I present my book ‘One World, One Govt,’ with all love and reverence to Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj.”

Shri Gulzarilal Nanda said: First of all I bow to Satguru Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj in all reverence and love and offer my felicitations to you all who have come here from India and abroad to participate in this function. One find here a unique atmosphere of peace and quiet, of ineffable bliss, which is not to be found elsewhere. The living Master, Satguru Kirpal Singh has give you the rare treasures of inner peace and stillness, that is why there is so much peace and quiet here. I feel the uplifting radiation of atmosphere myself. What the Satguru has gained at the end of a long and arduous search and Sadhana (spiritual practices) he is giving freely to both in the East and in the West and therefore I feel that it is most essential that on this auspicious occasion of the 81^st birthday anniversary of Satguru Kirpal Singh Ji we should all lift our hands in prayer to the Almighty that this Powerful Pole of Light should remain with us for long long years to light up our path and to illuminate our hearts and minds and the world should continue to benefit from his largesse.

Continuing Shi Nanda said: “There was no dearth of preaching but the question was, had it brought any change in the life of the people? The great importance of Satguru Kirpal Singh’s work was that he changed the lives of all who came to him by giving them first-hand of contact with Reality. It is a great work but that is not enough. We need many more Saints of his Caliber and competence. There are millions of Sadhus in India – most of them are mendicants and not Sadhus. The pseudo Sadhus should not be allowed to flourish and real Sadhus should be honored and their advice sought and followed by those who are responsible for the welfare of the people. The root cause of all our problems is the sad decline in the national character in all spheres of life. We have built a new dams, new factories, new building and roads but we have not done anything in the direction of man-making. That is the task of the true Sadhus like Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj.

Yogi Bhajan Said: I have to give you only this message from the Guru have faith in humanity and love and all mankind. Where there is faith there is love; where there is love there is peace; where there is peace there is God. Today I would appeal to you to leave at least one evil – I am myself full of evils, so I say to myself as well as to you all – be truthful. Truth is the cementing force that unites. Hazur Sant Kirpal Singh Ji and all who came before him, their mission was unity. For that is most essential to forgive and forget, forgive all those who have done any wrong to you.

Raja Mahendra Pratap referred to the talk of ending poverty which was the slogan of the day and said that before we talk of ending poverty in India of in the world we should start from our own city of Delhi. Let us all the Sadhus and Saints here jointly make efforts to raise the morals standard of the citizens of the metropolis, to see that there are no bad men here. The rich men should all see to it that in this city of Delhi, none should remain without food or clothes. Raja Mahendra Pratap warned the rich that after the princes and big landlord it was now their turn to go if they did not wake up in time.

Sardar Swaran Singh, foreign minister, who had made a dash from the airport on arrival from Bhutan to participate in the conference on the last day – since it was the birthday of Satguru Kirpal Singh Ji – speaking on unity said:

“Unity of man is a theme about which there cannot be any difference of opinion. But in spite of that, the very fact that a conference of this nature had to be organized does point out to the harsh reality that the type of unity which is the objective before this gathering does not prevail today. Whereas at the religious plane, one could say that the tension between man and man which somehow or the other gripped humanity during the centuries prior to the twentieth century have by and large subsided, there may be occasional outburst but on the whole, religion does not appear today to be the divisive force between man and man. Still there are other forces which are the sources of tension between man and man, and unless these are conquered and overcome, the objective which are before this gathering under the apices of His Holiness Sant Kirpal Singh cannot be realized.

Now what are those matters? The basic thing is that as long as exploitation by any individual or group or individuals or group of individuals or countries exist, there cannot be real unity between man and man. This exploitation can take many forms but basically, anything to which an individual is entitled, whether it his wage for which he actually performs, or whether it is the right to the utilization of the advantages of sciences and technology or of natural resources (and these are exploited to the detriment of those to whom they belong and to which those people are entitled), this exploitation will continue to be a source of tension. There is one other very serious source of tension between man and man and this is the continuance unfortunately in certain parts of what could be described as domination of certain racial groups over the other racial groups.

