Over 500 people from all over Victoria, Australia, attended the Religious Harmony for World Peace Conference organized by the Namdhari Sikh Society in the presence of His Holiness Sadguru Uday Singh Ji Maharaj at Bunjil Place in Melbourne.
The conference promoted interfaith cohesion, peace, and progress, and featured a panel of distinguished religious and spiritual leaders from different faiths. It provided an opportunity for people of different faiths and cultural backgrounds to come together, share their views, and learn from each other. It highlighted the importance of promoting harmony and understanding among people of different faiths and showcased how religious institutions can lead the way in promoting sustainable practices that celebrate multicultural diversity in Australian society.
Brahmsmarandas Swami represented BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha and addressed the conference on how to achieve interfaith cohesion, peace, and progress based on the lives and teachings of Pramukh Swami Maharaj and Mahant Swami Maharaj. He emphasized the importance of understanding, cooperation, and respect for differences and proposed actionable initiatives and programs that can be adopted by individuals, communities, organizations and nations worldwide to foster relationships built on dialogue, coexistence, and belief in diversity.
The attendees were fortunate to also hear from religious and community leaders such as Bishop Philip Huggins (Anglican Church), Swami Sunishthananda (Vedanta Centre Melbourne), Imam Imtiaz Naveed Ahmed (Ahmadiyya Muslim Community), Sh. Bhante Adhisila Ji (Indian Buddhist Society), Sri Ram Das Ji (ISKCON Melbourne), Mr Mustafa Poonawala (Dawoodi Bohra Muslim Community), Father Abanoub Attalla (Orthodox church), Mr Sunny Duggal (Nirankari Mission), Mr Abhijit Bhide & Mr Kulwant Joshi (Shri Durga Temple), Mr Sri Seenivasan (Sankat Mochan Samiti), Mr Satnam Singh Sandhu (Sikh Community), His Excellency Manpreet Vohra (Indian High Commissioner in Australia) and Hon. Jason Wood (Member of Parliament for La Trobe).
The spiritual leader of the Namdhari community, Satguru Uday Singh said, “The world has made immense development in every field, but it gets true peace only through religion. We should focus on religious harmony and world peace, transcending regional differences and inspire everyone to do so.”
The conference demonstrated the power of collective action in effecting change, and highlighted the role that religious institutions can play in promoting sustainable practices for future generations. We thank the Namdhari Sikh Society for organizing a shining example of how people of all faiths and cultural background can come together to promote peace, harmony, and understanding for world peace.