Mumbai: The coolourful festival of Holi turned more vibrant with an interfaith ‘Holi Milan’ held on Friday at the ISKCON Temple in Mumbai’s Girgaon. The gathering also proved to be a celebration of multiple religious festivals including Lent, Ramzan, and Navruz.
Girgaon’s ISKCON Temple Hosts An Interfaith Holi Milan
On Friday, Girgaon’s ISKCON Temple, popularly known as ISKCON Chowpatty, hosted an interfaith Holi Milan, which was conceptualised by the Inter-religious Solidarity Council. The gathering of all the religions proved to be a mark of communal harmony with the Holi Milan also acting as an iftar party for the Muslim attendees.
Spiritual leaders from across the religions came together to celebrate the festivals as multiple poets advocated for communal harmony and solidarity through their poem recitals. Kavi Ravi recited a Hindi poem on harmony and love while Shayar Laxman Sharma ‘Waahid’ through his poetry took the audience to Vrindavan’s Holi celebrations. His Urdu shayari sensitised the audience to violence and victims of terrorism in the name of religion.
ISKCON’s Govind Prabhuji, Keshav Chandra Das Prabhuji, Braj Mohan Prabhuji, Ramakrishna Mission’s Swami Dayadhipanandji, Brahmakumaris’ Sister Anuja, Kriya Yoga’s Dr. Yogiraj Mangeshda, Archdiocesan Commission for Inter-Religious Dialogue’s Fr. S.M. Michael, Chhatrapati Shivaji Muslim Brigade’s Aakif Dafedar, Prof. Surinder Kaur from the SIkh community, Shatrughan Jivnani and Mahvash Rowhani from the Baha’i community and Roshani Shenazz from the Zoroastrian community attended the gathering.
Statement By ISKCON’s Govind Prabhuji
ISKCON’s Govind Prabhuji said, “Dharma means one’s duty towards society. It also means the natural behaviour of things. Humans have a duty and responsibility to stand for justice, irrespective of on which side the scales of justice are. When affection overpowers justice, adharma happens. Dharma means doing justice to all at the global level and that is indestructible.”
Sister Anuja’s Statement
Sister Anuja from Brahmakumaris said, “We are all beautiful souls made of seven original qualities that are connected with 7 chakras within us including peace, happiness, love, bliss, spiritual knowledge, purity and power. If we focus on these qualities, there will be no room for negative thoughts or emotions.”
Aakif Dafedar’s Statement
Aakif Dafedar said, “God has given us intelligence and we all should not simply follow every leader, particularly, if they propound negative values which exclude any section of society, or preach negative attitudes towards them. We should study not only our religion but other religions as well and overcome our prejudices about others.”
