Diwali And Ramzan

The terrorists have struck again!  (This is in reference to the terrorist attack on the SwamiNarayan Mandir in Gujarat in Sept. 2002)

Many were killed and many more were injured at the shoot out at Swaminarayan temple, a place of worship, in Ahmedabad, in India.

What do we do? 

How would we react, if it were to be our loved ones, who had shared this fate?

When does this madness end?

I don’t know!

I can only see pictures of innocent children, lying dead.

Those faces I do not recognize as Hindu or Muslim…

My heart aches!

I share with you some verses that recently appeared on ‘Sacred Space’ in the Times of India.

1) Guru Nanak says:

‘We are human beings, neither Hindus nor Mussalmans,

We are bodies and Souls of the Supreme Being;

Call Him Allah or call Him Ram.

2) Shah Hatim says:

O ye Hindus and Muslims,

Tell me which religion says,

Ignore the God in your heart

And be obsessed only with the Temple

Or the mosque.

3) Sauda says:

You will be incited if you go on listening

To the Sheikh or the Brahmin.

The one is imprisoned in the temple,

The other in the mosque.

4) Dhani Ram Chatrik says:

Let us bury caste and creed,

Let us erase this sorrow indeed,

You a Sayyid, I a Brahmin,

Let us finish this foolish din.

We have to bear each other, say

We are not here for eternal stay,

Let there be laughter in our meeting,

Let our hearts be one this evening.

And a friend sent me this:

“…Who are we to say, who is Hindu and who is Muslim?
when there is ALI in DIWALI and RAM in RAMZAN !!!!