“All we are saying is give peace a chance.” Mirroring the legendary singer John Lennon’s sentiments were religious leaders from different communities gathered at St Xavier’s college at Fort to celebrate the International Day of Peace on Thursday.
The day which is universally observed on September 21, saw religious leaders from different communities gather a few days in advance to bring home a message of peace. They showed how when words fail to promote peace, silence becomes more eloquent.
This silence was used as an effective medium of art by the religious leaders to express their vision of achieving peace. The leaders splashed different colours of the rainbow on a single piece of white canvas thus creating a thought-provoking gesture for the audience to ponder upon.
Prof. SA Upadhyaya, a Sanskrit scholar from Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, said, “The colours of the rainbows depict different communities against the white sky. It is to express that from one comes many, and from many come one.” According to him, peace is a state of mind, and life is full of bliss, love and compassion.
“When there is peace and harmony, there is life, followed by development and growth. We are a part of the movement where young religious leaders from different communities along with ordinary people are brought together to establish peace, which is the need of the hour,” said Fr. Lancy Prabhu, from the Society of Jesus.
Maulana Zahir Abbas Rizvi said, “Being human beings we are created by one God, our blood is of a similar colour. It’s time we give peace a chance before India goes the Beirut way. It’s time responsible citizens get sleepless nights when they think of where the country is headed.”
When queried if it was the sole responsibility of the religious leaders to promote peace as they influence the masses, Dinshaw D Millanfiroze, a Parsi priest said, “The clergy of all religions should guide the masses to respect all religions.” However,Fr. Prabhu said, “I don’t think it should be left to the religious leaders only, the onus lies on the people as well.”
The event was organized by the Wisdom Foundation (World Institute of Islamic Studies for Dialogue, Organization of Mediation and Gender Justice), which is dedicated to non-violence, peace-building, conflict transformation, harmonious co-existence and humanitarian service. The work of art by the religious leaders will be done with acrylic paints on a larger canvas once again in February, and is expected to be judged by
eminent artists.
