Ramana Maharshi says to bring peace in this world we should be free from thoughts

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Q: There are widespread disasters spreading havoc in the world, for example

famine and pestilence. What is the cause of this state of affairs?

 

A: To whom does all this appear?

 

Q: That won't do. I see misery everywhere.

 

A: You were not aware of the world and its sufferings in your sleep but you

are conscious of them now in your waking state. Continue in that state in

which you were not afflicted by them. That is to say, when you are not aware

of the world, its sufferings do not affect you. When you remain as the Self,

as in sleep, the world and its sufferings will not affect you. Therefore

look within. See the Self ! Then there will be an end of the world and its

miseries.

 

Q: But that is selfishness.

 

A: The world is not external. Because you identify yourself wrongly with the

body you see the world outside, and its pain becomes apparent to you. But

they are not real. Seek the reality and get rid of this unreal feeling.

 

Q: What is the best way to work for world peace?

 

A: What is the world? What is peace, and who is the worker? The world is not

in your sleep and forms a projection of your mind in your jagrat [waking

state]. It is therefore an idea and nothing else. Peace is absence of

disturbance. The disturbance is due to the arising of thoughts in the

individual, which is only the ego rising up from pure consciousness.

 

To bring about peace means to be free from thoughts and to abide as pure

consciousness. If one remains at peace oneself, there is only peace

everywhere.

 

Source: Be as you are – The teachings of sri Ramana Maharishi Book