Canada’s highway to heaven

Rameshinder Singh Sandhu

American poet and author Ella Wheeler Wilcox once said, “So many gods, so many creeds. So many paths that wind and wind, while just the art of being kind is all the sad world needs.”

Her words ring true when one is on British Columbia’s Road No 5 of Richmond city. Here religious houses of different faiths stand together with sheer unity, clearly teaching the lessons of kindness, love and unity. Popularly known as ‘Highway to heaven’, to be precise, it’s actually an open exhibition of world religions, or can simply be termed as a ‘grand window’ to religions of the world. Touted to be one-of-its-kind road not only in North America but across the globe, the way the religious temples here are lined up on one side of the road, itself unfolds many interesting observations, filling the air all around with infinite rousing vibes. The gurdwara is adjacent to the mosque while the mosque has a Chinese church for a neighbour. It goes on like a perfect queue with a Hindu temple, Buddhist monastery, Jewish temple, and so on, stretching for nearly 3 km. If counted, the number of these temples of faith could easily touch 20.

Friendly neighbours

Majority of these religious houses are not only without any fences but also have special passages within their premises for an easy access to each other. Regular inter-faith meetings is another highlight for which they have formed an inter-faith council, which is represented by heads of different religious institutions. Organised every time in a different house of worship, these meetings aim to foster welfare of each other, and at the same time, shed light on respective religious traditions for creating more awareness on different faiths.

This awareness continues high also through exchange tours that are  organised on special occasions and festivals making a cut for opportunity for every participant to know each other. This is, thus, a big kick for fortifying the unity of  different faiths. Interestingly, notice boards, too, are replete with tour invitations and upcoming festival plans.

All of these religious centres keep their parking areas open for any overflowing parking to help the neighbouring religious centre. Then volunteers from different religions are also generally seen offering community kitchen services and a lot more.

Mecca for research students

The road has also become a ‘must stop’ for students who take up research on religious studies as it is an open mine of many facts they look for. Besides this, many groups of schoolchildren are also brought here for religious and cultural tours. 

Many of these religious sites are also more than just a house of worship. Most of these dedicated centres where traditional languages are taught free of cost, irrespective of the communities, religion and age groups. Some of them go beyond that. 

For instance, the Hindu temple offers free yoga classes while the Buddhist monastery gives free mediation classes while the mosque also runs a school till grade 7. Popular among these tours are  the free kitchen of the gurdwara, lessons in meditation at the monastery, yoga classes being conducted at the temple.

A common message

If one talks to the priests from any house of worship house here, similar sentiment is echoed: “God is one and one religion is as good as another. We all need to promote kindness. Only then can we make this world a great place to live.” 

Interestingly, these priests, belonging to different faiths can also be seen going together for walk every morning and evening on this road, another strong reminder underlining the unity of religions shining bright on this road.