Hinduism: Soniaji, Hinduism is Not Just Ramayana!

By Sonia Gandhi

Learn Fom History, Don't Change It

The path of love and compassion is the best way of achieving universal amity. Adi Shankara's mutts - which he established in several parts of the country - symbolise the oneness of the people of India. Adi Shankara worked to bring about unity and understanding among people. Towards this end, he journeyed across the country, spreading the message of peace and goodwill.

Doubtless, the people of India, traditionally, have had a deep interest in spirituality. Each one is involved in his or her own dharma or faith - and these faiths and beliefs are concerned not just with human activity; they are equally mindful of all other forms of life. All life is considered to be inter-connected and hence all life is sacred. A person who is religious in the truest sense cannot be narrow-minded. Such a person will not indulge in any kind of social discrimination, nor will she be intolerant or critical of another's faith, however different it might be from her own.

Faith helps us explore the atman; it is an instrument to offer ourselves to the Supreme One, and to help uplift humankind. There is no place in any faith for cruelty, injustice or oppression. We all could be walking different paths, but our ultimate goal is the same: "Ekam sad/ Vipra bahuda vadanti" - "Truth is One; There are many ways of expressing it."

This is our millennia-old parampara (tradition), this is Bharat's ideal and this message was given to us by our rishis, munis, acharyas, sants of different faiths, devotees and social leaders. Our languages, social customs, reeti-rivaj, and clothes could be vastly different from one another's, but summing it all up, taking all the people of India together, we find that our atman is one. We are all bound together by one single but strong thread, the thread of bhavna or feeling and emotion. 

I feel pained sometimes when I see that there are people who act only in self- interest. Not only are they selfish, they also create divisions to disrupt social harmony and unity in order to achieve their narrow ends.

We are a nation that believes in God's omnipresence - so how can we condone any kind of cruelty or divisiveness? It is said that in the end, Truth will triumph. I am confident that our great country, Bharat, will never go into decline. Drawing strength from our ideals (adarsh), we will hold our heads high in the world.

All new and modern achievements and developments are built on the strong foundations of our parampara - tradition and ideals. However, we have to take care to proceed cautiously on our future course even while learning valuable lessons from the past. We should never let ourselves get disillusioned.

Itihaas ko badla nahin ja sakta, usse keval sabak liya ja sakta hai - We cannot change history; we can only learn lessons from it. If we realise that in the past, mistakes have been made, we have to take care not to repeat them. In the name of parampara, we can neither afford to shut our eyes to the truth nor commit the same mistakes.

Attaining the truth, I know, is a difficult process. But the best of all human striving has been geared towards that. Untruthful ways cannot help us reach the truth. There is no room for violence and hatred in a prem ki duniya - world of love. Sometimes, like Sant Kabir Das, we might have to burn our house to save another's. This is the way of truth; this is the way of insaniyat. We have to use our intelligence to spread light - not darkness. That's why our rishis have said: Tamso ma jyotirgamaya - "Take me from darkness to light..."

From a speech by Sonia Gandhi at the Kanchi Shankaracharya's Peetarohana Swarna Jayanti celebrations, New Delhi