All the people in the world do not worship at the same altar. Not only are identical forms of worship physically improbable - but they are also psychologically absurd since tastes differ from one person to another.

Toleration is the very breath of the Hindu creed. The Hindu accepts all forms of religion as different ways of reaching the same supreme Goal. Non-dualists, accepting the Absolute as infinite, cannot but be tolerant; whereas those who accept only a single prophet as God hold to a creed of intolerance. Even among Hindus, all those who worship as members of a particular sect are generally found to be unrelenting fanatics. There are even some crude examples of devotees of one deity believing that to utter blasphemies against the deities of others is adoration of their own beloved Lord! Such an attitude is a perversion which has no sanction in the scriptures of the Hindus or anywhere else in the cultural tradition initiated by the ancient rishis.

Many Altars, One Truth

Devotees at different altars adore but the same vitality, the one Substratum for the created world of change. Even when they worship different deities, if their devotion is sufficiently reinforced with faith, they too invoke nothing, but the one eternal Truth expressed through their particular altar of adoration.

Whether I switch on a light bulb or a heater or a radio, I am invoking electricity alone - although its manifestations may be as different as light, heat, and sound. (Cont’d)