Universal Greetings

UNIVERSAL GREETINGS
Mike Ghouse

Greetings is the oldest form of initiating a conversation when two people meet, it is an acknowledgment of the existence of the other. From a Simple “Hi” to “Hamazor Hama Ashobed”- meaning I am fine and hope you are too. The essence of greetings is “ I CARE” and this statement is flavored by religions, traditions and cultures - all mean goodness, pure goodness.

Allow me to greet you in the traditional greetings of different faiths
“ Alla Abho” - meaning God is Glorious, that is a Baha'i Greeting –
God Bless “ Generalized Christian Greetings”
Namaste “ the go(o)d in me invokes the go(o)d in you”
Salaam Alaikum “ let you be peaceful and safe
Jai Jinendra, Shalom Alechum, Sat Sri Akaal and Hamazor Hama Asho Bed, the Zoroastrian greeting. All meaning "I Care about you and your well being" - isn't it beautiful?

I hope one day we could free ourselves from all the chains that take away our freedom to be good, to be natural and truly achieve the mukti to use these greetings as synonyms. It feels so good to be free, try it, you will not give it up.

Since I am an Indian, I can talk about my own people - you say "Salaam" or "Namaste" to one of us, you will hear the quickest response you can get from a few of us "I am not a Muslim" or "I am not a Hindu". How small can we get? They sound as if you should not have wished them well. The responsibility falls on all of us to help people understand that they are the most beautiful words to greet any one. I would request you to see the new horizons for yourselves by greeting people in any one of the above greetings interchangeably as synonyms. Go by the essence of the words and not the words themselves. You will feel that you have been unchained and you will feel the Freedom is beautiful, once you taste it, you will love it.
Have you ever felt the serenity, peace and joy linger in you all day when you help some one that morning?

Have you ever felt the pain and suffering of others without regard to their faith, race, culture, ethnicity or any other uniqueness?

When you get to that point ‘with malice towards none’, the boundlessness in you and the sense of alignment you feel with the almighty is incredible. It is indeed liberating, it is true freedom, it is worth having it. This is what Jesus may have meant when he said “follow me” and Krishna “surrender to me” and Allah “submit to my will” and you will find the same essence in all spiritual traditions. When you follow, surrender and submit, you have acquired the qualities of God, you have become like him (her/it) all loving, all caring which removes the “you” and “me” barriers. Everything belongs to you, and you belong to the Universe, that’s the salvation Jesus had promised us, Krishna had guaranteed us, Ahura Mazda will supervise it and Allah will deliver it to us.

Pluralism is an attitude of accepting and respecting every beautiful way people have come to worship the divine, including but not limited to the Baha'i, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Islam, Jain, Jewish, Sikh, Zoroastrian and other systems of belief. The moment you believe yours is the only way, the ego takes over and kills the spirituality and the piety in you. Good riddance of ego for ones peace and tranquility is the summation of all religions.” Arrogance and Ego is the mother of all evil.

Mike Ghouse
www.MikeGhouse.net
www.foundationforpluralism.com
www.AmericanMuslimAgenda.com