The Formula for World Peace

We live in an increasingly polarized world in which people are experiencing isolation and loneliness in a “connected” global economy, feeling disrespected in the workplace and in their communities, and experiencing the divisive effects of miscommunication and misunderstanding. How can we collectively recover from this?

With the outer world so externally disconnected, it’s helpful to search for what connects us all.

Importantly, we are also not God, but according to the Gita, we are one with God in quality. This means that we are of the same spiritual essence as God and significantly, it means we share a lot more in common with each other than we may sometimes think.

How can this understanding transform our perspective?

We are all spirit souls and we have one common father. In the Gita, Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, affirms that He is the father of all living entities:

Although we are born in different cultures, speak different languages, and look different externally, on the level of the self, we are all part of one larger spiritual family. Realizing this is the formula for peace in this world.

Knowing this, what if we invested some of our time in cultivating our eternal, lasting relationship with God — identified in the Gita as Kṛṣṇa. The name Kṛṣṇa is a non-sectarian name for the Supreme, or God. It simply means “all attractive”. Why shouldn’t God be the most attractive entity? The Supreme, ultimately the Supreme Person according to the Gita, is someone who attracts every living being ultimately with His Supreme beauty.

Why prioritize finding out about the nature of the self and of God?

Just now there’s no world war going on, but statistics show there are more people engaged in fighting in wars than there were during the first and second world wars. And we must not think that there may not be a third world war. Nuclear weapons are in the hands of very questionable people, and history repeats itself.

Albert Einstein said, “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”

But enough about fear, what about love?

The nature of love is that we sometimes love our family more than ourselves. We should ask, especially now, “What kind of world will our children inherit from us?” A continual peace is within everyone’s interest.

The externals that are different are temporary. What we have in common is that we are all spiritual souls and all belonging to the great family of God. Instead of thinking, “This person is my enemy”, what if we thought, “This person is my family”?

You can really love your family. “Blood is thicker than water,” they say. Family attachment is stronger than our attachments to others. But what if by transcendental knowledge that is found in ancient scriptures we could see everyone as a family member? What would that be like? Our attachments with everyone would be very deep and loving.

Spiritual life is an equalizer. In the Gita, it’s said:

This vision of equality is not beyond one that we can develop. The saintly soul sees the true equality of all living beings at the level of the soul and treats every living entity with respect. That’s how we will have world peace — with that vision. How much better would our relationships be if we put this higher vision into practice?

The world needs self-realized souls. Unless we know who we are we cannot understand our relationships with each other, with the environment, what to speak of with our spiritual source. When we understand ourselves, we can then turn outwards and respect one another from the platform of the soul. And respect yields resilience. We can recover — together — with this expansive perspective on life.

ABOUT INDRADYUMNA SWAMI

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