Oneness is all

Recently, I was delighted to get an invitation from our friend Silva to accompany her to a spiritual discourse by Swami Bhoomananda Tirtha. Silva is an Estonian lady by birth. After coming to India, her interest in spirituality deepened and her quest was satisfied when she met Swamiji and became his disciple. Swamiji’s intellectual approach to find spiritual solutions of life’s problems in an analytical way that appealed to many intellectuals, including my late husband Dr. Ashish Bose. The transition through Delhi’s thick layers of pollution to reach the venue where Swamiji was to speak didn’t dampen our spirits but after reaching our destination, we were magically transported to a peaceful heaven. In that twilight, we heard chirping birds were returning home, and could see expansive green lawns bordered with beautiful flowers. We proceeded towards the main lecture hall, which was decorated with orange merry gold flowers, and as Swamiji entered, dressed up in his orange robe, the atmosphere became vibrant with spirituality. In India, orange colour is known as sadhu colour. That day Swamiji touched a very important point in today’s problem, and also gave a solution to that. Today the whole world is suffering from conflicts and disharmony which has robbed our peace. The root cause is our Ego. Swamiji said the only way to overcome our ego centric attitude, is to understand and realise our basic oneness. The truth is, the whole creation is made of pancha bhuta - five elements (earth, air, fire, water, space), and life throbs in every heart in the same way. Our appearances differ for different climatic and cultural backgrounds. When we understand the knowledge of basic Oneness, egocentric attitudes will fall flat, and we can be at peace with each other. Our ancient scripture Upanishad said, “ Vasudhaiva Kutumvakam “, which means , the whole world is one family. Tagore prayed, “drown my arrogance in tears, make me modest “. All through the ages, great people realised that unless we realise our oneness with each other, we cannot survive, and cannot be in peace. As Martin Luther King Jr. said , “ We must learn to live together as brothers or sisters, or perish together as fools “.