When tolerance is lost, man loses his patience, self-control and spirit of non-violence. If it had been sustained, all or many other virtues would have survived, too, says Rajyogi Brahmakumar Nikunj Ji

Do you know the reason why world has no peace today? Well, it is because many nations and most individuals deny the supremacy of a moral order. The numbers of such people are increasing day-by-day, who think that wickedness, cunningness, vice is better than virtue and violence is better than non-violence. There are so many societies and nations that think man is merely an animal, hankering  after material progress and comforts. They refuse to accept the evident, that man has higher aspirations, such as for peace, calmness and bliss. Even the most corrupt person has an inner aspiration for solace, satisfaction and peace. However, they fail to realise that peace, contentment and bliss are not the qualities of bodily cells; they are the qualities of conscient self in its state of moral greatness.

The scholars, with materialistic thinking and attitude, have presented their interpretation of history to the society. This view of man and history has been popularised and publicised by historians, economists and social scientists. The result is that the modern man does not believe in the supremacy of the moral law. Man has, therefore, ceased to apply human values to the problems he faces in day to day life. For example, take the problem of nuclear weapons. There have been many agitations and conferences to bring about disarmament. The conversations are vitiated and they do not lead to actual disarmament because no moral values are brought to bear the problem. Thus, it can be easily said that the lack of sense of moral responsibility is, in fact, the most sinister aspect of the modern civilisation. In fact, the whole modern thinking of man is characterised  by lack of moral responsibility.

A psychiatrist, today, would explain that a person committed a murder because he had developed a complex after his father had beaten him with a stick when he was a child. So the responsibility is of the father, who had been cruel to his son. In many other forms, the attitude that ‘I am not responsible’, runs through every aspect of modern life. This has undermined the moral quality of life. So if we want world peace, the real effort lies in giving man a sense of moral responsibility. Let him realise that with all his limitations, he can, in this life, conquer attachment, lust, greed, anger and pride. And, he should think that it is his moral responsibility to eliminate these issues because these disturbs not only him but the peace of others as well.

Today, we see humans killing each other in the name of religion but does any religion has ever taught its followers to kill innocent people? The chronicles of mankind bear witness to the truth that millions of people have lost their peace because of intolerance that ensued from a hurt ego or an unfulfilled selfish motive or narrow-minded. Can anyone calculate or even imagine how many people have lost their peace and harmony and how many cities and civilisations were ruined because of intolerance? If only this virtue, called tolerance, had been sustained, all or many other virtues would have survived. When tolerance is lost, man loses his patience, self-control and spirit of non-violence. Therefore, as they say it is never too late. If even now those, who are mercilessly killing innocent people, begin to observe this virtue, mankind can be saved from the scourge of wars, communal riots and conflict on the basis of difference in religious beliefs.