Building Peace Through Inter-Faith Dialogue

Earlier in the week my department was presenting a National Seminar entitled Building Peace: Learning from Inter-Faith Dialogues.  Dr. M.S. John, the head of the Gandhian Thought & Development Studies department, chose the following quotes from Gandhi to open our thinking on the day’s theme: 

"The time has passed when the followers of one religion could stand and say, ‘ours is the only true religion and all others are false.’"  

"God, Allah, Rama, Narayan, Ishwar, Khuda were descriptions of the same Being." 

"God's grace and revelation were not the monopoly of any race or nation." 

"My position is that all the great religions are fundamentally equal.  We must have the innate respect for other religions as we have for our own.  Mind you, not mutual toleration, but equal respect."

Pertaining to the concept of Interfaith, Dr. M.S. John also noted that “Faith can include religion, but it can also be more personalized without much connection to any specific religion.  In that sense, interfaith dialogues are dialogues that take place among spiritually-minded persons, and not merely followers of particular religions.”

We then heard from speakers Ven. Lama Doboom Tulku (Managing Trustee, World Buddhist Culture Trust) on “Creating Peace through Learning and Understanding,” Dr. M. J. Joseph (Former Principal, Marthoma Theological Seminary) on “Togetherness Beyond Barriers,” and Swami Sudhi (Sreenarayana Gurukulam & One World School of Vedanta) on “Vedantic Understanding of Peace.”  

Regarding the many faiths, religions, and spiritualities of humanity, Dr. Joseph shared a quote by Rumi: 

“The lamps are different, but the Light is the same: it comes from Beyond.  If thou keep looking at the lamp, thou art lost: for thence arises the appearance of number and plurality.  Fix thy gaze upon the Light, and thou art delivered from the dualism inherent in the finite body…The Faithful are many, but their Faith is one; their bodies are numerous, but their soul is one.”

He also made a call for ecojustice, which I found to be a surprising and intelligent inclusion in the seminar, as he mentioned how ecological wellbeing is a plight for all mankind to work together to address, regardless of religion.  From his Christian perspective, he shared that God created man only on the last day and did not consult man about his creation of nature, indicating that man is not in power over nature and was not given nature by God.  He said that our foe will not be other countries or religions, but nature herself.  

Lama Doboom Tulku discussed peace as a complete cessation of problems created by our mind and actions, only achieved by looking inward.  He also discussed the inspiring effects of peaceful actions.  He then posed that morality is possible without religion but religion is not possible without morality and urged that ethical education and moral culture must be promoted.  

Swami Sudhi explained the philosophy in Hinduism of “vedanta,” (“end of knowledge” - knowledge meaning what we know, relatively, through our senses) as a science that integrates all sciences.  He discussed how in modern life, man does not know what he is looking for and experiences great inner and outer conflict because of it.  He seeks wealth, status, love, sex, hoping for the result of happiness through such things, but ultimately not being satisfied with anything in this world, instead experiencing inner poverty in his world of plenty.  We (man) do not know what is real and what is not and unpredictability causes us to fear the next moment.  He said that the world changes only if we change ourselves.  Vedanta aims at individual transformation, not large revolution in the outer world.  He added that interference of ego creates man’s obstacles and noted that our educational system is a failure as it teaches our population to aim for achievements and success, but does not teach the way to happiness.  Desiring worldly possessions is counteractive to attaining peace, he said.  Desire causes pain and sorrow while peace is absence of desire.  Though these statements may seem very simplistic and even a bit random as I cluster them together, I found myself giving pause to each sentence Swami Sudha uttered, examining my history.  It was very thought-provoking and encouraging.  

Religion and spirituality have been on my mind a lot.  In India, religion is infused in everything.  It’s incredibly beautiful to observe the various celebrations of the basic tenets of peace and love in daily life.  There is no modesty about the expression of this.  For example, the buses I take to school each day are decorated with bold, bright, colorful images of Jesus, Mary, Ganesh and Shiva, front and center, not to be missed, surrounded by twinkling lights (and more twinkling lights) and flower garlands (and more twinkling lights).  And often I’m asked if I’m Christian.  In order to answer such questions, I find myself looking within to better define my ideas on religion and experience of spirituality, which is a beautiful process personally.  And as I answer this question, and ask questions of my own in turn, we have ourselves some “interfaith dialogue.”  Though I’m not in India to dive headfirst into a new religion, I’m finding the observatory process to be incredibly personally rewarding.  Maybe as you read some of the information I’ve taken from the seminar above, you can also get a sense of how this culture can light a fire deep within a person.  

