Harmony in the home brings order in the nation.
I am happy to visit the Om Shanti Retreat Centre (ORC) and participate in the Annual Day Celebrations of the Centre. The ORC which was inaugurated in the year 2003 has grown into a popular spiritual campus of the Brahma Kumaris in this part of the country. The serene atmosphere developed by the Brahma Kumaris in this divine place is indeed a welcome initiative. My greetings to the members of the Brahma Kumaris for their selfless service to the society. I am happy to know from the website that ORC has been recognized as a regional resource centre for learning and development by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) particularly in the areas of human values. When I decided to participate in the annual day of the ORC, I was thinking what thoughts I can share with the Brahma Kumaris family and their well wishers from various strata of the society. I selected the topic Evolving a Peaceful and Prosperous Society.
Friends, on 13 November this year I met my close friend of decades Justice VR Krishna Iyer when he turned one hundred. When I saw him in City of Cochin in his house, he was radiating knowledge and compassion to all the people around him. I was thinking myself what made his great life so cheerful and full of compassion. It is nothing but service, service, and more service to the underprivileged throughout his life. The message is, by giving and giving, one is blessed by the Almighty.
Save or better someone’s life
Dear friends, when I see you all, I would like to recall an incident in Gandhiji’s life when he was a nine year old boy, that is, Gandhiji’s mother’s advice given to her son. She says:
“Son, in your entire life-time, if you can save or better someone’s life, your birth as a human being and your life is a success. You have the blessing of the Almighty God.”
This advice has made a deep impact on the mind of Gandhiji, which made him work for humanity throughout his life. Every cultural and religious tradition has appropriate non-violent methods for positive political, economic, and social change both at the national and international levels. Since it focuses on the principles of non-violence in all its aspects and its application to conflict avoidance, I am reminded of the event where the Ahimsa dharma (principle of non-violence) took birth and it became the seedling ground for the non-violence principle across the world. It was the time tested non-violent alternative method for achieving peace and prosperity across nations.
Unity in Diversity
India is a country which has over the years learnt to evolve and maintain a unique unity amongst diversity. It has become an inspirational model and an example to emulate for every region in the world. India supports a social form of economic development and encourages a model for growth with equity. We are conscious of the need for growth to respect the environment and make it sustainable for future generations. With this valuable experience of centuries behind India, we can bring a doctrine of global cooperation built over the foundation of regional collaborations and core competencies of people and society of many nations.
In this context, I am reminded of the dream of the Indian poet Kaniyan Pungundranar, who articulated 2000 years back in one of his Tamil classic “I am a world citizen; every citizen is my own kith and kin.” This feeling itself, I am sure, can be the foundation for the way of human thinking on unity of minds.
Evolution of Enlightened Society
With this spirit of universal thinking, I would like to put forth to this important gathering, a methodology for evolving a happy, prosperous, and peaceful society in our planet, which I call as “Evolution of Enlightened society on Planet Earth.” How do we create such an enlightened society, which will have three components: (a) Education with a value system; (b) Religion transforming into spirituality; and (c) Economic development for societal transformation?
Happy Home Profile
Friends, whenever I visited various religious centres and organizations, I used to share the happy home profile outlining traits that are needed for a beautiful home. A beautiful home (we have 200 million homes in India) emanates from four directions. One comes from a spiritual home; second comes from the mother’s happiness; third comes from transparency of the home; and fourth comes from providing a clean and green environment. This combination of four traits indeed brings out a happy home. Let us study, how we can achieve that.
Spiritual Home:
Friends, let us look at a small family home with a father, mother, son, and daughter, or two sons and two daughters. In this home, both parents earn. I visualize in this little home, a little home library with at least ten great books and in this home parents have to inculcate a reading habit among their children by reading books during breakfast or during dinner. The whole family should be together at least at one meal so that they communicate and discuss freely. When they are all together at the dining table, the mother or the father takes a book from the home library, narrates a story of ethical and moral values, where the children participate in a discussion and offer their comments. Such a reading habit triggers the children to read the book in detail and collect more information on such stories which put into practice in their day-to-day life. Some children may also go to the school and discuss such instances with older children which can benefit a larger community. This is how the seeding of reading habits can be inculcated among the young minds. In addition, I visualize a little prayer room where every morning or night the whole family, including children pray and offer their thanks to the Almighty for receiving blessings.
This family get-together becomes a store-house of knowledge with ethical values and systems for the children over a period of time and such children are always engaged in carrying out their responsibilities in a spirit of excellence which comes out of dedication and self-esteem of being the best in whatever they do.
Let us study the second dimension of the family.
Mother Smile Mission
Dear young friends, I am going to give you a mission that will lead to a happy home. Will you friends repeat with me and promise me that you will follow the suggestion that I am giving? Let us start, young friends,
From today onwards, I will make my mother happy.
If my mother is happy, my home is happy.
If my home is happy, the society will be happy.
If societies are happy, the state will be happy.
If the state is happy, the nation will be happy.
How many of you friends, are willing to do the great mission of making the mother happy?
A Transparent Home
Friends, as I said, we belong to a society of 200 million families. Each family has four members, father, mother, two daughters or two sons, or one son and one daughter. There is a crying need in the nation to develop a transparent society, a corruption free society. Dear young members, I have a mission for the youth of the nation, that is the daughter and son of the family. Friends, every one of you assembled here will know, after all, corruption emanates from a few homes. It is estimated, 30% of our Indian homes are corrupt. That means approximately 60 million homes may be corrupt. In a corrupt home, imagine if the son or daughter can sense it and persuade the father not to become a victim of corruption using their love and affection. My conscience says, compared to any law against corruption, definitely this movement of the youth against corruption, will be extremely effective. How many of you, young friends will offer yourself to be a participant of such a great mission of making the home transparent, if it is not?
Green Home Mission
Friends, today there is a constant climate change in the universe. Deforestation, industrialization and transportation emitted carbon dioxide have caused a hole in the ozone layer, leading to increased heating of the planet earth. This is the major cause of flood and draught. If the youth of the nation decide, they can definitely change the situation. Every Indian must take an oath that he will plant and nurture at least one tree. One fully grown tree absorbs 30 kgs carbon dioxide and emits 14 kgs of oxygen. During our lifetime, if we plant 10 trees and nurture them, we will have over 10 billion trees. These 10 billion trees can definitely contain the climate change problem. Hence, I would suggest each one of you to plant a tree and keep your home and the neighbourhood clean. Green home means, not only planting of trees, but keeping the house and environment clean. You should not dump any garbage on the streets.
CONCLUSION: MY PRAYER FOR PEACE
Friends, in conclusion, I would like to recite the peace prayer, which I had composed sometime back:
MY PRAYER FOR PEACE
“Oh Almighty, create thoughts and actions
in the minds of the people of my nation
so that they live united.
Oh Almighty, bless my people
A path of life with righteousness
as righteousness gives the strength of character.
Help all religious leaders of my country to
give strength to the people to combat the divisive forces.
Guide the people to develop an attitude to appreciate different
view points and ways of lives and transform enmity among individuals,
organizations, and nations, into friendliness and harmony.
Embed the thought ‘nation is bigger than the individual’
in the minds of the leaders and people.
Oh God, bless my people to work with perseverance to
transform the country into a prosperous, peaceful,
and harmonious nation.”
My best wishes to all the members of the Brahma Kumaris, success in the mission of happy, spiritual and prosperous home.
Addressed at the Annual Day of Om Shanti Retreat Centre, Guragon, Delhi
December 7, 2014
May God bless you
Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam
www.abdulkalam.com
