Inner peace and world peace

What is peace? Peace is satisfaction. This satisfaction can be achieved in the body, in the vital, in the mind and in the heart. Again, the satisfaction that the body will have may not or need not satisfy the vital, the mind or the heart. The body gets satisfaction when it sleeps or rests, whereas the vital gets satisfaction only when it is active and dynamic. The mind gets satisfaction when it can house a progressive, illumining and fulfilling thought, a thought that embodies vastness. The heart gets satisfaction when it feels closeness with an inner reality or a higher reality. So we see that each member of our inner family gets satisfaction only when it achieves something of its own, and this satisfaction is nothing other than peace.

In the ordinary human life, we feel that if we can multiply our earthly riches, then we can have satisfaction. But when we multiply our possessions, we see that multiplication is not the answer. Then we try to achieve satisfaction with addition. We try to add a few things to our lives. We feel that this is the way we will be able to achieve satisfaction, which is peace, fulfilling peace. Then, when addition fails, we try to see what division can do. We divide our realities here, there and elsewhere. When division fails to give us satisfaction, which is abiding peace, then we try subtraction. But there also we fail.

Multiplication does not help, addition does not help, division does not help, subtraction does not help. No! We think that, in order to get peace, either possession or renunciation is needed. If we are sincere in our inner life, we will see that by possessing, we can never be happy. From one car we will go to two cars, from one house we will go to two houses. Even if we are satisfied with the house that we live in, if we possess it and claim it as ours, still we are lost. The moment we claim a thing, we are possessed by that thing. While possessing, we are possessed; and satisfaction is nowhere to be found.

Again, by renouncing we can never be happy either. Today we renounce material wealth; tomorrow we shall renounce our mental faculties, vital faculties or physical faculties. We can renounce even the entire body. But then how are we going to get satisfaction? Satisfaction is delight and delight is God. If we say that the body is not aspiring, that the vital is not aspiring, that the mind is not aspiring, that even the heart is not aspiring, we can renounce them one by one. But will this give us peace, lasting peace? Will this give us satisfaction? No! So renunciation is not the answer either.

Possession is not the answer. Renunciation is not the answer. Addition, multiplication, division, subtraction — these are not the answers either. Then how can we have the satisfaction that we call peace? We can have peace only by accepting God’s Will. All the time we are praying fervently for God’s Peace, Light and Bliss. But right after our prayer, instead of getting peace, light and bliss, let us say, we are more agitated, more frustrated, more angry, more disappointed. Let us say that all the hostile forces have attacked us, and we have become perfect victims to wrong forces.

At this point, we may want to give up. We want peace from mankind, but we do not get peace. We pray to God for peace, but instead of peace, we get all wrong forces, destructive forces and so forth. But if we are true seekers, we shall not give up. Only, the results that we get we shall place cheerfully at the Feet of God. If we can place all the wrong forces that have attacked us cheerfully at the Feet of the Supreme and not find fault with Him, then only will we get peace.

Otherwise, at every moment we are acting like beggars. We are begging for something, and whoever is in the position to give us what we want may or may not give it to us. Or, he may give us something, but not in the quantity that we want. If it is a material thing, an earthly thing that we are praying for, then there will never be any happiness. If we ask for spiritual things and we are not surrendered to God’s Will, then again we may not be satisfied. But if we are sincere seekers, then whatever we get from God — even if it is just an iota of peace — we feel is more than enough. For we know that this iota of peace God Himself has given to us. We also know that He is watching us to see if we are using it soulfully, devotedly, cheerfully and unreservedly for a special cause, or whether we are just misusing it. If we can have this kind of surrendered attitude, then satisfaction will be ours. If our surrender to God’s Will is complete, and if we can make ourselves feel that God thinks of us infinitely more than we can ever think of ourselves, then whatever God gives us will bring us satisfaction. For we know that the higher oneness, the deeper oneness, the more illumining oneness are all His responsibility. So we will leave it up to Him.

There is also another way to have satisfaction or peace, and that is to have the faith of a child. A child, knowing that his father is a multi-millionaire, can ask his father for a million dollars. For his father to give him a million dollars is nothing, since the father is a multi-millionaire. But the father knows that the child is not in a position to spend the money properly. He knows that if he gives the child more than ten dollars, the child will just misuse it. So the father does not give the child more than he knows how to handle properly. It is not that the father is insecure; it is not that he thinks, “Oh, if I give him all my money, then he will be in a position to challenge me.” No, it is the father’s wisdom that is operating. Just because the father has inner wisdom, he does not give his son more than ten dollars. The son is not sad that his father is not giving him a million dollars. He knows that what the father is doing is for his own good, and he knows that one day his father will give him all his wealth. So, he is satisfied to wait.

In the spiritual life also, many times it happens that a seeker asks for infinite peace, but his inner vessel, his receptivity, is not big enough to hold this infinite peace. Also, the seeker does not even know what he is asking for. ‘Infinite’ is a vague term. The mind is saying “infinite”, but what do we know about Infinity and Eternity? It is all a vague conception in our mind. But if we can feel that we are children, and that God, our eternal Father and Mother, is watching over us, then all our problems are solved. If a little child cries a few times during the day, what does the mother do? The entire day the mother looks after the child. Here also, from time immemorial God has been looking after earth. He is taking care of us in His inimitable way, with His infinite Compassion, Love, Light and Bliss.