Today is Monday and I’m feeling a little more comfortable and accepting at school.  

I didn’t have class until 11am (usually 10am) so I got to spend a relaxed morning, thanks to dropping Foundations of Social Science class.  On paper, I dropped it because it’s total review for me of sociology & psychology.  On a side note, I also dropped it because the professor teaches in Malayalam.  Her Powerpoint notes are in English so I was able to copy down the material but anything she communicated beyond that and any class participation she incited was via Malayalam.  So, the class weakly appealed to me and I was able to find another class, 3rd World, in the International Relations department (with most of the other foreign students) which suits my “timetable” (class schedule).  So that’s a minor victory.  

It’s not that I’m not attempting to learn the language, though.  So far I’m picking up some phrases and vocab.  Mota is egg.  Amma is mother.  Sevola is onion.  Ende pere Jessica = I am Jessica (or my name is?).  That’s about it.  Ha.  I think the International Relations department is going to try to coordinate some Malayalam classes for us so I’ll scoop up that opportunity.  I’ll be dropping Malayalam all over the place soon enough.  Uh huh.

But I went to campus today to learn that there were no classes.  I hear that this is a pretty common occurrence.  Today it was because the PhD students were presenting their theses.  Last week it was a petrol strike (no transportation).  Friday is a holiday.  And somehow I bet that another day this week will be canceled.  I’ve heard ideas about another petrol strike day rolling around, and the IR students also have no classes tomorrow for some reason related to the PhD work...so maybe me, too?  We’ll see when I get there.  

My trip to campus was not for naught, however.  I visited the department library, the main library, mailed some post cards, discussed Obama’s effectiveness (or lack thereof) with some faculty (like Americans, many here I've spoken with believe he has not made much, if any, progress, though I believe there are complex limitations beyond his reaches, to progress he has proposed, which is often neglected consideration), heard about how America is a friend to India from another professor who is “so glad to have an American student” in his class, socialized a bit, and a friend helped me to take some Indian salwar kameez(es?) to a tailor for measuring.  He made sure to tell the woman that I’d like whatever style/shape is currently trendy with the other university students.  I’d never know the subtleties.  I’m probably walking around like a goon in the meantime.  Seriously, I don't know if the fabrics I chose are childish, grandma-ish or just right.  My friend also took my old cell phone to get “unlocked” so I can finally use an Indian SIM card and be that much less foreign here.  Not having a “mobile” has been a nice break for me, but when I meet new people, they want a way to stay in contact and make plans.  Y’know.  I just thought I should explain that in case people don’t know what conveniences a cell phone is capable of providing.    

We have cleaning ladies!  I guess they come once a week.  That’s exciting.  They’re super nice and we had a funny time communicating in extremely limited English on their part and extremely limited Malayalam on mine.  I love how much can be understood despite a language barrier.  I think I find it easier to communicate with almost no common language than with others here who know a small to medium amount of English.  I think when there’s no communicable language, people behave less formally as we try to explain ourselves, which is kind of fun.  I’ma kick ass at charades after this year.  When the women left for the day they said they loved me and one gave me air kisses, which I reciprocated.  Aww.  Haha.  

So when I found out I didn’t have classes today, I did not get confused and depressed like I had a couple times last week.  Maybe it’s because the week is young and my spirit is fresh.  But also, maybe it’s because I enjoyed some quality interactions and productivity, regardless.  At the library, I got all pumped about my Gandhian Approach to Health course as I selected some of the required reading material from the shelves.  Seriously, have I blogged about this yet?  Highlights:

*Gandhi & Community

*Environment & Health

*Perspective on Creative Health (cultivating a health awareness, cultivating a life style, cultivating a social responsibility for health)

*Philosophy of Eating Natural Food (food reform, moral basis of vegetarianism, diet for brahmacharya <self-restraint/chastity>, problem of food shortage)

*Non-violent Action

*Life & Yoga

*Concentration (the 5 kinds of mental modification, the levels of attention)

*Astanga Yoga/8-fold path leading to Kaivalya: yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharma, dhyana, samadhi.  Also, the place of god in Yoga.  

List of books: 

India’s Food Problem/MK Gandhi

Key to Health/MK Gandhi

Health Practitioners/Carol Huss

Education in Ayurveda - A Reconstructional Analysis/Berud P Flug

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjaii

I was also reading Nature Cure by MK Gandhi.  Here’s a passage: 

Hospitals are institutions for propagating sin.  Men take less care of their bodies and immorality increases.  European doctors are the worst of all.  For the sake of a mistaken care of the human body, they kill annually thousands of animals.  They practise vivisection.  No religion sanctions this.  All say that it is not necessary to take so many lives for the sake of our bodies.  

