The Whole World is but One Family ================================= Exported from Holy-Writings.com on 2026-06-20 1 clipping 1. Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Harilal M. Munje, The Whole World is but One Family, bahai-library.com. ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Copyright ~ 1985 by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'fs of India First Print l 980á Reprint 1984 Third Edition 1985 PRINTED BY SKYLARK PRINTERS, NEW DELHI-110055 INTRODUCTION I bad the pleasure and privilege of going through Dr. H. M. Munje's Booklet "Vasudhaiva-Kutumbakam" which beautifully demonstrates, on Scriptural authorities, the fact that "the whole world is but one family." It affords an interesting and enlightening reading, and makes its readers realize the depth of religious knowledge of its author. It is interfused with quotations from •Atharva-Ved', Bhagwat Gita', •Yajur-Ved', •Rig-Ved', 'Sam-Ved', etc., and also from the BahA't Holy Writs. Great unrest is noticeable in the world. Its root cause is the disunity in thoughts and actions of mankind. The main problem of the day is the policy, not of pacification, but of unification, aimed at establishing the lasting peace in the world, and all efforts of the leading luminaries of var,ious nations are directed towards that end. How disunity disturbing the World-Peace is to be eliminated. and eradicated theologians ar J legislators, politicians and diplomats, sr,ciologists and educationists, economists and many other well-wishers of human: fall the World over have given their anxious thoughts to this subject in order to bring about unity and the Sovereign Remedy for establishing World- Peace which actually lies in preaching and demonstrating world unity in thoughts, in words and in deeds. The said booklet has justifiably made a Valu- able Contribution towards securing world unity and peace by propagating and demonstrating a fellow-feeling and synthetical development of the same in all walks and at all levels of human life based on the fundamental unity of all Faiths. The said booklet also demonstrates the aim and object of the Bah.i'i World Faith emphasising its main points in an actually workable God-given New World Order. I wish every success to the said booklet as also to the lofty Divine Cause it is dedi- cated to. Babula) Misra Advocate, Head of the Law Department, V. S. S. D. College, Kanrur, and General Secre1ary o the Sanatan Dharma Maha Mandal. I God ij'.flcf~gQcrm ~ ~er: 1 ~"' SJ-srT~ arrm ~ ~: II -m ~ to-t:-~~- "He is called the Ancient, He again be- cometh New today ; ( similarly ) day and night are generated, ( this and that are ) semblances of one another."-Atharva Ved, X, 8-23. God is immeasurably exalted above all imaginable comparisons and likenesses. All the examples and semblances mentioned in the Divine Scriptures are only meant to facili- tate our limited understanding and thus make it capable enough to find out the Will of God on earth and to obey Him voluntarily, unreservedly and lovingly for its own benefit, and not for the benefit of God Who is highly exalted above all benefits and losses. The relation of a craftsman with his handi- work. a painter with his painting, a speaker with his speech, a thinker with his thoughts, the sun with its rays, and so on, described by the Holy Books is but an example of the re- lation which exists between the Greator and His creation. In fact, He is still Greater than and far far superior to each and all the ex- amples and similes. Howsoever perfect a painting may be it cannot understand the painter. Even if the painter makes his own portrait, it is his like- ness, and not he himself. All the accumulated speeches of the speaker are not the speaker himself. All the thoughts produced by the thinker do not constitute the thinker himself. Rays are but the emanations from the sun and not the sun itself, inasmuch as the rays are ever produced by and, therefore, dependent upon the sun and the sun is not the sum total of rays. Though the Thinker is Omnipotent, Omniscient and Omnipresent in all His thoughts. yet thoughts are thoughts after all, and not the Thinker Himself Who is the Creator of all His thoughts. There is sharp and inviolable line of demarcation in between the two which is vividly expounded in all the Divine Scriptures. This discrimination between the thoughts and their Thinker, speech and its Speaker, the creation and its Creator: is very beautifully and unambiguously explained by God in Shri- mad Bhagwat Gita, Discourse XIII, 15 : 16 : ~~ ~1'1114~( :q~" I Wf'l(q I=ti~fq~j'l( i<~ :qifct~ =q~ II ~- ~~~~ f~'! I ~1f'Q c =i!I'crnr 'zi ~fum! 51.rPfl°l~ 11 -iftm t ~-, '(/t ~- "Without and within all beings, Immov- able and also Movable, Unknowable because of His imperceptible Subtlety, extremely near and far away is THAT. "Undivided amid beings and yet existing as if divided, is that to be known as the Supporter of beings ; He devoureth and also doth create.'' -Gita, XIII, 15-16. God alone, in his Own Incomparable Singleness : is, by Himself, the Uncreated Creator of the whole creation, Eternal in the past, Eternal in the future, Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent, Indescribable and Inconceivable by all else except Himself. It is He Who is the Sole Creator of time, space, nature and all that are therein and even beyond. In comparison with Him all else are but nothing. It is here that God is the Real Pre- existence and all else besides Him exist only by His behest throughout alJ eternity-an eternity which is also His creation. Jl The Man ifestatioo of God Between the Creator and His creation there is a Link called the Manifestation of God Who reveals in every age the Divine Will to the world. lt ~6'i~ ~ ~: q~q-f~~ I ITT ~ wttwr ~~ ~ ~qfcrq I ' ~- lt ~~CJf~@ ~~«f~: II- -a{qcf { ' cf<{, ~ o-\9-~\9. "Those who know God in His Manifes- tation through a human being know the One Who dwelleth in the Most Great Abode ; He Who knoweth the One Who dwelleth in the Most Great Abode and Who knoweth the Lord of Generations is the Great Knower of God, those who know Him, following Him, know the Pillar very well.''