FAMOUS PEOPLE

Sri Ramakrishna (1836-1886) himself followed the paths of different religions including Christianity and Islam, and saw the same God. Thus he advocates the universality of religions. Another author says that like many rivers that flow into one ocean, different religions lead to the same Godhead. This is a passage taken from the Upanishad: There (in the Atman) the sun does not illumine nor the moon and stars, nor do these lightings illumine (There) and much less this (domestic) fire. When That shines everything shines after That. By Its lights all this (unmanifested universe) is lighted. OM PEACE PEACE PEACE. Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860), German Philosopher, said about the Upanishad scripture of Hinduism: In the whole world there is no study . . . so beneficial and so elevating as that of the Upanishad. It has been the solace of my life; it will be the solace of my death. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), renowned American poet, essayist and philosopher wrote: In all nations there are minds which incline to dwell in the conception of the fundamental unity. The raptures of prayer and ecstasy of devotion lose all being in one Being. This tendency finds its highest expression in the religious writings of the East and chiefly in the Indian scriptures, in the Vedas, the Vagavat Geeta, and the Vishnu Purana. Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), poet, essayist and naturalist wrote: What extract from the Vedas I have read fall on me like light of a higher and purer luminary, which describes a loftier course through a purer stratum free from particulars, simple, universal. It rises on me like the full moon after the stars have come out, wading through some far summer stratum of the sky. Arnold Joseph Toynbee (1889-1975), well known British historian said: At this supremely dangerous moment in human history, the only way to salvation is the Indian way. The Emperor Asoka and the Mahatma Gandhis principle of non-violence and Sri Ramakrishnas testimony to the harmony of religions; here we have the attitude and the spirit that can make it possible for the human race to grow together into a single family. Friederich Max Muller (1823-1900), the famous philologist and mythologist of England, said: If one would ask me under what sky the human mind has most fully developed its precious gifts, has scrutinized most profoundly the greatest problems of life, and has, at least for some, provided solutions which deserve to be admired even by those who studied Plato and Kant, I would indicate India. And if one would ask me which literature would give us back (us Europeans, who have been exclusively fed on Greek and Roman thought) the necessary equilibrium in order to make our inner life more perfect, more comprehensive, more universal, in short, more human, a life not only for this life, but for a transformed and eternal life, once again I would indicate India. He also said: Philosophy in India is what it ought to be, not the denial, but the fulfillment of religion; it is the highest religion; and the oldest name of the oldest system of philosophy in India is Vedanta, that is, the end, the goal, the highest object of the Vedas.