Religion has always been a major factor in the growth of human civilisation. In art, architecture, music, literature, philosophy, law, moral codes and spiritual texts, many achievements can be traced back to its tremendous influence. Admittedly, there have been negative impacts, too — mass killings, pogroms, inquisitions... perpetrated in the name of religion. And all in the name of a divinity that is believed to be beneficent, merciful and compassionate! We would do well to keep in mind this dual aspect of religious history, because a choice bet-ween these two paths will be absolutely vital in the decades ahead as we move into the global society. The Divine Will seems to have decreed that no one religion ever has, or ever will, dominate the entire world. And, yet one thing is clear, the religious impulse is far stronger than had been generally realised. India is where four of the world's great faiths — Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism — were born, and four others came to us from West Asia and have flourished for centuries — Judaism, Zoroas- trianism, Christianity and Islam. The question before us is: Are we going to revert to mediaeval patterns of religious wars and internecine conflict or are we going to eschew conflict and move forward to a new dimension of interfaith dialogue, harmony and understanding? There are several worldwide organisations which propagate inter-religious dialogue, including the Temple of Understand-ing. However, unless inter-religious values are built into the educational system, it will be difficult to expect the younger generation to imbibe them. Sri Aurobindo wrote "The conflict of religions arises because each one claims the exclusive truth and demands complete adherence to it by the method of dogma, belief, ritual, ceremony and prescribed acts. The solution would be to recognise that the real truth of religion is in the spiritual experience of which it is an outer formation". Instead of clinging to fixed ideas and rigid patterns, what is needed is a rediscovery of some of the insights of various religious and cultural traditions for a decisive breakthrough, a quantum leap into a new spiritual dimension. The universal values inherent in all the great religious systems of the world need to be clearly articulated in terms of contemporary consciousness and the compulsions of the global society. For this, it is necessary to highlight the golden thread of mysticism that runs through all the great religions of the world. Whether it is the glowing vision of the great Upanishadic seers or the Jain tirthankars, the luminous sayings of the Buddha or the passionate outpourings of the Muslim sufis, or the noble utterances of the Sikh gurus, these and other traditions of ecstatic union with the divine represent an important dimension of religion which is often submerged under the load of ritual and theology. From the writer's foreword at the inauguration of the South Asia Interfaith Harmony Conclave in New Delhi. He is president, Indian Council for Cultural Relations, and chairman, Temple of Understanding.
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