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"Once upon a time, there was a beautiful village. It was some miles away from the well-developed town. The village was self sufficient with hard working farmers, artisans, traders and labourers. All groups of people co-operated with each other and contributed to the progress and survival of the village.
Their unity was their strength. A single road lead from the village to the town. All the villagers used to follow the same road to reach the town for several decades. It was the path through which their agricultural produce, finished goods and material reached the town markets. It was also the official path for the public transport as well. After some years, someone found another way to town which happened to be a bit shorter than the main road. Some people began to follow that path and began to use it regularly. It also became one of the accepted paths to town after few years. Similarly two or more small paths were also discovered by some other people in the next few decades and they were also followed by some of the people.
Their unity was their strength. A single road lead from the village to the town. All the villagers used to follow the same road to reach the town for several decades. It was the path through which their agricultural produce, finished goods and material reached the town markets. It was also the official path for the public transport as well. After some years, someone found another way to town which happened to be a bit shorter than the main road. Some people began to follow that path and began to use it regularly. It also became one of the accepted paths to town after few years. Similarly two or more small paths were also discovered by some other people in the next few decades and they were also followed by some of the people.Now it happened that the people traveling in different roads developed a liking towards the members who traveled on the same road. So far it was good, but they also began to develop a kind of suspicion, dislike or hatred towards the people who traveled in the other paths. Whenever these people of different paths met at any cross road, they boasted about their own path and declared their path as the best one and the most efficient one to reach the town. They considered other paths as stupid and misleading, the followers of other paths as insane or inferior kind. Further this animosity lead to conflicts between them. 
They began to attack each other and kill the people traveling in the other path. The village was divided and broken down into parts. People traveling in a specific path united into a specific group and didn't co-operate with the people of other groups. As a result, there was loss in agriculture, trade and commerce. There was increase in crime and conflicts. Finally the village lost all its splendor and the people were bitterly forced to leave that place forever."
They began to attack each other and kill the people traveling in the other path. The village was divided and broken down into parts. People traveling in a specific path united into a specific group and didn't co-operate with the people of other groups. As a result, there was loss in agriculture, trade and commerce. There was increase in crime and conflicts. Finally the village lost all its splendor and the people were bitterly forced to leave that place forever."This sounds like a sad story of some stupid people. One can see that they destroyeded their beautiful village for the sake of trivial issues. They fought for the sake of the road/ path they chose to travel. They would have traveled in any way they liked and still each of them could have reached the town. By following their own path but also respecting the people of other paths and by co-operating with others, they would have survived for a better future. But their narrow mindedness, their short sightedness and their prejudices lead to this disaster. If you wonder where such kind of people live, you might be shocked to realise that we are living in the same village today. You can find the same scenario almost near its climax in our own country.
Our country is that beautiful village which is self sustained and prosperous. The main path which people follow for centuries initially is the faith named "Hinduism". later some people found other paths such as "Christianity" "Islam","Sikhism","Jainism" etc. People followed various paths which they liked. Nothing wrong so far, but the problem comes when they begin to dislike or hate the people following other faiths.
If all the people follow their path without any hatred on others and co-operate with the people of other paths as well, the country would progress and develop gradually. But the moment we begin to feel that our path is superior or the true path or it is the direct way to salvation, there starts the trouble. Every religion or faith leads to the same realisation of self and the Divine. Different paths may differ in terms of the size, its turns, they may have some patholes or difficulties as well, but it doesn't make any one of them inferior or superior to others.Its good to have attachment, dedication or devotion towards our religion, caste or traditions, but they shouldn't make us against those who follow the other ways. One can notice the same scenario even in minor issues of our life. Fans of particular film stars, cricketers keep abusing each other or try to defame the choice of others. People fight for the sake of political parties, castes, traditions, festivals etc. We need to realise that the way we like some thing out of many, even others have a right to like something else. If we like a certain flavour of ice cream and our friend or family members choses to eat some other flavour, doesn't it make us different or dislike each other? If one writes with a right hand and his/ her sibling writes with a left hand, would that make them enemies? It sounds so stupid to hate someone just because he makes different choices or select different things compared to us or follows some other way. We need to see all the differences among the people in the same perspective. We have to respect others choice, if we want them to respect ours. We need to have tolerance if we want others to accept us the way we are.
Today we find conflicts between people of different religions, castes, nationalities, tribes, races etc. Some people even manage to fight for the sake of silly things such as a cricket team, a film actor/ actress or some politician, party or region. Its all due to the lack of understanding of the basic fact that we all are one, but we just chose different options. we chose different paths but ultimately our goal and destination remains the same. Its not possible for every human being to remain same in every aspect.
We make different choices in food, clothing, housing, food habits, cultures, traditions etc as per the place we are born or the family we are born or our mentality and attitude. Every one follows their own options as a natural part of their life. When we learn to accept this uniqueness, we begin to understand the people around us. Different colours in a picture in proper proportions gives true beauty to the picture. It would never remain so with a single color in the place of all. When we can accept this "diversity" and can maintain the "Unity" the concept of "Universal Brotherhood and "world Peace would be realised. Let's hope for that in near future ...Please take a few minutes to leave your comments below ...
