Conference photos

Mr. Swaranjit Singh, President of the Gobind Sadan Institute for Advanced Studies in Comparative Religion, gave the welcoming address in Gobind Sadan's beautiful auditorium, describing the work of Gobind Sadan, where faith is the basis for service to humanity, without any sectarian distinctions.

Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi, Union Minister for Human Resources Development delivered an excellent inaugural address. Dr. Joshi described scientific research into what happens in the brain during meditation. It seems that something happens to the activity of the brain so that the portion that analyzes outside inputs is cut off, and the meditator discovers himself or herself in a great void that is spread throughout the universe. In Vedanta, it is said that 'I and the universe are one. I myself merge into the universe. I am part of something bigger, something greater. There is something Superior, something higher that I experience.' People from other religions describe the same phenomenon, by different terms.

Dr. Joshi continued, "This human structure is so designed that it will always seek something higher—call it Ik Onkar, call it Brahm, call it Allah, call it whatever. That Ultimate Thing is responsible for giving us values, faith, confidence. In whatever way you meditate, in whatever way you have faith, you are one with humanity. The thinking that I and you are different is the cause of modern ills. When I feel that my religion is superior, and yours is inferior, then wars start. The process of having faith is different, but the result is the same. I and you are manifestations of the same Creator, the same Ultimate Truth. We are all children of God."

"The net result is, in whatever way you may practice this faith, you are one with the humanity, you are one with the universe. Therefore, faith is the biggest source, according to me, for understanding humanity, for being one with humanity. So long as there are differences, differentiated understanding that I and you are separate, there is no feeling of service. . . . When I feel that I and you are one, then I can't tolerate any harm to you. If there is any harm to you, then I will come to you and serve you." [But] "The superficial kind of faith has to be avoided—that my faith is superior and his faith is inferior. That is dangerous. . . . This concept of faith should spread all over the world: that faith unites us, not divides us. At this time, the whole world is divided. If you have faith, this world becomes a lovely planet."

The next speaker was Tarlochan Singh, Chairman of Minorities Commission, Government of India. He said, "We should all be thankful to Baba Virsa Singh Ji that every time he calls for a new and very significant subject for research. Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi, being a top scientific teacher, is the first person who took the courage to introduce this subject tof spirituality, to see to it that students coming through schools and colleges should have knowledge that India supports commitment to one's own faith."

Reverend Charles White, first President of the North American Interfaith Network and Member-at-Large of the Commission on Interfaith Relations of the National Council of the Churches of Christ, USA, spoke about the impact of Gobind Sadan. He said, "It is impossible to speak about the impact of Gobind Sadan in just five minutes. Since I was here twelve years ago many new buildings have come up. But I am again reminded of the peace of mind, peace of heart, that I have experienced here. When I first came here, Babaji gave me an inlaid picture of Jesus and said, 'You love Jesus and I love Jesus, too.' The message of Gobind Sadan is that all prophets come from the same place. Peace can truly come if we can continue with the message that the prophets all come from the same place. If we accept that there is one Almighty, Who is sending us messages, giving us hope, giving us love—If people of the world would unite around this message, we need not resort to war. I believe that this is the impact that Gobind Sadan is having increasingly around the world. Gobind Sadan is having the impact that God would want it to have, because it is a God-filled mission. It is making known in very practical ways God's love for all people and for the whole world."

Also present on the occasion were such luminaries as Sri Sangh Priya Gautam, Union Minister of State for Agro-Industries and Rural Development, Mr. Tilak Raj Behar, Union Minister for Health and Transport, Roman Zhilenkov, First Secretary Political, Russian Embassy, Sergey Vanyukov, Deputy Director of Russian Centre of Science and Culture, Dr. J. S. Rajput, Director of NCERT, the esteemed delegates from Russia, America, and India who would be participating in the seminar, and other noted scholars, guests, and members of the print and electronic media. The stage secretary was Dr. S. S. Joshi, Professor Emeritus of Punjabi University, Patiala. The four hundred guests were then treated to a lovely dinner in the garden.

February 17, 10 a.m.: Roundtable Session I: What does faith mean?

