The Meeting Point

Three hundred years ago, Swami Prannath realised the futility of people fighting in the name of religion. He proclaimed that all the religions were basically pointing towards the same ultimate reality.

We call him by different names and fight amongst ourselves, not understanding the common theme understanding the common theme underlying them. Please understand that Lord of all is one and one alone.

All the scriptures-koran, Tauret, Jaboor, bible, have been explained. The mysteries of the Vedant, Gita and Bhagwat have been solved. Their light can be seen by everyone. That is why all of God’s heavenly sols are celebrating. They are welcoming the arrival of the New Age. The Kalki Avtar, predicted in the Bhagwat, is none other than the Immam Mehdi, the savior.

Wise souls who know this, will understand all religious truths. They will be able to read all the scriptures and enjoy them. They will find the messages of the Lord in all of them. Such is the grandeur of Immam Mehdi, the Kalki who has already arrived in the form of Mahamati Prannath. Let us all recognize him and present his Message of the world.

A tree has old roots, but its leaves and flowers are new. With this old and new put together, the tree is very useful to us, besides being a delight to watch. Any vital religion too has beginnings that are tens of centuries old, but has many new adaptations. Thus, and only thus, it can serve humanity well. There should be constant effort to keep the roots alive and allow for appropriate modifications in secondary details so it can cater to the needs of the modern world. This is quite a challenge.

A second challenge, perhaps, much harder than the first one, is to clear various misunderstandings between different religions of the world, and to highlight the common denominator of all the faiths. Because this has not been done adequately, religions have been the cause of much bloodshed in human history. This is too sad, an irony, as their purpose is really to promote peace!

Study of comparative religion has inspired many good souls in our times to take up interfaith activities. It is not only wonderful but a sheer necessity that Hindus, Christians, Muslims, Jews etc. join hands and work together for world peace. Hasty conclusions like, 'My religion and my God only are true' are simply questionable. Even if we concede some special merits in a particular religion, other religions have their plus points too. Truth or God can not be many; the ways to look at Truth or God can surely be many.

In a morning class, a physics teacher once taught a group of young school kids, 'Light travels in a straight line.' In the evening, she guided some college students. 'Light rays do bend.' A friend of hers who sat through both the classes, out of curiosity concluded, 'Light travels straight in the mornings and bends during the evenings!'

Two men had a dispute and they went to the village head to resolve it. The head listened to the first man and said. 'You are right!' The second man gave his version of the story and the head said to him. 'You are right!' An onlooker said to the head, 'Both can not be right.' The head looked at him and said, 'You are right!'

Humor aside, people have different capacities and temperaments in all matters, religion being no exception. 'All can not wear the same coat,' said Swami Vivekananda. The fact that every great religion has split into different sub-groups further confirms this. More the merrier!

However, if the masses who have all the right to choose their own 'packaging of religion', are educated to acknowledge the fact that, beneath the diverse packagings, the Truth is one, there would be no disharmony.

A mullah was passing by a desert and overheard a man pray to God, 'You have the strength often elephants!' The mullah got very annoyed with the man and said to him 'Do not insult God like that.' The man was very apologetic about his ill-informed prayer and sought to be guided. The mullah said to him 'Say God is bright as a thousand suns!' Who can really describe God? All are right, perhaps! All are wrong, perhaps!

Dr. Anil Mehta has put in his labor of love in these pages of 'The Meeting Point' and has presented the unity of all religions by showing many parallels. In values like truth and non-violence, in concepts like that of heaven, hell or the world's end, in description of God and in the nature of the state of liberation, there are many amazing similarities. Drawing richly from Shree Mahamati Prannathji's works, Dr. Mehta makes an appeal for interfaith harmony. A portrait of the great saint, Shree Prannathji is given. True to his title, Shree Mahamati (one who has a vast intellect), authored the Kulzam Swaroop, which runs into 18,758 verses in 14 volumes, in several languages! Showing the teachings of world faiths, the magnum opus brings together Krishna and Christ, Muhammad and Mahamati, all on one platform. Dr Mehta, while elucidating the message of oneness, brings to us the additional fragrance of latter day saints like Kabir and Meera!

