A get-together of Jews was arranged on the 24th December. It is noteworthy that Sri Swamiji has a lot of Jewish devotees. In the evening of Sunday, 24th December, the Jews from Mysore assembled in the Universal Prayer Hall and offered prayers. Sri Swamiji also joined them and prayed in their style. Later in His discourse, Sri Swamiji explained about the greatness of Jewish religion to all the devotees.

Christmas Celebrations at Datta Peetham

The Universal Prayer Hall was decorated like a typical Christmas evening on 25th. Two Christmas trees were placed in the prayer hall and was beautifully decorated with traditional decorations. The holy cross was placed on an altar between the two decorated trees. Hundreds of Christians gathered in the prayer hall. The environment exuded joyousness.

Sri Swamiji was clad in a traditional Christian dress worn by the head of the church. Important Christian leaders from various churches in Mysore were invited to participate as chief guests. Rev. Maria Joseph, the Vicar General of Sacred Heart Church, Sister John of Good Shepard Convent, Rev. Franklin Prabhu and many other dignitaries took part in this function.

After the Universal Prayer, Prof. Krishan Kumar welcomed the guests and gave a brief introduction of Datta Peetham. After this, Sri Swamiji and the guests lighted the candles placed in front of the image of Jesus Christ. Kalikamba, a devotee from Holland accompanied by several angels, sang Christmas Carols.

Speaking on the occasion, Rev. Fr. P.G. Hans said, "we feel as though Christ is born here also. Generally, we feel that Christ is our god and belongs to us. But today, we are convinced that He belongs to all. I am extremely pleased that Sri Swamiji has shown so much love to us today. We are speechless. We are all the children of the same Almighty and therefore we should not treat any religion as inferior. By thinking that our religion is superior to other religions, we are in fact moving away from God."

He said that it was the elders who implant feeling of discrimination in children and quoted a story. "A Hindu child was standing near a ditch and crying. It had dropped a coin into the ditch. It was crying ‘O Allah! Help me.’ A passerby became curious. He said, ‘child, you look like a Hindu girl, why are you praying to Allah?’ To this, the child said, ‘how can I call our god and ask him to get down the ditch? It would be a sin to do that. Therefore, I am calling other god for help’. See! This is how we train children. We should never do that. In fact, we should teach our children to treat all religions with respect."

Rev. Franklin in his speech said, "we have been struggling to understand the Almighty. We have seldom succeeded. Therefore, the Almighty Himself took human form and came as Jesus and simplified the teachings so that the common man could understand and practice."

"It would be wrong to say ‘only the mangoes of my tree are sweet.’ All mangoes are sweet. Similarly all religions are good."

Later Sister John spoke and said that she knew Swamiji and the Ashram since many years and recalled that she was always given a warm welcome here. She said that she had taken a close look at the activities of the Ashram and said that Sri Swamiji did not discriminate between religions. "He is a emissary of peace" she said. She wished that Ashram should forge ahead in the same path.

After this, Rev. Fr. Maria Joseph spoke. He said that he wanted to see Sri Swamiji since a long time and that he was happy that the occasion had come now. "I have been reading about the activities of Ashram in newspapers and I must say that I am highly impressed at the broadmindedness of Sri Swamiji. This happiness should spread to everybody in this world." He recalled the study he had made in the University of Mysore on the ‘Comparitive study of religions’ and remembered a story that he came across during this study. "There was a person who wanted to know the language of God. He went to many saints and could not get a satisfactory answer. Not satisfied, he went from one place to another, from one country to another. Once, while he was wandering near Bethlehem, he was tired and was resting near a cave. An old woman came there and woke him up and said, ‘child, love is the language of the Almighty’. This person was surprised because he had never asked the old woman about this. He was overjoyed with the answer for which he was looking since many years. The language of Love is the greatest and the only language. The Almighty sent His son to this planet to teach this language to the masses. We should always try to learn and teach others this language – the language of Love."
On this joyous occasion, a cheque for Rs.50,000 was handed over to the Mysore Music Academy as donation from Datta Peetham.

Sri Swamiji, in His benedictory address said:
"Jaya Guru Datta. Jai Jesus. Today is Christmas. It is a day when Jesus was born to ward off the evil and to protect the children of God. There are several commentaries on the Bible. There is the Old Testament and there is the New Testament. We have studied both. Different commentaries are available. But the ultimate reality is the same. We are always looking for a final decision within ourselves. We are all seeking truth. ‘Lingam aakaasha murtim’ is a popular quotation. It means that the Almighty is all pervading. He is formless.
"After creation, when mankind succumbed to difficulties, the formless Almighty took form and incarnated as divine beings. The Almighty may take innumerable forms. One such form was Jesus. Even the Bible says that Jesus incarnated to help the masses get rid of their bad Karma. The Puranas also say the same thing. If we study deeply, we will understand the meaning. Some selfish people, for the sake of prestige or position say that God is not for everyone, but for a selected few. Such an attitude has come only recently – i.e., since about 500 years.