All sessions were held in Gobind Sadan's auditorium. Some 75 people attended the roundtable sessions. The moderator for the first session, Mary Pat Fisher, author of numerous college textbooks on world religions, began the session by asking for five minutes of silence, with prayers for the success of the seminar, for the sake of the suffering world. She then began the presentations with her own story of meeting Baba Virsa Singh and then discovering at Gobind Sadan that great energy and serendipity flows into one's work when that work is done selflessly for the sake of others. She described her conviction that God is real, and that God is doing everything. Faith, she concluded, is entirely practical, for with God's blessings, ordinary people can do great things for the world.

The purpose of the first session was to draw forth varying definitions of faith, in practical settings. Presenters for the session were Dr. Surjit Kaur Jolly, Principal of Shama Prasad Mukerjee College, Delhi University, Reverend Bob Hanson, former Executive Director of the Central New York Interreligious Council and Lutheran Christian minister from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, Reverend Charles White, Founder and First President of the North American Interfaith Network, Reverend Donna Young, United Methodist Christian minister from Port Byron, new York, USA. Gurcharan Kaur, manager of Gobind Sadan, Delhi, and Joginder Kaur, a sevadar of Gobind Sadan for decades and hospital chaplain in Syracuse, New York, USA.

Dr. Jolly described the change in the atmosphere of her university because she and some of her colleagues were meditating—the growing peacefulness and harmony among the staff and students. She spoke of faith in a "Force that is behind you, even when you are absolutely shattered and tattered."

Reverend Bob Hanson said that he had been an ordained Christian minister for 37 years but also does Buddhist practices and lived in Japan for 14 years. He described his work in Cape Town, South Africa's Sixth District, where a conscious attempt at inter-religious community life had been destroyed by the apartheid government, and spoke of the burning of Gobind Sadan's interfaith temple in Syracuse, New York, as a hate crime after September 11th. "For me," he said, "faith involvesjustice, peace, and freedom. I am very clear that in the religious traditions of the world, we are all called to respect our differences."

Reverend Charles White said that he did not know his own mother and father and had grown up in a foster home for 70 children. For him, faith developed in human relationships with people other than family members. He grew up going to Christian church, but there he was taught that faith meant believing in a particular way. He told them, "You don't understand."

Reverend Donna Young said that when she was 61 years old, after many years of her serving as a teacher to underprivileged people, God spoke to her and told her to go to a seminary and train to be a minister. She said that for her, "Faith means trust and listening, plus knowing that goes deep inside you that gives me courage in times of crisis. It gave me the courage to face the death of my daughter, and to tell people how much I love God. Without God's presence in my life, I don't know what I would do. In the hospital, faith gives people the courage to deal with very difficult situations. Faith is a door that allows me to step into a deeper relationship with God."

The down-to-earth dimensions of faith were described by Gurcharan Kaur and Joginder Kaur, who spoke of how Gobind Sadan's Delhi community had been developed starting in 1968 on a previously barren wasteland with no trees or water. "At that time," said Joginder Kaur, "there were no houses here, only bushes and trees for miles. It was a very lonely place. My family was worried for my life, so they all tried to convince me to leave. To develop the fields, we pulled thorns with our hands till they bled, but there was no pain. We lived in the dirt, we ate in the dirt. We had to go to the next farm even to get water. But we never got sick. God's power is so powerful here. When you are working for a mission, you don't feel discomforts at all." Mrs. Joginder Kaur laid stress on the soothing power of faith and how it helps mankind to overcome its misery and difficulty.

In the ensuing discussion, these personal definitions of faith were brought to bear on the issue of how to educate children. Dr. Surjit Kaur Jolly pointed to the goal of developing strong values: "Within a certain time frame, what can we provide as an ambiance, an environment for the children? Children raised with faith are a different kind of children. They do not go astray. They are solid, they have a support system."

Dr. Raj Wadhwa, former Principal of Vivekananda College, Delhi University, pointed out that it is important to distinguish religious faith from the blind fundamentalist faith that leads to suicidal missions to destroy the world.

The question was raised of whether faith needs to be based on the experience of miracles. Although some presenters had spoken of miracles they had personally experienced that bolstered their faith, others said that faith need not be miracle-based. Reverend Charles White observed that it is necessary to distinguish between having faith and the traditional religious forms that faith may take. "Faith is a genuine human experience that everyone can have," he said. "Babaji's message is very important: That all prophets come from one place." Reverend Bob Hanson said, "The transformational events in our lives can be looked on as miracles, but they are not magic. They are the beginning of something new." Reverend Hanson said that East and West should listen to each other and that faith is love, faith is giving. Speaking on behalf of the younger generation, student Malissa Bergner from the USA said, "We use the word 'belief' rather than faith in working with children. They have it naturally, but when they are older they want something tangible as proof."

