The Prayer
Author Swami Dharmanand (Dharamdev Vidyamartand)
Reproduced by Dr. Vivek Arya
ओ३म् वयं जयेम त्वया युजावृतमस्माकमं शुमुदवा भरे भरे । अस्मभ्यमिन्द्रम वरिवः सुगं कृषि प्रणत्रणांमघवन् वृपण्यारुजा । (1-102-04)
हि॒र॒ण्मये॑न॒ पात्रे॑ण स॒त्यस्यापि॑हितं॒ मुखम्। यो॒ऽसावा॑दि॒त्ये पु॑रुषः॒ सो᳕ऽसाव॒हम्। ओ३म् खं ब्रह्म॑ ॥।(यजु० 40/17)
O! Omniscient, Omnipotent and Omnipresent Lord of all Creation! It is only through your grace that we can understand, that we cannot get on as we should in this world, which is now full of chaos, without going hand in hand with you. It is only then that we can succeed In our attempts, but, O Lord! let us remember that you will never bestow your help in our unrighteous attempts; we come across a lot of obstacles in our way through this life and with your Grace we can overcome them in no time.
O! Lord! our minds our perplexed mainly because we have a thirst for gold, and how- ever often you might have warned us against it, we have not heeded your warning. Let us realize now at least, through your grace, which is endless, O Lord! that the wealth of the world is yours and yours only. We are only custodians thereof to distribute it among our brethren as per your command. We pray again prompt by your Grace so that we may obey you and bring peace in the world namely―
Peace in the individual, peace in the country and peace in the largest world.
Introduction
The heart of Bharat is made of Universal love, and love for universal peace-Bharat's culture which is based on the Vedas and Vedas alone, considers the universe or the world as the biggest family. God, the Almighty is the father and the congregation of men, women and children are His sons and daughters or otherwise called the Aryas. In each Aryan family, we find men, women and children even to this day reciting daily during the morning and evening, prayers (Sandhya) during the recital of the Vedic or Upanishad mantras, the words, "Om, Shanti, Shanti, Shanti" i.e. O Lord! confer peace on the Individual, on the society (or the country) and in the whole world. This sort of recital has become their second nature, so that we can say that peace is flowing through the very blood in their Veins, so, if at all, it is only Bharat that can offer peace to the world the Vedas, because the Vedas are the very foundation of Bharat's hoary culture. Remove the Vedas, there is no cultural edifice of Bharat. This a fact as will be shown in the succeeding pages in a very condensed form as the space is limited.
The condition of the world as it is now, is brought about by mere industrialization or frank materialism and long before now, many eminent writers and scientists of the west also prophesied that this world would be going head long down the path of ruin, if they merely followed the path of industrialism, capitalism and naturalistic culture. For example a great philosopher of Germany Euckenby name, in his book "shall we become Christians", says "outward greatness with inward pettiness, and wealth and diversity of achievements with hollow emptiness of spirits"-Such is the mark of merely naturalistic culture.
The great scientist Professor Huxley of England said, "Even the best of modern civilization appears to me to exhibit a condition of mankind which neither embodies any working ideal, nor even possesses the merit of stability. If there is no hope of large improvement of the condition of the greater part of the human family, I should hail the advent of some kindly comet which would sweep the whole affairs away as a desirable consummation (People of the Aayas-by Jack, London-P. 915).
A great number of such opinions may be quoted to show the failure of this rank materialistic civilization of the West to bring about peace in the world-but space does not allow. I shall quote only one more opinion of a great man of India, Dr. James H. Cousins, the famous artist and poet; He says in his "Path to peace" "such is the ideal civilization of the Vedic India, which has seen the rise and fall of succession of Empires, and it is, because it holds for humanity indications towards salvation, that Europe today in her search for a saner and surer attitude of life and humanity, than that which has brought her to the brink of ruin, is turning towards India."
The civilisation that spring up from the Vedic genius which articulated and was conscious many centuries before the present era, being International, was syntactical, therefore inclusive, (on this Vedic ideal alone) with its inclusiveness which absorbs and annihilates the causes of antagonism with its sympathy, which burns hatred away from itself, (on this ideal alone) it is possible to rear a new earth on the image and likeness of the external heavens."
Now after this short preambles we shall proceed to substantiate the statements mentioned above.
What is World?
