About Peace in world

World Peace

2010-07-25T00:32:00.000-07:00

World Peace

Though delicate and fragile, it is substantial. This is such a sensational power that can mollify animosity and hostility to friendliness thus making the world better place to leave in. It is the most aspiring thing when one passes through various predicaments be it anxiety war.

This immortal peace today has faded somewhere. The dreamful and frightening life of people of Pakistan, Afghanistan & Israel clarify the circumstances. Similarly, the insurgency of Maoist in Nepal and India jeopardized the lives of thousands of peoples and many handicapped and homeless. The value of peace is inexplicable. Beside, Taliban problem is taking speed, the unabridged golf between India and Pakistan is lengthening. These are the extremes threat to world peace.

Recently, U.S. president Barrack Obama was awarded Nobel Prize for Peace. He was honored this prize for his magnum opus diplomatic effort to reduce ill difference between Middle East, prominently the Muslim countries and west for restoration of Peace. Had he boasted superiority, hostility would have further depended but the steps he approached let to conducive environment co-operation and brotherhood. Peace is form of tranquility. Why do we look for Peace? Because it motivates us, helps our stumbling feet to smoothen up. Gautam Buddha, Jesus Christ, etc. preached peace and discovered it. Their Principles are tonic to our hectic life. Each us of must learn to work not just for oneself, once one family or nation but for the benefit of all human kind. Universal responsibly is the key to human survival. It is best foundation for world peace. Thus, lets get together to unlock the shackles of hatred, war, furry and adopted love, peace and fraternity. To wrap up let us make our present better to secure the peaceful scenario in the future

Nepal Still Fighting For Peace....

2010-07-25T00:25:00.000-07:00

Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal's resignation under Maoist pressure almost a year after coming to power demonstrates the depressing circularity of politics in Nepal. His stint resembles the even shorter tenure of his predecessor and rival, CPN(M) chairman Pushpa Kumar Dahal, and has been undone by the same questions that still remain unanswered. Four years after the decade-long Maoist insurrection came to an end, disbanded Maoist cadre are still in UN camps with no political consensus emerging on their reintegration into society. Meanwhile, the May deadline for the new Constitution has come and gone. The date's been extended by a year but, without abiding change in the political situation, it is no more likely to be kept a second time around.

The fight for the prime minister's chair is likely to be a messy one. Prachanda, as Dahal is popularly known, is likely to try for it again. But he will have to contend with opposition from within Maoist ranks. Also, coalition partners are unlikely to agree to a Maoist-led government. If democracy's shaky edifice is to be propped up, the question of disbanded cadre must be addressed swiftly. Integrating them into the army as the CPN(M) demands is not entirely feasible given the decade-long armed conflict between the Maoists and the military. But folding them into the police and paramilitary forces is an option. On their side, the Maoists must disband the Youth Communist League paramilitary and return property captured over the course of the conflict. Tricky as the situation is, it can be resolved if the Maoists begin to work entirely within the democratic framework, something they have failed to do so far.

Give chances for Peace in earth

2010-07-25T00:20:00.000-07:00

Wars happen when intolerance reaches epic proportions, when the reasons for war become greater than the sanctity of peace. Wars happen when we fail to realise the value of being alive. World leaders try to bring peace, but it is not an issue of institutions. It is human beings who start wars. Before a war begins outside, it starts inside.

The war on the inside is more dangerous because it is a fire that may never be put out. Wars are being fought because peace is not being found within, because it is not being allowed to unfold.

We are all searching for something, we may call it success, peace, love, or tranquillity. It is the same thing. What we are looking for has many names because we do not know what we need.

To find what we need, we look around us. To know where to find what we are looking for, we first need to ask ourselves where we can find it.

Have we considered looking within? Living is not an easy task, especially if we want the best of it. We have to mine for it. Mining is not easy. We have to take out what we need and leave the rest. If we want to mine for peace, then we have to seek what is precious and discard what is not.

The thing that we are searching for is not outside of us. It is within us. It always has been and always will be. Contentment feels good, and it is not an accident. It is not an accident that peace feels good. Peace is already here, and it resides in the hearts of all human beings.

Peace is something that has to be felt. One of the most incredible powers we have is that we can feel. When we place peace in front of that power to feel, we feel peace. We are here to be filled with gratitude, love and understanding.

We carry a lamp within so bright that even in the darkest night, it can fill our world with light. This light is waiting to be found. Peace makes no distinctions. It does not care if we are rich, if we are poor, or what religion we belong to. It does not care which country we live in. Peace is waiting to be found. Waiting to once again feel whole, not separated by all the issues that divide our lives.

Peace is when the heart is no longer in duality, when the struggle within has been resolved. When peace comes to the heart, serenity follows. Love comes flooding in, uncontrolled. Joy cannot be held back. It bursts through because it is right. That is peace.

Peace needs to be felt, love needs to be felt, truth needs to be felt. As long as we are alive, the yearning to feel good, to feel joy, will always be there, and as long as it is there, there will be a need for it to be discovered.

Life is a journey. We are passengers in a train called life, and we are alive in the moment called now. The journey of life is so beautiful that it needs no destination.

On this journey, we have been given a compass. The compass is the thirst to be fulfilled. The true journey of life begins the day we begin to seek to quench our thirst. This quest is the most noble one.

For many centuries, a voice has been calling out: "What you are looking for is within you. Your truth is within you, your peace is within you, your joy is within you." In our hearts, peace is like a seed waiting in the desert to grow, to blossom. When we allow this seed to blossom inside, then peace is possible outside. We have to give peace a chanc

Peace in Nepal

2010-07-25T00:13:00.000-07:00

ON 29 January 2003(2059/10/15 B.S.), the people of Nepal breathed a collective sigh of relief. After seven years of waging what they referred to as a "People's War", the Communist Party Nepal (Maoist) announced a much-needed cease-fire. There has been initial contact between the Maoists, King Gyanendra, and the political parties. Most observers are optimistic that these talks will succeed where the past three have failed. The leaders of Nepal's numerous political parties should make sure that the current peace talks create a foundation for genuine human rights reform and respect for the rule of law.

If any new developments are to be undertaken in the name of the people of Nepal, then the cycle of guerrilla violence and brutal state repression must be stopped and accounted for as soon as possible.

The project of ensuring that the human rights perspective is respected and assured during the dialogues is complicated by the fact that the two major players, the Maoists and the King, were also responsible for the gravest human rights abuses during the period of insurgency.

When the Maoists declared the ‘People's War’ on the Government of Nepal on 13 February 1996, they called for the abolishment of the constitutional monarchy and the establishment of a "genuine people's republic." In general, there is a consensus that the root causes of the ‘People's War’ lay in chronic social and economic ills such as poverty, unemployment, and endemic social discrimination resulting from the caste system and gender biases. Decades of foreign aid programmes (foreign assistance accounts for nearly 60 percent of Nepal's investment budget) had resulted in few improvements in the living conditions of most Nepalese, and government corruption had become the norm. The Maoists were hardly manufactures of discontent; rather they articulated the common sentiment of a need for social change and moved rapidly into a political vacuum that was left from numerous political squabbles between the monarchy and elected political parties.

The Maoists' tactics, however, relied equally on the use of violence, extortion, coercion, and psychological harassment. They engaged in widespread destruction of vital infrastructure such as district offices, community centres, power installations, roads, and schools. They regularly abducted and tortured suspected "spies" for the Royal Nepal Army. These suspected spies were frequently executed, sometimes by decapitation with a traditional long-bladed khukri knife. Wives, sisters, mothers, and female children of the Maoists' perceived enemies faced physical harassment or rape.

Despite the Maoists' claims to the contrary, it is also clear that they recruited children into their fighting cadres. Although they usually did not occupy combat positions, they did serve as messengers and carriers of bombs and explosives. Much of the funding for the Maoist fight came from levying a heavy tithe on all families within a given village or district. Those families that objected or refused to pay the requested amount faced the prospect of violent physical retaliation. Members or suspected members of the Nepal Congress Party, one of the major elected political parties in Nepal, were also frequent targets of Maoist attacks and harassment.

The Nepal Government and security forces responded to the Maoist insurgency by constricting the democratic space in Nepal and undermining constitutionally guaranteed procedures involving the rule of law. It is clear that as the Maoists gained in strength, numbers, and in geographical advantage, the response of the under-prepared Royal Nepal Army became increasingly defensive and punitive.On 26 November 2001, King Gyanendra declared a state of emergency in accordance with Article 115 (1) of the Nepal Constitution. The King used his Constitutional powers to mobilise the army and the Maoists were declared "terrorists".