- Atharva Ved, X, 7-17. rffi◄ f atffRlrcr lt~~crr sr~rqfcfmcfi, ..1 ~ ri ~I~ ~=ftq~q ~= II -ffl cf({, ~ o-\9-\9. "What is that Pillar with Which the Lord of Generations hath held fast all that is visible ? 0, teach us, what is it exactly like ?" -Atharva Ved, X, 7-7. This Pillar is the Divine Religion with which the Lord of Generations holds all within Its All-Encompassing grasp. This is exquisitely explained in details at length in the same Atharva Ved, X, in its whole 7th Sukta. ( 1) The Glory of the Creator, (2) the attributes of the creation, and (3) The Com- mand of the Creator to His creation, are the Threefold Splendors revealed each time, in His unerring wisdom, by the Manifestation of God in every age in order to instill a new Life, enhance the spiritual growth and cause the people to attain levels higher and higher successively from age to age. Thus the Manifestation of God is not God in His invisible and unknowable Essence but God in His visible and knowable Glory revealing for every cycle a definite pre- ordained measure of the Infinite Divine Knowledge, after having rendered the same, graspable by and beneficial to mankind. This way, the Sun of Divinity is reflected in the perfect and sanctified Mirror of the Manifestation illuminating the people as long as they rem a in turned towards this holy Mirror. God Himself as He is, being invisible and incomprehensible for us, is only known to us in His Manifestation, in which Station, the Unspeakable talks to us Heart to heart, unveils His Beauty Face to face, and actually guides us, provided we earnestly seek His Refuge, step by step in all our affairs and activities. The Divine Sun neither comes down from His infinite heights of unknowable and un- born Self-Existence nor does He become so small as to be contained in the Mirror of the Manifestation, nevertheless, we see the Sun in the Mirror and derive all our benefits from the Sun shining from the Mirror. If we say, looking towards the sun in the Mirror : "Lo ; here is the Sun," we are not wrong, if the mirror says, "I am not the Sun, he too is right, and, if the Sun Himse)f, as manifest in the Mirror, says through the Mir- ror, "I am the All-Glorious Sun." He. verily, uttereth nothing but the essence of Truth. The Manifestation of God is like a radio- te]evision set. Sometimes we hear the sound of the cabinet and of the particles of mechan- ism contained in the set itself, and sometimes we listen to the sweet melodies of the singer and even actually visualise him who is. in himself, seated far far away from us and even from the set. It is here that the Divine Radio-Television Set viz, the Manifestation of God, represents a th reef old splendor : ( l) the Voice and the Likeness of God Himself, (2) the Holy Spirit of the Manifestation Himself through whom God is revealed to man, and (3) the physical human body of the Manifestation of God or Ishwari Avatar. ll~r-f ~Tcf: qus~ll'Ts~f@ ~S3TT~~ lfcfrfTR ,.:, mcrr I m:~turrofur~r.rlcf)&fitij~ Sl~Tqfcr:SNTlfT °' ft 11-~c:-, c;_~ ~- ij' ff~~ V "The Lord of Generations, the One greater than Whom none else is begotten, the One clad in the attire of Manifestation, entered, inhabiting the worldly abodes, bes- towing the richest bliss to the people while living among the people, is the Bearer of the threefold splendor He it is Who possesseth sixteen ('Kalas' lit, parts)."-Yajur Ved, VIII, 36. These "sixteen" are the following ~ ~ ~wllt Sixteen Kalas representing the th reef old splendor of the Lord of the Generations :- 1. Outwardly the Manifestation of God is a man like any one else. He has a body composed of the 5 elements, viz. (1) ~ ear (2) ~ water (3) olftt1 fire ( 4) q1~ air and (5) arTcfTT~heaven or space, with their energies and the power of attraction called ~~cirr Dehatma. He has (6) STTOTlife which is the po\ver of growth or vegetative spirit called ~~citT Beslzajatma. He has (7) all fif~ the senses, and He takes (8) 81''$1food for the maintenance of His animal economy called trrocfTcJITPashavatma. He has (9) lirfui Might or Power to choose right or wrong ; it is this power which is called the human spirit irfi{cflcJIT or o1clITcJIT M anvatma or Adhyatma. He has ( I 0) ~ Faith in God, Faith in all that God hath revealed through His Manifestation ; this is the spirit of Faith ~it~c'i I Dharmatma. All the above ten Kalas are the attributes of the creation each in accordance with and proportionate to the different degrees of crea- tion. All these are possessed by the Mani- festation of God. This is one aspect of the "threefold splendor." II. Another aspect is the Divine Spirit ~clkJ:ff Devatma or the Holy Spirit qfc1~1cirr Pavitratma respresenting (11) ~ell a New Truth (12) m.:ra greater Knowledge (13) ~ an ( unprecedented Thought (14) cfii:I'a newly revealed Plan of action or deeds and ( 15) ii'f the Holy Utterances or the Divine Command. III. The third and the greatest of them all is the aspect of God Himself q\Jfwrf Paramatn1a represented by ( 16) ijTJJ Name, and that is al I. God, verily, is the most manifest of the manifest and yet the most hidden of the hidden. tSlit'111ri.fu ITT~ in~cfr ~ffl~~ I met ft\11Iii;al ~ir ~l{~~~ 11 CR " ... -dlit~i1c14 mcrr,~ - ~ ~ "The foolish disregard Me when clad I in a human body ; they know naught My sup- reme nature, I am the Great Lord of beings." -Shrimad Bhagwat Gita, lX, 11. ~~- ~Tlf Eti