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Vision is the ability to see beyond the present; to be able to chart a map of the future. Is such a vision possible for a universal religion? When all technologies and knowledge in the world are converging, why should humanity have different religions?
One basic question has haunted us for long: Are the many religions of the world opposed to each other? If their common goal is universal welfare, why do we need so many religions? All religions echo the need for righteous conduct, truth and non-violence. But they differ in their rituals, which are unfortunately being projected today as their core. Dress, mode of worship and language of rituals have come to symbolise purity of faith.
(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and
Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)
Why are wars waged? Why are some conflicts never resolved? All fanaticism, militancy, terrorism and war are flashpoints of ativada. An ativadi is one who carries an opinion, viewpoint, argument or a case of grievance to excess.
That's why sages have said: Ati sarvatra varjayet - avoid excesses everywhere. No case or argument is strong enough to be an excuse for excess, for breaking peace. A mantra in the Mundaka Upanishad says: "It is one and the same life-force that shines forth as all these beings. One who realises this never becomes an ativadi" (3.1.4).
(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and
Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)
On September 22, 1931, two icons of the West and the East met in a humble tenement in London. Mahatma Gandhi impressed Charlie Chaplin with his view that supreme independence meant shedding oneself of unnecessary things.
Chaplin believed this principle was the basis of Gandhi's political-economic-spiritual argument against machinery.
However, what Gandhi told Chaplin that day echoes the Jaina principle of aparigraha.
(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and
Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)
There'sa crooked line drawn on land: One side of it is called India, the other side, Pakistan. People living on either side of this human made line could well kill one another - in fact, precious lives have been sacrificed to ensure that the line stays where it is.
You cannot have only peace, only love or only light, how much ever you wish it were so. Yin and Yang, Shiv and the Shakti, Krishna and Radha, are in perfect equilibrium in the cosmos. Their play is this universe, without and within. This unceasing play of opposites generates infinite hues. Murder and mayhem exist; so do loving and caring.
(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and
Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)
Citizens everywhere today are demanding that their leaders make choices to advance the cause of peace. What is disturbing is the grotesque imbalance between our powers of destruction and our failing ethical capacity for empathy and self-restraint.
Genuine leadership must be based on a solid commitment to protecting the precious fabric of daily life. The ordinary citizens of the world are raising their voice, insisting that all decisions - whether political, military or economic - be made with this human reality firmly in view.
The common cause of human happiness is the strongest basis for human solidarity. In a world of intimate interconnection, solidarity cannot be limited to just one group or nation. It must embrace all the people everywhere.
(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and
Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)
There are four T's that need periodic revival. They are: Truth, Tradition, Trade and Technology. Time has a seeming effect on truth. Though truth is beyond time, it gets covered by maya or illusion. This is called avarana. Down the ages different schools of thought have tried to uncover the truth. Though the goal is common to all, the journey itself has to be undertaken individually. If you do not re-examine what you have learnt and believe to be the truth, you become fanatical and your intellectual growth stagnates.
(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and
Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)
On this day in 1893, Swami Vivekananda addressed the Parliament of World Religions in Chicago. At the opening address, Charles Bonney, the Chicago lawyer who organised the congress, said: "The very basis of our convocation is the idea that the representatives of each religion sincerely believe it is the truest and best of all." In this context, Vivekananda 's "talisman of tolerance" was a vibrant civilisational message to the world from the soul of India.
Vivekananda's words gave the World Parliament a defining focus. He began by saying he was "proud to belong to a religion which had taught the world tolerance and universal acceptance". He explained that "we believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true". He said he was proud that his nation had always sheltered the persecuted - like it had, for instance, fleeing Israelites and Zoroastrians.
(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and
Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)
Buddhism advocates tolerance - to accept that there are differences in human experiences; that diversity is part of life, whether in experiences, cultural backgrounds or religions/faiths. Buddhism is the religion of compassion, mercy and forgiveness for all life forms.
It does not preach the superiority of its belief systems over those of other religions, nor does it believe in any sort of hierarchical ordering of faith systems; it does not discriminate against anyone, least of all on account of faith or belief. The recognition and embracement of diversity and pluralism and the resulting absence of any coercive or violent means for proselytising is the very essence of the humanism of Buddhism.
(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and
Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)
It is a paradox that Gujarat, the state which gave India her greatest son, Mahatma Gandhi, should defile his memory and what he stood for with a terrible violence fuelled by communal frenzy, resulting in large scale death and destruction.
Those who react in anger to the recent violent incidents in Godhra, other parts of Gujarat and neighbouring states need to consider Gandhis "talisman". Will anger and revenge help erase the distress? Anger is a negative emotion; it can neither bring peace nor put an end to the cycle of violence.
(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and
Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)
More than 50 years ago, Mahatma Gandhi offered a startling truth: "There is no way to peace. Peace is the way." To a country bogged down in the morass of war, this could be a beacon of hope.