Articles 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 22, and 23, all pertaining to people's fundamental rights, were suspended. Article 12(2) guarantees the rights to freedom of opinion and expression, freedom of peaceful assembly, and freedom to move throughout the kingdom. Article 13 provides for freedom of the press and of publication. Article 15 guarantees the right not to be held in preventive detention. Article 16 guarantees the right to information, and Article 17 provides for the right to own and dispose of property. Article 22 provides for the right to privacy. Lastly, Article 23 guarantees the right to Constitutional remedies.

In accordance with the recommendation of his Council of Ministers, King Gyanendra also issued the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Control and Punishment) Ordinance 2001 (TADO). TADO became a means for unlawfully detaining and torturing numerous suspected Maoists and journalists, lawyers, and human rights defenders. Although the right to file a writ of habeas corpus was not suspended under the state of emergency, human rights attorneys in Nepal will assert that most writs of habeas corpus were either rejected outright or allowed to languish indefinitely during the state of emergency.

Many individuals detained under TADO were minors, and many are still missing even months or years after the date of their (often undocumented) arrests. Several individuals who were released due to a successful writ of habeas corpus found that they were re-arrested minutes or hours after their "release."

Freedom of the press was curtailed, and several Maoist publications were shut down. Journalists who attempted to cover the growing violence between the Maoists and the security forces now faced the possibility of torture and arbitrary detention from both sides of the conflict.

Extrajudicial and summary executions became all but de-facto state policy in attacking the Maoist insurgency.

The Informal Sector Service Center (INSEC) of Nepal estimates that 81 percent of the killings that occurred during the emergency, which lasted from 26 November 2001 to 28 August 2002, occurred at the hands of the state. After the state of emergency ended, the number of killings decreased, but the percentage that was killed by the state remained significantly higher than that killed by the Maoists.

The conflict with the Maoists has coincided with a decade of political instability in Nepal. A new democratic constitution was created in 1990, re-establishing the multi-party system of elections for the first time in nearly 30 years. The panchayat system, under which the king had sole power over non-party government councils (or panchayats), was abolished. Then King Birendra agreed to allow Nepal's government to become a constitutional monarchy in more than just name. The Nepali Congress Party (NC) won the first elections and Girija Prasad Koirala became Prime Minister in 1991. However, three years later, Koirala's government was defeated in a no-confidence motion and the Communist Party Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist) (CPN (UML)) came to power. In 1995 the government was again dissolved, and at this time the Maoists began their insurgency in certain rural districts of Nepal. By 2000, when Koirala returned as Prime Minister for the third time, he was the ninth prime minister to head the Nepal Government in ten years.

In April of 2001 the Maoists called their first Nepal bandh and brought the nation to a standstill with a general strike. On 1 June 2001, King Birendra and several members of the royal family were killed; it has been alleged that Crown Prince Dipendra opened fire inside the royal palace moments before taking his own life. In May 2002, the Maoists called another general strike, this one lasting for five full days. The new King Gyanendra dissolved Parliament that same month and Prime Minister Deuba, first expelled by his Congress Party and then welcomed back as head of the interim government, renewed the state of emergency. Although the interim government had promised elections by November 2002, in October 2002 King Gyanendra dismissed Deuba and announced that elections would be postponed indefinitely. Lokendra Bahadur Chand, of the royalist Rashtriya Panchayat Party (RPP), was appointed by the King to head the government until elections are held.

The parties in the present dialogue are a mix of monarchists (the King), militant Marxists (the Maoists), elected Marxists (such as the recently renamed Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist)), and elected liberals (such as the Nepal Congress Party). The King currently has the advantage of controlling the Prime Minister and cabinet, and the Maoists are currently at a military advantage, but the political parties must be included in the peace process if Nepal is to maintain any semblance of respect for democracy and its elected officials.

In previous dialogues, the Maoists submitted several demands to the government: (1) the creation of a new constitution; (2) the formation of another interim government by dissolving the present government; (3) the creation of an institutional republican state; (4) abolition of "unjust" treaties between Nepal and India; (5) opening the border between Nepal and India; (6) making the work permit system effective. It has since excluded the demand of a republican state. There is evidence that they may also be willing to compromise on issues involving India. Almost all parties are in agreement that the constituent assembly, the Maoists' main priority, is a necessary element. In this it appears that many Nepalis' optimism at the present talks is not misplaced.

Yet, given the seriousness and the frequency of human rights abuses that have occurred throughout the conflict, it is important that a code of conduct (or cease-fire agreement) not get lost in the political shuffle. Human rights NGOs and the National Human Rights Commission of Nepal have drafted excellent documents that could be used as a blueprint for sustainable peace.
The likelihood of the agreement's success would increase greatly with the presence of international human rights and humanitarian monitors or mediators. Some international actors have previously displayed a preference for military aid and weapons distribution; those with true concern for the people would do well to pay attention here.

“Mahatma ghandhi’s 5 teachings to bring peace in world”

2010-07-25T00:12:00.001-07:00

“How can I make difference so that I may bring peace to this world that I love and cherish so much? A name flickers instantly in my mind.” - Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi inspired the world with his faith in truth and justice for all Mankind. He was a great soul who loved even those who fought against his ideals to bring about peace with non-violence.
How could a meek and fragile person of small physical stature inspire millions to bring about a profound change in a way the mightiest had never achieved before? His achievements were nothing less than miracles — his creed was to bring peace to not only those who suffered injustice and sorrow but to espouse a new way of life for Mankind, with peace and harmony. His life was a message — a message of peace over power, of finding ways to reconcile our differences, and of living in harmony with respect and love even for our enemy.
Teaching # 1: Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love. Power based on love is a thousand times more effective and permanent then the one derived from fear of punishment. — Mahatma Gandhi
The force of power never wins against the power of love. At this hour of greatest unrest and turmoil in our world, the greatest force to be reckoned with lies within our hearts — a force of love and tolerance for all. Throughout his life, Mahatma Gandhi fought against the power of force during the heyday of British rein over the world. He transformed the minds of millions, including my father, to fight against injustice with peaceful means and non-violence. His message was as transparent to his enemy as it was to his followers. He believed that, if we fight for the cause of humanity and greater justice, it should include even those who do not conform to our cause. History attests to his power as he proved that we can bring about world peace by seeking and pursuing truth for the benefit of Mankind. We can resolve the greatest of our differences if we dare to have a constructive conversation with our enemy.
Teaching # 2: What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy?
A war always inflicts pain and sorrow on everyone. History has witnessed countless examples of dictators, including Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin to name but a few, who inflicted sorrow and destruction on our world. A world of peace can be achieved if we learn the power of non-violence, as shown by the life of Mahatma Gandhi.
Mahatma Gandhi has proven that we can achieve the noble causes of liberty, justice and democracy for Mankind without killing anyone, without making a child an orphan, and without making anyone homeless with the damage caused by war.
Teaching # 3: There are many causes that I am prepared to die for but no cause that I am prepared to kill for. — Mahatma Gandhi
We live for our values and passion but at the core of our existence lies our innate desire to live a peaceful life. The greatest noble cause is to display our desire to bring about peace in this world by our own sacrifice and not that of those who oppose our views. The strength of cowardice is in using power to cause death and destruction for others. The strength of courage is in self-sacrifice for the benefit of all.
Mahatma Gandhi sacrificed his own lucrative law practice in Durban, South Africa to lead a simple life and to share the pain of the powerless and destitute. He won over the hearts of millions without ever reigning power over anyone — simply with the power of altruism. We too can bring peace to our world by showing our willingness to sacrifice our self-centered desires. Our utmost cause in life should be to win the hearts of others by showing our willingness to serve causes greater than ourselves.
Teaching # 4: An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind — Mahatma Gandhi
History can attest to the fact that most human conflicts have been as a result of a stubborn approach by our leaders. Our history would turn out for the better if our leaders could just learn that most disputes can be resolved by showing a willingness to understand the issues of our opponents and by using diplomacy and compassion.
No matter where we live, what religion we practice or what culture we cultivate, at the heart of everything, we are all humans. We all have the same ambitions and aspirations to raise our family and to live life to its fullest. Our cultural, religious and political differences should not provide the backbone to invoke conflicts that can only bring sorrow and destruction to our world.
Teaching #5: We must become the change we want to see in the world. — Mahatma Gandhi
A great leader always leads with an exemplary life that echoes his ideals. Mahatma Gandhi sacrificed his thriving law practice and adopted a simple life to live among the millions who lived in poverty during his freedom struggle. Today, we see modern leaders cajoling the masses with promises that they never intend to keep – let alone practicing what they preach in their own lives. One cannot bring world peace to all unless a leader demonstrates peaceful acts of kindness daily. Mahatma Gandhi believed that we are all children of God. We should not discriminate amongst ourselves based on faith, caste, creed or any other differences.
An outstanding example of Mahatma Gandhi’s leadership was his famous Salt March, which brought about a profound change. On March 2nd 1930, as a protest at tax on salt, Gandhi wrote a remarkable letter to Lord Irwin, the Viceroy of India. He wrote, “Dear Friend, I cannot intentionally hurt anything that lives, much less fellow human beings, even though they may do the greatest wrong to me and mine. Whilst, therefore, I hold the British rule to be a curse, I do not intend to harm to a single Englishman or to any legitimate interest he may have in India…” With these words, he inspired millions to fight for this righteous cause and eventually forced the British to leave India without inflicting harm to any Englishman. Such were the quintessential qualities of justice and peace that made Mahatma Gandhi the man who changed our world for the better with his ideals of faith, love and tolerance.