I congratulate Dr. Mehta and pray to God that this work may render much help to seekers of God and students of philosophy. My we, the human race, discover our oneness!

This human body is the greatest gift of the Lord. It is believed that a person gets a human body after passing through 8.4 million life forms- lower species and so on. This is all a process of evolution. The pity is that most of us waste this opportunity in useless pursuits. At the end of the journey, we regret that we have not achieved anything or made full use of this precious opportunity.

What is it that we have to aspire to achieve? What is it that we can acquire in this and this life alone? Our main purpose of being here is to realise God, to know our true self, to rise higher.

That is what religion teaches us. How to live our life in a manner so that we can proudly claim at the end of the journey-'I have lived this life. I have made full use of this wonderful opportunity provided to me by the Lord' This is what all the Masters-call them by any name-have proclaimed.

When one looks around, one finds that there are so many religions in the world. Each one of them claims that their knowledge alone is the right one. The followers of some religions go a step further. They carryon wars—Jehad—in the name of religion. What was supposed to unite mankind, becomes a bone of contention.

Three hundred years ago, Mahamti Prannath, realised the futility of people fighting in the name of religion. He proclaimed that all the religions were basically pointing towards the same ultimate Reality. In our confusion, with our limited knowledge, we were seeing differences in these religions.

Lord of all is one and one alone.'

Dr. Anil Mehta in his earlier book—The Search Within' has dealt at great length on the teachings of Mahamati Prannath and brought out the points of similarity in various religions.

Continuing the same theme, in the present book-The Meeting Point', he has highlighted this theme in much greater detail.

In the first chapter, he has dwelt upon the subject, 'What is religion and why is it important in our life'. Different people have different concepts of religion and its purpose. Some consider them as set of values which help in living a purposeful life. Others see them as a way to self- realisation. He has dealt with tenets of religion practised in various religions.

The second chapter deals with the central theme of the book-'The Meeting Point'. What the writer has done is to relate and refer to various incidents and events described in different scriptures and tried to bring out the points of similarity therein-though they have occurred at different periods of time and at different locations.

In the third chapter, the author has referred to some parables and stories found in the various scriptures. He has shown us the inner meanings of these stories, the hidden message behind them. Signs of the Day of Judgement (Kyaamat) are explained in this chapter. The Writer points out that when there is a decline in religion (Dharma), and the situation becomes intolerable, the Lord Supreme sends somebody, to punish the wicked and establish Dharma.

Whatever the situation, so the incarnation. That is why the Prophets and incarnations look different. Each one was uniquely suited to the circumstances; where He manifested.

We forget that there is only one religion in the world for the whole mankind-that is the religion of God. He sends his Messengers to the world, so that the soul may come back to Him from this world of plurality.

The fourth chapter deals with the declarations of the scriptures about the coming of the Messiah. He has pointed out that the Messiah or Prophet for which men of all faiths, have been waiting for, has already arrived. Mahamati Prannath has proved to us that he is that Messiah. It IS a pity that only few people recognised him. There is an urgent need to bring this fact to light and to draw the attention of all the people who have been waiting for such an event to occur.

Swami Prannathji has given extensive references from Koran and Bible to prove this point. Several hidden indications of his arrival have been explained.

The fifth chapter deals with the ultimate experience which the soul obtains when it reaches Paramdham and meets her Lord. Mahamati Prannath has given a detailed description of Paramdham and what one sees and experiences there. Other masters too have given some indications about that experience, but most of them have stated that such an experience cannot be put in words.

The Sixth chapter introduces Kuizam Swaroop to the readers which is the source of inspiration for writing this book.

This small presentation 'The Meeting Point', I hope, will help the seekers to understand their religions better and to have a better appreciation of other religions and Scriptures.

As you can see, Dr. Mehta has covered some very difficult topics like 'the coming of the Messiah' and the 'ultimate experience'; of the soul meeting with her Lord. These issues have been exhaustively dealt with by Swami Prannath in his Tartam Vani, Kulzam Swaroop. Some of these have been highlighted in the book. We hope that it will motivate the reader to further study Prannathji's teachings. There is a vast ocean of knowledge still waiting to be explored. If any scholar wishes to make this a topic of research, Prannath Mission will be glad to assist him in every manner.