Umesh C. Gulati, Ph.D.

Mahatma Gandhi was a man of peace who helped bring about India’s independence through non-violent means, creating the basis for the world’s largest democracy. This program reflects on Gandhi’s early childhood experiences in India and his youth in England and South Africa that helped transform an ambitious young man to become a Mahatma, or great soul. Mahatma Gandhi greatly influenced the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s in America. But the meaning of Gandhi’s non-violence has not been well understood in all the English speaking countries. Gandhi was a deeply religious man who loved and respected all religions as he did his own. He was truly an apostle of inter-religious harmony and understanding. Most importantly, he furthered the cause of women and the poor.

International terrorism has been noted as the greatest danger to world peace in the present century. The single most important reason for this danger is the moral failing of many religious traditions to accept religions other than their own as true and valid and to teach their followers to respect people of a different tradition. Some of the same religious traditions even fail to accord women the same status in society as they do men. This presentation highlights many parallels between the Hindu, Christian, and Islamic traditions. The nonessentials, such as the caste system among the Hindus in India, the Hijab among the Moslem women, and single motherhood everywhere, are cultural. Failure to understand the difference between the essentials and nonessentials of religion causes not only feelings of guilt in people within a particular religion but also leads to much of the inter-religious conflicts in our society.

In the West, the term "yoga" means some physical exercises and postures to keep the body fit and relaxed. This is called Hatha Yoga and is hardly part of the Yoga system as understood in India, the land of its birth. In India, Yoga is a sacred tradition, which implies both the end and the method of attaining enlightenment. The aim of Yoga is the yoking of the individual soul to Brahman, or the Universal Soul. Yoga also means the method or the path leading to such union. There are four different systems of Yoga: of knowledge, of work, of devotion, and of meditation. Each, separately or jointly, can lead to enlightenment. This presentation will focus on the meaning of these four types of Yoga, the nature of the state of enlightenment, and how these four paths pursued whether separately or in combination, can lead to peace and happiness.

Requirements for Program: lectern, microphone, flipchart