Swaranjit Singh, President of the Institute, said that faith can be strong to the point of sacrificing one's life. Dr. Hillel Levine, Professor of Sociology and Religion at Boston University who is a Jewish rabbi and also Director of International Institute for mediation and Historical Conciliation, said, "For me as Jew, faith is a struggle. My God did not respond to suffering. There are many conflicts based on faith, many places that God has not reached. Maybe we can bring faith to the secular world, not as a great comfort but as a struggle."

Galina Ermolina, a teacher in Novozibirsk, Russia, spoke of the experience of growing up under communism. "During the last 70 years, the people of the world thought there was no faith under communism. But as Baba Virsa Singh says, 'Who says that faith lives only in the churches?' It is in human beings, in the heart, and should be spread among human beings the world over through good deeds and messages."

Dr. Veena Sharma, former Head of Swahili Service, India Excternal Services Division of All-India Radio and now Chairperson of Pragya Foundation, expanded the definition of faith to a cosmic perspective. "The way the universe is structured itself inspires faith. The sun rises, the moon rises, we put a seed in the ground and it sprouts. We are only to be simple, trusting human beings to experience the grace of God."

Ralph Singh, first President of Gobind Sadan, USA, said, "A miracle is simply God's nature. Faith is to be able to recognize God's presence and to listen to it. The prophets are those who could hear the voice of God and share it with those who could not hear God's words, those who amidst the darkness could hear that voice of Truth and struggle, to share it in the midst of darkness. That in itself is a miracle—that we ourselves can take a stand for truth, that faith becomes a force in society. When we understand that there is an authority for truth, a Power behind the universe, then faith becomes a force that can and does change the world."

February 17, 2003, 3:30 p.m.: Roundtable Session II: Faith at work in service to humanity

Moderator for the second roundtable session was Dr. S. S. Joshi, Professor Emeritus from Punjabi University, Patiala. He posed questions for consideration: "Why do we serve humanity? Are there any motives? Why? Do we want to gain or is it only selfless motivation? If it is without motivation, what keeps us going on and on and on? Do we have faith in ourselves, in humanity, or in the work that we do? These presenters have spent most of their lives serving humanity with unflinching faith. The basic question is Why? For self-satisfaction? To please God?" The goal for the session was to delve into the link between faith and service, beyond any sectarian motives.

Presenters for this roundtable session were Ralph Singh, First President of Gobind Sadan USA and Secretary of the North American Interfaith Network, Bhai Kirpal Singh, Head Granthi of Gobind Sadan and research scholar, Ernest Young, leader in the Emmaus retreat movement and United Methodist Committee on Relief, USA, Karen Ingvolstad, chaplain, parish nurse, and community organizer from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, Reverend Judith Alderman, United Methodist Christian minister from Fulton, New York, USA, Natasha Schenova, leader of Valentin Sidorov Public-Cultural Centre, Ekterinaburg, Russia, Dr. Veena Sharma, former Head of Swahili Service and now Chairperson of Prajna Foundation, Yulia Pal, webmaster of Gobind Sadan's Russian website and trainer for Pranic Healing Foundation of Delhi, and Malissa Bergner, actress, singer, and student leader from the USA.

Ralph Singh spoke from his personal experiences about the spiritual mandate to do hard work for the sake of others. He related how at the age of 21 he met Baba Virsa Singh in a visionary experience and thus learned that there is "an incredible Power." He was then once meditating until after sunrise at Gobind Sadan when Babaji came to him and said, "What are you doing here? Get out into the fields and work! Do you think you came here just to meditate?" He concluded, "Meditation is only to empower your work. As we work, we are burning away our weaknesses that keep us away from God. This beautiful garden was a pile of manure only a few years ago. If there was a shortage of labour in the dairy, Babaji himself would milk the buffalos. You have to work, and the focus of your work should be to uplift humanity. I cut fodder, tended and marketed roses. Babaji himself was in the fields night and day. If anyone asked how they could see him, we told them, 'Go work in the fields. He is there, and if you work, you can see him.' After seeing crops and gardens appear where previously there was nothing, one develops a confidence that there is no amount of suffering, injustice, or oppression that cannot be solved."

