Swami Chidananda

[Guest guest]

The Peace Within

 

Blessed Immortal Atman! Beloved devotees of the Lord! Today, before

the sun sets, it will be the solar New Year. Therefore, let us join

together at this auspicious moment and pray for the unfolding of

peace in the hearts and minds of people all over the world—in India,

in nearby countries, in all countries. May people all over the world

have peaceful thoughts, may they have peaceful feelings towards

others, and as a consequence may they act peacefully towards each

other and towards all beings.

 

The peace of the Supreme Being is within every human individual.

This peace that passeth understanding, this peace that is supreme,

higher than which there is nothing, which is profound peace,

perennial peace, is the truth about your inner Self. It is the one

real thing within amidst a thousand miscellaneous thoughts being

allowed to flit and fill the mind, being allowed to agitate and

disperse the mind. These fragmentary and fleeting thoughts have no

basic reality. They are temporary and momentary appearances of the

antahkarana (inner being) in its different modes. It is its nature

to put on innumerable appearances, and it is constantly generating

what are known as vrittis or thought-waves.

 

But the wise person who wishes to establish peace in the mind, to

remain integrated, not dispersed, creates centres which he can

adhere to and abide in; and one such centre is the peace within.

People call it variously. In the Islamic tradition it is called the

Light of Allah or the Radiance of Allah. Christian mystics refer to

it as the Kingdom of God within or the Kingdom of Heaven within. And

in the Vedic tradition of the Hindus it is referred to in all these

ways and many others as well— " jyotisham api tad jyotis... hridi

sarvasya vishthitam—That Light of lights abides in the hearts of

all. " They also say, " One Divinity indwells in the hearts of all—eko

devah sarva-bhuteshu gudhah. " " Isvarah sarvabhutanam hriddese'rjuna

tishthati—God dwells in the hearts of all beings. "

 

In these various ways, and many more ways as well, they bring out

this great wonderful truth, that divine peace ever abides in you as

your permanent inner background, as your real state. That divine

principle or essence that ever dwells within you as peace, joy,

perfection, great silence, is ultimately the source of your being.

You are a little part of it. It is your origin, source, your stay,

support, your eternal ground and your pristine home. That peace is

therefore the one reality within you which ever abides and never

diminishes. It is always available, it is your birthright, and

greater than that there is no other thing—this profound, perennial

peace.

 

You are that peace if you establish your identity with that peace

instead of with the numerous other fancies and thoughts that come

into your mind. Be as you are. And this peace overcomes time. For

this peace there is no past, there is no present, there is no

future. It is always. It is here, now, and it is for all times. It

is beyond time—this peace which is your truth.

 

It being a fact that the world is plunged in violence, hatred,

destruction, clashes and conflicts, and negative relationships of

enmity, how do we understand the prevalence of such conditions in

the light of this great truth? It is obvious that man has turned

away or rejected this inner peace, or is ignorant of it, or, if he

has a glimmering of knowledge, he has neglected it due to being

fascinated by other things. As long as we give value to this

external world of appearance—it has a reality, but the peace within

is the greater reality—and individually as well as collectively opt

for the lesser reality instead of the greater reality, we deprive

ourselves of this peace. Due to this wrong behaviour of the mind we

say, " I have no peace; where is that peace? "

 

Happiness cannot be had from temporary, limited, finite objects,

limited by time and space. We have neglected the greatest treasure

which is within; we have turned away from it. Once again, if we

shall but affirm this great truth and determine to abide in that

peace, be fully filled with that peace, and express that peace every

day in our thought, word and deed, then the realm of outer actions

can undergo a change.

 

For anything and everything that is happening is the outward

expression of the inner condition of man's mind and heart, which are

the source of all actions. Actions are but the manifestation of what

we think, feel, desire and determine. The seeds, the source, the

origin of all human life, actions, behaviour, and its inevitable

results, are in the mind of man. And if the mind of man is aware of

the divinity within and tries to turn to that side and absorb that

divinity, that peace, that compassion, that kindness, that goodness,

that balance, that auspiciousness, that light, which is God, then

one is able to convey it to others, transmit it to others. And this

is not a task which only some great mystics did, but it is the

birthright of every human individual, for within you is that peace.

 

To share it in a collective way becomes a privilege of all good

thinking spiritual people who identify themselves with the world and

all humanity, not with only a section of mankind. It is the duty of

all such noble, generous-hearted, spiritually inclined people to try

their best to pray for the peace of the whole world, to pray for

peace within the hearts and minds of all human beings, for this

holds the key to the manifestation of human nature and activity on

the outward plane of vyavahara, this relative world outside.

 

May you, therefore, each day during this calm morning hour, have at

least a minute of prayer for the peace of all human individuals

throughout the world, the global human family. May they feel peace,

may they live in peace, may they think in peace, may they talk in

peace, may they act in peace, may they desire only peace, and may

they, by their very life, bring about the peace that has been lost

and has plunged man into great distress. Not knowing where to find

peace, man has tried to find it in pacts and treaties and summit

meetings. It will never come as long as the real key to peace is not

recognised and is not availed of.

 

It is the duty and privilege of each and every spiritual person to

be a living and moving centre of that profound divine peace, which

is the substratum or the innermost support, ever there in all its

fullness, in all its depth and perennial nature, inexhaustible,

profound, unfathomable peace, ever-present within each one of you as

your inner reality, never absent, ever available.