LET THERE BE PEACE….and let it begin with me!

Peace is another name for steadiness of the mind. Peace is a sacred virtue; it is the embodiment of the Self. It is an ornament to man; the heart of the selfless one is its abode. Accumulation of riches and power cannot endow peace. Peace can come only from the fountain of peace within.

So how do we attain that inner peace (Shanti)? By knowing that we are the Atma, which has no birth or death, no joy or grief, no up and no down. Faith in the fact that we are only an instrument in His hands for the execution of His plan, is the key to genuine peace. Baba reminds us that only when God is the goal and guide can there be real peace. World peace can be achieved only by people investigating their inner world, removing the junk therein and setting evil urges at rest.

The foundation for real peace is, according to the Vedas, the quality of Maithree. Maithree means amicability, friendship, compassion, and kindness. It can also be taken to mean, "My Three" that is to say, my word, deed and thought shall be in accordance with words, thought and deed; that is to say; we shall speak, think and act together, without friction or faction, in an atmosphere of love and understanding.

Baba says that we must discover our identity in order to have peace. We have forgotten our name, address and mission in life. We need to realise this and try to delve deep into ourselves so that we may know who we are. Then only will we get security and peace. Perfect peace means the type of peace derived as a result of the absence of desire, anger, greed and hatred. Peace must be expressed in feeling, word, posture and action; also in mind and the performance of duty, all in uniform measure. Only then does peace becomes perfect, the highest and most stable type. Genuine peace is won by control of senses. Pure love can emanate only from a heart immersed in peace. The realisation that "Everything is God" will then become natural to us.

So how do we learn to do this? Baba is always reminding us that we have to begin with ourselves. How often have we tried to change our siblings, our parents, our children, our partners, our friends, etc? What we discover, at some point along the way, is that we cannot change anyone else. We can only change ourselves, and then hopefully we become a "role model". We teach by our example.

So if we want to have a more peaceful existence with our family, our neighbours, our world, then we must start with having peace within ourselves. When we start by making inner peace our priority, we find that we are enmeshed in fewer situations where anger and resentment are the rule. We choose peace over gossip, anger, frustration, getting even, and holding a grudge. When we make our inner harmony the priority in our life, many things lose importance. We do not get upset about things that are really of no consequence. Or at least if we get upset, we may get over it more quickly as soon as we remember to choose inner peace. This does not mean that we do not take actions or steps to attain our desired goal; it simply means that we do not do it with hatred and anger in our hearts.

There is no need to hang on to a grudge, since the one it hurts and upsets is the holder of the grudge energy; me, myself & I. We realise that anger hurts us more than the person it is directed to; maybe the person you are angry at has no idea you are angry, and they have gone on and are enjoying their life. Yet, you, the angry person, is the one who is miserable.

The main thing to realise is that we always have a choice; to be angry or not to be angry; to be at peace or not to be at peace. That is truly the question! There are many occasions in life where our "inner peace" is challenged. Whether it is sitting in a traffic jam while late for work, or having someone cut us off dangerously on the roads, or having someone say something to us that triggers our anger; all these situations are occasions where we are presented with a choice: peace or anger. Sometimes, we react so quickly that the angry words are out of our mouth before we have a chance to even think. Yet, there is always the next moment. We have a choice about whether to continue the anger, to prolong an argument, or to choose peace.

Choosing peace is not always easy. It involves swallowing our pride, putting our ego down a notch or two, and possibly even letting the other person feel like they "won". Yet who truly wins? The person who is eaten up inside with anger and hatred, or the person who remains at peace internally? Life becomes so much simpler when we realise that we are not a victim of our emotions and our reactions. While we may get "carried away" by them occasionally, once we realise that, then we can change the direction in which we are heading. We need to remember that we are not helpless victims. We are powerful beings who can take charge of our lives by paying attention to our thoughts, words and actions. Whatever reality we want to create in our lives, we must think it, say it, and then take the appropriate action to make it come true.

When we begin to learn anything new, whether it is singing, driving, cycling, speaking a new language, we may not get it "right" at the beginning. We learn, we practise; we make mistakes, but eventually, if we do not give up on ourselves, we do attain our goal and master the new skill. This does not mean that we are then perfect at it; as there is always more to learn. The main thing to remember is to not to feel guilty and blame ourselves for our anger. We have learned our responses to situations from our ‘inner baggage’ i.e. childhood, environment, past lives etc. Once these responses become habits, they are harder to abandon. So, it is a question of constantly "remaking the choice". It's the old story of a child learning to walk. Each time the child falls; it has to decide it wants to keep trying, even though it will fall again and again before it attains its goal.

What we need to accept is that it is a choice, our choice; which does not mean that we are "bad" when we give in to the anger. No, it is not bad; it is simply a choice we are making (perhaps unconsciously) at that instant. Yet, eventually, we will remember our commitment to inner peace, and then we will "change our mind" about choosing anger. There may occasionally be times when we do choose anger but then when we remember that our "real choice", our permanent choice is inner peace then we will begin to change our behaviour. At first it may take a few days, weeks, months or even years to change our mind, but then we will reach a point when we will choose peace a few minutes after choosing anger, and eventually, we will not choose anger at all.

It is an ongoing process and to help us on our way, Baba also recommends the regular practice of Japam, Dhyana, and Namasmarana etc. The main thing is to never give up on ourselves. We are still "under construction" and as such must give ourselves some leeway for not "having it all together". Therefore, let there be peace on earth, within each one of us…and let it begin with me…one breath at a time!