Gobind Sadan's practical example of selfless hard work was further delineated by Bhai Kirpal Singh. He said, "Where you are sitting today was not like this. There was not even a blade of grass. On 18 June, 1968, Babaji came here at midnight with a team of his devotees. What did they do first? They started digging a well. It took 6 months. He said at that time, 'We will not depend on anybody. We will be self-supporting in all respects.' So we did farming. All the stones were removed by manual labour. Devotees were working day and night. They started growing sugarcane and maize and fodder for 200 cows and buffalos of the best type at that time. One cow was giving 60 litres of milk per day.

At another 250-acre plot in Surajpur, the land had never been developed and was lying barren. Wells were bored. The previous owner came after one year and was amazed to see that the only labourers were students. He said, 'I have never seen people like this who have changed the form of the land.'

Then low-lying land along the Ganges was developed. Babaji and his followers used to go there in boats, in villages ruined by floods. He arranged bulldozers and constructed a dike. Once he worked continuously for 72 hours. Now the income from that farm supports the work of Gobind Sadan. This is the pattern set by Guru Nanak: Earn your living by honest means and share with the needy. No money is to be charged for spiritual services such as singing kirtan. And this place is a practical example of actual interfaith life."

Ernest Young spoke of the hard work of responding to floods and hurricanes, providing disaster relief. He also described the Emmaus movement as a program for renewing one's faith and commitment to serve more actively.

Karen Ingvoldstad described her work as a nurse, saying, "All my actions that serve spring from faith. For people, my work includes stress management and healing touch as well as conventional medical help. I consider myself a healer of the air, water, and plants as well as people. We must not let our sons and daughters kill other people's brothers and sisters."

Reverend Judith Alderman observed, "People need to experience the love of God for it to be a significant presence in their lives. John Wesley, founder of Methodism, prayed for five years to experience the power of God's love in his life. Once he experienced that warming in the heart, his service took off in a new and meaningful way. When Mother Teresa held my hand and said, 'May God bless you, my child,' I stopped talking about mission and ministry and began doing it, by working in Newark [a lower-class urban community in the US] in soup kitchens for the poor and shelters for homeless people." She related that many of the members of her congregation are also active in service, such as working with people who have AIDS. "Service is my way of saying 'Thank you' to God."

In her presentation, Malissa Bergner said that young people can benefit their community and the world by their service. She spoke of her youth group's weekly meetings in which "we develop faith in ourselves and in each other. Knowing that the adults have faith in us encourages us to have faith in ourselves." Their group's work includes encouraging others to be happy: "We often say, 'If you don't have a smile, here, take one of mine.'"

Natasha Schenova spoke of "how we in Ekterinaburg work to put faith into practice. As it is written in the Bible, if people have faith even as small as a mustard seed, even two people can save the world." She spoke of the work of three great Russians of the past: Madame Helena Blavatsky, who said, "There is no religion higher than truth," Nicholas Roerich, who started a movement to seek peace among people through culture, and Valentin Sidorov, who promised, "The one will come who can console the souls, the Spirit of Consolation." Taking inspiration from these figures, Ms. Schenova said, "We are living in the special time of the Spirit of Compassion. We are to love our neighbour as we love ourself, and to bring spirituality into every aspect of life. We want to give new life to spirituality in our Motherland and restore our relationships with the hierarchy of Mahatmas. That is why we are here: We have found the great Mahatma here in India. It is Baba Virsa Singh. We do our best to spread his light in our land. I have been here 8 times. Every time that we go back to Russia, we try to spread this treasure of knowledge and love wherever we are, through conferences and talking with our friends." She showed books that her group had published of the writings of Valentin Sidorov and translations of Kabir's poetry into Russian.

Dr. Veena Sharma cited the Vedas: "Truth is one; learned people have called it by different names." She observed, "Physicists have found this underlying unity. Humanity is not separate from the individual human; one spirit underlies all. Work done in this spirit would be an act of self-actualization." She described her work in a basti of 500 households—a place of "dirt, ignorance, illiteracy, indiscipline, divisions and hatreds. As we worked with them in a spiritual way, privileged youth also came and helped. They began to respect each other a little bit. With very limited resources, things began to happen." Now some of her students from the basti are even being trained as computer operators.

