Witnesses of Mercy for Peace and Reconciliation

20 espected Eminences, Excellencies, distin- guished scholars, sisters and brothers. It’s so wonderful to be here today. Let us give a huge round of applause to the KAICIID team for giving us this great opportunity, a dream of so many. I was listening to proceedings in the Vatican in the holy presence of our very dynamic, dedicated and new-age Pope and I give you my congratulations, my thanks on behalf of all of us for whom you have created this opportunity. Regarding mercy for peace and reconciliation, I think that there is no shopping centre in the world where you can go and buy mercy. You are the source. Your religion is the source. We have to understand that we are all divine. We are part and parcel of the divine, we have come here from the divine, we are one because we are coming from Him. As the honourable Bishop said, we are His children. He is divine, He is merciful, so we’re all divine and we have mercy in us too. The question is how should we use that mercy in practice in daily life? In Hin- duism, the giving of mercy is of great importance and there are thousands of mantras, teachings and voices that have been given to us about mercy. One of our famous poets is Saint Tulsidas. He has written one of the most fundamental and beautiful of Hindu scriptures: “ Daya Dharam ka mool hai, paap mool abhiman. Tulsi daya n chandiye, jab lag ghat me praan. ” I won’t relate the entire story but I will point out that the bottom line is the fundamental lesson of mercy. No mercy, no peace. No mercy, no reconciliation. No mercy, no humanity. Today, if we want to live together and be together, the lesson teaches us to have mercy. We say: “Oh Lord, have mercy upon me.” But Tulsidas reminds us that we should only pray to receive mercy for oneself. The time has come that we should pray together, and in those prayers there are many mantras such as: “May all be happy, may all be healthy, may all attain peace and perfection, may no one suffer.” He never said: “May only I be happy, may my family be happy, may my friends be happy.” He said: “Let all be happy.” The crucial word is “all”. This allness, this oneness, this togetherness is being forgotten. We have created the barriers and boundaries for ourselves. I think that the time has come to become one family, and this is a challenge that we must face today, together. The key is oneness and togetherness. When we are one family we share, we give, we care, we forgive and we always come together and take the burden off each other. The time has come today to share this value of allness and oneness. There’s a beautiful story that tells of a very beautiful king. God appeared in front of the king asking what he most desired. The king said: “Oh Lord, I don’t want pos- sessions, I don’t want palaces, I don’t want mansions, I want one thing only, that you give me a merciful heart so that I can remove the suffering of my fellow beings and be in service to them. To me that is the greatest blessing you can give me, Lord.” God was happy and said: “So be it.” “The time has come in which we should ask for mercy on behalf of Mother Earth” His Holiness Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji R THE FOUNDAT IONS OF MERCY