NY: Interfaith dialogue 'Many Paths... One Destination!' draws crowds

Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan USA and the Chishty Foundation of Ajmer Sharif co-hosted a packed interfaith dialogue in New York, featuring speakers on spirituality, food, and disarmament to promote a message of shared humanity and cultural unity.

A capacity audience filled the 17th-floor auditorium of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Institute of Indian Culture, at 305 Seventh Avenue for "Many Paths... One Destination!, A Sacred Dialogue Across Faiths & Traditions," presented jointly by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan USA and the Chishty Foundation of Ajmer Sharif, India. Convened by author Yakub Mathew, the Tuesday evening brought together a panel spanning Sufi spirituality, disarmament advocacy, culinary arts and interfaith literature, a convergence organisers described as deliberate, according to an official release.

The hall was filled to capacity, with additional guests standing along the rear and side aisles. The audience reflected the diversity the evening set out to honour, Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Sikh, Jain and Buddhist attendees, alongside diplomats, academics, cultural figures and members of the Indian-American and wider South Asian diaspora communities of the tri-state area. Among the distinguished guests were Barbara Winston, founder of the Peace Innovation Initiative; Lyndsay C Howard of Bloomberg Philanthropies; Prince Dimitri; Carole Bellidora; and David M Hayes among many others part of vibrant Indian American diaspora, the release stated.

The gathering fell within the week of India's Independence Day, days after the 2026 Oneness of Humanity Award ceremony at Tillman Chapel, Church Center for the United Nations, where several of the same figures had gathered.

A Keynote on Centuries of Openness

Delivering the keynote, Haji Syed Salman Chishty, Gaddi Nashin of Dargah Ajmer Sharif and Chairman of the Chishty Foundation, drew on the eight-century tradition of the shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishty, Khwaja Gharib Nawaz, where pilgrims of every faith have been received without question since the 12th century, according to the release.

"For more than eight hundred years, no one at the threshold of Ajmer Sharif has been asked their religion, their caste or their country. The only question the place asks is asked silently, of every soul who enters: is your heart open? Empires that built walls are dust. A doorway that stayed open is still receiving guests, " Haji Syed Salman Chishty, Gaddi Nashin, Dargah Ajmer Sharif, said. He offered the Chishti teaching of river-like generosity, sun-like affection and earth-like hospitality as a practical framework for interfaith conduct, noting that rivers bear many names and courses, yet not one has refused to meet the ocean.

Diverse Voices on Unity

Chef Vikas Khanna, the Michelin-starred restaurateur and filmmaker, spoke on food as a language that precedes theology, drawing on his distribution of millions of meals across India during the pandemic without regard to recipients' faith or background.

"Hunger does not carry a religion, and neither should the hand that feeds it. The kitchen taught me what no argument ever could -- that people who eat together stop fearing each other," said Vikas Khanna, Michelin-Starred Chef. His remarks drew sustained applause, echoing the Chishti and Sikh langar tradition of Ajmer Sharif and Punjab, where great cauldrons have fed pilgrims of all faiths for centuries

Jonathan Granoff, President of the Global Security Institute, UN Representative of the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates and a 2014 Nobel Peace Prize nominee, moderated the dialogue, the release stated.

"We live in an age where our capacity to destroy has outrun our capacity to trust one another. No treaty will save us if the human heart remains closed. Evenings such as this are not decoration on the margins of diplomacy -- they are its foundation," said Jonathan Granoff, President, Global Security Institute

Yakub Mathew, author of "Seeking the Infinite" exploring the 'mahima' of the Kumbh, addressed the shared vocabulary of longing found across scriptural traditions, the release highlighted.

"I have spent years among pilgrims of traditions not my own, and I have never once found a stranger. The words change. The ache does not," author Yakub Mathew said.

Culture as a Bridge Between Civilisations

Dr Navin Mehta, Chairman of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan USA and an Ellis Island Medal of Honour recipient, welcomed guests and situated the evening within the institution's founding mission of culture as a bridge between civilisations.

"Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan was founded on the conviction that culture unites where politics divides. To host the Gaddi Nashin of Ajmer Sharif in this hall, in dialogue with voices from so many traditions, is to see that founding conviction come alive," Dr Navin Mehta, Chairman, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan USA, said.

Dialogue in Action

The evening concluded with a full vegetarian dinner served to all attendees in the langar spirit, open to every guest without distinction, hosted through the generosity of Jimmy Rizvi, serial entrepreneur and restaurateur across New York, including the famous Bungalow, GupShup, Punjab Meet House among others. The release further noted that the organisers extended particular thanks to Rizvi, noting that the shared meal was not an addendum to the programme but a continuation of it, the open table and the open heart being the same institution.

The convening forms part of the Chishty Foundation's global interfaith work, which has represented the Chishti Sufi tradition at United Nations forums, the G20, R20, ASEAN and BRICS platforms, across more than ninety countries since 2007. The Dargah of Khwaja Gharib Nawaz in Rajasthan's Ajmer receives some 40,000 pilgrims daily, rising beyond one million during the annual Urs, a scale organisers cited as evidence that pluralism in the Indian subcontinent is not an aspiration but a lived daily reality, according to the release.

Discussions are underway regarding a continuation of the dialogue series, with possible future convenings in New York and at Ajmer Sharif. (ANI)

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