Mahatma Gandhi taught us that we can bring harmony to our world by becoming champions of love and peace for all. The task is daunting, but he has shown that a fragile, meekly man of small physical stature can achieve feats of incredible magnitude with a staunch belief to practice peace through non-violence. Will you make a pledge to become the change that you would like to see in this world? I have.
Let the first act of every morning be to make the following resolve for the day:
• I shall not fear anyone on Earth.
• I shall fear only God.
• I shall not bear ill will toward anyone.
• I shall not submit to injustice from anyone.
• I shall conquer untruth by truth. And in resisting untruth, I shall put up with all suffering.
- Mahatma Gandhi

Peace(Mahatma Gandhi)

2010-07-25T00:11:00.002-07:00

Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) has become the strongest symbol of non-violence in the 20th century. It is widely held – in retrospect – that the Indian national leader should have been the very man to be selected for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Mahatma Gandhi – Who Was He?
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi – known as Mahatma or "Great-Souled" – Gandhi was born in Porbandar, the capital of a small principality in what is today the state of Gujarat in Western India, where his father was prime minister. His mother was a profoundly religious Hindu. She and the rest of the Gandhi family belonged to a branch of Hinduism in which non-violence and tolerance between religious groups were considered very important. His family background has later been seen as a very important explanation of why Mohandas Gandhi was able to achieve the position he held in Indian society. In the second half of the 1880s, Mohandas went to London where he studied law. After having finished his studies, he first went back to India to work as a barrister, and then, in 1893, to Natal in South Africa, where he was employed by an Indian trading company.
In South Africa Gandhi worked to improve living conditions for the Indian minority. This work, which was especially directed against increasingly racist legislation, made him develop a strong Indian and religious commitment, and a will to self-sacrifice. With a great deal of success he introduced a method of non-violence in the Indian struggle for basic human rights. The method, satyagraha – "truth force" – was highly idealistic; without rejecting the rule of law as a principle, the Indians should break those laws which were unreasonable or suppressive. Each individual would have to accept punishment for having violated the law. However, he should, calmly, yet with determination, reject the legitimacy of the law in question. This would, hopefully, make the adversaries – first the South African authorities, later the British in India – recognise the unlawfulness of their legislation.
When Gandhi came back to India in 1915, news of his achievements in South Africa had already spread to his home country. In only a few years, during the First World War, he became a leading figure in the Indian National Congress. Through the interwar period he initiated a series of non-violent campaigns against the British authorities. At the same time he made strong efforts to unite the Indian Hindus, Muslims and Christians, and struggled for the emancipation of the 'untouchables' in Hindu society. While many of his fellow Indian nationalists preferred the use of non-violent methods against the British primarily for tactical reasons, Gandhi's non-violence was a matter of principle. His firmness on that point made people respect him regardless of their attitude towards Indian nationalism or religion. Even the British judges who sentenced him to imprisonment recognised Gandhi as an exceptional personality.

Buddhism for World Peace

2010-07-25T00:11:00.001-07:00

LUMBINI Sal tree grove in between the two thon Shakyan republic states of Kapilvastu and Devdaha; is the citadel of peace on the world. It is situated to the southern part of kingdom of Nepal , the zone of peace. It is crowned by the magnificent Mt. Sagarmatha in the Himalaya . The pick of which popularly known by the name of Mt. Everest is the pick in the world. It is a source of inspiration and peace for all who loves it and it is the natural gift for Nepal since innumerable years of time. Here a Shakya baby prince who later became the apostle of peace in the world took birth 2623 years ago.

Shakya prince Siddhartha as he known as he was known in his early years was the only son of King Suddhodan and Queen Maya Devi. He was very compassionate from his early childhood. The brilliant example of his kindness towards the living beings in his early childhood is his effort to save the life of a goose wounded down by his own cousin brother Devdatta's arrow. At that time refusing the claim of Devdatta over the wounded goose, he argued before King Suddhondan that the claim over the wounded goose must go to the savior rather than to of the killer. That was really a thought provoking incident of his compassionate heart towards the feeling and suffering living beings.

Kaundanya- the youngest of 108 wise Brahman astrologers of that time, showing only one finger, had said with great determination that Prince Siddhartha would become the Buddha. That was the clear indication that he will renounciate worldly life for the sake of human being and world peace. So three sophisticated palaces for three different seasons were built for him. In order to keep the Prince be engaged in the worldly pleasures King Suddhondan ordered to pay attention for every minor provisions for his enjoyment, it was because of the intention that his son might become the Chakravartimaharaja in the world. But, those luxurious worldly enjoyments in the palace expressed in terms of melodious and tempting dances by beautiful dancers in fact became the source on inspiration for the Prince to search the path of peace and enunciated the worldly living at the age of twenty-nine at the peaceful night of Ashada full moon day.

Prince Siddhartha had seen an old man, a sick man, a dead body and a holy sage, when he went out in his chariot to the four directions of Kapilvastu city. He was very badly shocked by the four scenes and very firmly resolved to follow the path of peace. He did not like to hurt his father's love so he humbly asked for four things. Had King Suddhodan fulfilled the four things. Prince Siddhartha had asked for he could have been succeeded in stopping Siddhartha from renunciation. The four things demanded were (1)he should never die, (2)he should never be old, (3)he should never be diseased and (4)he should never reborn even if he dies.

Those four demands though apparently sounds fantastic but within there lies the true knowledge of the philosophy of human sufferings deeply hidden. The true cause if these can be revealed by spiritual consciousness and concentrated thinking. The insight knowledge that makes us capable to find out the true source of cause and their effects as well as the answer to those very difficult questions, is the right knowledge i.e. Sammek Sambodhidyana. Any one who is capable of discovering this is in real sense is capable of attaining Buddha hood and becomes the Buddha in this very human life. It is only this human life that the Buddha hood can be obtained. This is why human life is considered to be the most exalted one in Buddhism.

Knowing the value of the human life; Siddhartha himself engaged in harden ascetic life in search of knowledge and peace for the sake of living beings. He practiced the most difficult yogic exercises without any food for many days and months reducing his decayed body nothing can be done. So he started taking food for refreshing his decayed body. After the hard practice of meditation for six months he attained the supreme stage of knowledge and became the fully enlightened one. He became Buddha on the full moon day of Baisakh (April-May)

Lord Buddha had preached the four noble truths: sufferings, causes of suffering, elimination of suffering and the path of ending the suffering. He had discovered the golden, middle which is the easiest and simplest way of attaining knowledge. It has eight different disciplinary paths that one must follow very consciousness for attaining perfection. Right View, Right Determination, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Exercise, Right Memory and Right Concerntration are the eight paths that are why it is called 'eight fold path'. This is the only way for mankind the makes easy and possible to be the Buddha in this very human life.

If you follow these teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha your body, speech and mind will become as clear as a crystal. Neither there will be any stain on I t nor can you think of staining any other person or worldly matters. As it is totally based on universal fraternity and world peace therefore no one will even think of destruction if human beings. It is because of the love and affection deeply enrolled in human beings; already enshrined into the pure and so precious human body, that only a little effort is sufficient to arise and make it follow the path of world peace for the sake of mentioning and preserving human civilization of the twentieth century.

