Friends. We have concentrated on the four virtues which came to me on
Mount Abu: amity, appreciation, compassion, and equanimity. These are
the four pillars which support the whole structure of my philosophy.
They are foundation on which a life can be built and rebuilt.
Now
we came to the final lines of this song. “Let the spirit of goodwill
enter into all our hearts. Let us all sing in chorus the joyous song of
human concord.
Today
we will concentrate on concord. Concord implies our hearts are together
in agreement and harmony. As with separate notes in music, we can
create harmony rather than disharmony.
By
“song.” I do not mean a vocal song, but a song of service and action.
Before we build unity in the world, which is necessary today if we are
to survive, there must be a feeling of brotherhood, of concord. Our
discord destroys the fabric of life long before we reach the point of
physical destruction. Men who can reach the moon, can’t reach one
another across differences of opinion and interest! We have one world, a
planet we can fly around in a matter of hours! But our song is still
the national anthem, limiting us to one or another country, rather than
a song of concord uniting us to the universe and mankind.
No
one torchbearer or bridge builder, saint or sage, prophet or social
reformer can be himself do much in building the world without
co-operation from many others. We all have to join together to turn
this earth into a paradise, with the kindom of heaven realized within
and without.
Though we are individuals, we are parts of this cosmos, whether we act
in harmony or discord. As the popular saying goes, “Some are part of
the problem, and some are part of the solution. “Millions died in
plagues until other developed medicine. Millions have died in wars, but
others will establish the world of peace and justice and unity. So as
monads in one whole, even our disharmony can call us to bring about
unity and harmony.
All
our endeavors call for collaboration, co-operation, corporate effort and
concord. We cannot build a car single-handed. We cannot build a road
single-handed. We cannot build science and technology single-handed.
Philosophers in ancient Greece and also in India had intuitions
concerning atomic theory and the interrelation of matter and energy, but
it was not until science developed as a corporate endeavor that such
insights could give man the tremendous control he now has over the
physical world. As Einstein said, “Science is born from transcendent
experience. “However, it is science as a corporate effort that has
given us technology, which can be used either for destruction, or for
construction.
We
must work together, like the five fingers of the hand. Every single
finger, as well as the thumb, is an indispensable part of the hand.
They work in unison; each by itself would be of little value. Every
individual is likewise a member of society, and we are all
interdependent. If each one acts only with selfish motives without
contributing to the whole, there will be no unity, no progress, no
happiness.
Love
and hope lead to concord. Fear leads to divisiveness and strife. Love
and hope start in the home. We have to give our children basic trust.
Concord between husband and wife shows the child a world united and not
divided. In a world that is divided and hostile, the individual becomes
divided; and without love of self and for others, distrust and fear
prepare for defensiveness and vengeance.
To
sing the song of concord gives us a sense of well-being that we can have
no other way. As the metaphysical poet william Blake said, “The bird a
nest, the spider a web, man friendship.” This is what we have when we
meditate together. In Sanskrit, it is called “satsang,” the company of
people with similar and permanent values. This help greatly to develop
the personality and to bring it closer to the realization of the true
and permanent Self.
We
can often observe far more concord in a herd of deer or a flock of birds
than in people on a city street, or even in the suburbs or a small
town. Man seems to act in concord only if he is facing an enemy, or is
in some emergency, such as a animal and psychologists have presented the
aggressive animal in man. However, man has capacities for both
creativity and destructiveness far beyond that of animals! Animal
species do not torture, burn alive, draw and quarter other animals.
There
is an Indian folk tale about a lion cub who came stealthily out of its
den and caught sight of a large army marching by. The sight of men
carrying rifles and bayonets scared him so he slunk back and sought ther
warm shelter of his mother’s side. Feeling him quake, she asked, “What
is wrong, my pet? You are a lion cub. You will be King of the jungle."
“But mother, look out,” quavered the cub. Glancing out, the lioness saw
the army marching by. “Oh, that” she said disdainfully. “That’s the
species that has an army to slaughter is own kind.”
However it is man’s nature that he can confront his nature and the
nature of nature. Still, some people project their creative potential
onto gods, and their potential for evil onto the devil and evil spirits!
When we project evil onto Satan or evil spirits or an enemy, we cannot
recognize and overcome it is ourselves. And while we are worshipping a
god, we cannot become like him. We beg him to defend and protect us,
instead of making ourselves responsible for building peace and unity!
We
shall have to actualize concord in recognizing our true nature if
humanity is to be saved from self-destruction by the weapons that
science and technology have produced. It is said that the basic law of
all biological life is, “Grow or perish.” And we will have to see our
inner enemies, and sing in concord the song of light and love, in order
to grow and build a unified world based on co-operation and concord.
The path which leads us from barbarism and savagery to civilization is a
path of non-violence, of amity, of appreciation, compassion, equanimity,
concord.
The
song of concord is joyous. To live is good. To live vividly is
better. To live vividly together is best.
Concord with all life, harmony with the universe, is the orchestration
for love between individuals. Love between individuals is the bond of
an inner sense of collective happiness. Love is not being
self-centered, but being other-centered….. Love has the eyes of a
mother. . . . Love hails vastness. . . .Love enhances peace. . . Love
gives rise to self respect.
Concord comes from the word “cardia,” meaning heart, so it means our
hearts are together.
In
meditation we experience the bliss of this harmony, this concord.
