A few months ago when I met His Holiness The Dalai Lama in Ithaca the first question he asked me was "What did your grandfather feel about secularism?" I was taken aback and asked: "Why are you asking me questions?" His Holiness said: "Wherever I speak about secularism the American audiences seem to reject the idea because secularism has come to mean rejecting your own faith." I think this is the crux of the problem. A gross misunderstanding of what secularism should mean.

For my grandfather secularism did not mean rejection of your own faith or any other faith. It meant respect of all faiths and the belief that there is only one God but people have different names and ways of identifying that one God. That is why grandfather always said to us: that religion is like climbing a mountain. We are all striving to get to the same summit so why should it matter which side of the mountain we choose to climb from?

For four generations prayers of the Gandhis have been held at home in private or with friends and others interested in joining in a neutral place where no symbols of any particular religion are displayed. There is only a candle in the middle and the prayers contain hymns from all the major religions of the world. Grandfather treated all religions as equal and with equal respect. This is something we still find very difficult to do in the United States.