Most of the articles of the charter of the United Nations Organization is based on the Panchashils, the five precepts of Buddhism. In simple words depriving lives, taking without requesting, giving false statement, adulteration and using intoxicates are five bad habits that seriously disturb the mental peace. It you are conscious of the cause and effects of these bad practices can easily refrain from these. Yes refraining from those five bad universal what in Buddhism is known as observing PANCASHILA. Which is the foundation for mental peace, family peace, regional peace, national peace and universal for at large? This is why the teachings of Buddhism is of utmost importance in this technically civilized modern world terribly facing towards undesired happenings against humanity.

A Way to World Peace?

2010-07-25T00:09:00.000-07:00

Could Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, and other countries that have been linked to terrorism would ever become peaceful? A plan being debated in South Africa and Mozambique might help
In South Africa, a government commission has recommended giving a monthly "Basic Income Grant" of 100 Rand, about $10, to everyone age seven or older. The plan has widespread support, although President Thabo Mbeki has not yet endorsed it. In Mozambique, Prime Minister Pascoal Mocumbi has said that his government wants to do something similar but lacks the financial means.
Roughly 13 million South Africans have no regular income, out of a total population of 42 million. The only welfare program is for single mothers with children under age seven. The Basic Income Grant would ensure that everyone can afford to eat, making it possible for people to be productive at work and in school. Fewer people will be compelled to beg or steal.
The grant is to be independent of other income, without regard for social or economic situation. Including everyone, with no poverty measure or work requirement, means the grants can be distributed with minimal bureaucracy, in contrast with welfare. (And the plan would have wealthier people pay slightly more in taxes to offset the grants.) That also means there will be no social stigma or loss of dignity for recipients.
Basic income is not socialism. It preserves markets and private property; in fact, it will strengthen markets by providing everyone with some means to participate. It is compatible with limited government; compared with other efforts to help the poor, it will allow government to be smaller and more limited. It will supplement, not replace, existing sources of income; for those who invest the grants in education or business opportunities, it will create new sources of income. In addition, the grants will be a monthly reminder that everyone is a stakeholder, with an interest in making government more efficient and democratic.
Efforts to reduce poverty usually focus on creating jobs. In South Africa, more than 25 percent of the workforce is unemployed. There’s no way to create enough new jobs. Even if the government had unlimited funds and universal support, it’s impossible to create jobs quickly enough to help unemployed people whose children are hungry now and will still be hungry tomorrow afternoon.
The guaranteed security of a basic income will make it easier for everyone to find or create their own jobs. Some, no doubt, will waste or misuse the money, just as some people today waste or misuse their money. But whatever people do, guaranteed income will enable everyone to focus on the fundamental meaning and motives for work – the opportunity to earn, save, and invest to make a better life for oneself and one’s family – instead of living hand to mouth, paycheck to paycheck, always in fear of unemployment, hunger, and homelessness.
Supporters of the plan include the South African Council of Churches, the Congress of South Africa Trade Unions, and a diverse coalition of organizations working on poverty, AIDS, children’s health, and women’s issues. Opponents say it’s unaffordable. But what’s the alternative? Is there a cheaper way to help poor people?
Is there a better way for the international community to help poor countries? Perhaps the U.S., U.N., World Bank, IMF, and international foundations and charities should help South Africa, Mozambique, and other poor countries implement basic income grants. Even a small basic income "would provide vulnerable families with considerable room to maneuver in their survival strategies," according to Mozambican Prime Minister Mocumbi, who sees at as the key to providing health care and education.
Reducing poverty is related to expanding democracy, as Amartya Sen showed with the research for which he won the Nobel Memorial Prize in economics. Desperately poor people are more readily manipulated by demagogues; when poverty increases, democracies sometimes fail and dictators arise. Also, dictators and weak democracies commonly react to increasing poverty by exploiting immigrants or other vulnerable minorities, or by building up their militaries and picking fights with other countries. Weak, unstable governments are also more likely to harbor al Qaeda and other terrorists.
Consider Afghanistan. Over the next few years, billions of dollars of international aid will be spent in the effort to create a stable government that can stop the Taliban and al Qaeda from regaining control. At the same time, however, armed individuals and tribal groups are competing for power and territory. International oil companies are seeking influence to build a pipeline. And some desperately poor Afghanis believe they have no choice but to grow opium poppies that can be quickly and easily sold for cash.
Most international aid goes to centralized agencies, not to ordinary – and literally starving – people. What if, instead, aid was distributed from the bottom up in the form of basic income grants? What if, instead of relying on administrators in Kabul and other major cities, and paying them relatively large salaries, relief agencies distributed small amounts of money directly to poor people throughout the country? What if all adult Afghanis are given a minimal income, assisted to do what is best for themselves and their families, and encouraged to participate in rebuilding their communities? In other words, what if international agencies act like wise, loving, respectful parents, rather than authoritarian taskmasters?
Per capita income in Afghanistan is sometimes reported to be $300 a year, but that average includes Afghanis who are westernized and wealthy, and it ignores the devastation of the recent war. In most of the country, giving people an extra $10 a month would dramatically improve their quality of life. Grants could be withheld from people involved with illegal drugs or other criminal activities. The funds could be guaranteed by the international community for a period of, say, five years — long enough for the national government to develop a revenue base to continue the program and for local governments to assume the administrative responsibilities.
It’s commonly estimated that Afghanistan will need at least $4.5 billion over the next few years. The population is 23 million, roughly 15 million adults. If each adult gets $10 a month, basic income grants would cost about $1.8 billion a year. Even if the basic income alternative is more expensive, the first concern should be long-term efficacy. Which approach is more likely to deter terrorism and drug-dealing? To reduce conflicts between tribes and factions? To help Afghanistan become a stable and secure nation, a positive influence on its neighbors and a reliable partner for international trade?
Afghanistan has been at war for most of the past 25 years. Much of the country has no modern infrastructure. Afghan villages and towns need schools, police, banks, postal systems, and courts of law — and these have to be authentic local institutions, reflecting tribal and cultural variations, not something imposed by a central government or some international agency. If every Afghani is given enough income for food and shelter – needs that would be met by the market rather than by government – then people will be able to focus on rebuilding their homes, planting gardens, starting small businesses, and laying the civic foundations for local infrastructure and services.
Imagine being an ordinary Afghani. Think about what it would mean to receive that $10 a month. At first, the grants might be distributed by U.N. personnel with armed escorts; once a month, you would go to a depot where the funds are dispensed, and there you would see friends and neighbors. It might be a festive market day, and an occasion for civic meetings and politicking. A priority would be to hire or elect local agents and to set up the necessary police, banking, and other services to facilitate the grant distribution. You and your neighbors would have a real incentive to make sure the infrastructure is reliable and the agents are honest. After decades of war and upheaval, you could anticipate and plan for a secure life for yourself and your family.
Would anyone be harmed by guaranteed income for the people of Afghanistan? Would anyone have a reason to oppose such an arrangement? Yes: the Taliban and al Qaeda would find it almost impossible to retake control of the country. Likewise, those tribal or ethnic "leaders" who seek power for personal reasons rather than for the good of the people. And drug dealers and weapons smugglers would quickly be out of work. When individual Afghanis are guaranteed basic economic security, it will be harder to exploit or manipulate them, and harder to turn Afghanistan into a haven for warlords, smugglers, and terrorists.
A basic income in Afghanistan, Mozambique, or South Africa would also serve as a model for other countries. Helping any of them implement it may be the most effective way to end terrorism and the threat of terrorism in – and from – Yemen, Sudan, the Philippines, and elsewhere. Such an example might even embolden people in Iraq and North Korea to take the risks to overthrow their governments. Whatever happens in Iraq with Saddam Hussein, after he is gone the best way to rebuild the country may be with a basic income; ordinary Iraqis would become relatively wealthy if oil royalties were distributed directly.
Could basic income guarantees even help make peace between Israel and the Palestinians? No single reform can end centuries of ethnic, religious, and territorial conflict, yet this one would create conditions in which, finally, lasting progress is at least possible. Most Palestinians have never known basic economic security, no matter who governed their territory — Britain, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, or the Palestinian Authority. Over just the last few years, per capita Palestinian income has fallen by at least 30 percent. Unemployment is over 40 percent. Almost half of the 2.7 million Palestinians live below the regional poverty line of $2 per day. As long as many Palestinians are homeless, hungry, and desperate, there will be some who resort to violence against Israel and perhaps the United States.
The Palestinian Authority receives abundant aid, about $1 billion a year, from wealthy Arab countries, Europe, the U. N., and the World Bank. That $1 billion could provide an extra dollar a day for every Palestinian, roughly a 50 percent increase in mean income. With that money, Palestinians could rebuild their homes, businesses, and local communities — and, at the same time, rebuild the Palestinian Authority into an effective and accountable government that can stop terrorism and negotiate peace with Israel.
Just think about it. Nothing can be guaranteed, of course, yet current practices are obviously failing disastrously.
Many of us will be watching South Africa and Mozambique closely. But there’s no need to wait, and countless reasons not to. At this moment, billions of people around the world are hungry, homeless, desperately poor, without hope. Some will turn to terrorism.
Worldwide military spending is about $800 billion dollars a year. Imagine what could be done if even a portion of that money was distributed as a basic income to people in poor countries. The U.S. alone spends roughly $400 billion a year on our military. We would be much safer if, instead, we used some of that to help other countries implement and fund basic income grants.