Yulia Pal described Pranic Healing as "a very ancient system of energy healing revived by a Filipino founder of Chinese descent. He emphasizes the need to integrate and balance spiritual and worldly life. I come from Russia where religion was very much discouraged by the State. I believed that there is no God, and that religion is old-fashioned, no good. I came to India with no faith. I went to a pranic healer with an incredible and painful skin problem, and by the next morning there was no pain, only a few red patches. It is a method of removing negative energies and bring fresh positive energies to the body. The technique opens your heart. Working in this way, we have to face death, and mentally and emotionally disturbed people. I became more compassionate, and am still learning the concept of service. The teaching is meant to lead us to the dawn of civilization. We are all parts of a large whole. The interdependence of all life means that our choices have an effect on all."

Mary Pat Fisher posed the question as to how one could have faith within this world of suffering. She answered her question by saying that everything is within God—peace and conflict, happiness and suffering, light and darkness, as expressed in Guru Gobind Singh's hymn Jaap Sahib. She also noted that Baba Virsa Singh recommends that people serve and then forget their service, not looking back, so that ego does not enter.

The session also included a presentation by Mrs. Prem Swaranjit, wife of Swaranjit Singh, President of the Institute, about the appearance of Jesus to Baba Virsa Singh in 1983, promising blessings which are being experienced to today in the place where he appeared.

17 February, 2003—8:00 p.m.: Multi-cultural music programme

In the evening of 17th February, delegates and other guests enjoyed music from Russia, India, and the United States. Some of the Christian ministers from the United States sang several selections from Christian hymns, including the favourite, "Amazing Grace." Lyuba Basurmanova from Moscow played beautifully on the ancient stringed instrument, the gusli, as well as on folk instruments such as a bird whistle, wooden spoons, and accordion. Joginder Kaur and young women from the Gobind Sadan community sang a composition by Joginder Kaur in praise of all prophets, and Bhagat Ji of Gobind Sadan softly sang a Sikh hymn in praise of God. Svetlana Ashi from Tajakhastan delivered some of her original spiritual poetry with ecstatic expression. The evening ended with people from Russia, India, and the United States all doing spontaneous Punjabi bhangra dancing together.

18 February, 2003 – Third Roundtable Session: Religious Principles in Governance and Education within a Pluralistic Society

After exploring the meanings of faith and service in the first two sessions, the essential work of the seminar began to take practical shape in the third session. The moderator was Ralph Singh. Presenters were Galina Ermolina, schoolteacher and leader of spiritual tours from Novozibirsk, Russia, Marjorie Julian, schoolteacher from the United States, Father Bento Rodrigues, Rector of Father Agnel School and director of a large orphanage, Ranjit Kalha, former Secretary of the Foreign Service Ministry, Government of India, Dr. Raj Wadhwa, Principal Emeritus of Vivekananda College, Delhi University, Dr. Devinder Kumar Kansal, Principal, Indira Gandhi Institute of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, University of Delhi, Mark Lichtenstein, President of Mexico School Board, New York State, USA, from which came students who ignorantly set fire to Gobind Sadan's interfaith temple after September 11th, and Dr. Joseph Julian, Chairman of the Joint Eastern Europe Center for Democratic Education and Governance, Syracuse University, USA. All agreed on the major conclusion of the landmark Supreme Court ruling supporting education about all religions, and each looked at the implications of this ruling from a different perspective.

Ralph Singh opened the roundtable by reading a portion from that ruling: "What is required today is not religious education, but education about religions, their basics, the values inherent therein, and also a comparative study of the philosophy of all religions. Students have to be given the awareness that the essence of every religion is common, only the practice is different. Even if there are differences in certain areas, people have to learn to coexist and carry no hatred toward any religion. One should never forget that all the values are derived from one Ultimate Reality, Supreme Power, Self consciousness, to which man orients himself. To believe we have the divine spark in each of us, is the most important eternal value to be inculcated by the small children even before starting school."

