Section 17 To Section -19

Peace for International Understanding

* Mrs. S. Venkateswari

Introduction

� Our goal is peace now-this very instant. It is control to our happiness that our years, long or short, be free of anger and that our body be used as a means of giving others the gift of kindness. � Dr. Gerald G. Jampblsky.

� I think you cannot speak about peace, you cannot be a peacemaker if you are not at peace with yourself and if you do not have peace in the first social unit for which you are responsible-your own family.� – Robert Muller.

�Peace is what everyone seeks; but it can never be secured from the outside world.� The millionaires are harassed by fear and anxiety. Accumulation of riches or power cannot endow Peace. Right or wrong whatever a man thinks or does is with the intention of attaining peace and happiness. By Peace, Western countries mean the interval between two wars, when vigorous efforts are made to avenge the insult of defeat and consolidate the spoils of victory and prepare for the next round: that is no Peace !

Peace can be a reality for each of us if we have faith in our innate power to be good, to do good and see good. When man thinks good and speaks good and does good peace will ensure tranquility one can experience peace only when there is an emotional equilibrium. Emotional conflict can never withstand the truth and righteousness.

� Peace can come only from the fountain of peace, within. �

Before describing the title of the article. � Peace, the cry of mankind �, we must know about the significance of the today world situation present today.

Significance of the world situation present today. Viewed historically, the present state has been brought about by the enormous strides made in the evolution of the mind of the human race as a whole, especially during the past two centuries, There has been a tremendous acceleration of change brought about especially by development in science and technology. These developments have also resulted in corresponding changes in man�s views about the world in which he lives, the kind of fife he leads, the political, social institutions which condition and control him, etc. The revolutions such as printing, wireless and television supplemented by satellites have opened new worlds to him and he is exposed to a flood of ideas from which he was deprived before. The contemporary man, ever in the villages, is not isolated from the world. Events anywhere affect him directly or indirectly, the world has literally shrunk in time, thanks to the communications revolution. Apart from human dignity which is upheld today, moral principles like corruption and nepotism ( Favouritism shown to one�s relatives by giving appointments etc. ) are debated in public and even a powerful president bows down to the power of public opinion. These are all assets and positive aspects of the contemporary world which we should not lose sight of.

Causes for Peace in World situation present today

Now-a-days, due the atomic power, destruction and bloodshed, humanity is desperately looking for a way out of the deathtrap. It craves life instead of death. It wants peace in place of war. Humanity needs love instead of hatred.

� World dreams of a better humanity, of greater wisdom, of a finer cultural mantle for its body than the bloody rags of its robot civilisation. � writes Pritprim A.

Dr. Alexis Carrel, the Nobel Prize winner, U. S. A. writes in his thought-provoking book �Man, the unknown,� in the chapter � Remaking of man, � has not modern life decreased the intelligence and the morality of the whole nation? Why must we pay several million dollars each year to fight criminals? Why do the gangsters continue victoriously to attack banks, kill police, mar, kidnap, or assassinate children inspite of the immense amount of money spent on them. . . Doesn�t the world crisis depend on individual and social factors that are more important than the economic ones? It is to be hoped that the spectacle of civilization at the beginning of its decline compels us to ascertain whether the causes of the catastrophe are not within ourselves, as well as in our institutions and that we �II fully realise the imperativeness of our renovation. �

The foregoing sample of the warnings given by serious thinkers, lend a firm support to our own feelings of the desperate situation in which humanity lives today.

Love is the rare article today ! There is no love in the home, between father and son, between husband and wife, between brother and brother. Living has become very artificial. Men are moving in fear, not knowing what might happen to them at the next step.

Man, with leading of a demon, fuming with hate, engaged in fighting, holds Peace Conferences and, finds himself on his planes for Peace ! What can mere talk achieve?

Those, who plan for the nation to day are planning only for roads, dams, factories and farms. They ignore the path ; of the spirit to fields where love, humanity, service and ! sacrifice can be cultivated.

Man is now able to soar into outer space and reach upto the moon. Earth and sky are his play grounds. But though he is intelligent enough to sail through space and under the sea and shoot bombs across continents, he is not moral enough to live at peace with his neighbour;

� Money comes and goes;

But morality ?

It comes and grows !

