Your
Holiness, can I know when you started your missionary work and what
prompted you to start it? It will be very interesting for my readers.
It is a very simple question but the answer is very lengthy.
I was born in a Muslim family. When you are born into a certain
religious environment, you are strictly involved in that religion and
you don’t want to know about any other religion. To a certain degree you
become short-sighted, and so was I, because I was not exposed to any
other form of the truth. I was only aware of Islam.
As I grew into a man from a boy, I wanted to practise the religion but I
did not feel connection with God and I saw a lot of contradictions.
I didn’t see what I studied in the religious books of Islam being
practised. People practised quite the opposite of what is taught in the
religion. For example, they are told, ‘Do not harm others, take care of
everybody and love everybody,’ but I did not see that amongst people. I
was really perplexed, very restive and I stopped practising the
religion.
Did you question your parents about matters of religion?
I questioned religious scholars. I used to go to a mosque and
question the religious scholars about why there are so many different
denominations within Islam – why one group of Muslims believes in one
thing and the another group rejects the ideology of the first group
altogether. Why are there so many differences, whereas they all study
and believe in the same Quran? They didn’t have answers; they just
wanted to prove that they were right and the other group was wrong.
I was a little more fed up than people normally are. So I stopped practising and I focused on my studies.
One day, I met somebody in my college library and he told me about
His Divine Eminence Lord Ra Riaz Gohar Shahi. He said that His Divine Eminence is a great spiritual, universal master and that I must see Him.
I was a little hesitant. I told him, ‘Look, I’m already fed up with
the religion. If you take me there and I am further confused, then you
are in hot waters.’
But I went there with him and I listened to the discourse given by
His Divine Grace Lord Ra Riaz Gohar Shahi. It was all about divine love,
spirituality, how to be able to love and [it showed] hatred for nobody.
So I started to practise spirituality and I found the content of my
heart straightaway.
I felt some light emanate from His Divine Eminence Gohar Shahi and it
entered into my heart. I felt immense pleasure and an overwhelming
sense like something is empowering me. I rejoiced; I was very happy
internally.
I instantly realised, ‘This is where I belong.’
After that day, I followed His Divine Eminence Gohar Shahi’s
instructions and teachings. After a few years, I found out that humanity
is the best religion and we should not hate anybody. Everybody is the
creation of God; Hindus should not hate Muslims and Muslims should not
hate Hindus.
Then, my mind engrossed the even vaster understanding of creation. It
engrossed the meaning of love; how we should respect each other’s
presence and religions.
It was spiritual knowledge plus application – how to apply
spirituality in our day to day life. The teachings of HDE Gohar Shahi
were not merely a chapter from any sacred book. Rather, it was a divine
spiritual formula by the practice of which you can activate your souls,
spiritualise them and be able to connect to the divine powerhouse: God.
The same God who created all prophets and messengers, who made all these
religions established by these prophets.
Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism – they are different paths leading to one destination. That’s what I realised.
So I then started to spread the word around. We have taken this
mission to all continents of the globe, [visiting] Australia, New
Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Sri Lanka, India, and Pakistan, countries
in Europe, the United States of America and Canada. We have branches all
over the world.
Especially given the circumstances where Islamic terrorism is taking
its toll and a lot of people are suffering – it has become a threat to
the peace of the globe – these teachings are very important for people
to adopt.
This is the only one solution for the world to stop radicalisation which is taking place very rapidly all over the world.
Many different religions are getting radicalised and people are
becoming intolerant. They are become extremists and fanatics. You become
a fanatic and extremist when you are not connected to God.
[When you are an extremist] you only think of yourself
and your group; you think you are the best and everybody else is bad –
and that they do not have the right to live in this world.
When you learn to respect humanity, you don’t become an extremist. You have a soft heart and a soft corner for everybody.
I gained a lot of experience being born in Pakistan, where there are
religiously rigid people. They are so rigid in their understanding that
another group within Islam is not tolerated by them, let alone other
people of different religions.
Coming out from that background and becoming a spiritual leader and
talking about peace will surprise everybody, including yourself!
It really surprises people when they listen to me, and towards the
end they ask me, ‘Where were you born?’ and I tell them, ‘I was born in
Pakistan.’ They can’t believe their ears.
Can you change [people’s] attitudes about being Pakistani or Indian?
It is not about being Pakistani or Indian. It is about who you are
and what you practise. You see, the problem is, the television and the
media will only show bad things.
But the good things which are taking place in all countries of the
world are not given publicity. So people think, ‘It’s all bad,
everywhere.’
But good missionary work is not given publicity and people do not become aware of such things.
For example, Pakistan. People only know one image of Pakistan:
terrorists. People will be surprised to know that the Universal Leader,
the Kalki Avatar, is emerging from Pakistan.
People have only seen terrorists from Pakistan; not every single
Pakistani is a terrorist and not every single Muslim is a terrorist.
There are good people and bad people everywhere, in every religion, in
every country and in every nation.
