War and Peace

To truly understand the meaning of peace we must first understand war and its underlying cost. To understand war, let us try to find out about the genesis of war, from the primordial times of Mahabharata, it is the insatiable human desire to conquer and assert its supremacy over others. Mahabharata started as Prince Duryodhana wanted to dominate the Pandvas, and was not even willing to give them five villages. It was this provocation which led to the famous battle of Kurukshetra where in millions of people lost their lives just for of the lust of one man and a father’s blind love who wanted to see his son reign over the throne despite knowing it was illegitimate.

The Kalinga War (ended c. 261BCE) was fought in ancient India between the Maurya Empire under Ashoka and the state of Kalinga, an independent feudal kingdom located on the east coast, in the present-day state of Odisha and northern parts of Andhra Pradesh. The Kalinga War was one of the largest and deadliest battles in Indian history. It was fought as King Ashoka wanted to conquer the land of Kalinga. The war costed nearly 250,000 lives once again to satisfy the ego of one man and his insatiable desire to rule and plunder.

If we talk of modern history, origin of World War1 and World War 2 can also be attributed to human desire to show its supremacy over the other race, and to dominate and conquer other’s land.

From primordial times to the present time, everything remains the same, only the clock has turned.  All the people who were responsible for this war had the lust for power, control and to get their names embedded in the history books but what is the cost of registering their names in the history books. In all these wars millions were killed, many homes destroyed, many children lost their father, mothers their son and future generations destroyed. War is an apocalypse which brings with it large scale death, destruction, famine and unfathomable consequences.

The present wars are not limited to the people who are directly involved in the war, entire humanity and life on earth can be destroyed by a bombs. With nine nuclear armed nations with weapons which can go beyond the enemy lines, importance of peace cannot be overstated.

After all these wars, which caused severe death and destruction, came the realization that disputes can only be solved thru negotiations and for negotiations peace is required.

The great King Ashoka was full of remorse after seeing the massive amount of death and destruction the war caused and he adopted the path of peace and love. It is this realization which helps end every war, it is this realization in the minds of people which can lead to prosperity and progress.

The way we raise our children can prevent the future wars in a big way. Present generation of children have seen one of the most catastrophic event of the century which is Covid 19 and there are aware how much death and destruction a virus can cause to humanity.

Teaching children the ill effects of war, and the teachings of our saints can also have a lasting impact.  India which projects itself as a Vishva guru has a very important and significant role to play here.  Meditation and yoga are practiced in India since ancient times and lessons on peace were given to the world by Lord Buddha and same lessons must be taught in Indian schools.

A peaceful mind with love and care for fellow human beings is wherein there is love for fellow human beings and chances of war are minimal if every human being on earth follows the same policy. It is our mind which is actually full of malice and hatred towards others, if we can control our mind then we can control everything on the planet. A peaceful mind is what keeps us alive and awake and to the realization of live and respect for fellow human beings.

Role of leaders and teachers is most important in this scenario; it is teachers who inculcate the values in children. At Pathshala we not only look at teaching the students their course curriculum but we believe in holistic development of children. We organize Yoga and meditation sessions for our children to inculcate Indian ethos and value among our children

India has always adopted the approach of non-alignment and world must also learn from India. We are not on any side. We are on the side of peace and our future generations must also realize that and that is where role of our teachers and mentors become so important.

War is too great a price to pay for peace and India which is Vishva guru has an important role in the present world order. The nation which gave yoga and Buddha to the world must make all the nations and their heads realize that war is worthless and peace is prosperity.

Let us give peace a chance and prevent humanity from becoming history.