Inaugural Address World Peace Through Spiritual Power

Spirituality, Development and Peace

I am delighted to participate in the Session on "World Peace through Spiritual Power" organized by the Prajapita Brahmakumaris Ishwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya. I greet all the three Dadijis, Brahma Kumaris, Brahma Kumars, eminent spiritualists, distinguished and enlightened personalities participating in this beautiful function. I would like to share with you a few thoughts on "Spirituality, Development and Peace".

I came here for this great function where all of you are seeking Peace, World Peace. Peace in the hearts of the individual, Peace in the family, Peace in the State, Peace in the country and thereby Peace in the world will be the natural outcome. I am also seeking, where is the peace? When the peace will come? Here I would like to share one event. I happened to meet a group of special people, called different ability people, on 27 November 2003.

Courage and willpower

These young people, they all had smiles in their faces, all had the will power to play games, participate in the sports and to win. Not one or two, but thousands of them. They were national players and participants in Abilympics. I invited them to the Mughal Garden. They were all happy, not because I was with them, but they were moved by the new environment and the natural scene with flowers blossoming, jasmine giving fragrance, parrots chirping, peacock dancing and deers jumping. The whole environment was beautiful and pleasant. The participants were coming from nearly 36 countries. I asked them what you want me to do. What will give you happiness? They all told me, "Mr. President you come and shake hands with every one of us." More than thousands hands greeted me. At the end, I interacted with them. I told them that I have composed a poem, which I would like to share with you.

The poem runs like this:

Mighty Will

We are all God's children,

Our minds are stronger than diamond.

We will win, win, win with our mighty will.

God is with us, who can be against?

On hearing this, I saw a great emotion flowing on the people. A boy from Iran by name Mustafa came to me, who didn't have both the legs and was fitted with artificial limbs. He thrust a paper in my hand. He had written a beautiful poem titled "Courage", in Persian language. It was translated in English and it reads like this:

Courage

I don't have legs.

My mind says: Don't weep, don't weep

For, I need not bow even in front of a King.

I was really moved by the positive thinking of that boy. It shows his courage to face the life with optimism. Now I realise that it is because of their courage and will power, they were at home with happiness.

Precious human life

Whenever I see a physically or mentally challenged person, I start thinking that God has not completely perfected his creation. Sometimes he makes his image of the human being in different way, it may be his perfection. At this point I recall an apt event that highlights how blissful it is to be born as a man or a woman without any deformity. A great poet, Auvaiyar, who had been singing and singing, visiting all parts of Tamil Nadu, had composed a poem on how precious it is to be born as a perfect human being. First I will recite the poem in Tamil then I will give its meaning in English.

When God asked what is rare in this world, Auvaiyar told him:

If you asketh what is rare -

It is rare to be born as human

Even if one is born as a human,

It is rarer to be born without deformities

Even if one is born without deformities,

It is rare to acquire knowledge of self and the world and expertise in arts

Even if one is endowed with these qualities, it is rare to

acquire the habit of giving to the needy and do penance

If one does so, the gates of Heaven will surely open to that soul

All of you assembled here are blessed with many of the gifts described by the poet "Auvaiyar". In addition you are also uniquely blessed by being a part of Brahmakumaris organization to understand spirituality. In the entire world, we witness the mystery in God's creation. There is happiness, there is sorrow, there is wealth, there is poverty, there is flood, there is drought, there is peace, and there is war. With all these dualities, the humanity seeks peace and amity. I am also seeking where is the peace? When the peace will come? When will I see happy faces in the whole country like yours? That occasion will bring peace to me. The important factors which contribute to happiness are peace and prosperity. Peace comes through spirituality whereas prosperity comes through development for which science and technology are essential.

Science & Spirituality

When I went to Mount Abu few years back, one evening I happened to interact with 40 young Brahmakumaris. During this interaction I gave them a problem through a story from my own experience. The story was about the initial days of the Space Centre at Thiruvananthapuram in the year 1962. Thumba in Kerala was selected by the scientific community for space research as it was near the equatorial region and was ideally suited for ionospheric research in upper atmosphere apart from study of atmospheric structure. When Prof. Vikram Sarabhai visited Thumba, the locality had series of villages and thousands of fishermen folk were living in that area. It also had a beautiful ancient Church, St. Mary Magdalene Church, Pallithura and a Bishop's House.