I mean we have Sufism, a branch of Islam, in Pakistan. Sufism is a beautiful practice and there are Sufis all over the world.
In a way similar to Lord Buddha, [Sufis] purify themselves, become
attached to God, become Godly, and gain miraculous powers. The love
everybody. People of all religions revere, respect and love them.
Because they are very close to God, people go to them pray to God;
through them, God listens to their prayers.
There was a Muslim Sufi from Sri Lanka by the name of Bawa
Muhaiyaddeen. He was born in Sri Lanka and he travelled to the United
States of America. He died there and is buried in Philadelphia. Many
Americans love and they follow him; they did not convert to Islam
because Sufis do not ask you for conversion; they teach you how to love
humanity and God. That is the basic principle of Sufism: love.
So, Your Holiness there is no conversion in this, only preaching about love?
No, it’s not a religion, it’s a spirituality. We are spiritual
people. We want Hindus to become good Hindus, Christians to become good
Christians. They are all good for except two things: love and
spirituality.
The core of their religion is missing from their lives: spirituality.
When they learn spirituality, a Hindu will become a good Hindu and a
Christian will become a good Christian.
You will become a good Hindu when you are connected to Bhagwan.
When we see a spoilt child, most people will say, ‘They didn’t have a
mother to train and teach them; this is why they are spoiled.’
When a child is away from the mother, the child doesn’t get to learn
moral or ethical values. In a similar way, you are Hindu, Muslim or
Christian but you are not connected to God.
When you are not connected to God, you don’t love God. When you don’t love God how can you love another human being?
when you are connected to God and learn to love God, then you
understand, ‘all creation is created by God, if I don’t love them then
God will be unhappy with me.’
So you begin to love everybody. And the same is the principle in Sufism. Sufism is actually another name given to spirituality. It’s part of Islam; this is why it is called Sufism.
Spirituality is the core of every religion.
Among the Hindus, there are so many Sufis like Sant Kabeer Daas etc.
There are so many saints in Christianity. You become a saint with the
help of spirituality. In Judaism, Sufism is like Kabbalah: the inner
dimension of the religion where you purify your heart, where you remove
all the negativity from you heart.
You become a positive person whose heart is filled with love, compassion and tolerance.
[People of] every single religion invited His Divine Eminence Gohar
Shahi to their worship places. HDE Gohar Shahi went to mosques and
delivered lectures there. He activated their hearts with spirituality.
He was invited into Christian churches and Hindu temples.
People of all religions who had happened to listen to HDE Gohar Shahi were inspired by His message.
All these religions that love spirituality, love HDE Gohar Shahi. His
message is not about religion; His message is about humanity and love.
I have been coming to Sri Lanka for the past 13 years now. There are
thousands of people in Sri Lanka who are inspired by these teachings.
There are Hindus, Muslims and Christians but they don’t hate each other.
Now, you said there are thousands who have been inspired with this
humanity, this spirituality. Do you visit Sri Lanka every year and do
you inform this segment each time? What is the response like?
Yes, almost every year. We have an organisation here, Kalki Avatar
Foundation. They organise programmes for me before I come. The response
is wonderful because we are not taking anything away from them; we are
giving. You know, often gurus come here and before you can even see
them, they will ask for 100 000 Rupees. This is their business. But this
is not our business – this is our service to humanity. People are fed
up of so-called gurus.
Your Holiness, you are in touch with God; so what
are the powers that you have? I was told by one of the ministers that
you have the power to treat patients with terminal illness.
I have a methodology and I apply that method. The power will come
from God – the God of Hindus, God of Buddha, God of Muslims – to
whomsoever he wishes to heal. If God wants to heal them, they are
healed. I am not God; I am human being.
Now, out of all the countries that you travel to, which country do you think you have the largest following?
Almost everywhere, because the message is so beautiful and it is the necessity of time.
People are getting tired of religions and hatred.
They look to religions the religions don’t have any answer to the
current situation. Only through spirituality can they liberate
themselves from these limitations and boundaries of religions and
nations.
We are all human beings. My blood is red and your blood is red, we are no different from each other.
You can call yourself a Buddhist, Hindu or Muslim but at the end of
the day you have the same God, you are the same people. Why should we
hate each other?
You are quite right. Now, Your Holiness, only a limited crowd knows this. How do you want to reach the others? Even I came to know when one of your ministers told me about it; but most of the people don’t know. How are you thinking to give the message to the people?
The message is getting across and it’s a good thing that the media is
now helping. However, the problem is only the interested people will
contact us. Some people are more into making money. If this interests
you, only then you will contact me. There are so many journalists, but
not every single journalist is coming to interview me.
In a similar way the message has been spoken about and it has been
going across the country for the last 13 years. Almost everybody in Sri
Lanka is aware of our activities and what we are doing; however, what
happens when you are not interested? Even when something is going on in
front of your eyes, you are alien to it because you are not paying
attention.
Obviously, I hope you will understand and appreciate that not everybody wants to love.
