5 Dec : Hailing Pope Benedict for his call to banking industry to help families in financial difficulties, Hindus have urged the banks world over to make their company policies more compassionate in view of current global financial crisis.
Acclaimed Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that this crisis was the result of excessive human greed, which was a transgression of spiritual and moral law. Banks should be more responsible and sympathetic to the world’s poor.
Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, agreed on this issue with His Holiness Pope Benedictus XVI Joseph A. Ratzinger, who reminded bank representatives while greeting them in Vatican yesterday, that one of their major objectives was to support the weakest members of the community.
Rajan Zed further said that illusion of money veiled our minds, resulting in unprecedented turmoil in the financial markets, bank failures, plunging of world stocks, etc. Saint Augustine (Letter 211) said, "It is better to need less than to have more."
Zed pointed out that all the religions condemned greed and he stressed the need to build a new world free from greed. "Greed is a form of pollution. Disappointment is certain if some act is done merely out of greed. Excessive greed blinds the mind. Do not be disillusioned by wants," he added.
Rajan Zed quoted ancient Hindu scripture, Bhagavad-Gita, which says: there are three gates to self-destructive hell—greed, anger, and desire. Abandon these three. A person freed from these three gates of darkness, seeks what is best and attains life’s highest goal.
Pope Benedict heads the Roman Catholic Church, which is the largest of the Christian denominations. Hinduism, oldest and third largest religion of the world, has about one billion adherents. Moksha is the ultimate goal of Hinduism.