We all use the word world in our talks-but what is it? Let us clearly understand it, because without understanding the real import of this word it is not possible to realise the truth of the statement in the subsequent pages-The world is not merely the earth with all its mountain, hills and dales and rivers etc. Without the people it cannot be called a world. So the world is a congregation of people on the earth. If so, a family a society, etc. which are congregation of people are also worlds. Certainly an individual is himself an miniature world a family is a small world. A society is a bigger congregation and, it is bigger world or a bigger family, and what we all mean generally when we use the word world, is the biggest congregation (or world in the superlative degree) of men, women and children or the biggest family. If we remember this, that the world is the biggest family, we can tightly understand this essay.
How did the World Come to Exist?
First of all the biggest world with all its components parts came into existence without the human part. But how? seeing the wonderfulness and the laws that exist in this world, apart from the congregation of men, women, and children, i.e. its components it is impossible to decide that it existed of its own accord. Leave aside the Logic and Darshanas of Bharat, the Western Philosophy and Science also tell us that our observation of the laws that exist in this wonderful world, presupposes that there should be an All-wise, All powerful, Agent or Creator, without whose intervention, the inert matter-as exposed by the great scientist Newton could not have transferred itself into the wonderful form that we see now. So this Agent or Creator we call God also. He also created men and women like other plant life etc. and created laws for future progeny.
In the very beginning after God's creation of complete Nature (Cosmos), he created multitude of men and women in their full bloom of youth and all these at the same moment by his wonderful power of being Omniscient and Omnipotent and this creation is called the Amaithuni Srisht .i.e. the creation without the combination of men and women. After that the laws of procreation came into existence. How could this be possible? Now as a proof see this illustration. Next to a rainy day, when the atmosphere becomes damp and warm. You see thousands of winged insects coming into being all of a sudden. How did this happen? By God's Law. The bodies of the insects that were created, which are of the same elements, such as either, Air (Vaayu), fire, water and earth, just like those of men and women, came into existence, all of a sudden. It is beyond man's power to do it. Again see another example. Put some cow dung in a corner and let it lie for a number of days, you will see after that scorpion coming out of it. Did any one sow the seed of scorpion ?,No. It is Gods' power and Law. Due to the atmospheric temperature etc, it was created. So also, in the very beginning. when after the complete creation of the Nature (Cosmo) suitable for man's comfortable living with all the Natural's equipment's, Gods law came into existence, and multitude of men and women were born out of his Omniscient power etc. Then the law of procreation came into existence. For instance when a society has to be started, one man chooses a number of men forming an original body and then forms laws, rules etc. for the working of the society. So also, men and women were created all of a sudden by the Almighty and then the law of procreation etc. takes effect. Then the rules for the working of the society of country etc. etc. were given out in the Vedas for the guidance of this congregation of people.
The Vedas and their Nature
Now what are these Vedas? We shall see; this is the next point for consideration after the enunciation of the different worlds and understanding how these words came into existence.
When men and women were created? How should they get on in the world? Without work they cannot live: for life means work. Eating, talking, sleeping etc. and every bit of man's life cannot be fulfilled without work and the work requires knowledge; for thought precedes action and where could this thought come from? No doubt men and women have some original natural knowledge but this is not enough for the various works that exist in the world. It has been observed by various experiments that the natural knowledge possessed in the beginning cannot be developed without the help of external coaching, because man is like an electric storage battery with a certain limited power; and when it is exhausted by use, this power must be replenished by being charged with external power of a Dynamo. This Dynamo is the Lord of creation. For there was none else who had the capacity to coach man with full knowledge for his required work, so that the individual, the family, the society, and the biggest world could get on to move about and work peacefully and happily and have relationship of one kind or other with one another in his works in the congregation. Without this primary external coaching man can never get on with his own limited and in complete knowledge. If that were so .i.e. if he could have got on without external coaching, there could never have been any need for teachers and preceptors in the world at all. So, in the very beginning of Lords' Creation man should certainly have been bestowed with a complete Primary external knowledge by God which could contain all the nuclei of knowledge for all the developments later on. God would have been unjust and unkind otherwise. So God is the primary teacher and His primary teachings as explained above is called the Veda and this word Veda really means knowledge (as derived by Sanskrit roots) or Science, for the word Science also is derived from the Latin root seis to know.
