Choosing our Way

The Baba continued, 

“All of us revolutionaries, my son, want to change the world and make it a better place for ourselves and others to live in. We are also very sincere about our goals and objectives……

“The goals and objectives of our revolutions are often based on and motivated by our personal, communal, social, economic, political, class, ideological, religious or national interests and ambitions.... We are prepared to kill, and also die, for achieving them…. Sometimes there can also be multiple interests and motivations… 

“But we want justice to be done. We want poverty and hunger to be eliminated from our country and from the world. We want the land and livelihood rights of the poor and landless fellow human beings to be respected. We want the Governments to be free from corruption…. We want all things to go well and work well for all people. We want a global community of justice, liberty, equality, fraternity, health, peace and prosperity. We want ourselves and others to be secure and happy… We are revolutionaries for such a great new world…. Am I right, my son?” The Baba asked Atma Prakash.

“Yes, guruji.” Atma Prakash answered. 

After a pause, the Baba continued: “We organize ourselves and all other interested people and groups, and resort to social action. It can be a public campaign or an organized agitation; it can be a people’s movement or a political revolution… 

“Some of us are prepared even to give up our lives to achieve a noble goal. Some of us kill others to achieve our goal…

“The means we adopt to achieve our goal can be either violent or it can be peaceful. We either kill or die for the goal….

“There were great military Commanders like General Patton who believed and taught that ‘no son of a gun ever wins a war by dying for his country, but by making the other son of a gun die for his country.” There were also Revolutionary leaders like Mao Tse Tung of China who believed and taught that ‘power comes from the barrel of the gun’….

“If the means we adopt is violent, it will bring forth violence. If it is peaceful, it will bring forth peace…

“We cannot expect peace from violence, or good from evil. Good will beget good, violence will beget violence, and evil will beget evil…. 

“Actions beget equal and opposite reactions’… This is the law of the physical world. This is an eternal law operating in the universe, my son.’ The Baba stopped and looked at his disciple.

After few minutes the Baba continued: 

“The global human community is the sum total of the national communities on planet earth. A nation is nothing but a large joint family consisting of all citizens of that nation, and their families and communities….

“It is said by the wise that, ‘when there is peace within the individual, there will be peace within the family; when there is peace within the family, there will be peace within the society; when there is peace within the society, there will be peace within the country; and when there is peace within the country, there will be peace within the world.’ This means peace in the world begins with peace within individual human persons…..

“Similarly, any true and lasting social transformation has to begin with and within individual citizens, with and within our own selves, my son. And, a healthy and happy world is possible only with healthy and happy individuals. Do you understand this?’ The Baba asked his disciple. Atma Prakash nodded.

 

Excerpts from Integral Revolution: Swami Sachidananda Bharati