History Of world Peace

2010-07-23T03:25:00.000-07:00

Some historians identify a long-term trend where nation-states stop fighting and become united. For example, old Europe with wars culminating in World War I and World War II, compared with the European Union; warring Chinese states compared with the modern Chinese nation. Certain historians theorize that the whole world will eventually follow this pattern as well.

Dr. Frank Laubach, an American missionary to the Philippines in 1935 saw poverty, injustice and illiteracy as impediments to world peace. He developed the "Each One Teach One" literacy program which taught about 60 million people to read in their own language.

World peace is often claimed to be the inevitable result of some political ideology. Thus, communist thinkers such as Leon Trotsky assumed that the world revolution would lead to a communist world peace, and neoliberal thinkers such as Francis Fukuyama assumed that the rise of liberal democracy will inevitably lead to the "end of history".

The plausibility of world peace tacitly relies on the assumption of rational agents that base their decisions on future consequences, which is not self-evident. Bertrand Russell once expressed his scepticism regarding world peace:

After ages during which the earth produced harmless trilobites and butterflies, evolution progressed to the point at which it has generated Neros, Genghis Khans, and Hitlers. This, however, I believe is a passing nightmare; in time the earth will become again incapable of supporting life, and peace will return.

The universal Peace conference (1983)

2010-07-22T22:09:00.000-07:00

The peace in World is an idea simple in principle but very difficult to achieve in practical life because, as individual members of our species, we have not found peace within ourselves. Societies cannot be peaceful societies until the members of the society look peacefully toward each other. But, it is impossible to look peacefully toward each other under constant threat for one’s survival.
The quest for peace must be carried out on many fronts, the most important of which is for each of us to contribute our portion toward an environment in which humans can labor and enjoy the fruits of their labor without fear that aggressive neighbors and oppressive governments will confiscate their gain. Commensurate with this freedom from fear is the responsibility to respect the ecological systems of the Earth, which gives us sustenance.
We must be able to seek communion with our God without fear that individual beliefs will be ridiculed or oppressed by others. Finally, the tide of world events, over which individuals seemingly have no control, cannot pose an irredeemable threat to the safety and security of individuals.
While it is true that the world has become so complex and so technologically oriented that individuals no longer believe that they count nor that they can do anything to effect world events, it is precisely the opposite. For only when individuals take total responsibility for their own lives, find within themselves communion with the Creative Force and live in peace with their neighbors and environment, only then will forces be set in motion that will eventually bring about world peace.
No power can create peace when humans have fear, anger and hate in their hearts, however insignificant those individual humans may think they are.

Peace in world

2009-10-28T20:29:00.000-07:00

To the Peoples of the World:

The Great Peace towards which people of good will throughout the centuries have inclined their hearts, of which seers and poets for countless generations have expressed their vision, and for which from age to age the sacred scriptures of mankind have constantly held the promise, is now at long last within the reach of the nations. For the first time in history it is possible for everyone to view the entire planet, with all its myriad diversified peoples, in one perspective. World peace is not only possible but inevitable. It is the next stage in the evolution of this planet--in the words of one great thinker, "the planetization of mankind".
Whether peace is to be reached only after unimaginable horrors precipitated by humanity's stubborn clinging to old patterns of behaviour, or is to be embraced now by an act of consultative will, is the choice before all who inhabit the earth. At this critical juncture when the intractable problems confronting nations have been fused into one common concern for the whole world, failure to stem the tide of conflict and disorder would be unconscionably irresponsible.
Among the favourable signs are the steadily growing strength of the steps towards world order taken initially near the beginning of this century in the creation of the League of Nations, succeeded by the more broadly based United Nations Organization; the achievement since the Second World War of independence by the majority of all the nations on earth, indicating the completion of the process of nation building, and the involvement of these fledgling nations with older ones in matters of mutual concern; the consequent vast increase in co-operation among hitherto isolated and antagonistic peoples and groups in international undertakings in the scientific, educational, legal, economic and cultural fields; the rise in recent decades of an unprecedented number of international humanitarian organizations; the spread of women's and youth movements calling for an end to war; and the spontaneous spawning of widening networks of ordinary people seeking understanding through personal communication.
The scientific and technological advances occurring in this unusually blessed century portend a great surge forward in the social evolution of the planet, and indicate the means by which the practical problems of humanity may be solved. They provide, indeed, the very means for the administration of the complex life of a united world. Yet barriers persist. Doubts, misconceptions, prejudices, suspicions and narrow self-interest beset nations and peoples in their relations one to another.
It is out of a deep sense of spiritual and moral duty that we are impelled at this opportune moment to invite your attention to the penetrating insights first communicated to the rulers of mankind more than a century ago by Bahá'u'lláh, Founder of the Bahá'í Faith, of which we are the Trustees.

"The winds of despair", Bahá'u'lláh wrote, "are, alas, blowing from every direction, and the strife that divides and afflicts the human race is daily increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be discerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appears to be lamentably defective." This prophetic judgement has been amply confirmed by the common experience of humanity. Flaws in the prevailing order are conspicuous in the inability of sovereign states organized as United Nations to exorcize the spectre of war, the threatened collapse of the international economic order, the spread of anarchy and terrorism, and the intense suffering which these and other afflictions are causing to increasing millions. Indeed, so much have aggression and conflict come to characterize our social, economic and religious systems, that many have succumbed to the view that such behaviour is intrinsic to human nature and therefore ineradicable.

With the entrenchment of this view, a paralyzing contradiction has developed in human affairs. On the one hand, people of all nations proclaim not only their readiness but their longing for peace and harmony, for an end to the harrowing apprehensions tormenting their daily lives. On the other, uncritical assent is given to the proposition that human beings are incorrigibly selfish and aggressive and thus incapable of erecting a social system at once progressive and peaceful, dynamic and harmonious, a system giving free play to individual creativity and initiative but based on co-operation and reciprocity.

As the need for peace becomes more urgent, this fundamental contradiction, which hinders its realization, demands a reassessment of the assumptions upon which the commonly held view of mankind's historical predicament is based. Dis- passionately examined, the evidence reveals that such conduct, far from expressing man's true self, represents a distortion of the human spirit. Satisfaction on this point will enable all people to set in motion constructive social forces which, because they are consistent with human nature, will encourage harmony and co-operation instead of war and conflict.

To choose such a course is not to deny humanity's past but to understand it. The Bahá'í Faith regards the current world confusion and calamitous condition in human affairs as a natural phase in an organic process leading ultimately and irresistibly to the unification of the human race in a single social order whose boundaries are those of the planet. The human race, as a distinct, organic unit, has passed through evolutionary stages analogous to the stages of infancy and childhood in the lives of its individual members, and is now in the culminating period of its turbulent adolescence approaching its long-awaited coming of age.

A candid acknowledgement that prejudice, war and exploitation have been the expression of immature stages in a vast historical process and that the human race is today experiencing the unavoidable tumult which marks its collective coming of age is not a reason for despair but a prerequisite to undertaking the stupendous enterprise of building a peaceful world. That such an enterprise is possible, that the necessary constructive forces do exist, that unifying social structures can be erected, is the theme we urge you to examine.

Whatever suffering and turmoil the years immediately ahead may hold, however dark the immediate circumstances, the Bahá'í community believes that humanity can confront this supreme trial with confidence in its ultimate outcome. Far from signalizing the end of civilization, the convulsive changes towards which humanity is being ever more rapidly impelled will serve to release the "potentialities inherent in the station of man" and reveal "the full measure of his destiny on earth, the innate excellence of his reality".
Section I

The endowments which distinguish the human race from all other forms of life are summed up in what is known as the human spirit; the mind is its essential quality. These endowments have enabled humanity to build civilizations and to prosper materially. But such accomplishments alone have never satisfied the human spirit, whose mysterious nature inclines it towards transcendence, a reaching towards an invisible realm, towards the ultimate reality, that unknowable essence of essences called God. The religions brought to mankind by a succession of spiritual luminaries have been the primary link between humanity and that ultimate reality, and have galvanized and refined mankind's capacity to achieve spiritual success together with social progress.

