I begin this article on peace in the world religions with a poem/prayer/affirmation by Dr. Robert Muller, Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations for 40 years, spiritual teacher, and former Chancellor of the University for Peace in Cuidad Colon, Costa Rica.

Decide to be Peaceful
Decide to be peaceful
Render others peaceful
Be a model of peace
Irradiate your peace
Love passionately the peace of our beautiful planet
Do not listen to the warmongers,
hate seeders and power-seekers
Dream always of a peaceful world
Work always for a peaceful world
Switch on and keep on, in yourself
the positive buttons,
those marked love,
serenity, happiness, truth,
kindness, friendliness,
understanding and tolerance
Pray and thank God every day for peace
Pray for the United Nations
and all peacemakers
Pray for the leaders of nations
who hold the peace of the world
in their hands
Pray God to let our planet at long last
become the Planet of Peace
And sing in unison with all humanity
“Let there be peace on earth
and let it begin with me.”

Words to follow and live by, quite literally. On a planetary level we can decide to work for peace through education and political activism to communicate with the leadership of the nations, urging them through people-power to move in the direction of wisdom and away from violence. Dare I say, that we would not even be here without the influence of voices of sanity, reason and moderation in decades gone by, and this work is not yet finished. As we witness fairly bellicose leaders in possession of the reigns of power during what continues to be the nuclear age, I can’t help but remember the lyrics of an old King Crimson song from 1969, Epitaph Including March For No Reason, from the album, The Court of the Crimson King:

Between the iron gates of fate,
The seeds of time were sown,
And watered by the deeds of those
Who know and who are known;
Knowledge is a deadly friend
When no one sets the rules.
The fate of all mankind I see
Is in the hands of fools.

On a personal level, the great schools of spirituality of the ages have offered much wisdom about peaceful living to those with ears to hear, but before I begin my discourse on Jainism, here’s a word about leadership in spiritual or religious organizations.

It’s always been a mystery to me how some who are influential or in positions of leadership in spiritual organizations can be as manipulative and as ruthless as anybody on the planet. Why is this the case, one might ask, even in groups that seek to cultivate a public image of peacefulness or are claiming to be offering teachings about inner and outer peace to humanity!? Sometimes there seems to be as much struggle for power, just as much gossip, propaganda, and swift-boating as one might expect in other types of organizations, corporations, or during political campaigns. “Swift-boating” is a pejorative term that surfaced during the last presidential election referring to some untruth, gossip or unfair characterization that is deliberately spread about someone, is used by one party against another to tarnish their image, timed just at the right moment for the purpose of achieving some hidden or perhaps a not-so-hidden objective.

"Oh Lord, this
ocean of the world
is very deep
and we are
fl owing in it
without any support."
Lord Mahavira,
24th Tirthankara of Jainism, 599 B.C.E.

Recently I received some major insight into this phenomena by watching a lecture by Barbara Oakley, author of the book, Evil Genes – Why Rome Fell, Hitler Rose, Enron Failed, and My Sister Stole My Mother’s Boyfriend, published by Prometheus Books. It makes sense really, that on occasion it’s the “successfully sinister” (also known as Machiavellians) that rise to the “top” by any means necessary in various sorts of organizations, and that can of course include religious or spiritual organizations too. What an eye-opener! An amazing must-read for anyone aspiring to positions of leadership in any type of organization. It will keep you humble, introspective, and reflective.

Just to cut the “successfully sinister” some slack... “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (New Testament) Kabir says, “None of us has gone far.” “Oh Lord, this ocean of the world is very deep and we are flowing in it without any support.” (Lord Mahavira, 24th Tirthankara of Jainism, 599 B.C.E.) In other words, if specific and detailed ahimsa principals governing all aspects of thought, word, and conduct have never been clearly or fully taught in the first place, are not necessarily part of the ethos or culture, then of course, sure enough, no great surprise then if ahimsa principals are not being adhered to. “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” (Hosea 4: 6, Hebrew Bible) Or as it says in the Uttaradhyayana Sutra of Jainism: “No conduct is possible without knowledge, without conduct, there’s no liberation, and without liberation, no deliverance.” So, as with other aspects of the spiritual journey and the Path of the Masters, it is a matter of competent spiritual guidance, communication and education that leads to new self-discovery and dimensions of peace. Lord Mahavira: “The whole process of evolution, for the spirit, is an awakening to the truths, and the means of implementation of those truths, that are eternally present in itself. What was implicit has to become explicit... When you discover for yourself, however dimly, that you are rooted in something that is infinitely vast potential, you have found the soil wherein you grow unconsciously into a most wonderful tree, the Tree of Life blended with knowledge.”