Ralph Singh pointed out that one of the ways that Baba Virsa Singh imparts this education at Gobind Sadan is through celebration of the major holy days of all religions. He also cited a passage from the Guru Granth Sahib: "Recognize that all scriptures are true—that the Bible, the Torah, the Vedas, the Quran are true. What is false is those who misinterpret their message." He noted that Baba Virsa Singh had held a press conference challenging anyone who would attack anyone else's prophet, "in keeping with the Sikh tradition in which the Ninth Guru gave his life so that the Hindu tradition would not be consumed by the Moghul rule at that time." He brought up issues involved in trying to impart education about religions in schools: the possibility that some will use the opportunity to proselytize for their own religion, and the possibility of opening the door to fundamentalism. On the other hand, when such education is not imparted, children may have no training in moral values, or they may be so ignorant about other religions that they commit hate crimes, such as the arson that destroyed Gobind Sadan's interfaith temple in the United States after September 11th.

As the leader of the Mexico School Board in New York State, from which some of those teenagers came who set the fire at Gobind Sadan USA, Mark Lichtenstein said that despite the dangers of fundamentalism, "Faith needs to be the catalyst toward positive change." He described new efforts of Gobind Sadan USA: "Our vision is to have a multi-faith, multi-cultural approach to teaching about the world's religions, cultures, and conflict management. We want to celebrate all the world's religious holidays. We want to integrate that into our school systems' calendars. We would like to develop student exchange programs with Gobind Sadan and eventually other places in the world. We are in the process of making curriculum changes and textbook changes to incorporate the world's religions and multi-cultural issues on a more objective stance. And finally, we are involving our youth at Gobind Sadan in community service, actually helping Gobind Sadan to reconstruct the temple. What we need to do with our youth is to educate them that tolerance is not enough. We need to move beyond tolerance to understanding."

Galina Ermolina described her efforts as a classroom teacher in Novozibirsk to divert interest from violent films into new kinds of films that give positive messages, and to get teenagers interested in interviewing the oldest members of their society to benefit from their historical experiences and viewpoints.

Marjorie Julian, a high school teacher in the United States, described the evolution of U.S. Supreme Court rulings concerning religious education. She pointed out after legislation was passed to prevent domination of schooling by any one religion, by the late 1970s it was recognized that diversity was to be celebrated and that schools should be able to teach about religions. Although the issue is still controversial, religion "is considered an important part of the curriculum and appears on standardized exams."

Father Bento Rodrigues spoke from his experience as rector of the Father Agnel School: "Not only do we have to accept differences; we must enjoy differences." He spoke of school as a nursery for developing the innate goodness that God has already created in a child. "If we fill our children with violence, what will come out of the child will be violence. An orange, if you cut it, you squeeze it, you get orange juice out of it. You can't get any other thing. If we fill our children with love, concern, with respect for one another, we may do whatever we like—we may cut them, we may squeeze them, but what will come out of them will be love. . . . In our school we have Value Education as an important subject. We insist that all courses be integrated. Each week, we determine, "The value to be taught by this topic is:______. Prayer for the world as well as personal prayer is insisted upon. There is a period of silence before every period. We have seen the results. We involve the students in social work, for experience of sickness, old age, poverty, hunger death—so that they know that we all share the same human condition."

Since the directors of the NCERT were unable to come on this day, the presentations thence shifted to the second topic under consideration: principles of faith expressed in government service.

Ranjit Kalha spoke from his extensive experience in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, describing how the Indian system of governance works and pointing out that there are enormous powers available to civil servants, and thus enormous temptation toward corruption. He cited the great influence of Baba Virsa Singh on his decisions, with regard to avoiding self-interest and egotism, and his teaching that "It is the Almighty who will take a decision, and therefore concentrate and meditate on the Almighty. That is the key."

Dr. Raj Wadhwa described the problems of jealous rebellion against her by her staffmembers, and how she rode out the storm with the help of Babaji's exhortations to stay firm on the basis of truth, with no feeling of vengeance or anger. She explained, "Without having those spiritual principles, fearlessness and firmness is not possible."

Dr. Devinder Kumar Kansal added his views that the term "higher education" should be reserved for education that elevates one's thinking and brings food for the soul. "We should have spirituality as a compulsory subject at national and international level."

Professor Hillel Levine in his presentation highlighted the potential of educational materials to "foster violence and hatred." He said this potential exists because of the exclusive tendencies in religions themselves: "For every way in which religion spells out heaven, it also spells out hell. And it also defines who goes to hell." He cited inflammatory passages from textbooks which encourage hatred of various religions, and warned how dangerous such writings can be within society.

