The inner conflict must be stopped to achieve inner harmony

It is quite natural anywhere in the world when there is a change of power, there would definitely be an extra burden on the new government to resolve the conflicts & issues that are left over by the outgoing government. However, according to political experts, there have never been, in the past, so many conflicts and of such a vast variety as today & because of these conflicts, much part of the human resources as well as government funds is wasted.

Thus, keeping in mind the immense loss of mankind due to these conflicts, there is always a strong desire by government’s all over the world to eliminate such misconduct. However, before moving ahead in this direction, people in power need to understand that one peculiarity of these conflicts is that these do not die after having lived their period but leave seeds for future conflicts or engender other conflicts before they wither away.

Today literally every government puts in constant hard efforts to resolve political conflicts, restore communal peace, settle industrial disputes, end militaristic confrontations and so on, but we find that despite best efforts by the people in power, we are no longer near our goal. Why is it so?  There is no doubt in this that every sensible person wishes that these conflicts, which are the enemies of man and which recur with more or less vigor after lying dormant for a while, be ended somehow. But unfortunately, we are passing through such a long and dark tunnel that we are yet unable to see the light at the other end. Perhaps one of the main reasons for our failure is that we try to end these various kinds of conflicts separately.

But we fail to realise that such piecemeal efforts will not serve any purpose because, before we have eradicated the causes of conflicts in one sphere, these would reappear in an aggravated form in another sphere and before we have brought the trouble under control in the other sphere, conflict would have appeared again in the first sphere that had become comparatively free for a while, from the troubles. Surprisingly this would keep going on and on, making us crazy & out of mind. So, then what actually is the remedy?

In other words, how to have durable universal harmony? Sounds interesting ! Isn’t it? A thorough & deep analysis of the nature of the fore-mentioned conflicts would lead us to the discovery of the truth that the source of all these conflicts is the human psyche. We ourselves are the source or generators of these conflicts. After all, political, economic, religious and other aspects are the various aspects of the human personality, aren’t they? These are the manifestations of various human interests.

So, it is disharmony at this source that causes various kinds of disharmony. How can disharmony in various spheres be eliminated unless its source is plugged and the leakage at that point is stopped? Hence, if there is a conflict between man's mind and intellect, or man's emotions and intellect, or between samskaras and intellect or even between intellect and intellect, then this is bound to find its manifestation in various forms like political, economic, religious, etc. Therefore, necessary that the inner conflict within human beings be first stopped to achieve inner harmony.

The values that bring and sustain harmony in our relationships of all kinds and at all levels are: love, justice, fair play, humility, co-operation, and honesty. Remember! our relationships at personal, communal, racial, ethnic or international level cannot be harmonious unless we internalise these values through spiritual knowledge, practice of positive thinking, silence, good behavior and meditation. So, let us join our hands to bring universal stability through inner stability thereby creating a harmonious environment to live in.

(Writer is a spiritual educator & popular columnist; views are personal)