World Peace from Inner Peace

‘Peace’ –What a beautiful word! But do you have it? Can anyone in this World truthfully claim that he/she is living in peace? You can say that you are living peacefully compared to your neighbor. But that is only a relative comparison. In reality none of us are living peacefully. Let us consider any types of people, whether they are students, teachers, researchers, scientists, politicians, businessmen, believers, atheists, world leaders or monks. Are they living peacefully? If any of these groups are living peacefully, then it is easy for you and me to attain it. We just have to follow that group. But that is not happening. The world is not so peaceful. Why? Because for a peaceful world, first the individual should attain peace, then the community and the country. Then only we can think about World Peace. If we cannot find peace within ourselves, we will never find it anywhere else. Here we are briefly discussing about the importance of religions in attaining World Peace.

‘Religion’ is one of the most criticized and misinterpreted word. Let us look around!  Are we all separated by the barriers of religions? More than that, are we considering our religion superior to others? Yes, right? “Religion is the opium of the people" is one of the most frequently paraphrased statements which is received and cherished by even the most modern community. So basically there are two groups – religious and non-religious. Why some people consider religions as bad? Let us think about it first.

Sugarcane is one of the most commonly used plants in this world. It is mainly used in producing sugar which is one of the most popular commodities. What about molasses? It is also a by-product in the refining of sugarcane and it is the principal ingredient in the distillation of rum. Can we blame the sugarcane for the rum which is making our lives miserable? We can’t. Because anything can be used properly or improperly, wisely or unwisely, rightly or wrongly. It depends on who is using it. This is also suitable in the case of religions. If a medicine which can be used for soothing out our troubles is used wrongly for creating troubles, then is it the problem of the medicine or the user? Religions, which are actually preaching peace, are nowadays used by uncanny individuals for dividing people and sowing the seeds of hatred between believers. This is the reason for most of the troubles pertaining in this world.

In that case, there arises another question! Are our religious leaders living peacefully? If they are not living peacefully then how could their followers attain peace? The answer for these questions is very simple. The religious gurus, whom we considered as the embodiment of religion, are not truly aware of their own religion. They do not understand their religious doctrines properly and are interpreting it for their existence. Those who differentiate various religions merely based on the customs and rituals do not understand the truth. It should not be evaluated on the basis of external appearances of their believers. In fact, each religion comprises of an external and internal level. Since different religions had originated at different parts of the world at different periods, they surely differ in their external levels. The customs and rituals of a religion will be based on the period or group of people in which it originated. But the core of a religion is not based on the customs or rituals. It depends on the religious doctrines. 

So, it is really important to understand the religious doctrines of a religion properly. For that, each religion should give importance to teach their believers, the doctrines of their religion rather than mere customs and rituals. But that is not easy. Because it is difficult to understand the doctrines. If you want to climb to a certain height, you need a ladder of that much length. For understanding the doctrines and to preach it, you should reach at the level of its creator. Any misinterpretation of the doctrines will lead to ignorance and hatred between the believers and so this is a serious issue. Unfortunately in all religions we can see this.

As you know, different religions have their own ‘Holy books’. But unfortunately the interpretation of these books by some unqualified individuals leads to different groups within a religion who are opposing each other. This will definitely become a threat to World Peace. Ultimately, for attaining peace, we have to deal with various religions and the opposing groups within each religion. This makes the situation more complex.

For solving these issues, the first thing we should do is to study our own religious doctrines properly. Then without keeping any preconception, we should try to understand other religions. If we study other religions without discriminating them, then we will definitely be surprised to see some striking similarities in their doctrines. If we study them deeply, we will ultimately reach a level in which the whole world is seen as one single community. If we couldn’t reach at that level, then we can definitely conclude that there are some mistakes in your perceptions which need to be changed.

“Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” is a famous verse in the Holy Bible. Will anybody mention that this is not applicable for me since I have no neighbor? I don’t think so! Then who is our neighbor? The verse is not as “Thou shalt love thy neighbor Christian as thyself”. We cannot even think that, The Messenger of Peace, Jesus is mentioning to love only your Christian neighbor when he utters this verse. So it is definitely pointing towards the whole world. Each and every living being in this world is considered as our neighbor. You can find a similar verse in Holy Quran. “Do good to others, surely Allah loves those who do good to others.” The Prophet who advised us to love all our fellow beings for attaining God’s love definitely had a wide vision. We cannot think that he is a narrow minded person who was mentioning about Muslims only. There is a similar verse in Hindu doctrines also. “lokah samastah sukhino bhavantu” is a famous quote from our ancient Indian philosophers. May all beings everywhere be happy and free, and may the thoughts, words, and actions of my own life contribute in some way to that happiness and to that freedom for all. These doctrines are not preaching any discrimination between the people. Then why should we?

