PRAYING FOR PEACE

 

THE REAL WAR IS WITHIN THE INDIVIDUAL

All the wars in the world are faked. By being fake, I mean that the wars are based upon economics. All the wars in the past, too, the basis was nothing else but economics: to create greater markets, to provide more employment when unemployment becomes rife, to try to stabilize the economy or the country’s deficit, and war balances that. Wars will always be created in this world. There have always been wars. Every so many years pass, and there is a war.

But the real war I am concerned about is the war within the individual man, how to resolve the conflicts within oneself. So often, I use the analogy that it is the nature of a flower to be beautiful, which is not the only thing it does. It also enhances the beauty of the garden. So, leave the politicians and their economics alone and their greed for power. It will always go on. Even in Krishna’s time, the war of the Kurukshetra between the Kauravas and the Pandavas was contrived by greed and possession. Even during the development of Christianity, millions of people were killed. You know the story of the crusaders, the crusades, even in Islam, where they ruled and conquered with the sword to develop the organization. I have stopped calling them churches anymore. Organizations. Business systems. That is what they are.

PRAYING FOR PEACE

Man must be concerned more about the conflicts that rage within himself, and that is why we have our spiritual practices and the little understanding which I might be able to give you: theory and practice. We have our spiritual practices that reduce the conflict, the inner conflict, that is there. By gaining a more robust and deeper understanding, we can see things differently, reducing disputes. The greatest war that one has to confront is the war that rages within oneself.

But at the same time, we also pray for the world’s peace. But our prayers become invalidated because we are not at peace in ourselves. But it is always good to pray for world peace. Many countries have a day of prayer for world peace. Send out good thoughts, good loving vibrations, and some effect will come. But if you think there will be no more wars in the world, that there will be an age of enlightenment, that is not true. That will never happen. There has never been an age of enlightenment because we are a small space in this vast continuum.

THE SPIRITUAL FORCE IS SO NECESSARY

As highly evolved souls pass away from this planet, not necessarily enlightened souls, but highly evolved souls for whom this planet does not become or remain conducive for their spiritual growth, they go to another world with higher beings. Other planets have more evolved beings than what we have here.

In this world, at this moment, there are very few enlightened men. Very few. You can count them on the fingers of your one hand. One or two of them are active, and the others are not. You are just waiting for their bodies to fall off. That is all. But you will be surprised how much this is necessary, how much spiritual force they exert in this world to bring some sort of balance, although not total balance. The odds are too great.

QUARRELING DURING THE TIMES OF CHRIST

During the time of Christ, you also found all the quarrelling masses. He was the most despised man on earth. His people rejected him. The Sadducees, the Pharisees, Sanhedrins, the Romans, the works. What a tremendous spiritual Force he was. If he were not so great, his teachings would not have lasted until today. Because of his great spiritual force, he had to undergo all the suffering. Because he was an enlightened man, his evolution was too advanced for ordinary people to understand. They condemned him because he used to wine and dine with the Pharisees and the money lenders. They used to condemn him, and even his closest disciples used to be so jealous of him when he was so close to Mary Magdalene. This was discovered in some new scroll they found, and there was a series of articles in The Observer, a paper published in England.

They could not understand him. How could they? How can you see what is on top of a twenty-story building if you are not standing on another twenty-story building? If you are standing on the sidewalk, you will have a very slanted view and can never see what is on top. But these great men never defend themselves; they say what they want to. They will just go marching on like an elephant marching down the road, and there could be a hundred dogs barking, and he does not care. Let them bark. I go on and do my work. That was the attitude of Jesus.

QUARRELING DURING THE TIMES OF KRISHNA

Same thing with Krishna. He was a great statesman. Strategy, he was instrumental in creating that war of Kurukshetra between the Kauravas and the Pandavas. Of course, this could be literally or historically explained, and that could also be symbolically explained. But the truth forever remains the truth. The truth will always triumph, and how much dust gathers on the diamond, it must sometime blow off and shine in its full glory to all those that can see. They shall see.

IT IS IMPORTANT TO LESSEN THE CONFLICT WITHIN OURSELVES

So, the object is to find or to lessen the conflict that rages within ourselves. That is important. For these wars will always be created—all the time. There will never come a time of peace. There is a war going on, a world war going on, but a cold war that is even more dangerous than an actual war. These governments are trying to create all kinds of inventions, inventions of destruction. They want to preserve peace by fear that: “I have such and such a weapon. So, if you attack me, I am going to destroy you.” Fear. When peace should be preserved with love. Do you see how the world is going? Instead of encouraging love, they encourage fear, and those are the ways of the world. Let it carry on. Let us evolve ourselves. Get rid of wars within us by spiritual practices, better understanding, opening up the heart, and becoming love.

LET US ALL BE LOVE

Someone asked me, “Guruji, do you love?” I said, “What? I love? No, I do not love it. I am love.” Let us all be loved, and it is possible for everyone. It is around the corner. Open that door. Open the window; the fresh air will come in. Keep it closed; the fresh air cannot go in there. It is an unfoldment, an opening, an awakening.

… Gururaj Ananda Yogi: Satsang US 1982 – 05