Vedas for Peace and Prosperity
By. Dr. Tulsi Ram Sharma-
Key note speaker
20th Arya
Maha Sammelan. Orlando.USA.
|
|
‘Vedas for peace and prosperity’ is
a comprehensive theme for a world struggling for global peace and prosperity
and yet resisting that very struggle with insistence on the peace and
prosperity of particular parts, little realizing that the whole is greater than
the aggregate of the parts. This dichotomy between the global aspirations and
disintegrative ambition is there because a comprehensive vision is lacking.
Vedas provide that comprehensive vision of world peace and prosperity for one
and for all at the same time (Arya Samaj Niyam-9) with a positive integrative
demarcation of individual rights and freedoms within social duties and
collective responsibilities (niyam-10). The function of Law is to draw that
line within and under the Laws of Divinity (Satyam), Laws of Nature (Rtam),
cosmic vision and tradition (Shruti and Smrti) and the voice of conscience.
The Vedic
ideal for peace and prosperity is:
May all be happy and comfortable,
may all be free from physical ailments, mental conflicts and spiritual
delusions. May all see and follow the good and no one suffer want and misery.
Swami Dayananda in his
commentary on the Vedas gives us the meanings and connotations of peace and
prosperity: these are Shanti, Swasti, Samrddhi, Samraj, Swatantra, and Ananda.
These are all a person’s, a nation’s, and the world’s condition of Being. Translating these into the language of life’s purpose
and endeavor to live and achieve, they would be Dharma (the Law of living),
Artha (prosperity and plenty), Kama (self-fulfillment), and Moksha (peace and
ultimate freedom).
Peace and prosperity, Shanti, Swasti and Samrddhi are
not two exclusive states of life, they are simultaneous, two sides of the same
coin, inter related, integrated, one. There is no peace without prosperity, and
no prosperity without peace. The separation of the two is ‘Dukha’, opposite of ‘Sukha’, it is pain, suffering, and misery of our own making.
The dictionary meaning of Shanti given by Monier
Williams (extensively used in Indian Universities) is: to become calm or quiet,
to cease, to become extinct. This is not the Vedic meaning because, this way,
it is the peace of the dead. The Vedic meaning is: Satyam in the process of
Rtam, constancy in the state of mutability, peace and progress in equilibrium
in the state of the optimum in endeavor and achievement. For the individual,
for the nation, and for humanity, it is: being at the centre in upasana
(meditation), covering the circle in action (karma) from the Vedic centre onwards,
and reaching the expansive circumference in progress and achievement, with
knowledge ( Janana and vijanana) of the centre and the
circumference both. And this peace, prosperity and progress is
to be achieved at all levels: individual and social, national and
international.
So Rgveda begins with the individual’s prayer to Agni,
Lord of light, fire of Yajnic action, and the universal treasure hold and
harbinger of the jewels of life, and ends with collective exhortation for joint
action and progress through joint discussion and decision with harmony of
thought and will for the achievement of peace and prosperity.
The Yajurveda begins with the divine exhortation:
Be vibrant as the winds, thank the Lord of life,
Savita, and dedicate yourself in action to Indra, Glory and Sublimity of life.
It ends with Om Kham Brahma: meaning, self integration of the particle
(individual), re-integration of the part with the whole (society) and Reunion
of the finite with the Infinite (Brahma), vast as unbounded Space.
The Samaveda begins with celebration of Agni in a mood
of joy and ecstasy of Bhakti, and ends with a prayer for peace and prosperity,
to Indra, Lord of power and justice, to Pusha, Lord of health, plenty and
prosperity of the world, to Tarkshya , Lord
Inviolable, and to Brhaspati, Lord of Infinity, for peace, prosperity, and
universal Samrddhi with unending progress.
The Atharva-veda begins with a prayer to Vachaspati,
Lord of the world of existence and universal knowledge, for the gift of
universal wealth, universal knowledge and universal competence for active and
dynamic peace in a state of prosperity on and onwards. It ends with a
valedictory address of thanks to Ashvins, complementary twin powers of Cosmic circuit of Rtam, dynamics of human and natural
existence in action:
Praiseworthy is that performance of yours, Asvins,
constant harbingers of new light and wealth of life, peace and prosperity,
Shanti and Swasti, which is generous and rewarding, full of the light of
heaven, showers of the cloud from the sky and generosity of the earth. Pray now
come, assess and advance all those thousands of achievements we are pursuing in
the field of earth sciences, solar energy and the development of wealth, all of
which are worthy of appreciation.
The peace and prosperity celebrated in the Vedas are
not for one individual, one community or one nation. It is for all, the Vedic
ideal being, all for one and one for all, because the world of the Vedic vision
is a living, breathing, intelligent, self-organising, self-conscious, sovereign
organism, a ‘Purusha’, all people, all communities, all nations, are limbs of
the same One Cosmic Purusha. At our earthly level, we are all one family of Mother
Earth which bears all people speaking different languages and observing
different aspects of One Universal (Sanatan) Dharma, all of us living under one
roof, in the same one earthly home. Peace and prosperity are God’s gifts for
one and all. If there is any disturbance, it is man made for reasons of
ignorance, injustice and oppression, poverty and miserliness, on our part.
Divine, knowledge, initiative and endeavour, achievement of peace and prosperity
is for all without conflict. Conflict, whichever it is, arises from our failure
to interpret and execute the divine message. And the fact is, as Swami
Dayananda says in Satyarth Prakash, that in spite of the good things in all
different religions, the seeds of conflict lie in the conflictive parts of the
post-vedic religious messages. Unless we, together in familial spirit, resolve
these differences and agree on common, non conflictive,
and progressive values of life and conduct, there is no possibility of
universal peace and progress.
Lest we become too insular, too secular and too
self-centered, Swami Dayananda enlightens us that peace and prosperity is a
state of freedom of the individual, nations and humanity from hate, fear and
conflict, and from all physical, mental, spiritual and social sufferings on
earth, nestled in the lap of peaceful and all-beneficent Natural environment.
This is the state of the freedom of Ananda for one and all achievable with all
the means and methods at our disposal such as Knowledge, science and
technology, pursuit of Dharma, endeavour and achievement for happiness and
comfort here on earth and here after in the state of the ultimate freedom of
spirit, Moksha (Notes on Yajurveda 3, 43).