A world of peace Joy and harmony
March 2009
By Suma Varughese
In an interview with Dada Vaswani, we explore the rationale for the new world order and examine what lies ahead for us and why?
Is there a new spiritual culture on the anvil? What is the evidence? When will it come about?
I believe that we are standing on the threshold of a New Age. A new type of society will be born. We have tried different types. None of them has seemed to work. We had capitalism, which gave to man all that his labour brought him. Then we tried socialism, which said, do not take all; share something with others. Then came communism, which went a step further and said you take only what you need and give the rest to the society. However, none of them has seemed to work – because none of them has roots in the spirit. Lastingness belongs to the Spirit. And we shall now have spiritual socialism. All we are and have will be offered to and will belong to God. We shall only be trustees. I would go a step further and say that all we have and all we are will be regarded as a loan given to us to be passed on to those whose need is greater than ours.
A spiritualized society will consist of men who are spiritual. A spiritual man is he who is guided by the spirit, not by his mind or his ego. A man who is controlled by his senses is a brute animal. A man controlled by his mind or his ego is an ordinary human being. A man guided by the spirit is what the Gita calls a ‘sthitaprajna’ or a ‘trigunatita’ – one who has gone beyond the three gunas.
When this will come about, is difficult to determine. For in human affairs there are no clocks, no calendars. It all depends on us.
What will be the wellspring of this new culture?
The wellspring of this new culture will be the spirit, the soul. No longer will we be guided by the ego, the empiric self. The ego has had its chance. It has blundered; it has bungled. It has built up a civilisation of wars and violence, of hatred and strife. The one need of humanity today is a new culture of love and peace and joy. This will happen when man’s selfishness departs and he is governed by the spirit. Then man will realise that it is not he who is doing anything. Today, wherever you turn, there is the play of ‘I’. I did this. I did that. I gave this. I gave that. I achieved this. I achieved that.
In a spiritualised society, nothing will belong to the individual. Everything will belong to the Divine. Everything will be done – achieved – by the spirit. If I speak, it is the spirit speaking through me. If I do anything, the spirit is doing it through me.
How will we solve the problem of governance? How can we get a system that works for all?
Everyone can flourish only in an environment of unity; I and my brother, my neighbour and I, are one. This will happen only when the selfish ego departs and the spirit takes charge. For this, we need a new type of education – an education which is not inspired by sordid selfishness but which is directed by men and women of light, men and women of illumination. Such education will emphasise the truth that life is larger than livelihood and that the end of knowledge is not jobs and careers, not gains in silver and gold but service and sacrifice.
How will we earn a living?
By the sweat of our brow – and by absolute faith in Providence. God has provided for birds, animals and insects. Will he not provide for you?
What kind of leisure and entertainment activities will we see?
Those that will relax the body and elevate the soul at the same time. Movies of heroes and holy men – prophets and saints of east and west, their lives and their teachings.
How will we live?
Outwardly, there may or may not appear a change. The Spiritual Revolution is essentially an inward movement.
How will the environment fare?
The vision of the spirit is the vision of the One-in-all – the One in men and birds and animals, in creatures that breathe the breath of life, in living and non-living things, in earth and sky, in rivers and rocks, in stones and stars, in galaxies and nebulae (stellar universes in the making), in all that is. When we learn to live by this vision, all our systems will naturally be environment-friendly.
Can we really have a world of peace, joy and harmony?
Truth is stronger than untruth. Light is stronger than darkness. Peace, joy and harmony are stronger than strife, sorrow and disharmony. Surely, the time will come when we shall truly have a world of peace, joy and harmony.
What must we do to bring it about?
My hope is not in politics. My hope is in education. But education, as I said, should be of a new type, directed and inspired by men and women of light and illumination. We must begin with the child! In addition, we who are eager to see the Great Transformation – we should be ready to take a leap. We should be ready to break away from the past. We should try to see the Divine in everyone we meet, in every experience of joy and sorrow that comes to us, in everything around us. So let us pray: “May all things, living and non-living, be full of peace and bliss. May those that love me and those that for some reason or the other are unable to love me, may all be happy and full of peace and bliss!”
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