Peace on Earth: War and Peace

By Pranav Khullar

The preamble to the United Nations Charter sums up the existential dilemma of today: "Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that defences of peace must be constructed". In a land where history had sought to be sketched in an arc from Gautama to Gandhi, it is appropriate reflect on such defences and revive them today when war and terrorism have cast their shadow on the world.

In Ashoka's rock-edicts one finds one of the earliest instances of the transformation of a king, who, shaken by the horrendous consequences of war, abjured it. He went on to ban war in his kingdom as a measure of state policy. His inquiry into the psychological roots of war led him to believe that hatred for the beliefs of others is the primary cause of war and also that hatred can never be appeased by hatred; it "can be appeased only by love which is the eternal law". This inner understanding transformed Ashoka into the great apostle-king of peace and spiritual values, remembered today not because he fought and won wars, but because he had the courage to choose to perform the more difficult task of winning the hearts of the people.

In the "freedom from fear", as Krishnamurti said, lies the solution and alternative to war. The search for such a freedom has led men of varied stature, from Gautama and Mahavira to Gandhi and Martin Luther King, on the path of ahimsa or non-violence.

"Belief and behaviour go together", exhorted Dr Radhakrishnan, "if we believe in blood, race and soil, our world will be filled with Buchenwalds. If we believe in universal spiritual values, peace and understanding will grow". It is this leap of faith, as juxtaposed to the faiths one is born into, which alone can catalyse the human mind today to greater brotherhood and bonding. The renowned Urdu short-story writer, Krishan Chander, narrates a poignant story of two soldiers journeying back home in a pensive mood after World War II. One soldier hopes that some day all the soldiers will lay down their arms and refuse to fight. The other responds that in that case the enemy would win. The story captures powerfully our innermost insecurities and conditioning which would require an enemy even when none might exist. At the crossroads of history today, when a 'clash of civilisations' is being spoken about, when social-secular orders are crumbling under the weight of ideologies, one needs to take a walk beyond the clouds of concepts and despair. The search for the holy grail of peace is a journey which must begin with a reality check within, or our real anxieties and fears and hopes, the realisation that these are common concerns, which also can trigger off an empathy and understanding beyond ideologies.

What we need is not critiques but compassion; not theories but the therapeutic balm of understanding. President Eisenhower said: "...with everyone a loser in any new war, better understanding than ever before is essential among people and nations".

As the shadow of wasteland looms large in a very real way, greater than what was even imagined by the poet TS Eliot, we have not merely a wasteland wrought by war but a wasteland of values. In times of crisis, one is reminded of the hauntingly evocative affirmation of the human spirit in the John Lennon song Imagine, which captures this quest for peace in the shadow of war: "You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one, someday you too will join us, and the world will be one".

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See also: Peace of Mind, Peace on Earth, Life and Beyond, Love and Happiness, Body Mind and Soul)