Religious leaders harp on harmony in inter faith meet

Representatives of various faiths today gave a call for peace and harmony and stressed on the need for dialogue among them at an inter-faith meet at the American Center here.
The meet took place on the occasion of inauguration of a photo exhibition on Indian religious traditions in the US, Swami Muktidananda of Ramakrishna Mission said, "All faiths can flourish in the world by carrying flags of harmony."
The monk also referred to the democratic principles on the soils of both America and India.
Jewish Community Affairs General Secretary A Cohen said, "None should say my religion is better than others."

She touched on the over 200-year history of the Jewish community in Kolkata and how Jewish-run schools were imparting lessons of harmony among the children.
Referring to the problems worldwide, General Secretary of Mahabodhi Society of India, Ven P Seewali Thero said, "The Only difference among humans are cultural differences."

The Buddhist monk too called for continuing peace initiatives and dialogues and referred to the spiritual history of India where gurus had talked about love and compassion for thousands of years.
Father Dominic Gomes, Vicar General of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Calcutta, said "There is the need of seers to enlighten us" in the wake of "the severe and diabolical problems we are faced with."

"Somewhere we are not getting to the bottom line. Dialogue is important," the Priest said.
Another RKM monk Swami Shuddhidananda said, Swami Viveknanda's visit to US "had opened floodgates of spirituality in America. And in a very silent way Americans started accepting Indian spirituality."
The Imam of Nakhoda Mosque, Md Shafique Qasmi, who was not present due to illness, sent a message supporting the initiative.
Ajmer Singh, president of Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara Jagat Sudhar, was also present on the occasion.
Expressing happiness over the discourse, US Consul General Dr Craig L Hall said, "The more our two countries share in the practice of our ideals, the more we can show the world our common commitment to foster tolerance towards all religions."

The exhibition 'Keeping Faith' contains photographs of celebration of various Indian festivals in the US, across multiple faiths -- Charles river Ganga Aarti at Cambridge, Eid Milan at Houston, Turban Day at Manhattan, Holi at Harvard, Ganesh Chaturthi in New York among others.
The exhibits were on display in New Delhi earlier and later tour to Hyderabad.