contd. from previous post......
Human beings have knowledge of what is right and what is wrong. It is God given knowledge. There is Isvara in this. The whole humanity has to recognize that values are universal. It is not that believers have one set of values and nonbelievers have another set of values. If that were so that would mean you could cheat; you need not be objective; you need not be transparent. So in order to accomplish your ambitions, in order to promote your religion, your God, you can promote or pretend yourself to be an altruistic person interested in the welfare of others. But the motive is to bring them to the flock. You can go to the internet and see what is under the Vatican research. There is a kind of a message or advice to the Indian bishops. They say that the rsis of the Upanishads, of the Vedas, are very sincere people and they pray to God asking God to bless them and to lead them from untruth to truth. Asato ma sad gamaya. MaA means mam. From untruth (unreal) please help us reach the truth (the real), lead us to truth from darkness (ignorance) to light (knowledge). Tamaso ma jyotirgamaya. Mrtyorma amrtam gamaya. From the hands of death (any sense of limitation), lead us to freedom from time, freedom from death. This is a mantra in the Brhadaranyaka upanisad. The advise to the bishops quotes this mantra. It says that the Vedic rsis did not know what was truth, what was right, and what was freedom from death, immortality, they didn't know; therefore, they are afraid. As an answer to the prayer came Jesus. Look at that. Deception! The person who quotes that knows very well that we have a definition of satyam, which they cannot stand. They cannot argue against it for one minute. "That which is not subject to negation is satyam." How are you going to negate it? "That which is not subject to negation in all the three periods of time (abaadhitam satyam trikale), and that satyam you are (tat tvam asi)." And they say we don't know. Not only do we know but we teach. We are not mystic people. Like math, we teach. It is an equation. We teach that you are the satyam. We have a live teaching tradition which is why we have survived; whereas, other cultures have been wiped out. We have survived because of our teaching tradition. They can abuse and use means like this because, according to them, the end is good. That is because of double standards.
Values are universal. Recently the Vatican and others have signed a document accepting universal values and mutual respect. How much they have committed themselves in order to sign that document I do not know, but they have signed it. We are all witnesses. I have signed it also. Mutual respect means you respect me as I am, and I respect you as you are. I don't try to change you overtly, covertly. I don't want to change you; I enjoy you as you are. You enjoy me as I am. It is a loss to lose a colourful person like me. So you have mutual respect and universal values.
We celebrate different types of New Years. Tamilnadu has its own New Year. In the Zodiac, when the Sun enters into Aries on the fourteenth of April that is the New Year. It is very definite. Here we have January first, which we also celebrate. We don't have problem with all of this. We want them to celebrate our Deepavali also. They should celebrate so that we can all live in harmony. But for that they need to know that God is bigger than our mind.

(to be contd...)