WATCH! Speech by Sri Prem Prayojan at the World Trade Center, Moscow:

“The Dialogue of Traditions - Spiritual Harmony and the Future of Civilization” marking the occasion of the United Nations World Interfaith Harmony Week.

The director of Chaitanya Academy, Sri Prem Prayojan receives the "Pax Tecum" PEACEMAKER Gold Star Award from the World Peace Alliance for contributions to Interfaith Dialogue and the Synthesis of Science and Religion.

Report by Lalita Dasi and the Chaitanya Academy Media Team.

 

​

 

On the auspicious day of the holy Christian holiday of Candlemas, on February 2nd 2021, the World Trade Center, Moscow, hosted an international conference on “The Dialogue of Traditions - Spiritual Harmony and the Future of Civilization.”

The conference was held in partnership with the International Diplomatic Club “Amicability”,  United Nations consultant UPF (Universal Peace Federation) and the Millenium International Business Club.

In 2010, the United Nations General Assembly (resolution A/RES/65/5) established the first week of February each year as World Interfaith Harmony Week (WIHW), calling on governments, institutions and civil society to observe this week with various programs and initiatives to promote interfaith harmony objectives.

Speakers:

1. Father Petros Yesayan - Rector of the Armenian Catholic Church in Moscow, Vicar of the Archbishop of the Armenian Catholic Church for Russia, Proto-Archimandrite.

2. Igor A. Sevalkin - President of the National Security Forum.

3. Sergey Glebovich Afanasyev - President of the Government Fund for the Development of the North-West, President of the “Millenium” International Business Club.

4. Mahatma Sri Prem Prayojan Prabhu – BRICS International Forum Director of Interfaith Dialogue. International Adviser of the World Vaisnava Association. Director of Chaitanya Academy.

5. Olga Afanasyeva – Women’s Space Research Program.

6. Alex Carlin – Record-breaking musician, ecologist and philanthropist.

Panellists:

Oleg Firer - Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Grenada to Russia.

Artur Khachatryan - Armenian Ambassador.

Dr Roy Bissoondoyal - Charge d’ Affaires of the Embassy of Mauritius.

Colonel Yury Kurnosov – Military Intelligence and Security Forces. Director of the interregional network project “Russian Analytical School”; Grand Doctor of Philosophy, member of the Union of Writers of Russia. Author of many books on the theory and practice of analytics.

Dr Alexander Savyolov - Vivaton Medical Treatments

Vladimir Anikovich - "Regions of Russia" Media Holdings.

Fred Ledbetter - Partner, Golden Reach Ltd. USA

Dmitry Samko, Universal Peace Federation (Moscow branch)

Bayazitov Sergey – Architect/designer of the historic centrepiece clock in the central lobby of the World Trade Center.

Tamerlan Tauchelov –  Artist.

The conference began with a moving live performance of "Ave Maria" by the award-winning Russian opera singer, Tatyana Bikmukhametova.

After several speeches by the eminent dignitaries in attendance, the Director of Chaitanya Academy, Mahatma Sri Prem Prayojan Prabhu addressed the assembly on the importance of safeguarding traditional wisdom.  He emphasized that without the recognition of God, there is no stable basis for traditional morality. Peace, order and harmony in society are directly proportional to the moral integrity of the population.

“It is a catastrophe that the general public today equate faith in God with an irrational belief for which there is no evidence,” Sri Prem Prayojan continued.  To counter this misunderstanding, he gave examples of the great thinkers and philosophers, such as Avicenna (Islam), Maimonides (Judaism), Aquinas (Christianity) and Madhvacarya (Hinduism) who had given us “a common matrix of ideas at the core of all the great religions. This matrix of ideas cannot be refuted by any scientific discovery because it comprises the very foundational assumptions of the scientific methodology.”

Mahatma Sri Prem Prayojan elaborated on the theory of Theological Structural Realism (Tattva). And explained that according to Theological Structural Realism, “God is a necessary being, whose existence cannot be denied without making a self-defeating statement due to cognitive failure. In the face of Theological Structural Realism, atheism becomes indefensible because Theological Structural Realism demonstrates the root psychological error (bhrama) and the subsequent series of cognitive failures (pramada) that constitute the very conditions for the possibility of the atheistic misconception.”

Mahatma Sri Prem Prayojan clarified that the relationship between Theological Structural Realism (Tattva) and the individual faiths can be compared to the relationship between nutrition and cuisine.

“Theological Structural Realism (Tattva) is the science of spirituality, applicable to everyone, whereas the individual faiths are a matter of personal taste. They are the flavours in which the universal principles are expressed.”

Sri Prem Prayojan pointed out that according to Plato and Vyasa, a political leader must also be a philosopher (rajarsi).

"Philosophy involves understanding the goal of life.  If a leader has no conception of the goal of life, then where is he leading the people?  When the blind lead the blind they all fall in the ditch.  This saying is found in the Vedas and the Bible.  There was a consensus among the great thinkers of the past that the purpose of human life is to develop unconditional love for God."

Sri Prem Prayojan emphasized that the youth today are “...positively encouraged by popular media to whimsically dismiss the accumulated wisdom of our ancestors. It is within the interest of society to promote a serious engagement with the great thinkers of the past.”

Mahatma Sri Prem Prayojan proposed “A sustained and coordinated effort within media and education to defend the truths of traditional faith.”

He also invited educators and policymakers to collaborate with Chaitanya Academy to implement educational structures to safeguard the future of faith and civilization for the benefit of all future generations.

At the end of the conference, in a solemn atmosphere,

Mahatma Sri Prem Prayojan Prabhu was awarded the “Pax Tecum” Gold Star PEACEMAKER Medal from the World Peace Alliance for contributions to Interfaith Dialogue and the Synthesis of Science and Religion.

The conference concluded in an informal and exuberant tone with a live performance of "My Sweet Lord" by the popular record-breaking musician and philanthropist, Alex Carlin.

Watch the entire historical speech of Mahatma Sri Prem Prayojan Prabhu in the video below:

 

​