Ultimately, we all aim for the same truth while walking on different paths.” – Sri Swami Satchidananda

Having been born less than two months after the first ascent of Mount Everest (by New Zealand beekeeper Edmund Hillary and his Nepali Sherpa Tenzing Norgay), I have always had a deep fascination for that historic event. While in New Zealand this past December, I had the opportunity to go to several museums and learn more about the 1953 British Everest expedition that ultimately led to the summit of Everest. One of the things I learned was that there were originally only two routes up Everest, the South Col and the North Col. Today, there are 16 additional routes that have been taken, for a total of 18. This fact got me thinking about the interfaith teachings of Sri Swami Satchidananda, who would always say that all of the world religions were seeking Truth/God, but just following different pathways in their search.

After visiting the Sir Edmund Hillary Stairwell Collection of artifacts at the Otago Museum, in Dunedin, I returned to my hotel and began to explore the connections between the many different paths to the summit of Mount Everest, and the many paths to seeking Truth/God. What I discovered was amazing. As there were only two major paths to the summit of Everest in 1953 (i.e. the North and South Cols), there are also only two major world religions that have a membership of over a billion followers (Christianity and Islam). But it was the next bit of research that absolutely floored me. As I studied the list of other world religions, I discovered that there were 16 additional religions that had a membership of over a million followers, for a total of 18. One summit, many paths. One God, many paths.

For the record, the 18 world religions (each comprised of over a million adherents) are as follows:

1. Christianity (2.1 billion)
2. Islam (1.3 billion)
3. Hinduism (900 million)
4. Chinese traditional religion (394 million)
5. Buddhism (376 million)
6. Primal-indigenous (300 million)
7. African traditional and Diasporic (100 million)
8. Sikhism (23 million)
9. Juche (19 million)
10. Spiritism (15 million)
11. Judaism (14 million)
12. Bahai (7 million)
13. Jainism (4.2 million)
14. Shinto (4 million)
15. Cao Dai (4 million)
16. Zoroastrianism (2.6 million)
17. Tenrikyo (2 million)
18. Neo-Paganism (1 million)

To my complete surprise, I had discovered that, over many years, a small number of humans had succeeded in climbing 18 different routes (or paths) to summit the world’s highest mountain, while the vast majority of humans also sought 18 different ways to find their highest power or ultimate truth. In the same way that it interests me what particular path a mountaineer takes to summit Mount Everest, it, likewise, is of interest to me to know what path someone takes to achieve spiritual enlightenment or Divine Consciousness. As important as the ultimate accomplishment is (i.e. ascending Everest or finding God), I find it much more fascinating  to know how a Christian, Buddhist, and Hindu can each come to the same understanding that we are all here on earth with only one mission – to love and serve one another.

This is why interfaith symposiums are so valuable to our communities – and why religious tolerance is so very vital to our human experience. It is only when we expand our knowledge of other world faiths that we are able to grow in our own. A dear friend of mine once told me that he is a much better practicing Catholic because of his study of Buddhism. I have found that to be true for me, as well. No better example of a transformative East meets West spiritual moment exists than what happened at the summit of Mount Everest on May 29, 1953.

The Cross At The Top Of The World

Earlier that year, Father Martin Haigh, a Benedictine monk at Ampleforth Abbey, North Yorkshire, sent a small crucifix – given to his father by Pope Pius XII – to the leader of the British Everest expedition, Colonel John Hunt, before the historic 29,028 foot climb. He wrote to Hunt, asking, ” I would be deeply grateful if you would leave this little crucifix at the highest point your expedition reaches, if possible at the summit itself.” Colonel Hunt replied to Fr. Haigh: “I was very moved by your letter with its little enclosure. I feel, like you, that this venture has a deeper inspiration than most of us openly admit to and that we shall succeed only if we keep that basic motive uppermost in our minds.” Hunt told Fr. Haigh that it would be a privilege to carry the crucifix as high up Everest as possible, asking only for the priest’s prayers “from mid-May onwards.”

On May 27th, on the South Col at 25,800 feet, Colonel Hunt handed the small envelope containing the crucifix to Edmund Hillary, saying, “And so, Ed, the main thing is to get down safely, but I know you’ll get to the top if you possibly can!” At that, Hillary put the envelope in the pocket of his windproof, where it remained for the next two days as he and his Sherpa colleague Norgay continued their arduous climb towards the summit of the world.

At 11:30am, on the morning of May 29th, two men stood at the top of the world for the first time. One man was a fair-skinned New Zealander, the other a dark-skinned Nepali. One man was a Christian, the other a Buddhist. But the two men were tied together with one rope, and for that reason always humbly maintained that they had both reached the summit simultaneously. Physically, they took an identical pathway to the highest point on earth. After shaking hands and hugging each other in mutual congratulations, Hillary began to take photographs from the summit of Mount Everest. “Meanwhile,” Hillary observed, “Tenzing had also been busy.”

On the summit he’d scratched out a little hole in the snow, and in this he placed some small offerings of food – some biscuits, a piece of chocolate, and a few sweets – a small gift to the Gods of Chomolungma which all devout Buddhists (as Tenzing is) believe to inhabit the summit of this mountain. Besides the food, I placed the little cross that John Hunt had given me on the South Col. Strange companions, no doubt, but symbolical at least of the spiritual strength and peace that all peoples have gained from the mountains.”

And so it was, that although these two men represented two different religious beliefs, they shared in an identical demonstration of thanksgiving to their individual God. Shortly after the expedition, Fr. Haigh received a letter from John Hunt, letting him know that his crucifix was “placed upon the highest point” of the world. The importance of that simple act of thanksgiving was not lost on the Benedictine monk, when he replied to Colonel Hunt:

I am sure that when that history comes to be read, the day when men climbed to the summit of the earth and left there the sign and symbol of our faith, will rank as one of the very great days in the history of the world.”