When men and women were created
This knowledge come first of all, from the Divine, All-wise, All-powerful Being having been prompted through the mind of the four great seers or Rishis name Agni, Vaayu, Aditya and Angiras, who were fit to grasp the induction or the revelation as it is called, and who spread it later on among the ordinary people-
Now, notice the structure of the Sanskrit word Veda. It contain three letters v.e.d. and each has got a meaning, (as is in Sanskrit language). There is no alphabet without any independent import. So v. means Benediction, happiness etc, e. means Eswara or the Lord, d. means to give. So all the letters put together mean, the Lord who is all Blow give the mankind, wealth, happiness and Blesses through this knowledge which is called the Veda. The internal authority of the Rig Vedas as exposed through the Ist mantra of the 71 Sukta of the tenth Mandal, means-"Let all intelligent people know that at the beginning of creation along with men, the word of the Lord i.e. the Veda, the root of all learning and knowledge, that which gave the names of all the things in this creation, which every learned man expresses, which is the best (nothing better) which is common to all the worlds, (plural denotes the different worlds, individual, family, society and the biggest world as already defined) comes to light through the Divine Wisdom, the Omniscient having prompted or revealed them through the great and learned souls, the Rishis, and that which kills all antagonism, and establishes peace and happiness every where.
There is no space here now to express all the opinions of even the Western learned men about the greatness of this Revelation the relation the Veda-one example is quite enough as a sample-even the professor Maxmuller renounced for the tirade against the Vedas interpreting them in all possible ways to bring down their greatness, had at last to accept these as a Revelation. We says-"If there is a God who has created heaven and earth, it will be in- just on his part if He deprives millions of souls born before Moses, of His Divine knowledge: reason and comparative study of Religious, declare that God gives His Divine knowledge to mankind from his first appearance on the Earth (Science and Religion).
This knowledge came first of all from Divine all powerful All wise, Being, having been prompted through the minds of the four great seers or Rishis who were fit to grasp the inducement and who spread it later on.
What is Peace?
Absence of war is not peace; because even without war there can be peacelessness and war in the world is inevitable. This world contains both good and evil; and there is always war or strife between them. To annihilate, ignorance injustice and war, it is quite necessary that there should be strife between knowledge, justice and plenty respectively, The Vedas declare that good things denote Indra and evil ones are Vitra and there is always eternal was believe them. The Bhagavad Gita is a living example. Then what is Peace? Peace is that condition in which all the limbs and senses that go to form the individual world, the family world, the social world and the biggest world are quite sound and healthy and perform their functions harmoniously so that the internal agitation is nil, even though there is strife out- side, so that all the above mentioned worlds may proceed without any hindrance to attain their ordained goal.
The Way to Attain this Peace
The Vedas declare that the only way to attain this sort of peace is to become Aryas or true sons and daughters of the Almighty who is one and one only for all the three world. The Vedas declare -- इन्द्रं॒ वर्ध॑न्तो अ॒प्तुर॑: कृ॒ण्वन्तो॒ विश्व॒मार्य॑म् । अ॒प॒घ्नन्तो॒ अरा॑व्णः ॥-ऋग्वेद 9/63/5
Set aside all laziness and develop your souls by prayer to God and obeying his behests in every way. This starts first of all in the individual world-then spreads in the family world, in the social world and the largest world. There is no other method. The individual is the unit. Save the unit and the whole will be saved. The influx must flow from the centre to circumference. Then only the whole body will be healthy. The individual is the centre keep this world healthy, every other world will follow suit. This is the Vedic method and it must be adopted. Otherwise there will be chaos in all the worlds mentioned above. In the Vedic period this was the method adopted and there was real peace all over.
The Soul and the Limbs of the Body.
The Vedas declare—यत्र॒ ब्रह्म॑ च क्ष॒त्रं च॑ स॒म्यञ्चौ॒ चर॑तः स॒ह। तं लो॒कं पुण्यं॒ प्रज्ञे॑षं॒ यत्र॑ दे॒वाः स॒हाग्निना॑ ॥-यजुर्वेद 20/25
This means that there should be co-ordination and cooperation between the soul and the limbs of the body. In the individual world the soul strength should predominate and the mind, that vital force or prana should co-operate. In the family world the master is the soul, the mistress the mind and children are limbs. There must be cooperation here too. In the social world the division of labour or the Varnashrama Dharma as it is called, is the soul i.e. that part of the society that has brains and knowledge that could destroy ignorance, that part of the society that could eradicate injustice and that part of the society that could do away with want should cooperate with one another. The communism, which is a menace to peace will disappear. This applies, all over the biggest world; where this cooperation will spread.
