Hindu leader: India is the birthplace of all religion

By MARK LAWRENCE

Brahmachari Prem, head of the Chinmaya Mission, yesterday declared that all religions including Christianity and Buddhism have their foundation in Hinduism. Prem was speaking at the Hindu Student's Council of Trinidad and Tobago YUVA 2004 workshop entitled The Hindu Student "I am unique, I am proud". The aim of the Workshop was to allow students the opportunity to identify issues that affect them and to interact with each other in a Hindu environment.

In attendance was the President of the Senate Dr Linda Baboolal, Mayor of Chaguanas Suruj Rambarachan and Hindu students from schools all over the country who were dressed in an array of traditional East Indian attire. "Young people are walking, living storehouses of great power and wherewithal that can move the world, however their energy is fragmented and dispersed in so many different ways that it does little for humanity," said Prem. He made a call for the students to focus these energies by taking the simple principles of life and putting them into practice.

According to Prem, this goal can be accomplished by attaining, "congruence between our words and actions." Prem went on to state, "Being Hindus you are privileged. There is not a religion in the world that Hinduism has not contributed to. India is the birthplace and cradle of all philosophy and religion. Buddha was a Hindu. Jesus Christ lived in India for many years, Jesus Christ was a Jew by birth and a Hindu by following, but we call him a Christian. There is no idea in the world based on religion that does not have its origin in the Vedas or the Qur'an."