Peace on Earth: Time to Rekindle Passion for Unity

By Mrinalini V Sarabhai

In India, many civilisations have come together over the years, creating new patterns of universal oneness. Raja Ram Mohan Roy ushered in the age of new thought in 1828. He wrote: "All mankind is one great family of which numerous nations and tribes existing are only various branches".

In Bengal, Rabindranath Tagore's father passed on these thoughts to the poet who wrote: "I love India not because I have had the chance to be born on her soil, but because she has saved through tumultuous ages the living words that were issued from the illuminated consciousness of her sons".

All religions tell us that the divine is within us. The Gospel according to St Thomas says: "He who has heard and assimilated my word is as I". In Sanatana Dharma it is Tat Tvam Asi. To find divinity within oneself it is important to act with compassion towards all beings.

Mexican poet Octavia Paz wrote: "In India there is a passion for unity". Maulana Azad once asked: "If religion expresses the universal truth, why should conflicts arise amongst different beliefs, each claiming to be the sole repository of truth, and condemning others as false?"

One reaches the infinite through love, not through violence. "Ahimsa hi param dharma, Sarva dharma samabhava". The trishul of Shiva represents the three dimensions of space, earth and sky and the three gunas that each of us must strive to overcome in our own lives.

Guru Vyasa spoke of the folly of men who choose the way to destruction through discord when all legitimate material satisfaction could be had through the way of fellowship and harmony.

Ours is a multifarious heritage. On the Sindhu-Gangetic plains the tribes were known as Sindhus and Hindus. Hindu became Indus to the Greeks and the country on the bank of the Indus became India. There was no caste, no temple, only prayers in the oral tradition of the Rig Veda.

Caste became an ugly name much later. Yet, Rishi Parasar (the law giver) was the son of a Chandala, Rishi Vasishta's mother was a fisherwoman, Viswamitra was a Kshatriya, Valmiki a hunter. All became great gurus. In the oral verse of the Rig Veda, men and women were equal.

Sanatana Dharma was meant to be India's gift to the world, a way to realise peace and harmony. Increasingly, however, ancient customs are being taken out of context for political purposes. Cattle were extremely important for the Vedic people and so became symbols of spiritual experience. Go, the name for cow and bull, also connotes the earth and the speech of rishis. Gokula means temple; it also means Krishna's dwelling place.

Today, politicians fight over cow protection. Why protect only the cow? What about the beautiful birds of the sky? And the donkeys and the street dogs that are constantly being ill-treated? The environment, too, needs protection. Majestic trees are regularly being chopped down. This decreases forest cover and causes more pollution. So the list is long and painful.

Ecological awareness is the intuitive awareness of the oneness of all life. Our ancient heritage advocates protection not only for human beings and animals but for the elements, too.

Listen to the words of the Atharva Veda, written 4,000 years ago: "We are birds of the same nest,/ We may wear different skins,/ We may speak different languages,/ We may believe in different religions,/ We may belong to different cultures,/ Yet we share the same home - Our Earth./ For man can live individually,/ But can survive only collectively/ Born on the same planet/ Covered by the same skies/ Gazing at the same stars/ Breathing the same air/ We must learn to happily progress together/ Or miserably perish together".

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