The Education
Unless the soul is trained in the above manner, there will not be peace any where. For this, proper education is most needed. The Vedas say— पा॒व॒का नः॒ सर॑स्वती॒ वाजे॑भिर्वा॒जिनी॑वती। य॒ज्ञं व॑ष्टु धि॒याव॑सुः॥- ऋग्वेद 1/3/10 .i.e. the education given to the unit, or the centre should be on these lines:
(1) Pavika-It must develop the sacredness of the soul, speech and action.
(2) (Vaajebhih): It should be a means of substance without penury and want.
(3) (Vaajincevatti) It should develop science in the right way.
(4) (Yajaam Vashtu): It should develop the knowledge and faith in the Creator who is All-pervading.
(5) (Dhiyaa) It should develop the mind and intelligence and other senses.
(6) It should be no means of increasing the wealth of the country by righteous means and should teach men to spend it for the good of the society, country and the entire world.
Religion and Politics
There should not be separated. They should so hand in hand. The Vedas declare -
शु॒नं हु॑वेम म॒घवा॑न॒मिन्द्र॑म॒स्मिन्भरे॒ नृत॑मं॒ वाज॑सातौ। शृ॒ण्वन्त॑मु॒ग्रमू॒तये॑ स॒मत्सु॒ घ्नन्तं॑ वृ॒त्राणि॑ सं॒जितं॒ धना॑नाम्॥
(Rig 3.38.10)
The subject matter dealt with in this mantra is Indra or the duties of a king in other words Politics. What are the duties? The king is the personification, as it were, of the laws governing the country and this is of course politics. The mantra instructs that the government or the king should be, so that say, the personification of righteousness and divine qualities. Indra means a king representing politics. He must protect Dharma or Righteousness in every thing. Then only the country will be peaceful and happy because otherwise there will be chaos as it is now. Dharma is now-a-days interpreted as religion which should not be.
Common Wealth or Chakravarthy Rajya
All the countries in the world should behave righteously and co-operate with one another as if they are the limbs of the great family. If each country behaves righteously the whole world would be righteous. Chankya or Kautilya who has written the famous Arthshastra or the economics which is the foundation of a good government of a country says, sukhasya mul dharma; i.e. the foundation of peace and happiness is Dharma or Righteousness.
Eschewing Thirst for Gold
Last but not the least injunction of the Vedas to bring peace in all the worlds mentioned above is the giving up of thirst for gold. This thirst is the bane of the present day worlds. The Vedas declare unequivocally that this thirst destroys an individual, a family, a country and the whole world. ‘Apamik prakarne yasyadudhren' the whole wealth belongs to the Lord of creation and it is for the good of the whole world and is the common property. It must flow like a river and should not be accumulated, or when it is distributed it should not be done without strings of selfishness attached. This is the key to the peace of the worlds that the Vedas give us.
Thus, in a very concise manner the ways of peace have been dealt with as enjoined by the Vedas which are the Divine words. If they are not needed peace is a dream. A reflective thought by all learned and great men of the world on these facts mentioned in the essay and the implementation thereof are the only things required. Thus the world- peace could be obtained only through the spread of the Vedas or pure Vedic culture, the Vedas are the only rays of hope for the peace less worlds. May God help us to from this idea and action in the minds of all men?
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti.
What is Peace?
Absence of war is not peace; because even without war there can be peacelessness and war in the world is inevitable. This world contains both good and evil; and there is always war or strife between them. To annihilate, ignorance injustice and war, it is quite necessary that there should be strife between knowledge, justice and plenty respectively, The Vedas declare that good things denote Indra and evil ones are Vitra and there is always eternal was believe them. The Bhagavad Gita is a living example. Then what is Peace? Peace is that condition in which all the limbs and senses that go to form the individual world, the family world, the social world and the biggest world are quite sound and healthy and perform their functions harmoniously so that the internal agitation is nil, even though there is strife out- side, so that all the above mentioned worlds may proceed without any hindrance to attain their ordained goal.
The Way to Attain this Peace
The Vedas declare that the only way to attain this sort of peace is to become Aryas or true sons and daughters of the Almighty who is one and one only for all the three world. The Vedas declare -- इन्द्रं॒ वर्ध॑न्तो अ॒प्तुर॑: कृ॒ण्वन्तो॒ विश्व॒मार्य॑म् । अ॒प॒घ्नन्तो॒ अरा॑व्णः ॥-ऋग्वेद 9/63/5
Set aside all laziness and develop your souls by prayer to God and obeying his behests in every way. This starts first of all in the individual world-then spreads in the family world, in the social world and the largest world. There is no other method. The individual is the unit. Save the unit and the whole will be saved. The influx must flow from the centre to circumference. Then only the whole body will be healthy. The individual is the centre keep this world healthy, every other world will follow suit. This is the Vedic method and it must be adopted. Otherwise there will be chaos in all the worlds mentioned above. In the Vedic period this was the method adopted and there was real peace all over.
