Om Shanti!
I am sure that most of you are familiar with this word “Om
Shanti”. Om is the first written letter by the
God. Then comes the word Shanti which
literally means Peace. When we join both
these words, it becomes “God is Peace or God of Peace”. I am aware that some of the people gathered
here do not believe in God or in different God but if we look around this beautiful Universe, called Nature, we do
realize that it is creation of some super architect. Believing in Nature is like believing in God.
Ayuwovan or Namaskar also means that I bow in
front of the Supreme intellect which is present in your soul.
From today i.e the day of annual International Peace, this Centre
is starting a campaign of World Peace till the 21st of December,
2012. Even Mahatma Gandhi Centre is Sri Lanka is celebrating World
Peace Day today. His birthday on October
the 2nd is also celebrated as World Non-Violence Day by the United
Nations. You may think what can I as an
individual do to achieve World Peace. It
is not possible for me to change anything when the international politics is
not in the hands of few individuals. But
at our own level, our world is our families, our near and dear one and the
people who are around us, like our neighbours and the people of this city. This campaign is being organized all over the
world by Brahma Kumaries who have presence in almost all the major cities of
the world as well as all over in India. So the collective exercise of all of us
will definitely help in creating an atmosphere of world peace.
I am sure many of you are aware of the doomsday predictions by
Mayan civilization which says that the whole world will come to an end on
December 21, 2012 because their calendar is not dated beyond it. According to
them the human history of 5126 years will be over on this day. Is it possible
that the entire universe can be finished just in one day or even a week. I do not think so. But it does indicate one thing that we will be
witnessing a transition period. It is
our choice to accept or resist the transition.
The thought of devastation, war,
killing others in the name of religion, or establishment of a different set of
philosophy, is the culmination of the negative energies and what can we do to stop
it. We can all put our efforts to send
positive energy and by keeping our mind focused on peaceful thoughts. Can anyone make you angry, if you do not want
yourself to be angry? We become angry when
we are detached from our basic quality of being in peace. When we react to something, we act in the
same emotion. Like we nourish the garden plants every day, it should be our
endevour to nourish our soul every day for some minutes by reminding ourselves
that the basic nature of our soul is peaceful. We have to continuously remind
ourselves of our inherent quality so that it is cemented in our psyche. If we are at peace with ourselves, we not only
radiates peace around us but also make those people peaceful who come in
contact with us. Have you ever noticed
that when you go to your spiritual guru, who is at peace with himself, all your
anger and resentments goes out of your mind.
That is the power of a peaceful soul.
A monk sitting in deep meditation is not attacked even by animals
because he is in the peaceful trance and that power radiates around him. Even
animals can smell that energy.
In this world people are so engrossed in their own thoughts
& changing lifestyles that they have no time or inclination to see the
reality of disparity and discontentment all around them. We all wish, our lives to be peaceful but what we fail to
realize is that, if we want peace, we have to learn to live peacefully within
us and with others around us. Mahatma
Gandhi said “ You must be the change you wish
to see in this world”. If I want
peace, I cannot rely on anyone else to bring it
because it all starts with me. We
all have to remember that there is no way to peace but the peace inside our
soul is the only way to spread the message.
It is true that we cannot control other people’s action, or
what is happening in and around us but we can always work on ourselves by carefully
watching our own emotions. Who will
determine my state of mind? It may look
like a stupid question but the fact is that only I have the power to decide
what state of mind I want to have at that particular moment. If I want to be peaceful and happy I can
always control my emotions and let nothing disturb my mental peace.
We all know that whatever goes out from you, in the world, comes back to you, many fold at some
later stage. If we send love and
affection to others, soon we start getting love and affections of so many
people around us. Sending positive vibrations to others in like depositing your
money into a bank. I am sure you must
have heard of Mother Teresa. Do you know how much love she got from millions of
people, all over the world, by providing selfless service to lepers in the city
of Kolkatta. Did
she serve every person who sends her, his love to her. Of course,not. It was people’s blessing for her noble soul.
Her mind realized that serving the needy is a service to God himself. She used to say that “if you judge people,
you will have no time to love them”.
Many people believe that by donating
money to a noble cause, the money also comes back with people’s blessings and
their wealth multiplies. Look around at any genuinely rich person, and you will
come to know why he is so rich. This is
also one of the reasons why rich families donate money for noble causes. On the same principle, when we send peaceful silent
messages to other human beings, the peace in fact returns to us also. When we do it on an individual basis the
results are limited but when we do it collectively, the results are also
manifold. You must have seen collective
prayers in Kovils and how much positive energy it gives to the people who are
performing those Poojas? Everyone comes out with a sense of achievement.
The Brahma Kumaries started their journeys in 1930s from Sindh
province (presently in Pakistan)
and moved to India
in after partition. They have undertaken two major
international projects; ‘The Million Minutes for Peace’ in 1986 for which they
received 7 Peace Messenger Awards and ‘Global Cooperation for a Better World’
in 1988.
The organization now has hundreds of
branches internationally and was awarded 7 UN Peace Messenger Awards 1987 for
its co-ordination of the ‘Million Minutes of Peace’ project.
This is the only organization in the
world, which I know, where almost all the top posts are held by women. It’s mission has been global peace and only
peace but nothing else.
I have been seeing this organization
since the last 50 years or so. They have
a worldwide presence, provide spiritual educations through its spiritual universities
and have millions of followers all over the world. They have never entered into the political
sphere or advocated violence in any of its outreach centres. Their main aim is to make everyone aware of
who he is, what is his purpose on this planet, how can he uplift his soul
through meditation and awareness.
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