“Abundant thanks
to God for the
birth of Dr. T.D.
Singh (Maharaja).
…a great man of
peace, Dr. T.D.
Singh. He has
been a gift to
many people in
this world.”
Bishop William
E. Swing
Maharaja with William E. Swing, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of California, founder of the United Religions Initiative
Maharaja has been actively participating in the worldwide inter-religious activities of the United Religions Initiative (URI), an international organization and spiritual parallel of the United Nations, founded by Bishop William Swing of San Francisco. Maharaja feels that the way the URI is structured sets an excellent example for inter-faith cooperation. He greatly appreciates its ability to inspire and encourage different communities from the grass roots level up to the institutional level. Maharaja is an advisor for URI’s Organizational and Development Committee and was instrumental in founding the URI Manipur Cooperation
Circle. It has been regularly conducting seminars on the culture of peace since the year 2001 in different districts of Manipur, India to bring awareness of peace and understanding among different communities.
In the spirit of hope for a world of peace, just before the turn of the new millennium, the children of the Federated Church School of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, contacted 50 prominent religious leaders of the world to inquire about their visions for a better world. Among them, they also contacted Maharaja and requested him to answer three short and interesting questions. The answer to these questions by Maharaja, provide a deep insight into some of the most important means for achieving world peace.
Question 1: “What is your religion and what does your religion say about the best ways to build peace?”
Answer: I am a Hindu. I follow the Vaishnava tradition of Hinduism. A Vaishnava means a servant of Lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu is God. Another name of Lord Vishnu is Lord Krishna. Often there is a misconception that Hinduism teaches pantheism or worshiping many Gods, but Hinduism is monotheistic, just like in Christianity, Judaism or Islam. There is only one Supreme God. God has unlimited abilities and one of those abilities is the ability to expand Himself according to time, place and circumstance, as He feels necessary. Hinduism recognizes the many plenary expansions of God. Hinduism further recognizes many other empowered personalities called Demigods or Archangels who are assigned to perform certain duties to help run the material universe under the guidance of the Supreme God. Just like the President of a country has many Departmental Heads, Senators, Ministers, Ambassadors to
“God has
different names in
different religious
traditions. In
Islam He is called
Allah, in
Christianity He
is called Jehovah
and in Vaisnavism
He is called Krishna,
The All Attractive.”
Sripada Bhaktisvarupa
Damodara Maharaja