The Soul and the Limbs of the Body.
The Vedas declare—यत्र॒ ब्रह्म॑ च क्ष॒त्रं च॑ स॒म्यञ्चौ॒ चर॑तः स॒ह। तं लो॒कं पुण्यं॒ प्रज्ञे॑षं॒ यत्र॑ दे॒वाः स॒हाग्निना॑ ॥-यजुर्वेद 20/25
This means that there should be co-ordination and cooperation between the soul and the limbs of the body. In the individual world the soul strength should predominate and the mind, that vital force or prana should co-operate. In the family world the master is the soul, the mistress the mind and children are limbs. There must be cooperation here too. In the social world the division of labour or the Varnashrama Dharma as it is called, is the soul i.e. that part of the society that has brains and knowledge that could destroy ignorance, that part of the society that could eradicate injustice and that part of the society that could do away with want should cooperate with one another. The communism, which is a menace to peace will disappear. This applies, all over the biggest world; where this cooperation will spread.
The Education
Unless the soul is trained in the above manner, there will not be peace any where. For this, proper education is most needed. The Vedas say— पा॒व॒का नः॒ सर॑स्वती॒ वाजे॑भिर्वा॒जिनी॑वती। य॒ज्ञं व॑ष्टु धि॒याव॑सुः॥- ऋग्वेद 1/3/10 .i.e. the education given to the unit, or the centre should be on these lines:
(1) Pavika-It must develop the sacredness of the soul, speech and action.
(2) (Vaajebhih): It should be a means of substance without penury and want.
(3) (Vaajincevatti) It should develop science in the right way.
(4) (Yajaam Vashtu): It should develop the knowledge and faith in the Creator who is All-pervading.
(5) (Dhiyaa) It should develop the mind and intelligence and other senses.
(6) It should be no means of increasing the wealth of the country by righteous means and should teach men to spend it for the good of the society, country and the entire world.
Religion and Politics
There should not be separated. They should so hand in hand. The Vedas declare -
शु॒नं हु॑वेम म॒घवा॑न॒मिन्द्र॑म॒स्मिन्भरे॒ नृत॑मं॒ वाज॑सातौ। शृ॒ण्वन्त॑मु॒ग्रमू॒तये॑ स॒मत्सु॒ घ्नन्तं॑ वृ॒त्राणि॑ सं॒जितं॒ धना॑नाम्॥
(Rig 3.38.10)
The subject matter dealt with in this mantra is Indra or the duties of a king in other words Politics. What are the duties? The king is the personification, as it were, of the laws governing the country and this is of course politics. The mantra instructs that the government or the king should be, so that say, the personification of righteousness and divine qualities. Indra means a king representing politics. He must protect Dharma or Righteousness in every thing. Then only the country will be peaceful and happy because otherwise there will be chaos as it is now. Dharma is now-a-days interpreted as religion which should not be.
Common Wealth or Chakravarthy Rajya
All the countries in the world should behave righteously and co-operate with one another as if they are the limbs of the great family. If each country behaves righteously the whole world would be righteous. Chankya or Kautilya who has written the famous Arthshastra or the economics which is the foundation of a good government of a country says, sukhasya mul dharma; i.e. the foundation of peace and happiness is Dharma or Righteousness.
Eschewing Thirst for Gold
Last but not the least injunction of the Vedas to bring peace in all the worlds mentioned above is the giving up of thirst for gold. This thirst is the bane of the present day worlds. The Vedas declare unequivocally that this thirst destroys an individual, a family, a country and the whole world. ‘Apamik prakarne yasyadudhren' the whole wealth belongs to the Lord of creation and it is for the good of the whole world and is the common property. It must flow like a river and should not be accumulated, or when it is distributed it should not be done without strings of selfishness attached. This is the key to the peace of the worlds that the Vedas give us.
Thus, in a very concise manner the ways of peace have been dealt with as enjoined by the Vedas which are the Divine words. If they are not needed peace is a dream. A reflective thought by all learned and great men of the world on these facts mentioned in the essay and the implementation thereof are the only things required. Thus the world- peace could be obtained only through the spread of the Vedas or pure Vedic culture, the Vedas are the only rays of hope for the peace less worlds. May God help us to from this idea and action in the minds of all men?
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti.
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