Common Ground of Religious Unity.

Many educated and wiser people have said a mouthful on the topic of the common ground of religious unity. There are many points of views on this subject but the one that outshines every one was made in 1893 by Swami Vivekananda. He never ever hoped that this unity will come by the triumph of any one of the religions and the destruction of the others.

If anyone had this feeling he made his point clear to them. “Brother, yours is an impossible hope.” Did the Swami wish that the Christian would become Hindu? God forbid. Did he wish that the Hindu or Buddhist would become Christian? God forbid.

The Swami explained his point thus: “The seed is put in the ground, and earth and air and water are placed around it. Does the seed become the earth; or the air, or the water? No. It becomes a plant, it develops after the law of its own growth assimilates the air, the earth, and the water that converts them into plant substance, and makes them grow into a plant.
Similar is the case with religion. The Christian is not to become a Hindu or a Buddhist, nor a Hindu or a Buddhist to become a Christian. But each must assimilate the spirit of the others and yet preserve his individuality and grow according to his own law of growth.

All healthy discussions on the issue of assimilation of all human religions have shown the modern religious people of the world one good aspect.  It has proved to the world that holiness, purity and charity are not the exclusive possessions of any church in the world, and that every religious system has produced men and women of the most exalted character.

In the face of this evidence, if anybody dreamt of the exclusive survival of their own religion and the destruction of the others, the Swami pitied them from the bottom of his heart, and pointed out to them that they needed help and not resistance; they needed more assimilation and not destruction; and they required a lot more harmony and peace rather than dissension.

All the religious leaders of the world need to rethink about world peace and stability by finding a common ground of religious unity first and then other forms of peaceful events will naturally follow for our peaceful co-existence.