War and Violence

[Guest guest]

On War and Violence

by Sri Swami Satchidananda

Your first duty is to find the peace in you. If you root yourself in

your peace and then lend your hand, you will certainly bring peace.

If not, you will only add more and more to the peaceless condition.

 

Violence cannot stop violence. A war can never really be won by

violence alone. The mind must be changed. A violent victory only

means that you have handicapped your enemy. He is still your enemy

and the peace is only temporary. You have covered the fire so it

doesn't show now, but it is still inside and one day it will flare

up again.

 

When you win a war with your power, your enemy simply retreats and

waits for an opportunity to strike back at you. You have won the war

but not the heart. Real victory is to win the heart, not just the

land or the political power.

 

Yoga tells you that your own peaceful thoughts will bring results.

In the name of Yoga, we try to collect the mind and send out

peaceful vibrations. A sincere thought will travel all over the

world. It is more than an atomic bomb, it's more than a missile.

 

Even if you don't believe in God or prayer, sit and say, "Let there

be peace. Let the minds of the people who want war be changed." We

believe in thought force. Because it is the very same thought force

that creates war. Remember that. It is the human mind that creates

all these bombs, all these wars.

 

If you still want a war, fight it against undesirable thinking, not

against a nation of people. And to fight such a war, you have to

send out beautiful thoughts. Make every thought a powerful anti

missile. Sit quietly and send out powerful peaceful thoughts. I'm

not joking - it is possible. Even one minute spent in peace is

valuable. Don't think, "When our brothers are dying, how can we sit

quietly and think of peace?" This crazy world is, in a way,

stabilized because of people sitting for a few minutes in meditation

every day. Know that.

 

Don't ever think that by raising your hand or throwing a bomb or

shouting something you can help the situation. Do it in a nonviolent

way. Don't hurt anybody, don't hate anybody. As long as you have

hatred in your mind, you are unfit to talk of peace.

 

An excerpt from Beyond Words.

 

Source: www.yogaville.org