We have therefore to conquer these aspects and to recapture the spirit which would unite the people. These difference have taken up not on the basis of any ideology, not even is there any pretension that this is meant in the long range to improve the lot of those people, but it is sheer use of brute force and authority in order to subjugate the people and in order to suppress their natural aspirations and their natural desire to be the owners of their countries or the owners of their civilization and their resources. Those aspects which instead of highlighting the essential unity of all religions, contribute to the perpetuation of divisive force. It is, however a hopeful sign that the overwhelming majority of people in the world belonging to all races, belonging to all continents, have raised their voice to end the remnant of these divisive forces, whether they are based on colonialism, racism or apartheid.

Similarly, the exploitation of the natural resources of any part of the world by the communities which, from the point of view of industrial development and growth are in a position to exploit those resources to the detriment of the people in those countries, is another source of tension and that has to be got over. In a sense, today, science and technology is so developed that we can produce enough food, we can produce enough clothing, and we can produce enough goods to go around and to serve entire Universe. The continuance of classes which are affluent and which have goods and service far more than their legitimate requirements and, on the other hand, there are millions and millions of people who are still suffering under grinding poverty has created differences for removal of this distinction and to this difference between affluent society and the poor sections of the community in different parts of the world, which is another divisive force, the spiritual leaders, most of whom are present here, should give their earnest thought. I should like to by saying that to achieve unity of man, it is necessary that these big difference be removed.

If there is any part of the world which remain under subjugation, there cannot be unity of man. And I would plea that apart from the spiritual fields, where it is also necessary+ that in these fields the exploitation should end. The continuance of racism, the continuance of the division between the affluent and the poor, the continuance of the exploitation by pretending that any group or people can be superior to others these are the factors which should receive earnest attention, and I hope that this gathering will carry the message that this exploitative state of affairs should end so that the real spirit of unity – for which the Torch Bearer is the great General ( Sant Kirpal Singh ) who in spite of his years is trying to kindle the flame and spread it all the world over should, with his prayer and his persuasion, bear fruit.”

Shri A. J. Srivastava, chairman of the steering committee read our a brief report on the conference and also put before the house the resolutions drafted by the steering committee for approval. The main points of his speech are given below.

Attendance, over 400 delegates from all parts of the world, covering all six continents, and 2000 from all over India have participated in the deliberation. Attendance at the public sessions averaged 50,000.

Essay contest. With a view to arousing consciousness among the youth of the world, essays on Unity of Man were invited in English, French, Hindi, and Urdu, either in prose or poetry. About 300 essays were received. The standard attained was high, and many papers were thought-provoking. The results of the contest are

First Prize Sri J.J. Karam, New Delhi, for his essay written in English prose. The writer has attempted t analyze the various problems from different angles.

Second Prize: Dr. John Haywood Lovelace, San Jose, U.S.A., for an excellent poem in English which is very moving.

Third Prize: Kumari Saroj Kumari, Delhi, for her very comprehensive and thought-provoking essay in Hindi prose.

Two consolation prizes have also been awarded. One for the best essay in Urdu prose and the other for another good essay in English prose.

RESOLUTION NO 1

The world conference on unity of man noted with gratification the tremendous response of the common man in all parts of the world to the call for unity.

Recognizing the demand for peace and unity the conference concluded that today there is dire an urgent need to promote in thought, word and deed the eternal values of love, non-violence, truth, tolerance and selfless service of humanity in the hearts of men.

The conference looks for guidance to holy men to help free mankind from fear and ignorance and transform modern man into a whole man who is at peace with himself and with those around him.

The conference concluded that all religions are in essence one, and that their main purpose is to lead mankind on the path of love and selfless service

RESOLUTION NO 2:

Where as the world conference on the unity man convened by Sant Kirpal Singh Maharaj ji in February 1974, composed representative religious and political leaders of India and abroad, demonstrated the overwhelming Public appeal for world unity, the need was felt to device practical means of implementing this wish which the conference believes is one felt throughout the masses of mankind in our time.

