Interfaith summit focuses on learning lessons from Covid-19
A SUMMIT featuring interfaith leaders took place last week, in response to the pandemic. In celebration of the UN Environment Day theme of this year, ‘Biodiversity’, the webinar was entitled Moving from United Nations to a United Creation: Bridging Science & Faith is the Solution.
Panellists and speakers included His Holiness Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswati; Rabbi David Rosen; Renata Lok
Dessallien, UN resident coordinator in India; Dr. Yasmin Ali Haque, Unicef representative in India; and Sue Coates, executive director, Water Supply & Sanitation Collaborative Council, Switzerland.
HH Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswati, who is also the president of Parmarth Niketan ashram in Rishikesh, north India and founder/chair of the Global Interfaith WASH Alliance, said, “I strongly believe that coronavirus has come as an ‘ambassador’ for our environment. Nature has shown us that when we go indoors, she is able to heal and recover. It means the way we were living was the problem. Let us be the solution and change our lifestyles as well as reflect on our values. Corona has taught us that life is not to have more, or accumulate, or consume more; it’s really about being more and living more fully in harmony with ourselves and our planet.”
Introducing the event, Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswati, secretary general, Global Interfaith WASH Alliance and president of Divine Shakti Foundation, said: “This year as we focus on biodiversity, we recognise the sacred and essential thread that each of us, each individual and each species plays in the tapestry of life”.