What is Peace?
“Peace is not just an absence of war;
it is a virtue,
a state of mind,
and a disposition for benevolence,
confidence and justice.”
— Spinoza (1656)
Attain Inner Peace – Retain Outer (Global) Peace
- GopiKrishan Bali
Experience Peace
“If you wish to experience peace, provide peace for another.”
— Tenzin Gyatso, The 14th Dalai Lama
The Daffodil Principle
The Daffodil Principle
Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, “Mother, you must come to see the daffodils before they are over.”
I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead. “I will come next Tuesday”, I promised a little reluctantly on her third call.
Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and reluctantly I drove there. When I finally walked into Carolyn’s house, I was welcomed by the joyful sounds of happy children. I delightedly hugged and greeted my grandchildren.
“Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible in these clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see badly enough to drive another inch!”
My daughter smiled calmly and said, “We drive in this all the time, Mother.”
“Well, you won’t get me back on the road until it clears, and then I’m heading for home!” I assured her.
“But first we’re going to see the daffodils. It’s just a few blocks,” Carolyn said. ” I’ll drive. I’m used to this.”
“Carolyn,” I said sternly, “Please turn around.”
“It’s all right, Mother, I promise. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience.”
After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small gravel road and I saw a small church. On the far side of the church, I saw a hand lettered sign with an arrow that read, “Daffodil Garden ..” We got out of the car, each took a child’s hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path. Then, as we turned a corner, I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most glorious sight.
It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it over the mountain peak and its surrounding slopes. The flowers were planted in majestic, swirling patterns, great ribbons and swaths of deep orange, creamy white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, and saffron and butter yellow. Each different-colored variety was planted in large groups so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue. There were five acres of flowers.
“Who did this?” I asked Carolyn.
“Just one woman,” Carolyn answered. “She lives on the property. That’s her home.” Carolyn pointed to a well-kept A-frame house, small and modestly sitting in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house.
On the patio, we saw a poster. “Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking”, was the headline.
The first answer was a simple one. ” 50,000 bulbs,” it read.
The second answer was, “One at a time, by one woman. – Two hands, two feet, and one brain.”
The third answer was, “Began in 1958.”
For me, that moment was a life-changing experience. I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than forty years before, had begun, one bulb at a time, to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountaintop.. Planting one bulb at a time, year after year, this unknown woman had forever changed the world in which she lived. One day at a time, she had created something of extraordinary magnificence, beauty, and inspiration. The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatest principles of celebration.
That is, learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a time–often just one baby-step at a time– and learning to love the doing, learning to use the accumulation of time. When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small increments of daily effort, we too will find we can accomplish magnificent things. We can change the world …
“It makes me sad in a way,” I admitted to Carolyn. ” What might I have accomplished if I had thought of a wonderful goal thirty-five or forty years ago and had worked away at it ‘one bulb at a time’ through all those years? Just think what I might have been able to achieve!”
My daughter summed up the message of the day in her usual direct way. “Start tomorrow,” she said. (why not just today…Now)
She was right. It’s so pointless to think of the lost hours of yesterdays. The way to make learning a lesson of celebration instead of a cause for regret is to only ask, “How can I put this to use today?”
Use the Daffodil Principle. Stop Waiting…..
Until your car or home is paid off
Until you get a new car or home
Until your kids leave the house
Until you go back to school
Until you finish school
Until you clean the house
Until you organize the garage
Until you clean off your desk
Until you lose 10 lbs.
Until you gain 10 lbs.
Until you get married
Until you get a divorce
Until you have kids
Until the kids go to school
Until you retire
Until summer
Until spring
Until winter
Until fall
Until you die…
There is no better time than right now to be happy. Happiness is a journey, not a destination.
So work like you don’t need money. Love like you’ve never been hurt, and dance like no one’s watching.
If you want to brighten someone’s day, pass this on to someone special. I just did!
Wishing you a beautiful, daffodil day!
“Don’t be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin.”
Peace of Mind
“For peace of mind, we need to resign as general manager of the universe.”
– Larry Eisenberg
I thank You God for most this amazing day.
I thank You God for most this amazing day:
for the leaping greenly spirits of trees and a blue true dream of sky;
and for everything which is natural which is infinite which is yes
(I who have died am alive again today, and this is the sun’s birthday;
this is the birthday of life and love and wings:
and of the gay great happening illimitably earth)
How should tasting touching hearing seeing breathing any-lifted from the no
of all nothing-human merely being doubt unimaginably You?
(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)
-E. E. Cummings
What is Peace?
Peace is not the product of terror or fear.
Peace is not the silence of cemeteries.
Peace is not the silent result of violent repression.
Peace is the generous, tranquil contribution of all to the good of all.
Peace is dynamism. Peace is generosity.
It is right and it is duty.