Prof. Vikram Sarabhai met many politicians and bureaucrats to acquire the place for space science research work. It could not materialise because of the nature of the place. He was asked to see the Bishop His Excellency Rector Revarent Dr. Peter Bernard Pereira of Thiruvananthapuram. It was a Saturday when Prof .Vikram Sarabhai met the Bishop. The Bishop smiled and asked to meet him the next day, i.e Sunday. In the morning Service, the Bishop told the congregation, "My children, I have a famous scientist with me who wants our church and the place I live, for the work of space science research. Dear children, science seeks truth by reasoning. In one way, science and spiritualism seek the same divine blessings for doing good to the people. My children, can we give the God's abode for a scientific mission?" There was a chorus of 'Amen' from the congregation and the whole church reverberated. Subsequently, the big event took place in 1962. His Excellency Rector Reverent Dr Peter Bernard Pereira, the Bishop of Thiruvananthapuram, took the noble decision to dedicate the Church in recognition of the national goal for the establishment of the Indian Space Research Organisation at Pallithura, Thumba. That was the Church where we had our design centre, started rocket assembly, design of filament winding machine for FRP product and the Bishop's house was our scientists' drawing office. Later, the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) led to the establishment of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) and multiple space centres throughout the country.

I asked the young Brahmakumaris, what did you understand from this event? There were many types of replies. Some told that this is a unique case and may be an exception. Few told that it is not at all possible now in any parts of the World. Only one sister told me that here religion in itself has not worked, but it has elevated to spirituality and converged with science. That is the chemistry, which laid the foundation for such a national mission. The interaction led to the discussion on the science and spirituality. It emerged that 'silence' is the unifying factor between science and spirituality. The aim of both scientific approach and spiritual approach is the establishment of truth. Science approaches the problem through experimental means and spirituality approaches through experiential learning. For establishing the truth both approaches need to watch the process silently without turbulence. This non-turbulent phenomenon arises out of the lifestyle intervention suggested by Brahma Kumaris, which is applicable to all human beings for realizing inner tranquility and peace. On 15 October 2003, 15 saints and seers of different religions and faith met at Surat for evolving a scheme for transforming religion into spirituality. Brahma Kumari Sudesh Didi has participated in this function and signed the declaration for the GARLAND PROJECT for creating Unity of minds and there by creating enlightened citizens in India.

Life style intervention for peace

My first association with Brahma Kumaris dates back to 1997 - 98. There was a joint project of Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences (DIPAS), DRDO and the Global Hospital Research Centre governed by the Brahma Kumaris for studying the effect of "holistic lifestyle intervention" on the patients suffering from Coronary Artery Diseases. The project involved both Control Group and the Experimental Group. The Control Group was subjected to conventional treatment whereas the Experimental Group was supported by an intervention involving low fat, high fiber vegetarian diet, walking and aerobic exercises and Raja yoga meditation. This psycho-physiological mind-body approach in treating heart patients of the Experimental Group resulted in dissolution of angiographic plaque and improvement in micro-circulation of blood in heart muscles of the patients. The treatment was also supported by participation of spouses and other family members of the patients, leading to a unique family system approach to Medicare.

When I conducted the first review of the project, I found that nearly 60 people had reported positively about their well-being and their clinical reports showed remarkable improvement. When I visited the hospital again after two years, nearly 400 patients gave us a joyful presentation about their experiences. It was an experience of great happiness to see the patients presenting their X-ray records, showing us how this unique way of treatment has given great relief to their hearts. The conflict between cardiology, psychology and theology still persists, but this experiment has given a new thrust and a lasting cure for heart patients. The message I would like to convey is that through the integration of medical science, physiology, health care, psychology and spirituality, a native Indian knowledge system in combination with allopathic systems can emerge.