No serious attempt to set human affairs aright, to achieve world peace, can ignore religion. Man's perception and practice of it are largely the stuff of history. An eminent historian described religion as a "faculty of human nature". That the perversion of this faculty has contributed to much of the confusion in society and the conflicts in and between individuals can hardly be denied. But neither can any fair-minded observer discount the preponderating influence exerted by religion on the vital expressions of civilization. Furthermore, its indispensability to social order has repeatedly been demonstrated by its direct effect on laws and morality.
Writing of religion as a social force, Bahá'u'lláh said: "Religion is the greatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and for the peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein." Referring to the eclipse or corruption of religion, he wrote: "Should the lamp of religion be obscured, chaos and confusion will ensue, and the lights of fairness, of justice, of tranquillity and peace cease to shine." In an enumeration of such consequences the Bahá'í writings point out that the "perversion of human nature, the degradation of human conduct, the corruption and dissolution of human institutions, reveal themselves, under such circumstances, in their worst and most revolting aspects. Human character is debased, confidence is shaken, the nerves of discipline are relaxed, the voice of human conscience is stilled, the sense of decency and shame is obscured, conceptions of duty, of solidarity, of reciprocity and loyalty are distorted, and the very feeling of peacefulness, of joy and of hope is gradually extinguished."

If, therefore, humanity has come to a point of paralyzing conflict it must look to itself, to its own negligence, to the siren voices to which it has listened, for the source of the misunderstandings and confusion perpetrated in the name of religion. Those who have held blindly and selfishly to their particular orthodoxies, who have imposed on their votaries erroneous and conflicting interpretations of the pronouncements of the Prophets of God, bear heavy responsibility for this confusion--a confusion compounded by the artificial barriers erected between faith and reason, science and religion. For from a fair-minded examination of the actual utterances of the Founders of the great religions, and of the social milieus in which they were obliged to carry out their missions, there is nothing to support the contentions and prejudices deranging the religious communities of mankind and therefore all human affairs.

The teaching that we should treat others as we ourselves would wish to be treated, an ethic variously repeated in all the great religions, lends force to this latter observation in two particular respects: it sums up the moral attitude, the peace-inducing aspect, extending through these religions irrespective of their place or time of origin; it also signifies an aspect of unity which is their essential virtue, a virtue mankind in its disjointed view of history has failed to appreciate.

Had humanity seen the Educators of its collective childhood in their true character, as agents of one civilizing process, it would no doubt have reaped incalculably greater benefits from the cumulative effects of their successive missions. This, alas, it failed to do.

The resurgence of fanatical religious fervour occurring in many lands cannot be regarded as more than a dying convulsion. The very nature of the violent and disruptive phenomena associated with it testifies to the spiritual bankruptcy it represents. Indeed, one of the strangest and saddest features of the current outbreak of religious fanaticism is the extent to which, in each case, it is undermining not only the spiritual values which are conducive to the unity of mankind but also those unique moral victories won by the particular religion it purports to serve.
However vital a force religion has been in the history of mankind, and however dramatic the current resurgence of militant religious fanaticism, religion and religious institutions have, for many decades, been viewed by increasing numbers of people as irrelevant to the major concerns of the modern world. In its place they have turned either to the hedonistic pursuit of material satisfactions or to the following of man-made ideologies designed to rescue society from the evident evils under which it groans. All too many of these ideologies, alas, instead of embracing the concept of the oneness of mankind and promoting the increase of concord among different peoples, have tended to deify the state, to subordinate the rest of mankind to one nation, race or class, to attempt to suppress all discussion and interchange of ideas, or to callously abandon starving millions to the operations of a market system that all too clearly is aggravating the plight of the majority of mankind, while enabling small sections to live in a condition of affluence scarcely dreamed of by our forebears.

How tragic is the record of the substitute faiths that the worldly-wise of our age have created. In the massive disillusionment of entire populations who have been taught to worship at their altars can be read history's irreversible verdict on their value. The fruits these doctrines have produced, after decades of an increasingly unrestrained exercise of power by those who owe their ascendancy in human affairs to them, are the social and economic ills that blight every region of our world in the closing years of the twentieth century. Underlying all these outward afflictions is the spiritual damage reflected in the apathy that has gripped the mass of the peoples of all nations and by the extinction of hope in the hearts of deprived and anguished millions.

The time has come when those who preach the dogmas of materialism, whether of the east or the west, whether of capitalism or socialism, must give account of the moral stewardship they have presumed to exercise. Where is the "new world" promised by these ideologies? Where is the international peace to whose ideals they proclaim their devotion? Where are the breakthroughs into new realms of cultural achievement produced by the aggrandizement of this race, of that nation or of a particular class? Why is the vast majority of the world's peoples sinking ever deeper into hunger and wretchedness when wealth on a scale undreamed of by the Pharaohs, the Caesars, or even the imperialist powers of the nineteenth century is at the disposal of the present arbiters of human affairs?

Most particularly, it is in the glorification of material pursuits, at once the progenitor and common feature of all such ideologies, that we find the roots which nourish the falsehood that human beings are incorrigibly selfish and aggressive. It is here that the ground must be cleared for the building of a new world fit for our descendants.

That materialistic ideals have, in the light of experience, failed to satisfy the needs of mankind calls for an honest acknowledgement that a fresh effort must now be made to find the solutions to the agonizing problems of the planet. The intolerable conditions pervading society bespeak a common failure of all, a circumstance which tends to incite rather than relieve the entrenchment on every side. Clearly, a common remedial effort is urgently required. It is primarily a matter of attitude. Will humanity continue in its waywardness, holding to outworn concepts and unworkable assumptions? Or will its leaders, regardless of ideology, step forth and, with a resolute will, consult together in a united search for appropriate solutions?

Those who care for the future of the human race may well ponder this advice. "If long-cherished ideals and time-honoured institutions, if certain social assumptions and religious formulae have ceased to promote the welfare of the generality of mankind, if they no longer minister to the needs of a continually evolving humanity, let them be swept away and relegated to the limbo of obsolescent and forgotten doctrines. Why should these, in a world subject to the immutable law of change and decay, be exempt from the deterioration that must needs overtake every human institution? For legal standards, political and economic theories are solely designed to safeguard the interests of humanity as a whole, and not humanity to be crucified for the preservation of the integrity of any particular law or doctrine."

Section II

Banning nuclear weapons, prohibiting the use of poison gases, or outlawing germ warfare will not remove the root causes of war. However important such practical measures obviously are as elements of the peace process, they are in themselves too superficial to exert enduring influence. Peoples are ingenious enough to invent yet other forms of warfare, and to use food, raw materials, finance, industrial power, ideology, and terrorism to subvert one another in an endless quest for supremacy and dominion. Nor can the present massive dislocation in the affairs of humanity be resolved through the settlement of specific conflicts or disagreements among nations. A genuine universal framework must be adopted.

Certainly, there is no lack of recognition by national leaders of the world-wide character of the problem, which is self-evident in the mounting issues that confront them daily. And there are the accumulating studies and solutions proposed by many concerned and enlightened groups as well as by agencies of the United Nations, to remove any possibility of ignorance as to the challenging requirements to be met. There is, however, a paralysis of will; and it is this that must be carefully examined and resolutely dealt with. This paralysis is rooted, as we have stated, in a deep-seated conviction of the inevitable quarrelsomeness of mankind, which has led to the reluctance to entertain the possibility of subordinating national self-interest to the requirements of world order, and in an unwillingness to face courageously the far-reaching implications of establishing a united world authority. It is also traceable to the incapacity of largely ignorant and subjugated masses to articulate their desire for a new order in which they can live in peace, harmony and prosperity with all humanity.

The tentative steps towards world order, especially since World War II, give hopeful signs. The increasing tendency of groups of nations to formalize relationships which enable them to co-operate in matters of mutual interest suggests that eventually all nations could overcome this paralysis. The Association of South East Asian Nations, the Caribbean Community and Common Market, the Central American Common Market, the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, the European Communities, the League of Arab States, the Organization of African Unity, the Organization of American States, the South Pacific Forum--all the joint endeavours represented by such organizations prepare the path to world order.