Dr. Joseph Julian developed a similar theme in his presentation, based on his experiences in Europe, including former Yugoslavia. He said, "I can't think of any more important goal for our time than the goal of 'Faith in the service of humanity." But you know, we have faith in the service of many different dimensions today. What we've heard of over the past couple of years is faith in the service of zealots. Faith in the service of special interests. Faith in the service of states. Since the fall of the dictatorship in Portugal in 1974, we've seen a global movement towards open and democratic societies. But at the same time what we've seen is a resurgence of violence and religious strife. And the question is, how do we address that? The Court decision here in India said that one way to address that is to educate about religion. The question is, 'How do you implement it?' I would suggest there are three major areas to be looked at: One: Why is religion important to people? Two: What is religious liberty? And three: Why does religious liberty matter today? With regard to one, it seems to me that religious literacy is important. If education is designed to help young people understand the world that they lived in, and the world that they live in now. Surely they have to look at how religion shaped public life as time has gone by. Moreover, without an understanding of religious principles, so many of the dimensions of life remain dimensions that are not really understood by young people. How do you understand the literature, the music, the architecture of so many different countries without understanding how religion influenced that? Secondly, what is religious liberty? I would propose that students become familiar with the three R's—rights, respect, responsibility. If you have the state controlling religion, you run the risk of losing your religious freedom. On the other hand, if you have religion ruling the state, you run the risk of losing your political freedom."

In the ensuing discussion, the question was raised, "How to educate the educators?" Suggestions from the participants included these: Bring spiritual education out of informal education and into the formal stream. Organize orientation and refresher courses in interfaith-minded spiritual campuses such as the Ramakrishna Mission and Gobind Sadan Institute, so that diversity remains but values and ethics are highlighted. Training is needed for the heart, not just the mind, of the educator. Participants urged Gobind Sadan Institute to take a lead in these matters. Reverend Bob Hanson also spoke of the need for religious leaders to take an active role in educating their own congregations. He said, "About a month ago, seventy-five of us gathered around the tables at my Church and signed a covenant to work for peace, justice, and understanding in our community. In one way we are helping to teach ourselves, as well as our congregations and people in the community what it means to work and love one another. The other side is, that as a priest, one of my responsibilities is to teach the methods of tolerance, understanding, and justice. I have a number of teachers in my congregation. They happen to be special education teachers, helping students who are educationally, mentally, and physically challenged. For me the real answer for this is how we can do this on a very local level. How do we choose schools, parishes, organization to be models of what we want to have happen everywhere? And how do we empower those models to happen? We would work very hard through the principles of this place—Gobind Sadan—and others to engender this kind of teaching. In other parts of the world, we would find neighborhoods and communities to do this. So that we really take it from the universal level, which we are representing here today, to the local, grassroots level."

18 February, 2003—3:30 p.m.: Concluding session

Moderator for the concluding session was Dr. S. S. Joshi. The session began with a prayer by Reverend Donna Young. Dr. Joshi summarized the work of the seminar, saying, "Almost all aspects of the main themes have been covered. The topic is very vast. Each of the concepts needs to be defined and redefined." He asked the raporteur, Mrs. S. Mehta, to read her summary of the seminar proceedings, (which has been incorporated into this seminar report, along with excerpts from taped transcripts of the sessions).

After Mrs. Mehta's report, various participants spoke of their commitment to implementing the themes explored in the seminar. Malissa Bergner said, "I look forward to taking this home to our youth group, and perhaps we can help."

Mark Lichtenstein proposed that there should be a conference to foster respect for diversity, to censor those religious leaders who promote violence, to offer multi-skilled action training, to train clergy in tasks of peacemaking, to promote diplomacy, and to form alliances of leaders and policy-makers at the local level. Referring to his own daughter's attempt to take her life, he said, "We need to show our youth that spirituality is practical and relevant."

Galina Ermolina proposed, " I thank Babaji as the greatest magnet, the greatest focus of Light on this planet. He has attracted us all here. The atmosphere here is the best I have ever experienced in any conference—the atmosphere of love, fraternity, and sisterhood. I believe that Gobind Sadan in these three days is the model, uniting people of different faiths and countries. Our global aim is to make the whole world Gobind Sadan. I strongly believe in cooperation. We can make joint programmes together. I ask for your help in bringing old and young together."