This is how Brahmakumaris provide solace to the needy patients and give them peace. Through a total lifestyle intervention you are purifying the human minds and promoting peace. How can we radiate this fragrance of peace to the entire nation and the world?

Power of Righteousness

Peace comes out of compassion, love and righteousness. Now I am reminded of a Tamil Poetry and a story which brings out the power of righteousness and provides the code of conduct for the people in high and responsible positions:

It means, people who are in high and responsible positions, if they go against righteousness, the righteousness itself will get transformed into a destroyer. Whoever deviates from righteousness, whether they are individual or states, they are responsible for their own actions. This message is brought out very clearly by the Elangovadikal (a Jain monk) in Silapathikaram. Silapathikaram is one of the five great epics written nearly 2000 years ago in Tamil language. The story of Kannagi plays an important role in history of Madurai. Kovalan a successful business man married "Kannagi" who was the beautiful daughter of a merchant by name "Maanaikkan".

Later Kovalan's lifestyle changed due to his association with the dancer called "Madhavi" and he lost all his property. This led Kovalan to go back to his wife for help. Both of them went to Madurai to start trade after selling their only property, that is a pair of anklets called "Silambu".

In the meantime, the queen of Pandiyan King Nedunchezhiyan, lost her anklets ("Silambu"). Actually, the court Jeweller had robbed the queen's anklets. Once the wicked jeweller happened to see Kovalan with Kannagi's anklets in the market. He seized the anklet from Kovalan and informed the King about it. The King sent guards to arrest Kovalan. Kovalan was accused of having stolen the queen's anklets and was killed as per the King's order.

When Kannagi came to know about the news, she went out into the town, with her eyes ablaze with anger, carrying the remaining anklet in her hand as proof of her husband's innocence. She made the King realise the truth by breaking her anklet which was made of Manickam. When Pandiyan King came to know that he had punished an innocent, he died in his throne by saying "Oh! I am the thief and he is not the thief." The queen also died at that spot. Kannagi burnt Madurai into ashes in consequence to the injustice caused to her husband Kovalan. Since the Pandiyan King failed to preserve justice and punished an innocent person, righteousness transformed into a destroyer. This shows the importance of righteousness in our day to day life.

In summary, I have discussed with you so far: Courage of special people, human evolution in the image of God, religion transforming into spirituality and the importance of righteousness. Righteousness contains all elements of human character. A Divine hymn what I heard, I would like to administer to all of you, the name of the divine hymn is Righteousness:

Righteousness

Where there is righteousness in the heart

There is beauty in the character.

When there is beauty in the character,

there is harmony in the home.

When there is harmony in the home.

There is an order in the nation.

When there is order in the nation,

There is peace in the world.

Towards Global peace

Righteousness is born out of civilizational heritage. A human life is not complete with righteousness alone. He or she should have the employment and have the capacity to earn. We have to create employment for the 260 million people who are below the poverty line. We have to wipe out their tears.

The Honourable Prime minister during his independence address on 15 Aug 2002, had declared that India will get transformed into a developed nation by the year 2020. We have to work for it. Experts have identified five areas where India has a core competence for an integrated action: (1) Agriculture and food processing - we have to put a target of 400 million tons of food. Agro food processing would bring prosperity to rural people and speed up the economic growth. (2) Reliable and quality electric power for all parts of the country. (3) Education and Healthcare - we have seen, based on the experience, education and healthcare are inter related and assist population control leads to social security and also national security. (4) Information and Communication Technology - This is one of our core competence. This can be used for tele-medicine, tele-education and e-governance. (5) Strategic sectors - This area, fortunately, witnessed the growth in nuclear technology, space technology and defence technology.

Simultaneously taking up this area along with Interlinking of rivers and PURA, which is Providing Urban facilities in Rural Areas, will provide economic prosperity to the nation. Economic prosperity coupled with spiritual power, which is a summation of human courage to face problems, human evolution in the image of God and righteousness, will take India to glorious heights. We will see a happy India, prosperous India, peaceful India marching towards world peace.

I wish you all success in your mission of realizing the world peace through spiritual power.