Satsang with Sri M, the Yogi of Inter-faith Relationship

Jalandhar: Jalandhar awakened to experience the vibrancy of the unusual, spectacular activity as it welcomed and joined the stalwart, Sri.M, of Walk of Hope, and his companions, from all age groups, who believe in his vision of unifying India of diverse populace and rekindle the nation with inter-faith harmony, love, peace, hope, equality and oneness.
Sri M, also known as Yogi or simply Baba, and born on November 6, 1949, is a living yogi who leads a simple life with single-minded discipline and dedication. His Mission conceptualizes, organizes and executes activities and initiatives that bring true reformation and change in human minds for a better, more inclusive and truly united world beginning from one’s own country India. Manav Ekta Mission promotes interfaith harmony and transcends religious, racial, geographical, cultural and ideological differences.
‘Walk of Hope’( a padayatra for Peace and Harmony by the Manav Ekta Mission from Kanya Kumari to Kashmir led by its founder, Sri M, the spiritual guide, philosopher, social reformer and educationist) was conceived and is being exercised with many objectives, the core ones being: Interfaith Harmony, Equality of All (irrespective of caste, creed, religion, language and gender) sustainable living (inspiring harmony with nature and immediate ecosystem) Women Empowerment, Community Health and Education and Youth Development.
In his endeavour to unite Indians despite their diversity, Sri M has already walked 424 days walking 15-20 kilometers each day during his sojourn, resting at a village or a town at night and interacting with the locals of the area to spread his message of Interfaith Harmony through meaningful dialogues and interfaith prayers. The people of Jalandhar had participated in the Walk on March 29, 2016.
On the morning of April, 1, 2016 Sri M led the walk towards Kartarpur.
The evening of April 1, 2016, at Cambridge International School for Girls, saw the gathering under the umbrella of Sri M singing Bhajans re-affirming the hope and belief that despite various groups inadvertently exercising segregation, the general mass wants to participate in and propagate peace by celebrating the concept of interfaith relationships, the core message of all scriptures.
The dignitaries who graced the occasion are samples of living Inter-faith relationship. They are great source of inspiration as they preach inter-faith relationship through their work and practically living it. Their works speak volumes about their dedication to Inter-faith relationship. Their firm belief is that Inter-faith relationship is the unifying factor for the people of modern India and the world at large (to unify the humanity).
Let’s have a glimpse into the lives of the dignitaries:
Dr. Nahida Abidi, belonging to a Muslim background, holds a master’s degree in Sanskrit and has done a Ph.D in the Vedas. She has translated the literary Urdu/ Persian texts of Mirza Ghalib and the couplets of Rahim into Sanskrit.
Naaznin, a student from Varanasi's Mahatma Gandhi University has translated the Hanuman Chalisa in Urdu and is currently translating the Ram Charitra Manas into Urdu. Inspired by the interfaith harmony movements by Akbar the great she believes translations of such scriptures are of great consequence in India today. She has also started a 'Ram Naam' bank, where the name of Lord Rama is written constantly in Urdu.
Rajeev Sharma, a Hindu journalist and writer from Rajasthan, has translated the Quran and the sayings from the Hadis into a local Marwari language, and continues to write intently on the interfaith harmony teachings of Swami Vivekananda. He also runs a blog on the Internet known as 'Ganv Ka Gurukul' where he attempts to reach out to the villagers through the Internet with his works of interfaith harmony and aims at unity amidst religions.
Haji Mukthar Ahmed, who runs the 45 year old Madarsa 'Bahrul Uloom' in the Chattarpur area of Varanasi has included the shlokas of the Bhagwat Gita as the syllabus for the students of the Madarsa along with the Quran. He is a firm believer that the students must learn both the religious texts to bring about a change in the society so that one day they may understand the similarity and see the unifying truth amidst all religions.
Umashankar is a Hindu by birth, but a devout devotee of Sufi Saint Pir Baba in Chandoli near Varanasi. He donated his land and took care of the expenses of building, on that land, a Dargah for the Saint. Looking at his love for Pir Baba and interfaith acceptance, a few Muslims from neighbouring villages got together and helped construct a Durga temple next to the Dargah and paid for the same. He is now aged 50 and looks after both the temple and the dargah daily along with personally indulging in the cleaning and lighting of the lamps.
Mohammed Shahid, from Lucknow, a Muslim by birth, together with a few friends built a Shiva Temple in the year 1989. Apart from the construction, he now single handedly takes care of the daily expenses, festivities and yearly renovations of the temple premises. He also takes part in the annual Durga Puja.
Deepak Tyagi, a social worker and father Vedprakash Tyagi, from Faridabad, has donated a large plot of land which belonged to him to a Masjid. He felt that the village was of Hindu Majority and the Muslim house of worship was getting more constricted due to a lack of space. Upon seeing this and to set an example, he donated his private land adjacent to the Masjid to build a larger building so that more Muslims could pray together.
The programme began with the welcome of the gathering and the lighting of the lamp by the dignitaries. The lighting of the lamp is a symbol of the presence of God and in this case, a furtherance of intention of unification through Inter-faith relationship.
On this occasion Sri M also launched a Website.
The occasion was momentous as the school, Cambridge International School for Girls (CISFG), completes its ten years with the vision of Sri M Sir being its key objectives. Under the all- comprehensive vision of Sri M Sir many initiatives have been introduced and successfully implemented in the school. It is a moment of great pride to witness the remarkable achievement of CISFG in these ten years of excellence in education with it earnestly looking forward to new challenges ahead.
The gathering had the privilege of having satsang with Sri M and getting better insight into his philosophy and vision. Many were fired with the inspiration to fill the gap of doubt and distrust and work for a unified India beyond the seeming disparities among the religions.
Bhajans with the locals, from different religiosity, is the integral part of ‘Walk of Hope’. In the endeavour to propagate peace, harmony and tolerance motivational songs were sung in the presence of Sri M. Suffism seeks to find the truth of divine love and knowledge through a variety of mystical paths that are designed to facilitate the experience of the presence of love and wisdom in the world. Music is the agreeable harmony in the honour of the God and delights the soul. The gathering experienced the unifying power of music to spread the message of peace and harmony. The confluence of spirituality with music and tranquility of our souls through a magnetic performance by the Cambridge girls was savoured by the gathering.
At the end of the programme a vote of thanks was extended to Sri M and the assemblage. The family of CISFG is indebted to Sri M for being its guiding torch which CISFG promises to keep ablaze by following his ideologies of unifying India through inter-faith relationship. The programme culminated with the singing of the National Anthem which reverberated in the atmosphere.
Uniting human beings is Shri M’s priority. He walks and encourages the masses to walk with him, carrying the message of true faith, to restore the spirit of hope, love, peace, harmony and oneness. A like-minded group of responsible citizens, who foresee a united India, have been accompanying him through his Walk of Hope. Together they hope to spread the message, personally, to over ten million countrymen along the way.
Shri M all through his journey has humbly invited the masses to be part of this soul-seeking journey across India which is now at its tail end. The words of Shri M ‘Let’s walk together hand in hand, for a united and inclusive India’ comprehensively asserts his self-less journey of unifying India despite all its diversity.