On the second day of the international seminar on religion for human welfare at Indore on Sunday, scholars discussed diverse subjects pertaining to religion, spiritualism and human welfare.
The inaugural session was presided over by Professor Sun Kyun Kim of South Korea's Dobkok University. Head of Marthoma Sabha, Kerala Joseph Marthoma Metropolitan, Hari Prasad Swami of Vishnumohan Foundation, Shailaish Mehta of Holistic Science Research Centre and Dr AK Merchant of Temple of Understanding India attended the session. Marthoma said that human welfare is the dream for human beings. Any preaching without practice is meaningless. Marthoma described Mahatma Gandhi's principle of non-violence as relevant today also.
Hari Prasad Swami referred to the importance of Vairagya in the context of religion. He said that society will change only when people change. Shailaish Mehta described proper understanding and knowledge to delve deep into religion's essence. He discussed positive and negative behaviour's impacts on body.
Merchant highlighted mutual ties between knowledge and religion. He said that it is necessary to imbibe spiritual values for leading a better life.
Former Vice-Chancellor of National Sanskrit Sansthan, Delhi, Prof Kutumb Shastri presided over the second session of the seminar. Radhakrishnan of America's Holistic Science Charitable Research Foundation said that science can also be understood through principles. He said that nature is complete in itself, but we cannot see it due to fault in our vision.
Swami Sukhbodhanand of Prasanna Trust, Bengaluru said that like our lives, religion has also become mechanized and our minds are focused on reaction instead of action. He said that we would have to develop capacity to see. Referring to Gita, he described life as coordination between situation, psyche and inner feelings and said that austerity is the objective of life. Prof Sean Hino of Japan stressed the need to accept and practice best values of all religions for human welfare. Prof Shastri said that religion is eternal. It has neither born, nor will it die. Sanatana Dharma means eternal religion. He said that different worship methods have been mentioned in Indian scriptures, but not separate religions. He said there can be nothing except human welfare in religion.