The increasing attention being focused on some of the most deep-rooted problems of the planet is yet another hopeful sign. Despite the obvious shortcomings of the United Nations, the more than two score declarations and conventions adopted by that organization, even where governments have not been enthusiastic in their commitment, have given ordinary people a sense of a new lease on life. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, and the similar measures concerned with eliminating all forms of discrimination based on race, sex or religious belief; upholding the rights of the child; protecting all persons against being subjected to torture; eradicating hunger and malnutrition; using scientific and technological progress in the interest of peace and the benefit of mankind--all such measures, if courageously enforced and expanded, will advance the day when the spectre of war will have lost its power to dominate international relations. There is no need to stress the significance of the issues addressed by these declarations and conventions. However, a few such issues, because of their immediate relevance to establishing world peace, deserve additional comment.

Racism, one of the most baneful and persistent evils, is a major barrier to peace. Its practice perpetrates too outrageous a violation of the dignity of human beings to be countenanced under any pretext. Racism retards the unfoldment of the boundless potentialities of its victims, corrupts its perpetrators, and blights human progress. Recognition of the oneness of mankind, implemented by appropriate legal measures, must be universally upheld if this problem is to be overcome.

The inordinate disparity between rich and poor, a source of acute suffering, keeps the world in a state of instability, virtually on the brink of war. Few societies have dealt effectively with this situation. The solution calls for the combined application of spiritual, moral and practical approaches. A fresh look at the problem is required, entailing consultation with experts from a wide spectrum of disciplines, devoid of economic and ideological polemics, and involving the people directly affected in the decisions that must urgently be made. It is an issue that is bound up not only with the necessity for eliminating extremes of wealth and poverty but also with those spiritual verities the understanding of which can produce a new universal attitude. Fostering such an attitude is itself a major part of the solution.

Unbridled nationalism, as distinguished from a sane and legitimate patriotism, must give way to a wider loyalty, to the love of humanity as a whole. Bahá'u'lláh's statement is: "The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens." The concept of world citizenship is a direct result of the contraction of the world into a single neighbourhood through scientific advances and of the indisputable interdependence of nations. Love of all the world's peoples does not exclude love of one's country. The advantage of the part in a world society is best served by promoting the advantage of the whole. Current international activities in various fields which nurture mutual affection and a sense of solidarity among peoples need greatly to be increased.

Religious strife, throughout history, has been the cause of innumerable wars and conflicts, a major blight to progress, and is increasingly abhorrent to the people of all faiths and no faith. Followers of all religions must be willing to face the basic questions which this strife raises, and to arrive at clear answers. How are the differences between them to be resolved, both in theory and in practice? The challenge facing the religious leaders of mankind is to contemplate, with hearts filled with the spirit of compassion and a desire for truth, the plight of humanity, and to ask themselves whether they cannot, in humility before their Almighty Creator, submerge their theological differences in a great spirit of mutual forbearance that will enable them to work together for the advancement of human understanding and peace.

The emancipation of women, the achievement of full equality between the sexes, is one of the most important, though less acknowledged prerequisites of peace. The denial of such equality perpetrates an injustice against one half of the world's population and promotes in men harmful attitudes and habits that are carried from the family to the workplace, to political life, and ultimately to international relations. There are no grounds, moral, practical, or biological, upon which such denial can be justified. Only as women are welcomed into full partnership in all fields of human endeavour will the moral and psychological climate be created in which international peace can emerge.

The cause of universal education, which has already enlisted in its service an army of dedicated people from every faith and nation, deserves the utmost support that the governments of the world can lend it. For ignorance is indisputably the principal reason for the decline and fall of peoples and the perpetuation of prejudice. No nation can achieve success unless education is accorded all its citizens. Lack of resources limits the ability of many nations to fulfil this necessity, imposing a certain ordering of priorities. The decision-making agencies involved would do well to consider giving first priority to the education of women and girls, since it is through educated mothers that the benefits of knowledge can be most effectively and rapidly diffused throughout society. In keeping with the requirements of the times, consideration should also be given to teaching the concept of world citizenship as part of the standard education of every child.

A fundamental lack of communication between peoples seriously undermines efforts towards world peace. Adopting an international auxiliary language would go far to resolving this problem and necessitates the most urgent attention.

Two points bear emphasizing in all these issues. One is that the abolition of war is not simply a matter of signing treaties and protocols; it is a complex task requiring a new level of commitment to resolving issues not customarily associated with the pursuit of peace. Based on political agreements alone, the idea of collective security is a chimera. The other point is that the primary challenge in dealing with issues of peace is to raise the context to the level of principle, as distinct from pure pragmatism. For, in essence, peace stems from an inner state supported by a spiritual or moral attitude, and it is chiefly in evoking this attitude that the possibility of enduring solutions can be found.

There are spiritual principles, or what some call human values, by which solutions can be found for every social problem. Any well-intentioned group can in a general sense devise practical solutions to its problems, but good intentions and practical knowledge are usually not enough. The essential merit of spiritual principle is that it not only presents a perspective which harmonizes with that which is immanent in human nature, it also induces an attitude, a dynamic, a will, an aspiration, which facilitate the discovery and implementation of practical measures. Leaders of governments and all in authority would be well served in their efforts to solve problems if they would first seek to identify the principles involved and then be guided by them.

Section III

The primary question to be resolved is how the present world, with its entrenched pattern of conflict, can change to a world in which harmony and co-operation will prevail.
World order can be founded only on an unshakeable consciousness of the oneness of mankind, a spiritual truth which all the human sciences confirm. Anthropology, physiology, psychology, recognize only one human species, albeit infinitely varied in the secondary aspects of life. Recognition of this truth requires abandonment of prejudice--prejudice of every kind--race, class, colour, creed, nation, sex, degree of material civilization, everything which enables people to consider themselves superior to others.
Acceptance of the oneness of mankind is the first fundamental prerequisite for reorganization and administration of the world as one country, the home of humankind. Universal acceptance of this spiritual principle is essential to any successful attempt to establish world peace. It should therefore be universally proclaimed, taught in schools, and constantly asserted in every nation as preparation for the organic change in the structure of society which it implies.

In the Bahá'í view, recognition of the oneness of mankind "calls for no less than the reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole civilized world--a world organically unified in all the essential aspects of its life, its political machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade and finance, its script and language, and yet infinite in the diversity of the national characteristics of its federated units."

Elaborating the implications of this pivotal principle, Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith, commented in 1931 that: "Far from aiming at the subversion of the existing foundations of society, it seeks to broaden its basis, to remold its institutions in a manner consonant with the needs of an ever-changing world. It can conflict with no legitimate allegiances, nor can it undermine essential loyalties. Its purpose is neither to stifle the flame of a sane and intelligent patriotism in men's hearts, nor to abolish the system of national autonomy so essential if the evils of excessive centralization are to be avoided. It does not ignore, nor does it attempt to suppress, the diversity of ethnical origins, of climate, of history, of language and tradition, of thought and habit, that differentiate the peoples and nations of the world. It calls for a wider loyalty, for a larger aspiration than any that has animated the human race. It insists upon the subordination of national impulses and interests to the imperative claims of a unified world. It repudiates excessive centralization on one hand, and disclaims all attempts at uniformity on the other. Its watchword is unity in diversity".

The achievement of such ends requires several stages in the adjustment of national political attitudes, which now verge on anarchy in the absence of clearly defined laws or universally accepted and enforceable principles regulating the relationships between nations. The League of Nations, the United Nations, and the many organizations and agreements produced by them have unquestionably been helpful in attenuating some of the negative effects of international conflicts, but they have shown themselves incapable of preventing war. Indeed, there have been scores of wars since the end of the Second World War; many are yet raging.

The predominant aspects of this problem had already emerged in the nineteenth century when Bahá'u'lláh first advanced his proposals for the establishment of world peace. The principle of collective security was propounded by him in statements addressed to the rulers of the world. Shoghi Effendi commented on his meaning: "What else could these weighty words signify," he wrote, "if they did not point to the inevitable curtailment of unfettered national sovereignty as an indispensable preliminary to the formation of the future Commonwealth of all the nations of the world? Some form of a world super-state must needs be evolved, in whose favour all the nations of the world will have willingly ceded every claim to make war, certain rights to impose taxation and all rights to maintain armaments, except for purposes of maintaining internal order within their respective dominions. Such a state will have to include within its orbit an International Executive adequate to enforce supreme and unchallengeable authority on every recalcitrant member of the commonwealth; a World Parliament whose members shall be elected by the people in their respective countries and whose election shall be confirmed by their respective governments; and a Supreme Tribunal whose judgement will have a binding effect even in such cases where the parties concerned did not voluntarily agree to submit their case to its consideration.