It was resolved:

1. That the world conference and unity of man should awaken public opinion to the need for one world consciousness.

2. That the world conference on the unity of man should establish connection with all organization having hindered aims throughout the world for the purpose of achieving a better coordination of activities

3. That the world conference on the unity of man expressed the wish to apply to the United Nations and UNESCO for the accreditation as an official agency at a future stage.

4. That the world conference on the unity of man should delegate regional and national representative in various countries to organize similar meetings with a view to shedding light upon the common denominator between all faith.

5. That such representatives as aforesaid should request elected representatives to appeal in their respective legislature for the promotions of an unbiased study of comparative and religion school and adult education

6. That the world conference on the unity of man should invite religious leaders and teachers of meditation to compare their methods and encourage mass encounters including the disciples of several leaders.

RESOLUTION NO 3:

That the world conference on the unity of man resolved that UNESCO be addressed to encourage among world youth fuller understanding of the common ethical root of all faith through organized, nation wide study of each others religions and to appreciate their contributions to the prevailing moral basis of mankind and secondly to encourage the same through available commonly to the people.

RESOLUTION NO :4

That the world conference on the unity of man records its firm conviction that mankind and that the well-being or ill being of one individual affects all humanity.

The conference records its conviction that spiritual awakening with love as its basis is the foundation of the unity of man.

SIGNED:

KIRPAL SINGH

PIR VILAYAT INAYAT KHAN SUREN GOYAL

A.J. STIVASTAVA V. DHARMAWARA

RENO H. SIRRINE SHANKER DEV, M.P.

D.P. PANDEY DARSHAN Singh DUGGAL

RUSSEL PERKINS H.L. SHARMA

B. SHAMSUKHA MICHAEL GRAYSON

After beginning his remarks in Hindi, Sant Kirpal Singh Ji then spoke in English as follows;

So dear brothers and sister who have come from abroad, I submit that in these four days we have been very productive; all of us have laid our heads together and come to some conclusions. After all what are these conflicts and schisms going on each country? The fact is that unity already exists – we have forgotten it what is the unity ? the right understanding that all men are born in the same way with the privileges from God and the same construction outside and inside. As man we are all one – no high, no low. We were first man; then the tongue became Christian or Hindu or Mohammedan or this or that thing by wearing all those labels. But that is not all; further, we are one at the level of that conscious entity which is administering this factory of the human body. So we are conscious beings and God is all conscious.

Some power is controlling us in the body, which works as long as we are in it; we live in this world only for a certain time, until the power which is controlling us leaves. That power is God into expression, and is word, Naam, Shabd, Kalma.

So that God power whom we have to find and who has to do the finding both live in the temple of human body but our attention, which is the outward expression of our soul, is identified with the world outside so much so that we have forgotten ourselves. So we have to just ourselves, by withdrawing our attentions from all outside and from the body below. When we know ourselves we are able to know the ourselves who is controlling us in the human body.

So please – there is no need of changing your religions or social bodies but it is most necessary that you follow the teaching of both religions, that is all. And those are? God resides in every heart. All his holy were devotion kneels and recitation and he resides in every heart whether the labels are this way or that way.

So for this purpose we come to some resolutions. I hope all this were repeated to you, read by my brother or friends. I take it that they appeal to you if so, I think each one of you can raise some finger in ascent. Raise your hand up if you all agree. [Every hand went up from the assembled delegates.] it is for your good and the good of all humanity.

So I thank you for your coming from far off, and taking so much trouble. You have taken time from your busy hours, also time so much money. Those who have come from India, we are thankful; but who have come from abroad and spent thousands of dollars they deserve more thankfulness so I convey my thanks to each one of you whether you have gathered here from here or from abroad. Today is the last day of this sessions. I hope you will carry this very things practically in your lives. God bless you all.