Another important hadith in Islam is like this – “Allah does not look at your figures, nor at your attire but He looks at your hearts.” What a meaningful verse! The God is not looking at your costumes, but your heart. By putting all your religious garments, you cannot hide your heart from God. He cares only your deeds. This verse definitely criticizes the importance of religious customs and rituals, your social status and all your worldly possessions. The Holy Bible says, “you should not be like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness.” There are people wearing good and precious clothes and talk well, but inside having all wickedness and cruelty. Jesus called those people as whitewashed tombs. Tombs are always decorated outside but inside it contain dead people’s bones and all kinds of filth. Don’t you see the notable similarity between the Biblical and Quranic Quotes?

“Jatilo mundi lunchitakeshah

Kaashaayaambara bahukritaveshah

Pasyannapi cha na pasyati moodho

Hiudaranimitam bahukritaveshah”

Meaning : -One ascetic with matted hair, one with tonsured head, one with hair plucked out, one disguised in many ways in ochre robes. They are fools who, though seeing, do not see. The many disguises are only to feed the stomach.

In the above verse of ‘Sri Sankaracharya’, those people who are wearing the religious costumes and acts as scholars for their living are strongly criticized. In Vedanta, the external appearances are not considered to be important and what valued most is the inner knowledge.

ye yathā māḿ prapadyante
tāḿs tathaiva bhajāmy aham
mama vartmānuvartante
manuṣyāḥ pārtha sarvaśaḥ

Meaning :- Howsoever men approach me, even so do I reward them; my path do men follow in all things, O son of Pritha.

The above sloka of Bhagwat Gita, clearly indicates that in whatever way people seek God, he reward them all. There are no exceptions. Because, all of us follows the path of the God who exists in all forms. In this verse you can see the convergence of all religions. You can believe in whatever religion you like. But try to know other religious doctrines and understand them. Then you will definitely come to know that all of them have the same basic principles. If we study only our religious doctrines then we may start thinking that our religion is superior to others and then there start discrimination and hatred between the different religious believers.

Let us think it in a different way. In this world, all our problems can be categorized into three. 

1. Diseases or some other misfortunes. 
2. Aging 
3. Death

I think everybody will agree with this. So if we believe in any of these religions can we keep these three inevitable away? Or in other words, if there is a religion where the believers are free from these three problems we all will definitely embrace that religion. But do you find such a religion anywhere? Believers of all our religions are getting diseased, aged and dying. So how can we consider our religion superior to others? The salvation which the different religions preach is actually pointing towards the freedom from these three miseries. For that we should be good at heart while following our religious rituals and customs.

‘Aham Brahmāsmi’ (I’m the Infinite Reality) is one of the four mahavakyas mentioned in Upanishads for explaining the unity of macrocosm and microcosm. But does anyone of us have the quality to be the part of the God or even the Son of the God? Jesus said, “If ye had known me, ye would have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. I and my Father are one.” These words will come only from a person who had attained a level in which the secret of this universe is revealed. Those words, I and my Father are one -  Aham Brahmāsmi, is uttered at the ultimate level of knowledge. But those who couldn’t reach that level of Jesus had misunderstood his words and start misinterpreting. The similarities of these different religious principles can be observed only if we start to look at it without any prejudice. Then only there will be an understanding between the religions and ultimately peace in this world. 

Presently, most of the human beings are tied up by the religions. Our religions don’t allow us to study other religious doctrines. We even don’t know our religion properly. Still we are thinking that ours is superior to others. These thoughts will later develop a conception that all other religious believers are trying to destroy our religion and so we have to protect ours. This leads to conflicts. 

Whenever there is a decay of virtues in any part of this world, in any country, in any group of people, there arise philosophers, scholars, social reformers and prophets to bring us back to the right path. They all came for the protection of good. But some of us misinterpreted their messages. That leads to the separation between different people. If each one of us is ready to break our religious boundaries and act for the betterment of the society, we could be able to get near to our hopes – The World Peace.

 Somadas