"A world community in which all economic barriers will have been permanently demolished and the interdependence of capital and labour definitely recognized; in which the clamour of religious fanaticism and strife will have been forever stilled; in which the flame of racial animosity will have been finally extinguished; in which a single code of international law--the product of the considered judgement of the world's federated representatives--shall have as its sanction the instant and coercive intervention of the combined forces of the federated units; and finally a world community in which the fury of a capricious and militant nationalism will have been transmuted into an abiding consciousness of world citizenship--such indeed, appears, in its broadest outline, the Order anticipated by Bahá'u'lláh, an Order that shall come to be regarded as the fairest fruit of a slowly maturing age."

The implementation of these far-reaching measures was indicated by Bahá'u'lláh: "The time must come when the imperative necessity for the holding of a vast, an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally realized. The rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and, participating in its deliberations, must consider such ways and means as will lay the foundations of the world's Great Peace amongst men."

The courage, the resolution, the pure motive, the selfless love of one people for another--all the spiritual and moral qualities required for effecting this momentous step towards peace are focused on the will to act. And it is towards arousing the necessary volition that earnest consideration must be given to the reality of man, namely, his thought. To understand the relevance of this potent reality is also to appreciate the social necessity of actualizing its unique value through candid, dispassionate and cordial consultation, and of acting upon the results of this process. Bahá'u'lláh insistently drew attention to the virtues and indispensability of consultation for ordering human affairs. He said: "Consultation bestows greater awareness and transmutes conjecture into certitude. It is a shining light which, in a dark world, leads the way and guides. For everything there is and will continue to be a station of perfection and maturity. The maturity of the gift of understanding is made manifest through consultation." The very attempt to achieve peace through the consultative action he proposed can release such a salutary spirit among the peoples of the earth that no power could resist the final, triumphal outcome.

Concerning the proceedings for this world gathering, `Abdu'l-Bahá, the son of Bahá'u'lláh and authorized interpreter of his teachings, offered these insights: "They must make the Cause of Peace the object of general consultation, and seek by every means in their power to establish a Union of the nations of the world. They must conclude a binding treaty and establish a covenant, the provisions of which shall be sound, inviolable and definite. They must proclaim it to all the world and obtain for it the sanction of all the human race. This supreme and noble undertaking--the real source of the peace and well-being of all the world--should be regarded as sacred by all that dwell on earth. All the forces of humanity must be mobilized to ensure the stability and permanence of this Most Great Covenant. In this all-embracing Pact the limits and frontiers of each and every nation should be clearly fixed, the principles underlying the relations of governments towards one another definitely laid down, and all international agreements and obligations ascertained. In like manner, the size of the armaments of every government should be strictly limited, for if the preparations for war and the military forces of any nation should be allowed to increase, they will arouse the suspicion of others. The fundamental principle underlying this solemn Pact should be so fixed that if any government later violate any one of its provisions, all the governments on earth should arise to reduce it to utter submission, nay the human race as a whole should resolve, with every power at its disposal, to destroy that government. Should this greatest of all remedies be applied to the sick body of the world, it will assuredly recover from its ills and will remain eternally safe and secure."
The holding of this mighty convocation is long overdue.

With all the ardour of our hearts, we appeal to the leaders of all nations to seize this opportune moment and take irreversible steps to convoke this world meeting. All the forces of history impel the human race towards this act which will mark for all time the dawn of its long-awaited maturity.

Will not the United Nations, with the full support of its membership, rise to the high purposes of such a crowning event?
Let men and women, youth and children everywhere recognize the eternal merit of this imperative action for all peoples and lift up their voices in willing assent. Indeed, let it be this generation that inaugurates this glorious stage in the evolution of social life on the planet.

Section IV

The source of the optimism we feel is a vision transcending the cessation of war and the creation of agencies of international co-operation. Permanent peace among nations is an essential stage, but not, Bahá'u'lláh asserts, the ultimate goal of the social development of humanity. Beyond the initial armistice forced upon the world by the fear of nuclear holocaust, beyond the political peace reluctantly entered into by suspicious rival nations, beyond pragmatic arrangements for security and coexistence, beyond even the many experiments in co-operation which these steps will make possible lies the crowning goal: the unification of all the peoples of the world in one universal family.

Disunity is a danger that the nations and peoples of the earth can no longer endure; the consequences are too terrible to contemplate, too obvious to require any demonstration. "The well-being of mankind," Bahá'u'lláh wrote more than a century ago, "its peace and security, are unattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established." In observing that "mankind is groaning, is dying to be led to unity, and to terminate its age-long martyrdom", Shoghi Effendi further commented that: "Unification of the whole of mankind is the hall-mark of the stage which human society is now approaching. Unity of family, of tribe, of city-state, and nation have been successively attempted and fully established. World unity is the goal towards which a harassed humanity is striving. Nation-building has come to an end. The anarchy inherent in state sovereignty is moving towards a climax. A world, growing to maturity, must abandon this fetish, recognize the oneness and wholeness of human relationships, and establish once for all the machinery that can best incarnate this fundamental principle of its life."

All contemporary forces of change validate this view. The proofs can be discerned in the many examples already cited of the favourable signs towards world peace in current international movements and developments. The army of men and women, drawn from virtually every culture, race and nation on earth, who serve the multifarious agencies of the United Nations, represent a planetary "civil service" whose impressive accomplishments are indicative of the degree of co-operation that can be attained even under discouraging conditions. An urge towards unity, like a spiritual springtime, struggles to express itself through countless international congresses that bring together people from a vast array of disciplines. It motivates appeals for international projects involving children and youth. Indeed, it is the real source of the remarkable movement towards ecumenism by which members of historically antagonistic religions and sects seem irresistibly drawn towards one another. Together with the opposing tendency to warfare and self-aggrandizement against which it ceaselessly struggles, the drive towards world unity is one of the dominant, pervasive features of life on the planet during the closing years of the twentieth century.

The experience of the Bahá'í community may be seen as an example of this enlarging unity. It is a community of some three to four million people drawn from many nations, cultures, classes and creeds, engaged in a wide range of activities serving the spiritual, social and economic needs of the peoples of many lands. It is a single social organism, representative of the diversity of the human family, conducting its affairs through a system of commonly accepted consultative principles, and cherishing equally all the great outpourings of divine guidance in human history. Its existence is yet another convincing proof of the practicality of its Founder's vision of a united world, another evidence that humanity can live as one global society, equal to whatever challenges its coming of age may entail. If the Bahá'í experience can contribute in whatever measure to reinforcing hope in the unity of the human race, we are happy to offer it as a model for study.

In contemplating the supreme importance of the task now challenging the entire world, we bow our heads in humility before the awesome majesty of the divine Creator, Who out of His infinite love has created all humanity from the same stock; exalted the gem-like reality of man; honoured it with intellect and wisdom, nobility and immortality; and conferred upon man the "unique distinction and capacity to know Him and to love Him", a capacity that "must needs be regarded as the generating impulse and the primary purpose underlying the whole of creation."
We hold firmly the conviction that all human beings have been created "to carry forward an ever-advancing civilization"; that "to act like the beasts of the field is unworthy of man"; that the virtues that befit human dignity are trustworthiness, forbearance, mercy, compassion and loving-kindness towards all peoples. We reaffirm the belief that the "potentialities inherent in the station of man, the full measure of his destiny on earth, the innate excellence of his reality, must all be manifested in this promised Day of God." These are the motivations for our unshakeable faith that unity and peace are the attainable goal towards which humanity is striving.

At this writing, the expectant voices of Bahá'ís can be heard despite the persecution they still endure in the land in which their Faith was born. By their example of steadfast hope, they bear witness to the belief that the imminent realization of this age-old dream of peace is now, by virtue of the transforming effects of Bahá'u'lláh's revelation, invested with the force of divine authority. Thus we convey to you not only a vision in words: we summon the power of deeds of faith and sacrifice; we convey the anxious plea of our co-religionists everywhere for peace and unity. We join with all who are the victims of aggression, all who yearn for an end to conflict and contention, all whose devotion to principles of peace and world order promotes the ennobling purposes for which humanity was called into being by an all-loving Creator.

In the earnestness of our desire to impart to you the fervour of our hope and the depth of our confidence, we cite the emphatic promise of Bahá'u'lláh: "These fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away, and the 'Most Great Peace' shall come."

Ujwal adhikari