That’s all I got for now.  Oh, how about this?  A comic book in Malayalam.   

The day got more strange.  I went to my final class and the professor spoke entirely in Malayalam.  Uhhhh.  I'm pretty sure I look like a total foreigner who probably doesn't speak the language so I was confused but didn't want to be rude and interrupt.  Instead I quietly plotted how the hell to drop this class.  And I remember how sometimes in school I'm a quitter when I don't get along with a teacher.  I could also read the other students' body language and facial expressions and it seemed that they were not her biggest fans either.  She did read aloud the syllabus for us to copy down, and that was in English so I got something accomplished.  But then the rest was pretty difficult to understand.  Except, funny enough... I did manage to make out most of the grading system because every 6th word or so would be in English.  So I thought I had made up my mind about dropping the class and substituting an elective but then the professor called me to her office after class.  She then explained things to me separately in English.  And when I asked if the course would be taught in English or Malayalam, she said English, "of course."  So we'll see.  I'm still not convinced.  It's Foundations of Social Sciences, which is entirely review for me (not that I remember the details) so when an elective such as "Third World" is offered in the Poli Sci department, I'm tempted to swap out.  We'll see.

Also, PS: In two weeks I'm going to Chennai with my roommates.  Tamil Nadu!  Sleeper train!    

This morning has been so weird and confusing.  I successfully took the university bus which was good, and got some documents submitted, and even snuck in a trip to the library to print my wire transfer information for the bank.  None of the above are simple, straight-forward tasks here.  I realized as I was scurrying from the library to class, I've not seen other Indians rush (except when getting on and off a bus or train).  Do they simply arrive late or do they just not cram so much in like I do, causing me to rush?  Well, I met my classmates and we just stood and waited for about fifteen minutes.  The language is definitely a barrier.  So a lot of times I just stand around clueless while others speak and when they move, I follow.  The girls seem especially shy.  It's awkward and can be isolating and a bit lonely.  Our first class was good.  Socio-economic Development.  Though the professor mostly spoke directly to me and I'm not sure how much of what he said was actual lecture or just catching me up to speed.  And I wondered if the other two students were understanding his English enough to learn anything because they don't seem to understand my English much.  But I like that the professor is down to earth and engaging.  Our next class (after more weird waiting and following) was Gandhian Approach to Health.  The professor read the syllabus, which none of us had, then informed us that we'd have no class the rest of the week because of some university activities he is involved with.  I'm hopeful about the class.  The syllabus looks incredible, which a student later made copies of.  Yoga, nutrition, vegetarianism, environment, community, etc.  But then he said since classes begin next week, we can just spend the rest of today's class time at the library.  He left the classroom and I followed to ask him if there is a different class I'm to return to after the library and at what time and he seemed to just answer some question I didn't ask.  I don't even know.  All the students were still in the classroom.  Seemingly waiting, yet again.  Eventually most left, except for those in my program so I stayed.  One of them ran through all of their names for me so that was nice but then awkward silence.  Then they asked if I speak Malayalam and I said no - only English and some Spanish.  They spoke in Malayalam and then laughed.  So that's fun.  So then I got this out to write.  Not that any particular thing is upsetting but overall it's a feeling of loneliness.  I know it will pass.  Now the students from my program said they were going to the library and I just stayed back.  I need a break from this confusion.

Another student came in to tell me that his next class is beginning (a different program) and that he thinks my classes are done for today so I packed up like I was going home and found my "time table" (class schedule) freshly posted on the bulletin board.  I have another class at 2.  So now I'm in the library for about an hour.  I've got some good books by Gandhi: The Moral Basis of Vegetarianism, Key to Health, Nature Cure and Letters to Americans.  So at least now I know my course schedule and have a hideout when things get awkward.  That's a relieving accomplishment.  I asked the librarian where I can buy these books and he said it's very simple and they're widely available in some nearby city I've never heard of.  I can't even navigate this city much less another city.  I'm feeling the depth of the value of convenience in the US.  I miss it a little but I know I'll acclimate and things will feel easier and less confusing in time.  And I'll grow.  

From Nature Cure by M. K. Gandhi

Excerpt from forward by Morarji Desai:

The human body is a wonderful and perfect machine.  If it gets out of order it can set itself right without medicine, provided it is given a chance to adjust itself.  If we are not abstemious in our habits of food, etc. or if our mind is agitated by passion, emotion, or anxiety, the body cannot eliminate all the refuse and that part which remains uneliminated turns into toxins whose presence gives rise to symptoms which we call disease.

