Tolerance Or Acceptance Poem by Tushar Ray

“Tolerance is a matter of religious spirit, ” it is said
This helps to get followers a sense of hope in faith
In our deeply troubled world
When our children are suffering elsewhere
From violence, mistrust, fear and anger
And those who are in the direct line of fire
In holy Jerusalem or Himalayan Kashmir or elsewhere
Forget all feelings of holiness in terror
While anger and violence quickly take over
As an instinct of survival from looming danger

Such misery is sure to stay with us
As long as we identify with narrow religious sects
Deeming Krishna and Christ as different in heart
And Mohammed or Christ as the only savior;
For such mistaken faiths never stand the test of time.
Hence, children of this world must read and learn
On the ultimate God as an everlasting spirit-nature
And “As many faiths, so many paths”- -
Showing due respect to all sacred faiths
As voiced by Sri Ramakrishna, a great Vedantic seer,
And the message brought to West from modern India
A little over a century ago
Into the first Parliament of Religion in Chicago
By the great envoy from India, Swami Vivekananda,
The beloved disciple of Sri Ramakrishna

So, religious teachers of this day must teach the truth
That all-pervading spirit alone is the Lord of this universe
And we are the progeny of the same eternal spirit
Who appear as embodied souls like us for divine play
And the great souls of all times around the world
Like Buddha, Christ, Moses and Mohammed
Are the models of what the highly evolved one could become
So, we must accept one another as brothers and sisters
With a spiritual awakening from current somber
For, this is the only practice that is going to save us:
This insecure egotistic humanity from current danger
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