S B Veylanswami

As the world rapidly becomes a global village, Hindu leaders are collectively discovering that Hindu unity is more important than ever before. Through such unity, Hinduism can stand proudly alongside the other great religions of the world, serving its followers, protecting their rights and working with governmental and private agencies for the uplift of society. Through such unity, the wise voice of the great grandfather of religious experience can be heard — a voice of tolerance and compassion born of a reverence of the divine within all beings and all things. Certainly that voice is dearly needed now to help guide humanity through this violent, perilous time, with so many challenges in every area of life. A mutual Hindu front based on the eternal laws of dharma will be a potent social and political force, but the integrity of that unity depends on how we define it.

Some would define it as a “unity in sameness, “ perhaps because they find Hinduism’s phenomenal diversity too complex, too confusing, too great an obstacle to the kind of social and political unity that they envision. But, as my Gurudeva, Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, observed, “It is not uniformity or sameness that we seek. It is solidarity, individuals coming together for common purposes celebrating their differences and pursuing their unique ways, not denying them or trying to restrain or even destroy them.” — Beliefnet.com