Lord Mahavira of Jainism once said, “Only that science is a great and the best of all sciences, the study of which frees man from all kinds of miseries.” I’m finding that the ahimsa or non-violent principals of Jainism offers humanity a vast treasure-trove of wisdom, for they are not Hallmark card generic platitudes in the sky, so to speak, but serious, specific, and detailed principals governing all aspects of one’s thoughts, words, and deeds during life in this human form.

Rumi poetry, Psalms, the Shri Guru Granth are the hymnbooks of humanity filled with mystic-poetry, love and bhakti devotion. The Upanishads and Gita are revelations about the nature of reality, about spirit or Atman in the world of matter. One’s beliefs about “In the beginning” are really about The Ending of the Cycle of Time. The Gnostic gospels and the Anurag Sagar of Kabir illustrates the Power of Myth, how one’s understanding of “In the beginning...” affects our perceptions about where we are now in the cosmos, and maps out for us a path leading to liberation. Creation accounts are Hymns in praise of “the Pearl” of our soul, are all about finding our Original Nature again, retracing our steps back to “Eden” or “Paradise,” a home-coming of prodigal sons/daughters/souls in the Timeless Abode of the Beloved. Native American and other earth-based traditions specialize in wisdom about living in harmony with Mother Earth in a Kingdom of the Great Spirit spread out upon the Earth. Jainism’s specialty is in the area of ethics, cultivating peacefulness and tranquil existence. This tranquility of mind makes it possible to experience moksha, a reunion with the Supreme Soul, even as the still and focused lens of the telescope reveals the object in the heavens you are seeking to contemplate, or a pond on a day without much wind with nothing to ripple its surface, reflects the image of the sky.

“Mahavira’s teaching about the Law of Karma was similar to the other saints of Indian traditions... Jain dharma recognizes nonviolence as the highest dharma (duty).” (Sant Sevi Ji Maharaj, chapter on Jainism in, The Harmony of All Religions, from a tradition of Masters or Satgurus operating in the Jainist community of Bihar District, India)

Jainism teaches, “Live and let live,” kindness and reverence for all life. Jainism has a vast collection of ancient scriptures in several languages. Some of the oldest books in India are sacred Jainist texts. These teach great reverence for all forms of life, strict vegetarianism and even vegan-ism. Jainism is, above all, a religion of love and compassion, and it offers guidance about all aspects of life and living: right knowledge, right faith, and right conduct.

As with Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, with Mahavira, attention is paid not only to deeds or actions, but the words and thoughts behind all actions. Thoughts are like seeds that sprout into words, and deeds. The foundation of Jainism is observing ahimsa or non-violence in thought, word, as well as deed.

“Progress, whether for individuals, groups or the whole of humanity, is by decisive choices made from time to time, forced by the development of a situation which, as it mounts up, calls for its own resolution. Life in matter is a series of crises and resolutions...

“The greatest mistake of a soul is non-recognition of its real-self, and this is only rectified by recognizing itself.

   “The enlightened should contemplate that his soul is endowed with Boundless Energy. Whatever is the Supreme Soul, so am I. Whatever is my essential nature is the essence of Supreme Soul. Therefore, I am fitted for meditating on my inner Supreme Soul – none other.” (Sant Mahavira)

   “The One, who can not be described by words and is not conceivable as matter or material stuff is the Supreme Soul. He is infinite and transcends Sound and has no birth, and is not subject to wandering in the world. With a still and tranquil mind meditate on the Supreme Soul.” (The Jnanarnva, on Paramatma)

Peace is a word
Of the sea and the wind.
Peace is a bird who sings
As you smile.
Peace is the love
Of a foe as a friend;
Peace is the love you bring
To a child
Searching for me
You look everywhere,
Except beside you.
Searching for you
You look everywhere,
But not inside you.
Peace is a stream
From the heart of a man;
Peace is a man, whose breadth
Is the dawn.
Peace is a dawn
On a day without end;
Peace is the end, like death
Of the war.

(Peace - An End, song by King Crimson, Album: In the Wake of Poseidon, 1970)