Some people love to love and share love; and unfortunately some people, by nature, hate to love.
I think everybody has this element of love in them, but some people
apply that element of love into their business. Some people love their
jobs, like the cricketer, Yassik Malinga. When you apply all your love
into one field, you can’t use that love for anything else.
The element of love has been given by God to everybody to a certain
degree. But some people use it for their business and some others use it
for their profession.
It’s good to love your profession.
In certain ways, it’s good and in certain ways, it is not good. It’s
good because if you love your profession, you become highly
professional; people admire you and they are inspired by you. But when
you love your profession, you don’t have time for anybody else. It
happens to so many people. You become blind when you love money; you can
do anything for money.
I understand money is a necessity of life; but when you love money, it is dangerous. I am talking about the element of love being utilised to the extreme.
When you empty your heart onto something, then you cannot love anything
else.
Have you read the play written by William Shakespeare, Romeo and
Juliet? They were crazy about each other, they were completely cut off
from the rest of the world. We have people in our day-to-day lives who
love their girlfriends and wives; but their love is not to that extreme.
The question is: can they go into that extreme like Romeo and Juliet
did? No. Some people are designed to go to that extreme by God and only
they can do that.
In regards to people who have extreme love for money, I think this is what is designed from God for them.
We give our message of love to everybody, but not everybody is
interested. Some people find hatred more pleasurable. And some people
are very happy because they have a loving soul in them. It’s more about
who you are inside, about your soul.
Some people enjoy hurting and harming others – and some people cant
bear to see such things. It is about the nature. God created man in
different natures. Some people are prone to being compassionate, kind
and nice to everybody. On the other hand, some others wants to be nice,
kind and compassionate to themselves only; they want all the comfort to
themselves. Such people can’t see anyone flourish; they become jealous
and they will take measures to destroy you.
In this world, there is a mixture of people. This message is for
those who want to love and be loved; this message will not change people
who indulge in the luxury of hatred. Obviously, there are people who
love to hate: Taliban, Al Qaeda and the terrorists.
The truth is the truth. Somebody has to speak out. If you don’t say
that, then you are committing a crime against humanity. These terrorists
hate to love anybody; they pose as being Muslim but they are not
Muslim. God has never said anything that they preach to be Islam. What
they are doing is their own conception and perception. They are hateful
souls.
What else do you have to say about your mission?
Sri Lanka is the place where the first messenger of God, Adam, was
sent by God. This is a very sacred an special place in the eyes of God.
This is where humanity originated from. This place is very important;
the spiritual revolution is being brought up here. My Lord told me that
Jesus Christ has returned – as foretold in Christian and Muslim faiths –
and he is present in Sri Lanka somewhere. Sri Lanka is under the
blessings of Jesus Christ and Lord Ra Riaz Gohar Shahi.
We had a ruthless war for 30 years.
Yes. The act of killing and shedding blood has been carried out since
the first man came to the world, but now it’s getting better. The most
important thing that we should do in Sri Lanka is stop discrimination
and love everybody. Love Singhalis, love Tamils, Hindus, Buddhists
Muslims. We should all be Sri Lankans we should not be divided into
nations. First you should be a Sri Lankan, then a Hindu etc. Your first
and foremost identity should be Sri Lankan; this is the key.
It’s very important that you identify yourself as Sri Lankan first; then
with the help of spirituality, you learn to respect everybody’s
presence and you learn to love everybody. If you do these two things
you’re living in paradise. It’s a very simple thing but even then it’s
not very simple for people.
Most people in all religions want to love but there are black sheep
in every group who don’t let it happen. We have to be cautious about
those black sheep. The public wants to love; but then we have
politicians. You vote for them because of which they become either a
prime minister or a president but you don’t know what is on their
agenda. Are they serving your interest or their own? If the politicians
aren’t corrupt and they become sincere, then the nations will flourish.
If the politicians are corrupt, the nations will not flourish.
The world has to become a good place, it has been destined. But
before it becomes a good place, you have to sort out the loving souls
from the hateful ones. This sorting is very important and we are getting
closer every day.
Do you think, Your Holiness, that to change the minds of the people can be done easily or very soon?
It’s not about the mind – to have pain for others – it’s about your heart.
We have to change the heart to change the way people think.
A friend of mine used to have migraines; he used to cry and his eyes
would become red. But I never realised how painful a migraine can be
until I experienced one myself. When you go through that experience,
only then you realise what it is.
Therefore, when people experience love then they will love to love; when they reap the fruits of love and tolerance and peace. Sometimes peace is established by weapons, but that peace is very temporal.
Eternal peace will come by enlightening the hearts and changing the
way people think. The real solution to establishing peace is in
spirituality. When you change their hearts, they will stop hating each
other and the problem is solved.
If one person is given less rights and the other is given more, this
will create a sense of deprivation which will in turn create lot of
problems such as jealousy and hatred. There should be equality; everyone
should be given equal rights. This is a general understanding – I am
not talking about politics. When everybody has the same rights they wont
hate each other.
