Namaste, Aloha and greatest needs to you all! I’d prefer to ship my heartfelt regrets for not with the ability to attend this excellent Hindu-Catholic Dialogue being held in Maryland as we speak. I actually want I might be there.
Once I noticed your convention theme “Love of Neighbor within the Catholic and Hindu Traditions, I smiled, as a result of it jogged my memory of my upbringing as a toddler. For these of you who don’t know, I used to be raised by a Catholic father, and a Vaishnava Hindu mom. In order a household, we studied the Bhagavad Gita and the Bible, aspect by aspect. I beloved listening to about Krishna and Arjuna on the battlefield, in addition to the tales of Lord Jesus Christ, instructing us to like the Father. (By the way in which, my Dad truly attended seminary to be a priest for a yr when he was youthful, however modified his thoughts. I’m glad he did; as a result of in any other case, as you Catholics know, I wouldn’t be right here as we speak!)
If we really wish to “love our neighbor” and resolve the issues of nationalism, conflict, and poverty, it’s going to take every of us cultivating our love for God and others, which suggests surrendering our minds, our hearts, and our like to the transcendental teachings of Lord Jesus Christ and Sri Krishna.
Love, or aloha, is the answer—individually, and collectively on a worldwide degree. In the end, Jesus’ initially commandment, to like the Father with all our coronary heart, thoughts, and being, is similar to Krishna’s message within the Bhagavad-Gita, Ch.18, Verse 66. Krishna, which accurately means “the All-Engaging” Supreme Lord, tells Arjuna, his pricey pal, “Abandon all varieties of faith, and simply give up unto Me.” In different phrases, Krishna is saying put apart your fears, your considerations about salvation, your worries about going to heaven, the ideas of practising mystic yoga or silent meditation, and easily take shelter in Me. He’s saying love Me and take shelter in My love for you.
So, the extra we develop in our love for God, the extra we are going to love others, no matter their nationality, their race, their faith, or some other variations that we’d have with them. The extra we love our neighbors, the extra we are going to see conflict as a final resort for fixing issues. We’ll turn into extra delicate to the price of conflict, the struggling that it inflicts upon folks, different residing entities, and the atmosphere. The extra we love others, the extra we’ll really feel this pure inclination to assist those that are poorer than we’re in materials issues, in addition to those that are poorer in happiness—or spiritually poor.
Step one is we have to be cultivating our love for God. Now, one can ask the query: Can we domesticate our love for God independently from caring for our neighbors or caring about different residing beings? The reply isn’t any. Each Christian and Hindu scriptures train us that in our quest to have a more in-depth relationship with God, if we neglect the wellbeing of others who’re all God’s kids, then this may stunt or impede the expansion of our love for Him—our closeness to God. It can intrude with our intimate relationship with God as a result of will probably be displeasing to Him. In different phrases, we get nearer to God by attempting to do what is agreeable to Him and refraining from doing these issues which can be displeasing to Him. What might be extra pleasing to God than caring for His kids—working for the fabric and religious wellbeing of His kids?
So, the purpose is that this: in the end, what can bind Hindus and Christians collectively is the very factor which binds us as people to God and to our neighbors. It’s love. Cultivating our love for God and our love and caring for others. That is the muse and that is the answer to all of our issues. Once more, my highest needs to you and your households. Mahalo for all that you just do in God’s loving service.
Namaste and Aloha.
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