Mangalore October 24: Chair in Christianity, Mangalore University and St Aloysius Pre-University College, Mangalore jointly organised lecture on “Spiritual Insights from Indian Religions” on October 20 at Alangana HallHHH, St Aloysius Pre-University College, Mangalore.
The staff co-ordinator of centre for Inter-religious harmony and the local organiser of the program, Mrs Anita Pinto welcomed all and Fr Ivan D’Souza, the head of the Chair in Christianity introduced the speaker and explained the aim and objectives of the Chair. The resource person was Rev. Dr Henry D’Almeida SJ, faculty member of Jnana-Deepa institute of Philosophy and Theology, Pune. He is an erudite scholar in Hinduism and other Indian religions who has a teaching experience of 25 years.
Dr Henry spoke on Hindu, Jain and Buddhist spirituality. He stressed on need for dialogue with different religions. He said that the more we know about other religions, the more we know about our own religion. Thus, we find that we are not different from one another in essence. True spirituality, according to him, lies in the love of God and love of others. Basing himself of scriptural texts he explained the gist of Indian religious wisdom. His view was that the communitarian aspect of religions should be extended beyond the boundaries of one’s creed, code and cult. He enlightened the students with his clarity of thought and inspiring insights.
After the question-answer session, Diana Mary Joseph proposed the vote of thanks and Darren Andrade anchored the program. 150 students benefitted from this effective and relevant session. The campus director Fr Sujay Daniel SJ, Principal Fr Clifford Sequeira SJ and others guests were present for the lecture.