?Give up the drop, become the ocean,? Rumi.

Biotechnology comes in colours ? red for pharmaceuticals, green for agriculture and white for the use of plants to replace petroleum in everything from fuel to textile and plastic. The Mauritian nation just like biotechnology is a multi-coloured and peace-loving multi-racial society. In this diversity, lies our strength and unity. The whole world is aware of it. Desmond Tutu, a few days back, made this truth of ours shine with diamond lustre.

Emerson asserted that the highest revelation is that God is in every man. He realised of course that man is not God complete but God impure and needs to purify and perfect himself before his mind can become a channel through which heaven can flow.

A person?s first step in transcendental knowledge, according to the Vedas, is realising that his identity is beyond the temporary material body. The one who sees everything in relation to the Supreme Lord, who sees all entities as his parts and parcels and who sees the Supreme Lord within everything never hates anything or any being.

Jesus Christ in his wisdom explained in as simple words as possible that God is in the heart of every man. This truth will be understood by the man who strives in his spiritual quest. However, the Gita says that, out of thousands, only one doth strive for knowledge and out of a thousand such people striving for knowledge, only one doth succeed in reaching the goal.

How to reach this goal? Is it necessary to leave one?s family and society and head the life of a man who has renounced everything? No! No! Gautama Buddha said, ?One path is the life of pleasure from which he who leadeth the religious life must abstain; it is base, ignoble, non-spiritual. The other is a life of mortification ? it is gloomy, unworthy, unreal. The perfect one ? O Briksus, avoiding these extremes has discovered the middle path, a path which openeth the eyes, which leadeth to knowledge, to enlightenment, to Nirvana.?

Self-centeredness and obstinacy

However, to walk successfully in this middle path, we need to understand each other for love and understanding are the main gateways to enlightenment. Sadly enough, the proliferation of alternative religions is spreading like wild fire. Cults are on the rise; so is interest in aliens, witchcraft, New Ageism, Satanism and anything to do with the occult. Spiritual hunger is a natural part of the human psyche but so are self-centeredness and obstinacy.

Rather than turn to God, many are trying to fill the hole in their souls with money, prestige, sex, drug, alcohol, food, pop culture ? virtually anything and everything, somewhere and everywhere, sometimes and at all times.

?Culture? as a technical term emerged in the writings of anthropologists in the mid-19th century. The English anthropologist, Sir Edward B. Taylor, used it to refer to the complex ?whole? of ideas and things produced by men in their historical experience. However, all anthropologists agree that culture consists of learned ways of behaving and adapting, as contrasted to inherited behaviour patterns or instinct.

In a nutshell, culture is a study of perfection. It is the choice of the middle path, the easiest one that leads to perfection. Treading in the middle path results in a harmonious lifestyle based on love, fraternity, communication, care, consideration, cooperation and tolerance where understanding has grown real roots.

Times are indeed hard around the world. It is during hard times that we count on our neighbours the most. We need to settle our differences spontaneously without leaving an iota of doubt. The Sastras proclaim that the chance of being born as man is a very rare piece of good fortune. Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, all preach the oneness of mankind. For spiritual exploration and discovery, there can be no qualification like wealth or caste and no disqualification like poverty or race. We cannot talk lightly or demeaningly of another?s faith. Remember Shirdi Baba?s words ?Allah Malik hei.? Call God by any name, there is only one God.

Let?s land down in Mauritius. Here, the call for prayer for our Muslim brothers and sisters is known as azan. Can azan fall under the category of noise? The word noise is usually associated with disturbance. Undeniably enough, azan itself is no element of disturbance, but the loudspeakers can be? Islam is rich in its teachings and one of its important pillars is five times prayer. In fact, Hinduism stresses on the fact that God must be the main focus of our mind at all times, so does Christianity and other leading religious beliefs.

Azan announces the end of rest and the beginning of prayer so that all daily activities are blessed by God. Azaan is meant for all of us. Along with Muslim brothers, so many believers of different faiths sit down for prayer or meditation for it is the best moment to concentrate on God. Currently an amendment will be added to the Noise Pollution Act (NPA). The volume of the sound system in relation to each and every activity must be listed. The consequences of breaking such rules must be highlighted if we want peaceful settlement without any political hara-kiri or social unrest.

The loudspeaker issue has fortunately been solved thanks to discussions between all parties concerned. The volume of the sound system will merely be decreased for the azan and everyone seems happy with this agreement. We must continue to preserve the delicate balance between believers of different faiths. It is only the harmonious blend of seven colours that gives rise to the rainbow. Stay tuned!

Pramila KHADUN