Ranjit Kalha observed, "It is a great pleasure and honour for all of us to participate in such a seminar. We thank Gobind Sadan for bringing together people from so many places. Each of us has an individual experience. This seminar is in the nature of a beginning of a process. It is now up to us to take this process forward. We could do it individually or collectively. We have the presence of Babaji. Whenever we have difficulties on how to take this process forward, he is always there to help and guide us. As human beings blessed by God with a thought process, we are capable of taking it forward. Now with Internet, we can share with each other and with Gobind Sadan. Philosophy is one thing, implementation is another. We should look at whether some of the ideas we have thrown up are practical or can be implemented. There is no better guide in this than Babaji. We should take full advantage of this very great person who is among us."

Ralph Singh concluded, "Without all of you, this would be only an idea. Are we ready for peace? The work of Gobind Sadan is to prepare us to be ready for peace. The time of peace has been promised. Are we committing ourselves truly to faith in service to humanity? Education does not occur only in words. Our words will have no impact if we do not first petition the One who has power over all. We must cultivate the sense of service to the One who is all-powerful. Then whenever we go, the doors will open, and peace will come. It is a process of sowing seeds and waiting for the crop. What we saw here is that land that never produced any crop produced enough to feed the whole world. The seeds of spiritual practice [Nam and Jaap Sahib] will bear fruit, but it is our job to keep seeding, fertilizing, and waiting for the harvest."

Swaranjit Singh, President, thanked the participants and thanked Baba Virsa Singh "for giving us this opportunity to come from all corners of the world, sit under this beautiful roof, and talk as friends."

19 February, 12 noon: Dialogue at NCERT

Since the seminar participants wanted to learn more about the work of the NCERT, particularly with reference to the Supreme Court decision of 12 September, 2002 regarding the National Curriculum Framework for School Education, 2000, Dr. J. S. Rajput, Director of NCERT, invited them to visit NCERT. Eighteen foreign delegates thus went to NCERT, where they entered into an in-depth dialogue with Dr. J. S. Rajput and department heads. Dr. Rajput was very impressed with the brilliance of their questions, and the delegates were very impressed with his replies. They asked, for instance, what NCERT does about teaching children about negative things that have been done in the name of religions. Dr. Rajput answered that those dark events are brought up, but explained as the work of cultures and institutions, not of the founders' teachings.

20 February, day-long cultural programme and audience with Baba Virsa Singh

The delegates witnessed the celebration of the birthday of His Holiness Baba Virsa Singh with kirtan, kavi durbar, and langar in the morning, followed by the chance for a special audience with His Holiness in the evening. He greeted them lovingly and spoke for some time about the power of what some call the "Holy Spirit" to bring healing and transformation in the world by working through human beings. He encouraged them all to find that Holy Spirit inside themselves so that they will be empowered to help cure the sick world which is now suffering so much from divisions and conflicts. With reference to educating children in spirituality, he said, "It is not a problem. God is in all schoolchildren. All they need is a slight hint, for all children want love. It is not that you separate spirituality from the worldly curriculum. Teach with love and they will pick it up. A child's mind is very delicate."

At the end of the audience, Mr. Alexander Khozin, Consul General of the Embassy of the Russian Federation, read a letter from the Ambassador of the Russian Federation, Mr. Alexander M. Kadakin, congratulating Babaji on his birthday and expressing his appreciation for "your many years of service to the cause of faith and righteousness in the interests of spiritual co-enlightenment and unity of various nations and religions," bringing "hope, light and harmony into our world."

Further Activities

After the close of the seminar itself, participants continued to explore Gobind Sadan's model of interfaith living by visiting Shiv Sadan, the community's large farm on the banks of the Ganges in Uttar Pradesh, and participating in the devotional life of the Delhi community, including havan, kirtan, Akhand Path of Guru Granth Sahib, nightly candle-lighting at Jesus's Place, and Namaz with explanations by Gobind Sadan's imam. The foreign participants also visited famous sites to see more of Indian culture, including Qutb Minar, the Gandhi Museum, the Red Fort, the Taj Mahal, and Jaipur. They also spent much time in discussions of how to implement education about all religions in their own school systems and places of worship, based on all that they had seen and learned as a result of the Gobind Sadan Institute seminar on "Faith in Service of Humanity."