CHENNAI: Today, each one of us is seeking peace. The prime reason for this is our dilemma and difficulty to survive in a world that offers little rest, and where peace comes in rare interludes. All over the world, NGOs are holding peace marches, people in power are trying to overcome lawlessness, security agencies are trying to conquer terror, environmentalists are aiming at natural harmony, and yet peace remains elusive, mainly because the momentum of the world is such that it is not easy to establish peace.
The reason peace is absent from some parts of the world is because of racial prejudice or because of hatred built on the basis of caste, colour, creed or sex.
Peace is missing in international relations because there is prejudice among nations built on difference in their economic or political systems. These prejudices of various kinds give rise to ideological intolerance, linguistic chauvinism, racial feud, religious fanaticism and national jingoism. It is these which make co-existence difficult or even impossible. When due to prejudice of some kind, a person or a nation ridicules another person/nation, then, this attitude of the former creates feelings of revenge in the consciousness of the person or nation ridiculed.
So, if we want to liquidate war and violence, and desire lasting and real peace, we must make an earnest effort to free ourselves from prejudice. If we want to be happy, we must give up hatred. We have to make, once for all, a clear choice between hatred and happiness or between prejudice and peace? For this, we need to realise that if other people do what seems strange and irrational to us, our ways and ideas may also seem even queerer to them.
Also we should not forget that different people live in different circumstances and they have been reared in different environments. So, we must have an attitude of respect for their beliefs and ways: we should look upon them as different kinds of flowers in this vast garden called world. So, for universal peace, what we must first have is universal goodwill because goodwill is pivotal to peace. While disarmament, removing environmental pollution, etc. are essential for building a peaceful world, let us bear in mind that none of these objects can be achieved without goodwill and without respect for others.
But how can there be goodwill if there is prejudice or hatred? If, therefore, happiness is our goal, let hatred go from our minds; if we wish to have peace, let us shun prejudices and accept everyone with a big heart.
— Rajyogi Brahmakumar Nikunj