Dear Friends,
Greetings of love and peace from Shantiniketan.
Since I was too tired to write last night, I surrendered my morning walk to make sure that I would do my best to capture my reflections about yesterday, Sunday.
After breakfast, our morning session began with a welcome from our gracious MC, Rev. Kisku, who announced that today was International Human Rights Day. Then Dr. Hira Paul Gangnegi, URI’s India north zone coordinator and head of the Tibetan Studies Department at Delhi University, offered an overview of Buddhism and then offered a brief prayer for the day, invoking the joyous middle path as a way to create a peacefully just world.
It’s worth noting before diving into the rest of the day that participants here speak four different languages – Bengali, Hindi, Malayalam and English. There is no common language that everyone speaks, so we’re always faced with the choice of either translating what’s said or assuming that some portion of the assembled will not understand what’s being understood during a particular segment of the program – an imperfect system, but one that seems to work well enough. I have spent periods of time unable to follow what a speaker in either Bengali, Hindi or Malayalam was saying. While I obviously missed the verbal content, I simply took it as an opportunity to pay more attention to the affective part of communication and ended up feeling a deeper connection with the speaker’s basic humanity.
After the morning prayer, we divided into six small groups of about eight each. We were asked to provide brief self-introductions – our name and the value that is most important to us at this stage in our lives – and then to review the principles of URI’s Charter and identify the one we felt was most important at this particular point. From what I could tell, the groups were animated and engaging. Here are the principles the groups selected as most important:
Principle 3: We respect the differences among religions, spiritual expressions and indigenous traditions.
Principle 5: We listen and speak with respect to deepen mutual understanding and trust.
Principle 7: We seek and welcome the gift of diversity and model practices that do not discriminate.
Principle 10: We act from sound ecological practices to protect and preserve the Earth for both present and future generations.
Principle 11: We seek and offer cooperation with other interfaith efforts.
Principle 18: We maintain the highest standards of integrity and ethical conduct, prudent use of resources, and fair and accurate disclosure of information.
Principle 20: We honor the richness and diversity of all languages and the right and responsibility of participants to translate and interpret the Charter, Bylaws and related documents in accordance with the Preamble, Purpose and Principles, and the spirit of the United Religions Initiative.
The underlying rationale for every group’s choice was India’s extraordinary diversity. One way or another, everyone seemed to realize how important it was to respect difference and value diversity, especially if you wanted to be involved in constructive interfaith work.
After a break, we heard from Dr. Raja Ghosh, a key figure in the Education Department of the Government of West Bengal. Appropriately, he made reference to Tagore’s belief that peace is within each of us; the primary role of education is to help us cultivate the peace within. Focusing on making money and external, material happiness isn’t enough; it is essential that we teach children to focus on peace – the wellbeing of all, including the entire Earth community.
Mr. Ghosh stressed the movement of peace outward from the individual heart to the family to the neighborhood to the city to the country to the world. He also bemoaned what he sees as a dying out of reading habits, not only for the written word, but also for the book of nature. He looks forward to a partnership with local CCs to start monthly study circles that will look at important contemporary issues from an interfaith perspective. And he called on URI to educate and alert the world about the importance of regenerating our good habits that lead to harmonious community and truly fulfilled lives.
An aside: The technological age has made us restless people. There is a constant coming and going at the beck and call of electronic communication, as though we are constantly tethered to an invisible other that is always somewhere else. I wonder if we are losing the capacity to be fully present anywhere, with anyone, engaged in any activity. To the extent that this is happening, in spite of all the gifts of the information age, we are infinitely poorer because of this critical loss of presence, which is as the center of spiritual practice and peacefulness.
We then heard from our zone coordinators, expanding on the reports they had provided during the previous day’s press conference. One message that rang through all the reports is the importance of visiting CCs and of networking, both between CCs and with potential outside partners engaged in common work.
Hira Paul Gagnegi noted that there are 33 CCs in the North Zone engaged in a wide range of activities – education, women’s empowerment, tree plantation, self-help, information-sharing, especially around the International Day of Peace. He noted that some CCs are extremely active, others not active at all, and that it’s a challenge to receive desired reporting. He also introduced Prerna Bhardwaj, who brought her 8-year-old son to this gathering.
Prerna is providing a great deal of support to Hira Paul, especially as they aim to reach out to new groups and focus more on fundraising. I had the opportunity to talk at some length with Prerna and found her a deeply committed, dynamic leader who I believe will help URI north zone grow in vital ways. I believe she may also provide a good zonal anchor for Qutub as she seeks to breathe life into a new women’s initiative.
A word about women: Two people hold primary responsibility for Principle 8 of URI’s Charter – “We practice equitable participation of women and men in all aspects of the United Religions Initiative.” The first is Annie Imbens, who at the last moment insisted that such a principle was critical in the Charter, notwithstanding the principle that says we welcome diversity and model practices that do not discriminate. The second is Mohinder Singh, who was the first person to respond to Annie’s formal request as URI’s Board was about to vote to approve the Preamble, Purpose and Principles, developed over a four-year period. Mohinder said, That’s so important, because in India we feel as though we have succeeded in being diverse when we have all the religions represented. We never stop to ask if women are equitably represented. With Mohinder’s unequivocal endorsement, Annie’s proposal passed unanimously.
Though consciousness around this issue is growing, the need for that principle is still obvious in today’s URI in today’s India, and not only in India, but in all aspects of URI, including on the Global Council. In an impromptu moment in the proceedings at Shantiniketan, Rev. Kisku remarked, Great men think alike. I couldn’t resist interjecting, And what about great women? A few moments later, Rev. Kisku amended his remarks and noted that great minds think alike. He then acknowledged that what he had said before excluded women and voiced a commitment on behalf of URI India to work on this critically important issue. The effort Qutub will lead is central to helping URI India (and, indeed, URI around the world, honor this commitment and Principle 8).
This seems like a good place to end for now and more than enough for a single posting, so I’ll finish with another quote from Tagore:
If you cry because the sun has gone out of your life, your tears will prevent you from seeing the stars.
Love,
Charles
The Rev Canon Charles P. Gibbs
Executive Director, United Religions Initiati
