How are we non-sectarian when our practices are isolating?

Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
questions we say that we are we are universal we are non sectarian at the same time we have certain standards such as we don’t take food which is cooked from cooked by outsiders which makes us seem sectarian so how do we understand this how can we explain that despite our practices we are actually non sectarian with respect to sectarianism the world world itself has many meanings let’s understand first in terms of how we are non sectarian non sectarian nature is more in terms of our philosophy we accept that there are many ways to God and that love of God is the ultimate goal of life which can be achieved through many different religions many different teachers focusing on universal principles of spiritual life now while having those universal principles of spiritual life the implementation of those principles in real life will require certain practices and those practices will naturally be specific so for example even in academia say Cambridge and Oxford are two of the top universities in England and maybe all over the world both of them may teach English literature but they will both teach it differently you know one of them may focus more on words worth another may focus more on some other poet so some other English author one of them may focus more on poetry another may focus more on prose whatever it is they will all have their teaching methodologies which will vary the goal is to overall is to get a get an understanding of English literature English history but the specific methodologies may vary so we need to know the difference between methodologies and principles so for example with respect to driving on the road the purpose of all traffic rules is the same that is to regulate traffic but say in India America the rule is not just different it’s opposite in India we drive on the right here we drive on the left isn’t it so that means that there is a substantial difference to the extent of things being opposite but still we know the purpose is same so it is not that America is sectarian or India is sectarian the purpose is universal the practices can always be called sectarian when we talk about principles, principles are abstract practices come down in this world and once they come down in this world they will have to take on a specific form and the forms will not always be universal so similarly with respect to our practices we will have particular practices which can seem sectarian but rather than focusing on the practices alone that way any practice can be called sectarian any practice if we use the word sectarian to refer to something that marks a group as separate from others you may say okay if you go to a church you become sectarian because others don’t go to church you go to a mosque so the important thing is that what is the overall attitude what actually the distinguishing mark of sectarianism is not the practice it is the attitude so we see in every office in India you can make other person feel dirty so it depends on the attitude so yes with respect to cultural practices it is true that Brahmanical culture in general has a number of standards about purity which can seem culturally alienating to others but if we go beyond those practices to understand the principles then it is not actually sectarian and if those principles are explained properly and the practices are also not done with the Holi then the universality can still be maintained