Well, I don't know what happened today.  It's my first day of classes.  I was nervous last night and this morning.  Mostly about taking the bus, haha.  I got up, did some yoga, had a hot breakfast and got to the bus stop early.  Though I waved for it, my university bus flew right by me.  I successfully got on the public bus, however  In a bit of a frantic state, I forgot that women always go to the front of the bus while men and boys take the back.  I got on the back and then realized it rather immediately.  The men were fine but eventually one of them told me to move to the front, making me push my way through a bunch of boys.  The bus money-taker guy told another girl going to the university to help me know when to get off which she kindly did.  Then as I walked through campus I got lost.  I have no idea how.  I was successful in navigating last Thursday.  Must have been nerves.  So I looped around and found my building eventually.  So now I'm in the "seminar hall" of my building with four other students, waiting.  I thought I had this whole men-on-the-left, women-on-the-right thing down so I sat opposite the men.  Then, two women came in and sat on the men's side.  What?  Jeez.  

Like a Tourist

I'm at Varkala beach.  Yesterday we took a bus to a train to a rickshaw to the beach.  I took an Indian train!  I can't take any credit, though.  The French kids did all the work of figuring it out and asking people what to do/where to go.  We sat in general class and when we got on, Indian passengers informed us that we could have booked a sleeper car and laughed when we explained that we preferred this experience.  It was like being in a jail cell (I think) with 70 people.  We sat on a 2nd tier wooden bench.  We had to sit cross-legged and my ankle bones hurt pressed against the wood and metal slats.  The ride was smooth.  And there were fans and a breeze.  Not bad.  A 2-hour ride.  We eventually made it to the resort area near the beach after haggling over a rickshaw.  Five of us in one rickshaw plus the driver.  The hostel in the French guide book was full so we split up to ask around at other resorts.  We finally found one for 1000 rupees for two rooms.  We then got busy to swim.  The waves were incredible.  Huge.  It was so much fun.  We then got dressed and did some shopping, then ate dinner.  And all-night happy hour ensued.  It was fun.  I got to Skype Jay from the table for a bit.  That was nice.  Next to the beach on the other side of the planet and my boyfriend gets to catch a glimpse of it.  Oh, technology.  We then went to Rock N Roll cafe which was playing the most depressing music but Chloe hooked up her iPod and the place turned into a dance floor.  At dinner Celine and I talked a bit about how strange and magical it is to be here in India and with each other.  She summarized, "It's going to be a good year."

I awoke to the sunrise this morning and decided to go out for a chai and then visited with Ramu, a shopkeeper who helped us find our hotel.  He has been selling since he was 11.  We swapped mini versions of life stories.  And of course then I visited his shop and dropped 800 rupees.  And now here I am at a cafe enjoying the sound of the pounding waves and cawing crows.  While my breakfast was being prepared, I could hear someone in back vomiting.  Oh, that Indian contrast.  It's always there.  That tomato and onion omelette sure was tasty.  I got to Skype with Jay again until my phone died.  Crazy technology.  So far I think that we're doing pretty well with all this.

Just an update to my last entry:  In total, I probably waited for about 1.5 hours at the police station.  Manoj said that the superintendent was out and I'd have to come back but after I completed my forms (4 copies of the same form), he told me to "come" and suddenly I was before the superintendent.  Manoj and another woman hurriedly and nervously presented him with papers that he signed and tossed aside and I worried that I was dressed and behaving too informally.  He asked me some questions about my time here and was very friendly with me.  And then I was on my way.  I then went shopping across the street for some school clothes and a formal outfit for my presentations.  I had a personal shopping attendant.  She took me from floor to floor via elevator.  It was all very fancy.  I have to get some of the items tailored now but I don't know where to go or how to get there.  Then I took an auto rickshaw to the bus station.  There I bought some fruit, flip flops (the finest in India, I'm told, for $3) and snacks and then stood amongst the crowd, not knowing what bus to get on.  I wasn't asking anyone either.  I just needed a little break.  But a kind woman approached me and asked where I wanted to go.  She then showed me my bus and I hopped on.  I must have looked spaced out.  Haha.  So kind of her.  Another productive day in India.  The housemates all had dinner together then.  When Chloe and Celine told Marsha of my experience at the police station, she was shocked and pointed out that if you're American, it takes 1.5 hours, if you're French, it takes four hours, and if you're Ugandan, it takes four days.  Ah, probably true.