Founded in 1893, it is the world’s largest interreligious gathering. Every five years, religious communities and spiritual groups from all over the world are brought together in the spirit of peace, understanding, and cooperation. It is the Parliament of the World’s Religions.

There are many reasons for engaging in interfaith understanding. First and foremost, enlightened self-interest. We don’t want people to misunderstand us or misrepresent us. We want to be understood. We want to be safe. And if we want to be understood, we need to understand. Beyond that, there are shared values. If we really believe in the sanctity of the life, of justice, of peace, of righteousness, if we want to be true to these values, then we have an obligation to work together with those that share those values.

In December 1999, Cape Town, South Africa, was chosen as the location to host the Parliament of the World's Religions.

Supreme Master Ching Hai was among the world spiritual and religious leaders who were invited to speak at the Parliament's opening ceremony and made a special prayer as well. Her lecture further reminded everyone present of our shared Godly nature and heritage in Heaven.

We dedicate to You our heart, our love, and our utmost surrender, that whatever You shall arrange for us, it will be Your will. But nevertheless, since we are in this physical condition, we have to endure a lot of illusionary hardship which hinders our spirit and separates us from You. Therefore, pray Lord, grant us some of the dignity of the basic peacefulness so that we may have enough calm, enough surrender, to remember You every second of our life.

In December 2009, thousands of people convened in Melbourne, Australia for the Parliament of the World’s Religions 2009, to talk about the theme of “Make a World of Difference: Hearing each other, Healing the Earth.” At the parliament, every religion has the opportunity present itself in a positive light.

We’re both from Lithuania and we belong to Lithuanian old religion. (Yes.) Yes. And we’re very happy that we’re invited to the Parliament. In the afternoon, I am talking about Lithuanian, sacred places in Lithuania and preservation of this place.

So the sacred places, are they actually churches?

No. This is old religion or pagan religion places. And in Lithuania, very much, these places are about 3,000.

Are some of them out in nature?

Yes, in nature, sacred places are, sacred hills, stones, wells of water, trees, interesting and mythological senses.

That’s lovely. So when you go out and you practice in nature, how do you feel actually when you’ve got nature all around you?

Our ritual is very, very beautiful and special because we feel connection with all cosmos, with all nature. Our ritual is performed near old trees, near water and very important: fire. Because Lithuanians, we have veneration of sacred fire.

The main element is water and fire. Before performance of our ritual, we washed hands, feet, and after that we lit a fire and sing a song to the fire.

In the parliament, no group is judged nor ranked, and no resolutions or votes are put forth. Rather, the thousands of people of faith and interested individuals can enjoy open and respectful discussions, and if they wish, observe other groups in worship to learn more about one another.

I am serving tea, normal tea from Iran, and with the sugar and some of the sweets.

And this is beautiful, this here is very beautiful.

From Iran.

Okay, looks beautiful.

Thank you!

And your name?

My name is Maziar Mozafari. I want to welcome you today to the Iranian stand. Iran or Persia, there’s 2 ways of… it’s the same thing. Persia of course is a Greek name, Iran means land of the Aryans. People are predominately Indo-European. It’s religiously about 95 to 100% Muslims, but there’s significant communities of Christians, Jews, as well as Zoroastrians and other religions which are protected by the laws and regulations. And they also have representatives in the government. In the parliament, there are seats available for the Christian community, for the Muslim community, etc.

Then we have the Armenian Orthodox community. Majority of the Christians in Iran belong to the Orthodox school. And it’s also interesting that there are numerous Jewish sites in Iran. There might be more than probably 60, 70 Jewish sites in Iran, and about 11 of the prophets from the Old Testament are buried in Iran, such as prophet Esther, prophet Daniel. And this is actually the mausoleum of prophet Daniel in Iran, and it’s a site that both Muslims, Jews and Christians visit. So it’s actually unique because everybody from all the different religions, Abrahamic religions, they do visit it.

Every day on the news we hear some violence act, by or under the name of religion. So we stop thinking of the religion and we start to think of the people themselves; the time has come when the people must start to judge each other based upon their character, not their religion. And people must then have to accept each other, because we are created by God and we have different faiths. So people have the freedom to choose any faith they want, but they shouldn’t hate each other or kill each other for it.

Jain religion, in very simple language, is Ahimsa or non violence, that means no harm to anyone in thoughts, words or deeds. Or, I would say in simple language Ahimsa is AHIMSA. A stands for avoidance, H: harm, I: intender by mind, M: mind, S: speech and A: action, No harm by mind, speech and action, as simple as that.