If we can have this kind of faith, then we are satisfied with whatever God gives us, for we know He is preparing us to receive His Infinity and Eternity. We may pray for years and not get an iota of peace, or we may get an iota of peace, but feel that that is not enough. We want peace in abundant measure, if not in boundless measure. But if we have receptivity, then God will give us His infinite wealth. God our eternal Father will give us abundant peace and abundant light when we have the receptivity to receive it.

God and man must have mutual faith and confidence in one another. The seeker in us must have confidence that God, at His choice Hour, will grant us without fail infinite peace. Our role is only to pray and meditate soulfully, devotedly and unconditionally. God has taken it as His bounden Duty to help His seeker children, to guide them, mould them and shape them into His very Image. But He has His own choice Hour which unfortunately may not tally with our hour. If we have faith in God, that He will do everything for us, and if God has faith that we can be His perfect emissaries, His perfect representatives and instruments on earth, then perfection is bound to dawn. Only in perfection does satisfaction abide. Again, satisfaction is nothing short of peace. So peace is satisfaction; satisfaction is perfection.

When we think of perfection, we have to know that perfection does not have a fixed standard. We can never say that this is the final product, that there cannot be anything better or more illumining than this. No! Today’s conception of perfection will not and cannot be tomorrow’s conception of perfection. Since perfection is satisfaction, perfection has to be transcendence.

Today’s satisfaction is to get a high school diploma, and if we get it, that is our satisfaction and perfection. Tomorrow, we will think of a university degree and that will be our satisfaction and perfection. Then, after getting our university degree, we will see that we are still not satisfied, because we know that infinite wisdom abides in God’s universe. At that time, when we look at ourselves or dive deep within, we will see how helpless and hopeless we are in terms of infinite wisdom. Then, we will try to cultivate more wisdom so that we can achieve real satisfaction.

There is no end to the inner knowledge and inner peace that we can achieve, and there is no end to the satisfaction that we can get. Each moment, Infinity is transcending its own infinite Reality. Each time we achieve something new, that is our satisfaction and perfection. But at the same time, a new hunger elevates us to a higher reality. This hunger is an inner hunger to receive more peace, more light, more bliss from Above so that we can be better instruments of higher realities.

In the ordinary human life, when we ask for things, we feel that these things will give us satisfaction, which is peace. But in the spiritual life, when we pray for peace, light and bliss, we are asking for these things not for our own satisfaction, but for the satisfaction of our Inner Pilot. We shall ask, and while asking we shall say: “If it is Your Will, God, grant me peace, light and bliss in infinite measure, so that I can be Your perfect instrument.” But in the ordinary, unaspiring life, when we ask for something we shall never say, “If it is Your Will, then give me two buildings or give me millions of dollars.” No! When we ask for something from the desire-world, we will never say, “If it is Your Will.” We will only die for the things that we need and want.

But when we ask for something from the aspiration-world, and when we are living in the aspiration-world, we will always say, “If it is Your Will, please give me peace, light and bliss. We do not know what is good for us or what is bad for us. If such is Your Will, then give us what we need so that we can serve You more devotedly, more soulfully.” Here the prayer is totally different, and God listens to our soulful prayer with a loving Heart.

Here we are all seekers. At every moment we shall ask our Beloved Supreme for things divine and supreme. When we pray to God unconditionally for three boons — God-realisation, God-manifestation and God-satisfaction — then we are bound to be blessed by our Beloved Supreme. But while praying, while meditating, we have to keep or bring to the fore one sublime wish, one illumining goal: Him to please in His own Way.

We are praying for peace, inner peace, at His choice Hour. Once we have this inner peace, world peace can be achieved in the twinkling of an eye. Inside, if we feel a good thought, an illumining and fulfilling thought, then that very thought we will express and offer to our friends and dear ones. Our illumining, soulful, fulfilling thoughts will enter into our dear ones and then they, too, will have peace. So when we have inner peace, automatically it expresses itself. It spreads its qualities or capacities throughout the length and breadth of the world.

If we can prepare ourselves for God-realisation, God-manifestation and God-satisfaction in God’s own Way, then at every moment we will be inundated with inner peace. And this inner peace will spontaneously inundate the outer world. At that time, what we have within is bound to become part and parcel of our outer life.

A seeker is he who dives deep within in order to bring to the fore the reality that he has within. While bringing it to the fore, he discovers that his aspiration and his realisation are not two different things, but the same thing. He is bringing to the fore his infinite peace from within, and while bringing it forward he discovers, to his utter surprise, that he is peace itself; eternally he is peace. Peace is nothing other than his own inner existence.

One can talk for hours on peace. The curious mind may get some satisfaction, but the crying heart cannot get any help from talks. The crying heart is the real reality within us, and that crying heart gets inner peace, everlasting peace, only through prayerful silence and soulful meditation. Only prayerful meditation and soulful prayer can bring about peace. If at every moment we can think that we are growing into a prayerful meditation and a soulful prayer, then peace eternal will be ours.

University of Stuttgart Stuttgart, Germany 20 June 1980