The Parliament of the World's Religions - the largest inter-religious congregations in the world - opened on 3 December at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Center. The Parliament opened with a series of blessings that acknowledged and honoured the diverse spiritual and religious traditions of the world. Swami Sandeepananda Giri representing the Hindu faith, offered blessings of peace to the world with the chanting of  'OM', the universal mantra, followed by the Shanti mantra - 'Poornamada' of the Upanishads. The opening plenary session featured Dr. Sakena Yacoobi, Rabbi David Saperstein and Sri Ravi Sankar who spoke on the need for people and communities to "make a world of difference" in the midst of challenges facing the world today.