TOWARDS GLOBAL PEACE

Now our greatest need is to fulfill Mahatma Gandhi’s mission. After political change we have to bring about social change in our country through Gandhi Andolan, that is, a non-violent movement. If India could be successful on this front, it would undoubtedly find itself in a position to give the lead to the entire world. There is only one way of exploiting the non-violent method for the reform of a society – and that is, to bring about a change in the thinking of the individual, the basic unit of society. Violence is born in the mind and it can be ended in the mind itself. For instance, during the Second World War, Japan was burning to avenge itself against America. They said that America had devastated their city of Hiroshima, so they would destroy America. Although Japan’s Air Force had been badly hit, its army was still intact, and its officers were bent on vengeance. At that juncture certain intellectuals in Japan pointed out that if America had destroyed Hiroshima, they had already destroyed America’s Pearl Harbour. In this way they were at par. The score was even. Due to this timely guidance, the Japanese came to rethink their position, and, abandoning the path of confrontation with America, opted instead for the path of adjustment; in so doing, they were tremendously successful. The truth is that intellectual awakening is the only way to produce a non-violent world. This is, without doubt, a long and laborious struggle. But we have no other alternative. Most instances of violence are the results of misguided thinking. The day one succeeds in putting an end to such thought, violence will disappear on its own. Take the case, for example, of communal riots in India. It has been found that in most of the cases communal riots result from an erroneous way of thinking. For example when a procession of people of one community passes by the place of worship of another community, the choice for the people in the place of worship is not between tolerating the procession or disrupting it. The right choice is between being patiently waiting for the procession to pass which is a temporary disturbance or to witness riots resulting in loss of precious lives and property. There is only one way of exploiting the non-violent method for the reform of a society–and that is, to bring about a change in the thinking of the individual, the basic unit of society.