A view from India on terrorism

[Joelle Lyons Everett]

Friends--

I was very moved by the following comments, which were forwarded to me by
Galina Ermolina, one of our translators in Siberia.

His view on solutions sounds very much like Harrison's suggestions, and
similar thoughts that many have expressed.

Joelle Everett

ENDING TRAGEDY AND TERRORISM:
An Appeal from His Holiness Baba Virsa Singh

A terrible tragedy has occurred in the United States. At this time, you have
asked us to pray for you. Know that here at Gobind Sadan we are always
praying and worshipping, 24 hours a day. We are with you in your prayers,
with peace and love.
Some are saying, “We will not refrain from terrorism.” Please try to
understand, with a cool and patient mind: What is terrorism? What is it that
they will not leave? They are human beings like us, and they are just
misguided. They have become angry and want to kill everyone. Why are you
stirring up anger in return?
The intelligent response is to hold a high-level international meeting.
First ask them, “What do you want?” Then you speak. The conflict will end in
two minutes. What are we fighting over?
A small number of terrorists have given up their lives and thrown the whole
country into confusion. After the explosion, anger is arising. People are
becoming angry just like the terrorists. What will happen in this anger?
They will attack some country and it will be destroyed. Then its neighboring
countries will side with it and attack back. Thus four or five countries
will be destroyed.
The great solution is to pray to God, to seek God’s blessings, and to sit
down together peacefully. After careful thought, hold a big meeting on an
emergency basis. Appeal to all countries to come. Ask them, “What problem do
you have? Why are you killing us, and why are we killing you?” They will all
come together. They will set forth some demands because they are angry. Then
one must consider how to fulfill these demands. It is not difficult. When a
person has power, he establishes law and order. He knows, “Now I am the head
of this society. If there is any disturbance in this society, they will
remove me.” Just give them a little taste of power: Give them each
positions. Then they will start working to establish law and order. If
anyone is killed, it is an insult to their management. Thus there will be
peace everywhere.
Come together and go forward lovingly. One day you must recognize that
terrorism is nothing. It is not a caste, or a village, or a country.
Wherefrom does it arise? It sprouts from pressure. Then how can it be
rectified with pressure? There is no caste that you can demolish. There is
no country that you can destroy by bombing. It has sprouted. Set aside
pressure and agree to their demands or else give them responsibilities. Now
there is nobody to explain to them. The only cry is, “Catch them, catch
them, catch them!”
How can your prayer or worship help when you will take the wrong action?
Worship will be successful only when you will take the correct action.
Now you are worshipping and then committing corruption. You are making the
rules and breaking them. The rule of religion is to not take bribes, to not
take away anyone’s rights, to not hurt anyone’s feelings, to not look
lustfully at anyone’s women. If you say, “I am the judge of law and order,”
and on the other hand you keep breaking the law, what is the remedy? First
establish law and order, and then there is nothing to worry about.
It is essential to hold a meeting with people from all over the world.
Afterward, there will be some decision. What else? On one side they say, “We
are right,” and we sit in our house and say, “They are wrong.” It is
possible that all are wrong. Perhaps our thoughts cannot reach so high as
the thought of God; their thoughts also cannot reach so high. We should sit
together and decide, “What is the real issue?”
Come let us pray, and try to understand why they are so angry. You are not
to return anger for anger and start to attack other countries. I appeal to
you all to please think carefully and proceed thoughtfully.
You have asked us to pray for you, and we are continuously doing so, always
praying, “Please bring coolness.”  But to bring coolness it is necessary to
find some method. God created us to use our minds, and to use them in a good
direction. If a human being is misguided, we should treat him in such a way
that he will cool down.
All religions have said the same: God’s blessings will come by prayer and
worship. We cannot solve issues by anger and not even by fighting. But we
can solve them through our thoughts, by sitting together and arriving at a
solution.
I appeal to all countries: Please understand, act with understanding, and
try to explain. No one wants to die. Why would a person want to die in order
to destroy another? If there is a thorny path and a person walks through and
gets pricked by thorns, he will leave that path. Show him a different path.
What human being wants to live in the jungle? He is suffering there. Years
ago there was an insurgency in the state of Mizoram, and the insurgents were
all living in the jungles. When we went there and spoke with them, explained
to them with love, they all left the jungle and came out. I said to them,
“You love your weapons. Perhaps you also have old weapons buried somewhere.”
They immediately agreed, “We have a lot of weapons.” I requested them,
“Please bring them and give them to the officers.” I told them the reality:
“You are 1400 people and you are surrounded by 50,000 troops.” [Three
