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[[File:Portrait of Akbar by Manohar.jpg|thumb|upright=0.6|alt=caption|Portrait of Akbar (late 16th century)]] | [[File:Portrait of Akbar by Manohar.jpg|thumb|upright=0.6|alt=caption|Portrait of Akbar (late 16th century)]] | ||
Abu’l-Fath Jalal ud-din Muhammad Akbar (1542–1605) is honored as the greatest of the Mogul emperors of India and as a father of religious tolerance. He believed he was a divinely appointed ruler and that it was his mission to unify his empire. According to court historian Abul Fazl, Akbar’s entire life was a search for Truth. He was an embodiment of the Ascended Master [[El Morya]]. | |||
== Early life == | == Early life == | ||
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== Religious tolerance == | == Religious tolerance == | ||
The emperor was born a Muslim but respected Hindu religion and culture and offered Hindus and Muslims alike the highest posts in his government. He assembled scholars of the Muslim and Hindu sects, Jains, Zoroastrians, and Jesuits in his capital, where in 1575 he built an ''ibadat khana'', a “house of worship,” where learned men of all religions could meet to discuss both theology and philosophy. In | The emperor was born a Muslim but respected Hindu religion and culture and offered Hindus and Muslims alike the highest posts in his government. He assembled scholars of the Muslim and Hindu sects, Jains, Zoroastrians, and Jesuits in his capital, where in 1575 he built an ''ibadat khana'', a “house of worship,” where learned men of all religions could meet to discuss both theology and philosophy. In an attempt to resolve the discord among the many religious factions in his empire, and recognizing the limitations of each, he proposed that “we ought, therefore, to bring them all into one, but in such fashion that they should be both ‘one’ and ‘all’, with the great advantage of not losing what is good in any one religion, while gaining whatever is better in another.” The members of the council could not agree among themselves, however, and remained supportive only of their own religions. | ||
In | In 1582 Akbar founded his own religion, Din-i-Ilahi, “divine faith,” or Tauhid-i-Ilahi, “divine monotheism,” with himself as its spiritual leader. As Abul Fazl comments, Akbar, in establishing the tenets of the new religion, “seized upon whatever was good in any religion.... He is truly a man who makes Justice his leader in the path of inquiry, and who culls from every sect whatever Reason approves of.” Akbar did not, however, demand that his countrymen espouse his beliefs, and Akbar’s new religion had few adherents outside his court. | ||
== Final years == | == Final years == | ||
At the end of his reign, the peace and prosperity which Akbar had brought to India was disturbed by the court intrigues and subversive activities of his son, Jahangir. When he inherited the throne, Jahangir rejected his father’s reforms, especially those of religious tolerance, and the empire rapidly crumbled. Jahangir’s son and heir, [[Shah Jahan]], inherited only a small and unruly kingdom but retained a great love for the cultural heritage of his grandfather. As the greatest of the Mogul builders, Shah Jahan gave to India its most cherished romance | At the end of his reign, the peace and prosperity which Akbar had brought to India was disturbed by the court intrigues and subversive activities of his son, Jahangir. When he inherited the throne, Jahangir rejected his father’s reforms, especially those of religious tolerance, and the empire rapidly crumbled. Jahangir’s son and heir, [[Shah Jahan]], inherited only a small and unruly kingdom but retained a great love for the cultural heritage of his grandfather. As the greatest of the Mogul builders, Shah Jahan gave to India its most cherished romance, the Taj Mahal. | ||
== See also == | == See also == | ||
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{{LSR}}. | {{LSR}}. | ||
Lecture by Elizabeth Clare Prophet, “Akbar the Great: The Shadow of God on Earth,” August 8, 1993. Available from Ascended Master Library. | |||
== Sources == | == Sources == | ||
{{POWref|28|51}} | {{CAP}} | ||
{{POWref|28|51|, December 22, 1985}} | |||
El Morya’s Christmas Letter 1994 | |||
[[Category:Embodiments of El Morya]] | [[Category:Embodiments of El Morya]] | ||