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A. Goswami: Address to ILC
Written by Acharya Shrivatsa Goswami, Head Priest, Sri Radharamana, India
Saturday, August 17, 2019
Address to International Leadership Conference 2019, Seoul, Korea, August 15-18, 2019
Greetings!
We are gathered here to share our vision of the forthcoming World Summit 2020. It may be understood in different ways, yet, essentially it is going to be the celebration of heavenly descent upon earth. Why this descent? Is the Divine missing or lacking something in its heavenly abode? If not, then why must they leave the ideal heaven and land upon the murky ground of this world?
The descent is in fulfilment of a divine promise: “Whenever the dharma, the core values are in danger, I shall come to protect” (Bhagavad-Gita).
The Divine and UPF’s Founders deliver what they promise, yet their task is not easy. They endure pain and suffering to remove obstacles on the path of peace, which is the only way to achieve heaven on earth.
In this session we are looking at the vision for 2020 from the doors of development and peace. If these two are the goals, then for achieving them we shall require special keys to open these doors. We have learned from experience that dialogue is the key for development and partnership is the key for peace. One page from the history of India in the 16th century endorses this understanding. It’s a story of dialogue between my ancestors, the religious leaders inspired by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486–1533), the Islamic Mughal emperors and the Hindu Rajput chiefs and kings, all “well-dressed players,” in Dr. Moon’s words.
The dialogue resulted in an unprecedented era of political peace and religious harmony. This stability led India to contribute more than one third of the global GDP. This development was not just an economic phenomenon; it was an “explosion” in the fields of art and architecture, literature and philosophy, spirituality and religion. It was a unique dialogical alliance or partnership between religion and politics, spirituality and economy, arts and science and so on. It happened five centuries back. It is happening now. With its dialogical, nondiscriminative and inclusive culture, India is one of the fastest developing economies.
World Summit 2020 will be an event of opening the doors of heaven on earth. But we shall require the proper keys to open those doors: keys that can be operated without discrimination. Where to get these keys? The keys are the core values. UPF’s Founders, Reverend and Dr. Moon, have lived these core values through dialogue and partnership in all possible dimensions.
The major task ahead of World Summit 2020 is for us is to identify partners from all walks of life who not merely endorse but practice the core values in their own domain. It is a difficult task, but not impossible to find and collaborate with persons and institutions who are well dressed and properly “buttoned up.” If we compromise quality for quantity, then there is the fear of the Summit having only a partial success.
India, with its multifaith outlook, will be an enthusiastic partner to the World Summit 2020 and would like to propose a special summit of the world religions to be held in India, to not only bestow the divine blessings of UPF’s Founders to India but that would also be a great help to the global providence of your work in the whole of the Asia Pacific and beyond.
Thank you very much.
To go to the International Leadership Conference Schedule 2019, click here.