devotees of Babaji’s] were the heads of the state government. I assured the
insurgents that they would pass an agreement after that meeting, and the
same day, they passed the law. People said, “The terrorists have been
caught.” They were not caught; they came of their own accord.
An officer said, “I am amazed that religion can correct people’s minds. We
were thinking that religion is an ineffectual thing.” But when the reports
came that the insurgents had surrendered their weapons, that officer began
to weep. This is the nature of religion: It transforms people’s minds. In
Mizoram we saw people totally transformed. The insurgents were very fearless
people. They boldly entered the Governor’s house and would shoot any
officer. I explained to the government, “If you put pressure on them, they
will revolt.” And I explained to the insurgents the reality of their
situation. After the agreement, the government did not deceive them. They
paid them salaries and arranged for their medical care. They all changed.
Now these people can also change when everyone sits together in one meeting.
Continually arrange meetings in big buildings, in parliaments, in big halls,
as per the convenience of the people concerned. With this method we can
solve these issues. It is not a big problem.
Understand all religions as your own. Understand all people as your sisters
and brothers. Guru Gobind Singh said, “May all humanity be recognized as one
human race.” As the Prophet Muhammad said, “If you want the blessings of
Allah, do not think ill of anyone. Do not hurt anyone’s feelings. If you
take away anyone’s rights, Allah will not be happy. If you are just, Allah
will bestow blessings.”
Some say “Almighty,” some say “Wahe Guru,” some say “Allah.” These are all
Names of God. To attack any religion is not good. Each person has a soul,
life, and the wisdom of God inside. If you hurt anyone’s feelings, God is
not happy. It means that you are hurting God’s heart. Guru Nanak said, “God
instilled His light in you, and thus you took birth in this world.” That
inner light is God’s Light. If you hurt it, you are hurting God.
Anger is not good. Leave it. Anger is very dangerous. With anger, many
things go wrong. Think before you do anything. Be aware.
The damage that has occurred is not good. When any human is in difficulty,
God is not happy. God is sad. Human beings are hurting other human beings.
All should come together. And first of all, religions should follow peace.
The message of the prophets of all religions should be understood as the
message of God. Do not criticize any prophet. The prophets are God’s family.
If we criticize them, God will not be happy. Our mission is to respect all
religions, to love all people, to pray, to worship, and to recite scripture.
But the fruit of prayer will be realized when we make efforts only after
thinking.
What is happening is due to anger and ignorance. Nothing is occurring
through enlightened wisdom. If you begin to behave the same as they, they
are ignorant and you are also ignorant. Please consider this, you educated
people. Please ponder this point: Why is this action happening in every
country? Please hold a meeting on this question.
When all kinds of people will meet together, some will be emotional, some
will be peaceful, some will be revolutionaries. When they hold a discussion,
many things will surface. In India there is a story that the gods and demons
were churning the ocean, and fourteen jewels came out, and poison, and also
nectar. If they did not stir the ocean, wherefrom would the jewels come?
When all come together for discussing and loving, that same circle will be
created as when they churned the ocean. Poison will appear and also nectar.
Compassion will come forth and also anger. Some good thoughts and some bad
thoughts will emerge. But the possibility that peace will emerge is greater.
Please, all of you, come together without delay. Sometimes there can be
greater loss if we delay. Take this as the top priority. This is my idea,
but I think that it will be good. All countries will benefit. This idea
comes to me because here at Gobind Sadan we respect and celebrate all
religions. I see that people are not uniting, and that is the source of the
whole conflict. Once people come together, everything will improve.
Look how much  Saint Paul opposed the followers of Jesus. But after meeting
Jesus, what a great saint he became, and how extensively he spread Jesus’s
message. Umar came to cut off the head of the Prophet Muhammad, but when he
listened to the Prophet’s views, he became his servant and his Fourth
Friend. All of you are following some prophet, be it Moses, or Muhammad, or
Jesus, or Guru Gobind Singh. When people met the prophet, their minds were
transformed.
Evil-mindedness has always developed. We call such people demons or rakshas;
you call them Satans. But Satan can become good when there is a good
discussion. Satan always works through human beings. Human beings can be
blessed, and then Satan flees.
When people will make efforts, will come together, as Muslims say, “Please
gather for prayer, and in that gathering, God will be present.” As Sikhs
say, when we come together as a sangat, God’s blessing is there.  In the
same way, when all our countries will sit together, God will be there in
that gathering. My firm faith is that there will definitely be some
solution.


Baba Virsa Singh
Gobind Sadan, Gadaipur, via Mehrauli, New Delhi 11030, India
www.gobindsadan.org

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