SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, August 21, 2006: (HPI note: This article is part of a marvelous, long-running series in the San Francisco Chronicle called “Finding My Religion” which has featured several Hindus in addition to Dr. Rao.)
Dr. Subba Rao has spent his life promoting and living the peace-loving principles of Mahatma Gandhi. “You must be the change you wish to see in the world,” said Mahatma Gandhi. As a young man, Dr. Subba Rao took those words to heart, and he has dedicated his life to bringing people of all religious traditions together. Rao, 75, grew up in British-controlled India and began to follow Gandhi as a teenager. He studied law at Brown University, worked as a translator for the prime minister of India and founded the National Youth Project of India. Over the decades, he has transformed the lives of hardened criminals, world leaders and children through humanitarian work that focuses on fostering religious tolerance, service to humanity and self-reliance. Journalist David Ian Miller spoke with Rao by phone last week from the Vedanta Society of Northern California’s retreat center in Olema, where Rao was running a weeklong Gandhi Youth Camp–one of many he runs around the world–based on principles of India’s famed advocate of nonviolence.
“Gandhi said that if India was to live in peace we must recognize the value of every religion. India is a nation that has been home to all the religions in the world. Four religions were born there–Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism. And we have many Christians and Muslims as well as members of other faiths. More than 100 years ago, Swami Vivekananda said that we have to accept the idea that all religions are different paths leading to the same God. Gandhi accepted this proposition, and in his ashram people recite prayers from all religions.” “If we want a peaceful world in the future, the best thing is for everybody to accept–not only tolerate, but accept–all religions as true. And that is what we try to inculcate in the minds of the children who are here,” said Dr. Rao in his interview. To read the full interesting interview, click on the URL above.