People have the wrong concept about spirituality. They think spirituality means running away from life, or you know, when someone is very sad, they become spiritual, or when they grow very old and they have nothing else to do, then they become spiritual. Look, it’s the wrong concept about spirituality. Spirituality simply means whatever you do to enhance your spirit. And spirit is joy, spirit is love, spirit is enthusiasm. So here, His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji has given a beautiful dimension to spirituality,

that is why the name of this course itself is “The Art of Living.” It is not the “Art of Leaving,” you don’t have to leave anything in order to become spiritual. You can live your life fully. There is a difference between existing and living. Existing means like, mic is there, floor is there, sofa is there, I am there, roof is there, just existing. But living happens only when you start living every moment of your life. But why we are not able to do that? Because of the stress and tension. So here in The Art of Living program, like very simple, very natural techniques are taught by which you get rid of your stress, you can make your mind calm, centered, balanced, so a new dimension opens up in life.

Meditation is the food for our soul. See for our body, we eat three times, four times a day, but we have never given any food to our soul. It is like going through malnutrition. So it is very, very important that we have to meditate every day, we have to learn some technique of meditation. If you have to do a job, you need concentration, you need presence of mind, you need focus. But to relax, do you need any concentration? Have you ever said, “I want to relax, now let me just concentrate.” No, concentration is the result of meditation, someone who meditates every day, they will have concentration, they will have focus, they will have presence of mind. So it is very, very important that we learn some technique of meditation and practice it every day.

The Parliament of the World’s Religions explores relevant topics in line with its vision of a just and sustainable world. Dialogues and activities are opened on topics such as art, music, the hereafter, and the valuable roles of leadership of women and indigenous peoples. At the Parliament of the World’s Religions 2009, participants focused on climate change and the spiritual values and deeds needed to save the planet.

Hi, my name is Miriam Pepper, I am here at the Parliament of the World Religions and I am from the Australian Religious Response to Climate Change (ARCC). We have been talking about, in some different sessions, talking about how climate change is already with us. There are already people across the world who are being impacted by climate change. So whether that’s from increased bushfires here in Australia, people in small low-lying islands in the Pacific region, the river deltas of Asia, Africa, the Arctic peoples all being affected by climate change. And this of course will escalate unless we do very much more and there is a call for us from all our different religious traditions to care for the Earth, to respect the Earth, to tread lightly on it, to love and care for our neighbors, our fellow human beings and to cooperate in this work of restoring and caring for the planet for the sake of everybody, for the sake of future generations, for the sake of life on this planet.

If you really look at it, the air, water, fire, earth and vegetation, we are surrounded by them, they are our environment. And Jainism teaches us to minimize the use of these five things for our existence and if we minimize their use, not only will we be protecting the environment but also we will be releasing this surplus, whatever we consume less, for the benefit of others and the needy. So we'll be helping the society as well as the environment and that is the predominant teaching of Jain religion. So that's why we adopt vegetarianism. And vegetarian food utilizes minimum resources of nature.

Some traditions already don’t eat meat, some religious traditions, but other traditions that do, we need to be aware of the impact of the choices that our food actually has on the planet.

Food has a major impact on our state of mind, and it has been proven like for thousands of years, the wise people have already mentioned about the importance of vegetarianism. And now even there's a lot of research also is being done. It is very, very important that we become vegetarian to save the planet and at the same time to save our mind.

If we are a religious leader, then first we have to give life to other living beings then only we have the right to live. So every religious leader should be vegetarian, and if he will be example for his society, the whole world will change in vegetarianism, I believe this. If the political leader also kills the animals, kills the living beings, and living happily for his own selfishness and enjoyment, then how will his country be peaceful and merciful? So, every political leader should be merciful first, then only the country will get an example from him and the whole country will turn into vegetarianism.

Welcome to the Parliament of World Religions, and we thank them wholeheartedly for this invitation which gives us the opportunity to see each other, study with each other, and make friends with each other. May God bless them, bless the Parliament of World Religions, to continue in their noble effort.

When we see this beautiful planet, we know the Artist must exist, who must be so great, so mighty that Hes has been able to create such a beautiful being as our earthly planet. Nevertheless, not all of us know what God is like. We have been made to forget that we are the glory, the beauty, the most incredible being that ever exists.

We are here today for nothing more than the same purpose, the simple truth that is already existing within every one of us – within me, within you. Our appreciation, Council of the Parliament of the World’s Religions, participants from various faiths and all involved for coming together as a peaceful example for all. Through your endeavors, may you continue to show ways for a harmonious co-existence and cooperative evolution together towards our future on this planet.

Thank you gracious viewers for your company on today’s A Journey through Aesthetic Realms. Now, please stay tuned to Supreme Master Television for Our Noble Lineage, after Noteworthy News. May your open mind and heart receive the best blessings from above.