Gandhi went further to show that the way of peace ends suffering and oppression, not by warring against an enemy but by bearing witness to wrongs and allowing sympathy and common humanity to do their patient work. Nelson Mandela and Mother Teresa lived different aspects of peace, which was proven to be a viable way to achieve great things.
(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and
Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)
Gujarat is the land of Krishna and his clansmen, the Vrishnis . Krishna'skingdom was Dwaraka. The recent events in Gujarat echo the story of the end of Dwaraka and the Vrishni clan.
They were not destroyed by any invader; they killed one another in a fratricidal strife. According to the Bhagavatha Purana they were intoxicated by a drink called Maireyaka .
(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and
Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)
Advocates of peace all over the world continue with their avowed mission. They are working towards creating greater awareness of the need for promoting universal feelings of amity and compassion.
The annual Maramon Convention held recently in Kerala - which was first organised in 1896 by the Mar Thoma Syrian Church of Malabar, an ancient Christian community of India - is one such collective effort to bring out the spiritual essence of the Word of God.
(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and
Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)
Yoga is now a universally sought-out medium and spirituality as a subject has become part of the curriculum of leading B-schools in the US. What is the reason for the resurgence of spirituality?
There are three interpretations: One school cites that in the modern era an organisation needs to innovate continuously to survive for which every individual stakeholder in the organisation needs to leverage his creative energy by connecting to God's own creative energy.
The other school feels that the sudden eruption of numerous corporate scandals worldwide is due to the lack of an appropriate value system. Hence the need to incorporate spirituality in the business curriculum apart from outlining the need for an evolution in the field of corporate governance.
(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and
Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)
Technologically we live in a borderless world. In reality, however, we exist in compartments, separated by walls of caste, religion and geography. We acknowledge the information explosion as being a great achievement and take pride in describing ourselves as a knowledge-based society. Snowed under as we are with mounds of information, we are facing a paradox - we find that ignorance levels are growing as well. The rate at which we are accumulating information is not commensurate with the rate at which our awareness is growing.
(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and
Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)
Even as we prepare to deal with the threat of war and conflict, we need to focus on the equally critical issue of the impact this has on people's hearts and minds. The signal failure of military action to produce a clear prospect for peace has left many feeling suffocated with illusions of powerlessness and dread.
The impasse could be broken through military force or other forms of "hard power". At best, however, such action only responds to the symptoms of conflict. To the extent it plants further seeds of hatred in regions already torn by strife, it deepens and entrenches antagonisms.
(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and
Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)
The most important need of humanity today is to be made aware that its past has betrayed it. There is no point in continuing with the past, for doing so will be suicidal. The new humanity will not be a society in the old sense, where individuals are only parts of it. It will be a meeting of individuals, where individuals are the masters and society is to serve them. It will have many different aspects to it. It will not have so many religions, it will have only a religious consciousness.
(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and
Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)
If one were to explore the philosophical basis of normative ethics to examine where terrorism falls on the moral spectrum, it will become evident that terrorism, sabotage and guerilla tactics are all acts of violence, essentially no different from overt war in the conventional sense.
Terrorist attacks amount to war by stealth, shadowy figures replacing uniformed combatants, attacking innocents to send a message to the real targets who are out of reach.
(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and
Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)
Leadership is a powerful construct. A leader is envied for the position and authority he enjoys. He receives adulation and is celebrated as a champion and deliverer. Little wonder, then, a leader is often emulated; even envied. High and powerful positions are fervently sought out for all the promise they hold. And what can be more alluring than the highest post in the land?
Even if Sonia Gandhi'sreasons for abjuring the high post are debatable, the very act of saying 'no"- to the most important and powerful job in the country - is something few would have the courage (of conviction) to carry out, and that too with the composure and determination that Sonia displayed.
(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and
Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)
The Brahmakumaris practise Raja Yoga, particularly the trataka form of meditation in order to achieve union with God. It involves keeping your eyes open and fixing your gaze on a tiny red spot with total attention. Raja Yoga gives knowledge of self and enables one to attain peace, purity and harmony.
Dawn is preceded by the darkest hour of the night. The Brahmakumaris consider the present time as the most critical period. This will be followed by a new age - the dawn in the great cycle of time. The agent of transition may be the person possessing knowledge of the true self, of a positive soul. One who reaches the highest stage of this knowledge becomes Brahma. The supreme divine being is Shiva, who is an embodiment of knowledge, peace, purity and harmony.
(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and
Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)
For Gandhi, non-violence meant an overflowing love for all humanity, a way of life that emanated from the very marrow of his being. But for many of his followers, non-violence was simply a political strategy, a tactic for winning India's independence from Britain. The more earnestly Gandhi pursued his religious beliefs, the deeper his love for humanity grew.
This love made it all the more impossible for him to ignore the political realities that shaped people's lives. At the same time, contact with these political realities strengthened his conviction that nothing is more essential than the love for humanity that religious faith can inspire. He walked the middle way.
(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and
Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)
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".
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.
(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and
Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)
