"Those who impatiently preach to their followers, "Our god is the only god - others are false," encourage communal differences directly and indirectly. Such defective teachings, such baneful exhortations, have caused many bloody battles in the name of religion. Even today we find a reoccurrence of this distressing situation. The self-motivated and wicked intellect of a handful of religious leaders is at the root of these abominable incidents. One should always remember that all the great personalities of the different religious communities deserve equal respect. They are the collective glory of the human society. We may have built a new path of movement for the progress of society according to the needs of a particular age - a path which may be somewhat different from the one on which the great personalities trod - but that does not mean that we will not extend our respect to those venerable personalities."
Quotations: July 2006 Archives
"Those doctrines and philosopies which teach people to suspect their fellow citizens, which teach people to treat their fellow humans as enemies, have done enormous harm to the world in the past, and if not restrained and controlled, will do so in the future also. The situation may come to such a pass that detectives may be employed against every person. Again, another set of detective personnel may be employed to watch whether each detective is functioning properly or not. Thus a vicious atmosphere of intelligence and counter-intelligence will be rampant in the society. And the dangerous consequence is this - that all human treasures have been poisoned, human existence itself will become meaningless. People will grow cynical, or will be forced to leave their country or their society to escape this venemoous atmosphere. The matter does not end here. The wickedness, the deceit, that pollutes human society first moves along a crooked path like its masters, and finally ends up by annihilating its masters themselves. The wicked persons at the helm of affairs, who are now out to liquidate others, will one day themselves be liquidated and erased from history by their own followers. Those who deprive others of justice, who stifle others' voices and try to immortalize themselves by their own loud proclamations, are themselves usually deprived of justice in the end. And their loud cries which had risen to the skies, are smothered in the underworld."
"The artists or writers, before holding their brush or pen, should look around and asess the direction in which society is moving and the basic causes of its weakness. What are the 'isms' that have supplied impetus to evil ideals? It is not enough to look around; they may also have to take a firm stand against the apparently irresistible forces of destruction. It is possible that nobody will come to the aid of creative writers or artists when they face such a challenge. But they should be courageous enough to go ahead even if no one listens to their voices. Fighting against the opposition of thousands of superstitions and humanity's petty selfishness, their pens may break into pieces, their brushes may be compelled to draw only lines of water on the canvas, their theatrical stances may perhaps end in mute gestures, yet their efforts shall not cease. Each of their small defeats shall be strung together as pearls in the very necklace of victory."
"You should remember that in human society nobody is insignificant, nobody is negligible. Even the life of a 100-year-old lady is valuable. In the universal society she is an important member - she is not to be excluded. We may not be able to make a correct appraisal of her importance and we may wrongly think that she is a burden to society, but this sort of defective thinking displays our ignorance. There is a historical necessity for everything, but we do not bother finding out that historical necessity. Had we bothered, we could ascertain the historical necessity behind every incident, behind every trough and crest of this universe. If we think deeply and try to trace the significance of different events, we shall find that nothing in this universe is useless. Everything is happening with a definite message for the future, with a great potentiality for the future. Nothing in this universe is insignificant, nothing is to be belittled. Atoms and molecules were once considered very small and insignificant, but after the invention of atom bombs people started dreading the same atoms. No one really knows how much potentiality this or that object has. One can get an exact idea of the potentiality of something only after a thorough investigation. In this world everything comes to fulfil a historial necessity."
"The value of human life surpasses all other values. Be it state or scripture, society or religion, the significance of everything lies in developing humanity to the optimum point through knowledge, culture, health and affluence of life. It is for the unfoldment of humanity that civilization has so many impediments, the state presents various forms, theories multiply and the scriptures abound in ordinances and regulations. What does the state stand for, what is the use of these regulations, or what are the marvels of civilization for, if humanity is deprived of manifesting itself, if human beings do not get any chance to build a good physique, to invigorate their intelligence with knowledge and to broaden their heart with love and compassion? Instead of leading humanity to the goal of life, if the state stands in the way then it cannot command loyalty, because humanity is superior to the state."
