The Upanishads unite the whole Mankind in one bond of brotherhood. There is no duality of any kind.
The darkness is ignorance and light is truth. The desire for 'Moksha', liberation is the highest aim of life. To merge in the Supreme Being who is real.
God does not discriminate between his creatures. The diverse faiths and systems of worshipping God do accept that the rituals and formalities of worship are only elementary and not indispensable for expressing obeisance to the Lord. When one becomes conscious of the fact that the Lord dwells within one's self he becomes an evolved soul and all duality disappears. He shall respect all faiths, all creatures and be kind and merciful to all. He becomes sublime and pure. For him the whole universe and its inhabitants is one family. Supreme soul is the lord of all. He is the ruler of everyone and overlord of all beings. He is the sustaining bridge of all humanity and prevents it from breaking. From him are born life, mind, sense, sky, wind, fire, water and earth that supports all. When he is realised, the knot of the heart is open, all doubts are removed and actions cease. He is truth and truth alone triumphs not falsehood. Self is attained by truth, penance, by true knowledge and continued continence. Ascetics with all sins purged behold him with all light and radiance inside the body.
Religions, big and small, give us one message to cast off hatred and treat the universe as one created by the supreme power. The divine laws do not suggest communal divide or caste hatred. The divide that we see in mankind is self created by man. Vedic principle of unity is found in all religions in their own way and in their own language. The preaching of major religions existing in India have been quoted from their respective scriptures which are binding for spiritual purpose and community life. The supreme Brahma is like a waveless ocean, ever free and of undifferentiated nature. The cause of multiplicity is superimposed. There is none other than him. He is imperishable, the transcendent and eternal. He is the endless bliss. He is infinite, pure and supreme, not different from soul and the indivisible Supreme Being. The 'sat' is the supreme non-duality and there is no other object different from it. In the high state of realisation of the supreme truth properly there is nothing different from it. The apparent difference of forms is due to ignorance. The Brahma is free from all kinds of differences, in the body itself there is a secret cave where 'Buddhi' resides in the nature of 'Satva' spoken of as the unmanifested, the Atma shines like the sun in the sky illuminating the entire universe by its nature effulgence. Realisation of 'Atma' is possible only by purifying 'Buddhi' in accordance with one's own faith. There is unanimity of views on this: Adi Shankara Charaya has said:
Vedanta preaches the doctrine of attaining Supreme Bliss, liberation, which the righteous say is the real object of human life. Liberation can only be attained through the knowledge of Brahma. Wealth, desires and objects of attraction are transitory in nature.
This article has been taken from the book Soul Of India by H R Bhardwaj