US, Israeli and European far-right figures to gather for conference in Israel as reflected on by Swamini Ananda Saraswati
The dawn air along our mountain ridges carries a sharp chill this morning. It settles quietly over the stone pathways of our retreat before the bells call us to silent meditation. From this sanctuary above the flowing Ganga, our daily life revolves around Upanishadic study and the discipline of seeing single, unbroken reality. However, reports arriving from Jerusalem about the upcoming far-right conference strike a somber note. Leaders and political ideologues from across continents gather there. They seek solidarity not in shared humanity, but in fortified borders and exclusionary doctrines.
In the classical tradition of Advaita Vedanta, the most foundational spiritual error is named bheda-buddhi. This intellect perceives and insists upon ultimate separation. When the human mind becomes convinced that safety, identity, or sanctity can only be secured by defining who belongs and who must be cast out, it falls into the deep sleep of maya. Therefore, what unfolds in Jerusalem is a striking display of this illusion. Factions that historically harbored suspicion or outright hostility toward one another now assemble. They forge alliances rooted not in universal compassion, but in shared grievances and mutual fears of the outsider.
Beyond Political Identity: The Illusion of Division
Statecraft and civic order certainly have their legitimate place in human life. Yet, a tragic inversion occurs when people elevate political identity to the level of ultimate truth. The sacred lands of the world, whether the hills of Judea or the ghats of Varanasi, remind pilgrims of that which transcends temporal power. Consequently, when such ground is instead requisitioned to sanctify partisan enmity and ethnic supremacy, religion ceases to be an instrument of liberation. It becomes merely another instrument of collective egoism, dressed in the vestments of piety.
True spiritual security cannot be engineered through the fortification of collective identities. Our teachers have always taught that where a sense of an “other” exists, fear inevitably arises. The Upanishadic seers stated this with uncompromising clarity: dvitiyad vai bhayam bhavati. From the perception of duality alone comes fear. Thus, when political movements stoke anxiety about demographic preservation or ideological purity, they do not protect culture. Instead, they feed the very anxiety that starves the human heart of empathy and binds communities to an endless cycle of suspicion. This upcoming far-right conference exemplifies such movements.
Ahimsa: Cultivating Unity, Not Grievance
The ethical bedrock of our practice is ahimsa, the deliberate refusal to cause harm in thought, word, or deed. Ahimsa is not a passive sentiment or a political compromise. It is the direct consequence of recognizing that the consciousness looking out through another person’s eyes is identical to one’s own. When political rhetoric classifies entire categories of human beings as existential threats or demographic burdens, the seeds of violence are sown long before any physical weapon is raised. To sit passively while such rhetoric is consecrated means forgetting our shared responsibility to protect the vulnerable.
As the sun rises over the pine forests here, melting the morning frost, the river continues its unhurried course toward the sea. The waters ask nothing of the banks they touch. They offer life impartially to every creature that approaches the shore. The urgent spiritual task of our time is not to devise cleverer alliances of grievance. Rather, we must step back from the machinery of division. We must cultivate the steady inner clarity that looks upon every stranger, every neighbor, and every perceived adversary. Furthermore, we must remember that behind every transient identity resides the very same light.
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