On the Bauls The searing summer heat of this tropical region, and the whirlwinds of red dust, spurred the inhabitants of Ráŕh to break the bondages of this limited world and to run in the direction of limitlessness. And at the very sight of the natural landscape of Ráŕh, tears welled up in their hearts, and their entire beings quivered, for the great unknown entity. This longing in their hearts made the people of Ráŕh mystical. What is mysticism? Mysticism is the never-ending endeavour to find out a link between finite and infinite. So the people of Ráŕh are all mystical by birth. When they look up at the boundless sky, their inner self becomes eloquent in this way: - Shrii Prabhat R. Sarkar This earth is not only for human beings "The human requirements of every age must be guaranteed. The minimum requirements must go on increasing according to the physical and psychic standard of human beings and according to the changes in climatic conditions, environment, etc. Thus the range of minimum requirements will go on increasing according to the range of human social conditions. At present human beings are thinking for their own minimum requirements more than the minimum requirements of animals and plants. A day is coming when some of the animals, if not all, will come within the realm of our social membership. Today we say that each and every human being will get the minimum requirements. Tomorrow we will say that the minimum requirements will also incude the needs of dogs, cows, monkeys, etc. To fulfill these requirements, there should be more and more production. The earth is not only for human beings. It is for other living beings also. So we will have to do something for them. The minimum requirements and maximum amenities shoud also be given to animals Today cows, dogs and monkeys are developing; tomorrow more and more animals will be in this category. Animals will also develop longings for different psycho-physical pabula, so they should be guaranteed minimum requirements and maximum amenities. We will have to something for them also. This is the demand of Neo-humanism, of Neo-humanistic ideas. This demand should be fulfilled by PROUT." Shrii Prabhat R. Sarkar Is this what science is for? Did somebody say it is okay to be so cruel? Collective Glory of Human Society "Those who impatiently preach to their followers, "Our god is the only god - others are false," encourage communal differences directly and indirectly. Such defective teachings, such baneful exhortations, have caused many bloody battles in the name of religion. Even today we find a reoccurrence of this distressing situation. The self-motivated and wicked intellect of a handful of religious leaders is at the root of these abominable incidents. One should always remember that all the great personalities of the different religious communities deserve equal respect. They are the collective glory of the human society. We may have built a new path of movement for the progress of society according to the needs of a particular age - a path which may be somewhat different from the one on which the great personalities trod - but that does not mean that we will not extend our respect to those venerable personalities." Shrii Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar Kashmiri Sufism: Theological Resources For Peace-Building The popular Sufi traditions of Jammu as well as Kashmir, then, contain rich possibilities that could be used to develop new understandings of identity that can help articulate a new vision of religion that is grounded in universal love and concern transcending narrowly inscribed communal boundaries Search in the heart, in the heart alone The creatures are like you, Allah-Ram. Lord be kind to them. Why bump that shaven head on the earth? why dunk those bones in the water? Parading as a holy man, you hide yourself and slaughter. Why wash your hand and mouth, why chant with a heart full of fraud. Why bow and bow in the mosque, and trudge to Mecca to see God? Twenty-four days for the Hindus, thirty days for the Turks-- a month each year for fasting, eleven for holy works. Does Khuda (Arabic for God) live in the mosque? Then who lives everywhere? Is Ram (Hindi for God) in idols and holy ground? Have you looked and found him there? Hari in the East, Allah in the West-- so you like to dream. Search in the heart, in the heart alone: there live Ram and Karim! Which is false, Koran or Veda? False is the darkened outlook. It is one, one in everybody! How did you make it two? Every man and woman born, they're all Your forms, says Kabir. I'm Ram-and-Allah's foolish baby, he's my guru and pir. Kabir And if alive today, Kabir would add lines about hypocritical Christians who force the Ten Commandments on all students yet cheerfully violate the most important one - thou shalt not kill - whenever their President/Pope tells them to. If alive today, Kabir would write how rabbis preach to love their neighbour as their own selves while simultaneously they hate their Lebanese and Palestinian neighbours. If alive today, Kabir would mock their superstitions, dogma-ridden scriptures, and their failure to see the face of the Lord wherever they turn their gaze. - WPA A Day In Gandoh: Hindu-Muslim Relations In Doda Before we finally retired for the night, the principal read out to us a letter written by him and recently published in a Jammu-based Urdu newspaper. To protest the deadly massacre of more than two dozen Hindus in Kulhand, a hamlet near Doda, this May, the letter stated, Jammu town observed a complete shut-down. That very morning the principal's grandson, a student in Jammu University, had to appear for an important examination. He assumed that because of the strike the examination had been postponed. In the afternoon, he rang up a Hindu friend of his, who told him, to his shock, that the examination was actually on schedule and that he had just entered the examination hall. No vehicles were plying in the streets that day and the principal's son had no way out to reach the university. However, his friend magnanimously rushed out of the examination hall and sped on his motorcycle all the way to his house and picked him. They arrived in the examination hall just in time to write their paper. 'Such examples of Hindu-Muslim harmony and friendship must be regularly highlighted in the press', the letter stressed. It concluded with a line in which the principal revealed that he had sent an appeal to the Chief Minister to announce a reward to his grandson's Hindu friend for having 'served as a model of communal harmony'. The next morning, after a heavy breakfast which we had to accept after much protest, we trudged down the mountain back to the main road to head back to Doda town. And as the principal hugged me in farewell, I promised him that I would, in my own modest way, do what he had advised in his letter: to highlight this instance of love and friendship beyond communal boundaries as a lesson that others could emulate. - Yoginder Sikand The Ideal of Humanity: Striving for Unity Through the Sacredness of Humanity Aurobindo’s and Chardin’s observations and arguments provide us with valuable lessons about what the essential values that we strive towards should be. Regardless of all the factors that make each individual different, we all live on one planet and must come to a mutual recognition of each other’s place on this earth. We must mature as a species, taking responsibility for the wellbeing of all. Although we live in a world that puts the individual on a pedestal, we must constantly strive towards what is truly important and what will truly bring us happiness and satisfaction as humans. - Julia Furman No playing second fiddle, any more A recent performance in Kolkata underscores the gradual emergence of women Baul singers from the shadows of their male companions, as independent artists. Baul singers at a musical event in Kolkata. Humanity is Superior to the State "The value of human life surpasses all other values. Be it state or scripture, society or religion, the significance of everything lies in developing humanity to the optimum point through knowledge, culture, health and affluence of life. It is for the unfoldment of humanity that civilization has so many impediments, the state presents various forms, theories multiply and the scriptures abound in ordinances and regulations. What does the state stand for, what is the use of these regulations, or what are the marvels of civilization for, if humanity is deprived of manifesting itself, if human beings do not get any chance to build a good physique, to invigorate their intelligence with knowledge and to broaden their heart with love and compassion? Instead of leading humanity to the goal of life, if the state stands in the way then it cannot command loyalty, because humanity is superior to the state." Shrii Prabhat R. Sarkar This impoverished man, on a street in Nepal, is humanity. And this humanity is higher than all laws, higher than all scriptures, higher than the rules and regulations of any state or any government or any religious institution. There is nothing higher, nothing greater, than humanity. - WPA Separation breeds violence "When you call yourself an Indian or a Muslim or a Christian or a European, or anything else, you are being violent. Do you see why it is violent? Because you are separating yourself from the rest of mankind. When you separate yourself by belief, by nationality, by tradition, it breeds violence. So a man who is seeking to understand violence does not belong to any country, to any religion, to any political party or partial system; he is concerned with the total understanding of mankind." Krishnamurti
