Work for Peace

Cities have become stormy seas agitated with violent waves, and the residents move in tossing boats surrounded by darkness. For these desperate people, the spiritual ideal shining bright is the only guide to safety. The countryside is fast getting tinted by the culture of the cities and distress is spreading everywhere. This is the spirit of the times. Entangled in this spirit, man accumulates all types of desires in his mind, and when he cannot fulfill them, he becomes desperate and his life ends in unspeakable distress. Man forgets that his innermost desire which has to be cherished is the desire for God and for Self realisation. All others are mean and meaningless. Man has been endowed with the power of discrimination between the essentially good and the superficially pleasant, but he does not cultivate that faculty and benefit from it. The Pandava brothers were highly fortunate. The eldest Dharmaraja, rose to be the Emperor. The second was the indomitable Bhima, armed with the terrible mace. The third was Arjuna, son of the Lord of the Gods, Indira. The Lord poured His Grace on Arjuna and deigned to serve him in battle as his Charioteer! In spite of all these advantages, they were subjected to the severest tragedies in life. What is the lesson that their lives teach? No one can predict which calamity will overtake whom at what time. Everything lies in the Will of Providence:it all happens according to the Divine Plan. Where exactly does God reside? He is everywhere, in all beings. He is termed omniscient. Really speaking, He is Love, and Love pervades everywhere. That is all we need to know. There is no being without a trace of love. Love leads to ananda, pure and lasting. Many seek this ananda through relations with individuals: others try to attain it by amassing fame,power,riches etc: a few attempt to gain it by renunciation of material possessions and the desire for worldly pleasures. Detachment alone can confer ananda. The Upanishads proclaim that thyaga alone can grant Amirthatwa( Renunciation alone can bring about the Bliss of Immortality.) One has to ignore all bonds of kinship and comradeship: one has to give up all attachment and affection, and in the heart thus liberated, one has to install God in all His Glory. This is the only means to earn everlasting, undiminished Ananda.