Sri Swamiji mentioned about a particular Mudra of Sripada Srivallabha in which He places one forefinger on the other in a ‘+’ mark (like the holy cross) and said that it was a great teaching.

"The vertical line in the + represents ‘I’, that is, ego. The horizontal line represents destroying ego. What is ‘I’? It is he who commits all sorts of sins that says ‘I’, ‘Me’, ‘Mine’. Only he will say ‘this is my religion’ ‘I did this, I did that’ and so on. One who says like that is a sinner. He is a Saitan. Therefore, we must destroy that ‘I’.

"If we destroy ego, we can understand the Absolute Principle. This is the message of Jesus. Jesus was never born and he never died. To make us understand the Almighty, he visited our planet. We say he is the son of God. It is only for easy understanding. He is god himself. It is like this – take a sugar candy and cut a small piece out of it. Will there be any difference in taste? Is the big piece sweeter than the small piece? No! Both have the same sweetness. One who comes from God is God himself. How can he be anything else? In what form did the Almighty incarnate? He came in human form. There is a lot of similarity between the Bhagavadgita and the Bible. In fact, there are several books that have been written to show how close the Bhagavadgita and the Bible are. There is a lot to understand. We should never reject anything. We should imbibe good things from everywhere. It is like using different vegetables. Different vegetables have different kinds of nutrients. Also, what grows in one particular place can not grow in another place. Just because it does not grow in our backyard, we should not think it is not good. If we think like that, we are the losers. We must accept goodness from everywhere.

"What is the message of our scriptures? Love, peace and harmony. What is the message of Jesus? The same. Jesus incarnated to wash the sins of people.

"Just lecturing will take us nowhere. Lord Krishna did not do just lecturing. He practiced what he taught. Not only that, he dedicated Himself for the masses. That is exactly what Jesus did also.

"Both are the same here. The Almighty takes incarnations as required by situations at different times and in different places. Therefore, it would be foolish to say ‘my god is great’, ‘your god is not so great’. One who realizes ‘your god is also great, my god is also great’, is a real Tapaswi. There may be different practices and traditions. In a family, different children will have different thinking. One boy may become a preacher and the other may become a science student. One son says that one should not harm animals. The science student dissects a frog and says, unless I understand the body, how can I become a doctor and treat patients? Should we think that there is difference of opinion and therefore separate them? Is it proper to separate brothers? Are they not the children of the same parents? We must try to understand their intentions.

"When evil starts dominating good, the Almighty takes an incarnation to protect the good and will destroy evil. This is what all religions say. Instead of recognizing the similarities between religions, we waste our time in finding out the differences and fighting about them. We should develop broadmindedness. Only then can we live in peace. It is no use lecturing about peace if we do not practice it. What is the use of talking high of charity if you yourself are not a charitable person? One must practice what one preaches. Jesus is a very good example for this.

"We belong to a particular family. Therefore, we must follow the family traditions. Although there are different religions, the essence is the same. We see that Muslims, Christians and people belonging to various other faiths come to Ashram. Why? Because we do not discriminate. We are happy. Only a happy person can give happiness to others.

"If you are born as a Christian, be a good Christian. If you are born as a Muslim, be a good Muslim. If you like something about another religion, go ahead and practice it. There is nothing wrong in it. But you should not jump from one religion to another. There is enough to learn in your own religion. There is enough in every religion. But we must follow one religion properly.

"All incarnations glorified the concept of sacrifice. For whose sake? It was for the sake of masses. This is what even Jesus did.

"Fathers of many churches have come here today. I am very happy. It was my Samkalpa that we should hold this function here today. Because today is Christmas. Let us celebrate Christmas on a larger scale in future. Anyway, it is a very good beginning. Happy Christmas, Merry Christmas.

"I have visited many churches all over the world. I have visited the Vatican City also. I have Christian friends all over the world. I thought ‘why not have some friends in Mysore also?’ and so we arranged this function. I am happy you all have come here.

"The Almighty has incarnated in many forms. The same Almighty incarnated as Datta and Jesus and Mohammad. Just as a mother cooks differently for different children, the Almighty too incarnates as is necessary for the people. We are passing through a dangerous age when people are least interested in God. We should be careful.
"This is your Ashrama. This is your home. We have collectively celebrated Christmas here today. Jaya Guru Datta! Jai Jesus!!"

After the function, there were cultural programmes in Nada Mantapa. The children of the Ashram participated in Fancy Dress. The students of SGS School performed the play ‘Christ’s Birth’.

With this, the long celebrations that started with Datta Jayanti concluded. ‘Practice what you preach’ was the message conveyed by Sri Swamiji in arranging these congregations. On every occasion, Sri Swamiji stressed three points repeatedly. Sweetness is the same in all pieces of sugar candy. Follow your Dharma implicitly. Respect other Dharmas.
May these three messages remain firm in your hearts.

Jaya Guru Datta.