As the People's Partnership celebrates the first anniversary of its electoral victory, JYOTI has published below excerpts from Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar's message of love and a belief in God. The speech was delivered Sunday at an Interfaith service hosted by the United National Congress (UNC).
But let the different faiths exist, for they all lead to the same destination, though they appear to take different paths. The goal is the same: reunion with the omnipresent God.
The Journey is as long as short as you make it. Man’s distance from divinity is the same as his distance from himself. Heaven lies within, and the omnipresent God resides in your own heart.
The purpose of the inter-faith meetings should be to realize the innate divinity that exists in the heart of man, regardless of individual beliefs, religions, castes, cultures or races.
There is no separation between God and man, except in the mind of the individual. There is only one God, no other. You are all part of that one, droplet of divinity. See everyone around you in that light, the light of God the creator. Only then would unity, Love and harmony truly come to the world.
Love is the instrument and the energy that enlightens, for love is God and God is love. Open your hearts and let that love flow, only then your own lives would be transformed and you would be able to help others, bringing love, joy, peace and understanding to all around you.
That is the way ahead, the path of love. It is the only path that will lead you the ultimate destination, the merging with the omnipresent God. That journey will lead you within, into your own heart, the home of the omnipresent God
With faith in the Almighty, all things are possible.
As human beings we have lived forever with the knowledge that it is so easy to forget to give thanks to God, our Creator, for every single blessing we receive each day.
We are always reminded of how important it is for us to do this, but our busy schedules somehow don’t seem to permit this.
But I want to stress for us today, that more than ever, as the people who are now responsible for making decisions for so many people in our country, as the people who will determine the course of our country’s future, it is extremely significant that we recommit to praying to the Almighty for wisdom, courage and inspiration to always make the best decisions for the people.
It is said that a leader lives with people to know their problems and a leader lives with God in order to solve them.
Whatever our career may be, true leadership means to receive power from God and to use it under God’s rule to serve people in God’s way.
I am willing to wager that nowhere else in the world will you find a country where leaders of every single religion will come together in such beautiful harmony, sharing a unity that is truly the reflection of God’s own words that we are all his children, regardless of creed or race.
One year ago, our nation found itself on the cusp of an unprecedented victory for the people of Trinidad and Tobago. Not since Dr. Eric Williams lowered the Union Jack in 1962, ending colonialism in our country had our people, with Almighty God’s blessings, experienced such feelings of unity, jubilation and liberation.
Since that time so much has happened to all of us. That we are here, united as a government and as a people, must make us pause and give thanks to Our Creator for being here, for restoring our hope and helping our democracy to rise for the nation.
Whether we recognize the Creator as Allah, Jehovah, Quan Yin, Oshun, Shango, Sri Rama, Krishna or Rastafari; whether we read and follow the Glorious Quran, the Holy Bible, the Tao Te Qing or the Bhagavad Gita we are gathered here today express our appreciation to the Universal Divinity.
As the Calypsonian Johnny King sings, “Appreciation rests on the human mind. Everyone needs some for happiness all the time.”
Our history and traditions have left a legacy of a diverse cultural heritage.
Though born of oppression, suffering, indignity and sacrifice; this heritage, honed by the myriad traditions of the peoples who were brought to our shores, now reflects a richness and vibrancy that belies the smallness of our nation.
We stand as a global example of a country where people from every creed, ethnicity and belief system are guaranteed their basic human rights of equality, freedom, fairness and justice, and where all sects find that they can practice their religious beliefs and honour their individual heritage without fear of persecution or denigration, but instead, with national commemoration.
I wish to remind all citizens that they too, have a duty to commit to our Constitutional and founding principles of unity despite our diversity, and move beyond the forces of racial and religious strife, however latent, that may still seek to tear us apart.
Remember, we all have a significant role to play to ensure that Trinidad and Tobago continues to be a world leader in true cultural and religious harmony.
Let us never underestimate our nation’s power to play a major part in rekindling hope all over the world that despite our differences we can all live together as sisters and brothers united of the human race.
In so doing we would have fulfilled our duty to God by ensuring that cultural and religious differences should never separate us from each other, but rather cultural diversity should endow us all with a collective strength that benefits all of humanity.
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