TN Kaul

TN Kaul, former Ambassador of India to the United States, who is highly esteemed around the world, illumines us as to U Thant’s success in bearing the burden of the Secretary-Generalship: “U Thant served the world community with rare distinction and understanding of the hopes and aspirations of peoples in different parts of the world. He was a firm believer in human dignity and brotherhood. U Thant realised that, in the words of Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘Peace is indivisible; so is Freedom, so is Prosperity now, and so also is Disaster in this one world that can no longer be split into isolated fragments.’ He also knew that ‘the consequences of acting in a passion are always bad for an individual; but they are indefinitely worse for a nation.’ It is not surprising, therefore, that he brought a great vision and a deep sense of compassion to bear on the solution of intricate international problems. These qualities, combined with a deeply felt commitment to social justice and practice of meditation, gave him the inner strength to bear the awesome burden of one of the loneliest jobs in the world and to face with equanimity the many crises which confounded the world community during the ten years of his tenure as Secretary-General of the United Nations. India was one of the first countries to recognise his outstanding contribution to the promotion of peace and international understanding by conferring on him in 1967 the first Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding. I have no doubt that his life and work will serve for many years to come as a beacon of light and a source of inspiration to increasing numbers of people in our world, which he did so much to bring together in peace and harmony.”