The Villager and the Happy Man
- By Remez Sasson
In a small village in the valley, there lived a man who was always happy, kind, and well disposed to everyone he met. He always smiled and had a kind and encouraging word to say whenever necessary. Everyone who met him left feeling, better, happier and elated. People knew they could count on him, and regarded him as a great friend.
One of the village dwellers was curious to know what his secret was, how could he be always so kind and helpful? How is it that he held no grudge towards anyone and was always happy?
Once, upon meeting him in the street he asked him: “Most people are selfish and unsatisfied. They do not smile as often as you do; neither are they as helpful or kind as you are. How do you explain it?”
“When you make peace with yourself, then you can be in peace with the rest of the world. If you can recognize the spirit in yourself, you can recognize the spirit in everyone, and then you find it natural to be kind and well disposed to all. If your thoughts are under your control you become strong and firm. The outer mask of the personality is like a robot programmed to do certain tasks. Your habits and thoughts are the programs. Be free from these programming and then the inner good that resides in you will be revealed.”
“But a lot of work is necessary. Good habits have to be developed. The ability to concentrate and to control the thoughts has to be strengthened. The work is difficult and endless. There are many walls that need to be to climbed. It is not an easy task.” Lamented the villager.
“Do not think about the difficulties, otherwise that is what you will see and experience. Just quieten your feelings and thoughts and try to stay in this peace. All the abilities and powers awaken spontaneously. You do not work on them directly. They are by-products of your peace of mind. Just try to be calm and do not let yourself be carried away by your thoughts.”
“Is that all?” Asked the villager.
“Try to watch your thoughts and see how they come and go. Stay in the quietness that arises. The moments of peace will be brief at first, but in time they will get longer. This peace is also strength, power, kindness, and love. When you realize that you are one with the Universal Power, you begin to act from a different dimension, not from the selfish, small, limited ego.”
“I will try to remember your words,” said the villager and continued, “there is another thing that I am curious about. You do not seem to be influenced by the environment. You have a kind word to everyone and are helpful. Yet people do not exploit your goodness, and they treat you well.”
“Goodness and being kind do not necessarily point to weakness. When you are good you can also be strong. People sense your strength and do not impose on you. When you are strong and calm inside, you help people because you can and you want to. You then act from strength and not from weakness. Goodness can also go with power and strength, it is not a sign of weakness as some people erroneously think.”
“Thank you very much for your advice”, said the villager and went away happy and satisfied.
(Shared by Shikkha via email)
PeACE Message 2009
Dear One
The world is changing fast!…and there is no doubt about it, that there are so many changes happening so rapidly. We also understand that only ‘CHANGE’ is permanent. But are we aware of the direction these change is happening?
Every day we read and hear news of violence, corruption, war and terrorism. The social, political, economic and environmental climate is dwelling us all into the realm of uncertainty.
Our entire focus is on controlling the outer environment and managing the life and the wheel of change continues to turn. Life and death, profit and loss, joy and sorrow, good and bad, these are all a part of the cycle of existence.
Some wise people think “A change in perception leads to a change in attitude, which leads to a change in behaviour, which leads to a change in the world.” And we keep riding this life cycle, which is always in motion, and accept that outer change as inevitable part of life.
But we have a choice, either to accept this change helplessly, as a mute spectator, or refocus on that which is unchanging. And for that unchanging absolute, we don’t have to seek outside, but go within. We have to shift our focus from our heads to our hearts, to discover the wholeness, the stillness, the ISness, that is our true nature (SwaBhav).
This awareness will lead us to take the real Inner Journey, from withOut to withIn. This eventually lead us to reach our home, the realm of Self, where we are perfect and complete just as we are. There we will experience Inner Peace. Here we will be in a position to accept everything as it is, in the midst of worldly environment which is changing, continuously.
And I’m sure, once each of us will find the inner peace, the outer world will be more peaceful place.
In any journey we choose to undertake, we must take the first step and soon thereafter the next steps become obvious. I am taking my first step by creating and dedicating the on-line platform for spreading awareness about Peace, knowing, learning the process of experiencing Inner Peace and finally expressing Peace at http://peace.aaditya.org. You can learn more about what it’s about, and participate in Global Open Peace Initiative by share your views, and subscribing to PeACE Newsletter Now!
I invite you to take few moments, to refocus your attention from worldly change to that which doesn’t change, the peace that resides within, your Inner Peace. The earth becomes a more wonderful place when evolved people make an effort to turn our world into a real paradise.
Lets GROW our Self by experiencing our Inner Peace. It really ‘IS’ so simple.
Wishing you a Peaceful Prosperous New Year 2009. Lets Celebrate it!
GopiKrishan Bali
0 9311 492 333
Peace is what happens when all people are free to develop themselves in the way they want, without having to fight for their rights.
