Lasting Solution for Modern-Day Conflicts - part 2 Keynote Address of Her Holiness Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi at the closing Plenary Session of The Parliament of the World’s Religions. July 13, 2004, Barcelona, Spain. ( contd. from page-1)

Education for Life

There are two types of education: education for a living and education for life. When we study in college, striving to become a doctor, a lawyer, or an engineer—this is education for a living. On the other hand, education for life requires understanding the essential principles of spirituality. This means gaining a deeper understanding of the world, our minds, our emotions, and ourselves. We all know that the real goal of education is not to create people who can understand only the language of machines. The main purpose of education should be to impart a culture of the heart—a culture based on spiritual values.

Essence of Religion

Viewing religion externally creates more and more division. We need to see and understand the inside, the essence of religion, from a spiritual perspective. Only then will the feeling of division come to an end. Where there is division, there cannot be any real spiritual experience; and where there is spiritual experience, there can be no division—only unity and love. Religious leaders should be prepared to work on the basis of this knowledge, and make their followers aware of these truths.

The problem arises when we say, “Our religion is right; yours is wrong.” This is like saying, “My mother is good; yours is a prostitute!” Love and compassion are the very essence of all religions. Where, then, is the need for us to compete unnecessarily?

Love is our true essence. Love has no limitations of caste, religion, race, or nationality. We are all beads strung together on the same thread of love. To awaken this unity—and to spread to others the love that is our inherent nature—is the true goal of human life.

Indeed, love is the only religion that can help humanity to rise to great and glorious heights. Love should be the one string on which all religions and philosophies are strung together. The beauty of society lies in the unity of hearts.

Different Paths

There is much diversity in Sanatana Dharma, India’s ancient spiritual tradition. Every person is unique. Everyone has a different mental constitution. The seers provided us with a multitude of paths, so that each individual can choose the way most suitable for him or her. All locks cannot be opened with the same key, nor does everyone use the same type of clothing or food. This diversity holds equally true for spirituality—the same path will not be suitable for everyone.

Communication

Thus, meetings and conferences such as this need to place more emphasis on spirituality—the inner essence of religion. This is the only way to achieve peace and unity. This conference should not be just a meeting of bodies. On occasions such as this, a true meeting should take place—one in which we can see and know each other’s hearts.

Communication through machines has even made people in far off places seem very close. Yet, in the absence of communication between hearts, even those who are physically close to us seem very far away. So, this should not be an ordinary conference, “where everyone talks, nobody listens, and everyone disagrees.”

Listening to others is important. We may see and hear many things in the world. But we shouldn't meddle in the affairs of others, because that can have dangerous consequences. Amma remembers a story.

A man once walked past a mental hospital and heard a voice moaning, "13...13...13...13..." The man went closer to locate where the sound was coming from. He saw a hole in the wall and realized that the sound was coming from the other side. Out of curiosity, he put his ear into the hole, hoping to hear well. Suddenly something bit him hard on the ear. As the man screamed in pain, the moaning voice groaned, “14...14...14...14..!”  We should use our power of discrimination to distinguish between what we should or should not pay attention to.

Religion & Spirituality

True religious leaders love and worship the whole Creation, seeing it as God Consciousness. They see the unity in diversity. But nowadays, many religious leaders misinterpret the words and experiences of the ancient Seers and Prophets, exploiting weak-minded people.

Religion and spirituality are the keys to open our hearts and see everyone with compassion. But, blinded by our selfishness, our minds have lost their proper judgment and our vision has become distorted. This attitude will only serve to create more darkness. Using the same key meant to open our hearts, our indiscriminate mindset is locking it shut.

There were once four men who had gone to attend a religious conference and had to pass the night together on an island. It was a bitter-cold night. Each traveler carried a matchbox and a small bundle of firewood in his pack—but each one thought that he was the only one who had firewood and matches.

The first man thought, “Judging from the medallion around that man’s neck, I would say he is from some other religion. If I start a fire, he will also benefit from its warmth. Why should I use my wood to warm him?”

The second man thought, “That person is from the country that has always fought against us. I wouldn’t dream of using my wood to make him comfortable!”

The third man looked at one of the others and thought, “I know this guy. He belongs to a sect that always creates problems in my religion. I‘m not going to use up my wood for his sake!”

The last man thought, “This guy has a different skin colour than mine, and I hate that! There’s no way I’m going to use my wood for him!”

In the end, not one of them was willing to light his wood to warm the others, and so, by morning they all froze to death. Similarly, we quarrel in the name of religion, caste, nation, and colour, without showing any compassion towards our fellow beings.

Modern society is like a person suffering from a severe fever. As the fever increases, the patient says senseless things. Pointing at a chair on the floor, he may ask, “Why is that chair flying?” What answer can we give? How can we prove to him that the chair is not flying? There is only one way to help him: we have to give him medicine to bring down the fever. Once the fever is reduced, everything will return to normal.

Today, people are suffering from the fever of selfishness, greed, unrestrained desire and so forth. Religion and spirituality form the path that helps transform the anger within us into compassion, our hatred into love, our lustful thoughts into divine thoughts, and our jealousy into sympathy. Yet, in our present deluded mental state, most of us do not understand this.

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{ This speech may be reproduced in part or full in the print or electronic media only with the explicit permission of Mata Amritanandamayi Math, Amritapuri, Kollam, India 690525. If you have received permission to reproduce the speech, please acknowledge explicitly that
(a) the excerpt is from Amma's keynote address at the closing Plenary Session of the 2004 Parliament of the World's Religions in Barcelona;
(b) the copyright for the speech belongs to the Mata Amritanandamayi Math; and
(c) the full text of the speech may be read at
www.amritapuri.org/amma/pwr2004/barcelona.php.}