Lack of morality, lack of loving nature, hatred tendency towards other religions, caste, creed, over desire, unwanted and undesirable desires, greedy, narrow outlook of others, self esteem and self ego even when one is educated, they cry for peace and they cry from their heart. From the Prime Minister down to the beggar, all ask for peace and aspire for peace. Peace can�t be manufactured by industrial undertakings.

These are all the causes for world peace in the present world situation. And that is why the Peace is required in the present today world.

Man himself desires peace and rushes towards destruction. Destroying others, he destroys himself.

Foundation for Real Peace

Humanity comprises millions and millions of human individuals scattered all over the world. Today the problem is vastly different and immensely complex for correcting human beings, yet there are also many favourable signs the chief of which is the great awakening in almost the whole of mankind to a sense of world basis of human values.

Human values are of five basic types viz. :

Human values

1. Truth, :

2. Righteous conduct , :

3. Peace, : Essence of Life

4. Love, :

5. Non-violence. :

When there is human intellect naturally it leads to find the truth. The truth in action is righteous conduct. Peace is the end or purpose of all human endeavour, What is equally important is to recognise that nothing in this universe is ever responsible for all sense of peace which he has. It is only when our internal emotional system is disturbed that restlessness and confusion find home. By efforts we can certainly avoid such emotional problems, Love is a source of energy which each individual transmits and receives every moment. It affects all forms of life. Life becomes simpler and more enjoyable, when one experiences that love is not selfishness and it lives by giving and forgiving. Non-violence is the might of human achievement and perfection. It is the universal love that goes beyond our notion with fallow beings and embraces all living and non-living things.

These 5 human values must start at the right-age,

2 Human Values in Education in Bringing about Peace

Merely, acquiring knowledge is not education but change in children�s behaviour or character is the most precious gift of education. So in schools proper moral education should be given. Children are the crops growing in the fields to yield the harvest on which the nation has to sustain itself.

So it is important to consider the role of teachers, parents and the external environment, called society. The teacher is the most important asset to the school. He should be a model for the children. He has to understand the children�s problem and according to their age, behaviour, individual caring of the children he has to teach moral values like patience, happiness, contentment, honesty which will lead them to peace.

Children learn more from their home. Parents should be model for them and they should not misguide the child. They have to provide healthy environment and they have to fulfil the children�s physical and educational needs.

� Education must teach a person what life is and its goal. It must purify the heart and clarify the vision. It must promote virtues and ravine the morale and spiritual standards of the educated. �

Role of Society :

Transformation of the world is to be achieved through the transformation of the individual. There is world-wide recognition among thinking people that the future of humanity lies in developing the powers of mind. All religions are the facets of the �ONE� reality. Nobody seriously accepts, to day that one religion is superior to another or that God has specially favoured any race in preference to others. It is also recognised that merely being born into a religion does not confer wisdom. Pride in the achievement of science and technology have given place to recognition and the limitations of reason and also cognition that there are worlds beyond the limitation of our senses. There is great interest all over the world in understanding the immense powers of the human mind.

Even though due to desire the individuals of the society get weakened in their minds that affects the peace so that desire must be uprooted. Desire involves seeking beyond the limits of possibility. Man must give up the desire for objective pleasure, based on illusion that the world is manifold, multicolored, etc. and not on the truth that in the world nature all creation is � ONE. � and

Foundation for real peace, according to the Vedas, is quality of Maithree. It means amicability, Friendship, Compassion, Kindness. That is to say, my word, deed and thought shall be in accordance with thy word, thought and deed.

As Jesus said,-

� Love thy neighbour,

as thyself. �

� If there is righteousness in the heart, there�ll be beauty in character. If there is beauty in character, there will be harmony in the home. When there is harmony in the home there�ll be order in the nation. When there is order in the nation, there will be peace in the world.

So, prejudices against others on the basis of caste, creed, colour and mode of worship, should be avoided.

Conclusion :

The peace of the world depends on peace and amity nations among, The peace of a nation depends on the peace between the concomitants units-the villages, the families and finally, the individuals of each family. So, every individual has the responsibility to love others, have faith in them and revere them as sparks of The Divine. Everyone has to cultivate the virtues of tolerance, forbearance and brotherhood.