Peace is a word one hears, with almost monotonous frequency, at all international gatherings.  Yet, it is sad to note that peace has been a casualty of man’s greed, the more so in recent centuries.

It has not always been so.  If the Hellenic world produced an Alexander of Macedon, it also brought forth a Pythagoras, a passionate advocate of the right of all beings in the creation to live, and to live in peace.

Not quite 1,500 years ago, India welcomed to her shores waves of refugees from the Middle East, with whom her people had little in common in terms of language or culture.  These new arrivals were soon assimilated into the host community, while retaining intact their own faith and traditions.  That India, at the time, was not a single, unified country, but a cluster of independent kingdoms, each with its own policies, makes this picture of amity all the more striking.

Clearly, reverence for life had been a facet of the philosophy the kings of those times accepted and lived by.  Should it then seem extraordinary that from this ancient land there should now issue a fresh call for a return to that philosophy?

Education and Parenting for Peace by Swami Veda Bharati is the fourth in the ‘What is Right with the World’ series of booklets.  The contents of this particular booklet formed the text of a presentation made on January 28, 2004, to the Conference on Education and Parenting for Peace convened by the World Council of Religious Leaders.

‘Mind’, ‘peace’, ‘education’, and ‘parenting’ are concepts defined and elaborated in a wholesome light by the author, who then goes on to develop a set of ideas on how to build an effectual, workable structure for peace.

The booklet deserves to be studied by Government leaders, ministers of religion and clerics of all faiths, men and women involved in education, and, of course, parents

The Mahabharata with 110,000 verses, including an appendix, is the longest epic poem in the world literature. The well-known text, the Bhagavad-gita, is only 700 verses, out of that text. In the epic 2,000 verses only are teachings of Krishna. 20,000 verses are teachings of Bhishma, the most towering personality of the Mahabharata. a warrior sage who led an army of over 2 million soldiers for 10 days out of 18 days of war. At that time he was 146 years old. His final teachings were given when he lay pierced with arrows for 58 days, waiting for the right time that he had chosen for his death. Swami Veda gives his brief life story in about a hundred pages. Every reader is simply captivated by this fascinating and inspiring account of a master of wisdom and conqueror of death…

A collection of 14 select essays, inspiring and informative on wide areas of spiritual philosophy. Here is a paraphrase from the introduction:

The birds that fly in the night can see through the dark. Such is the Nature of the inspirations that appear to the spiritual seeker by night. Even through the tired body, one awakens one’s shallows to work. Some great ones have been asked, “What do you do ?” They simply answer, “I gather the blossoms dropped by night.” The shallows of the mind may fall asleep, yet the depths remain engaged in exploring the treasures within. Soon the treasures, like the cream from milk being churned, rise to the surface, emerge into the shallows to become words. One must become the child of a shelter-giver to be qualified to fly with these night birds, to fully inhale the fragrance of these blossoms dropped by the night.

May the night birds fly through your mind also and wake you up from sleep each night to the display of the treasures of the Himalayan wisdom. May your deeper mind never sleep again.

Review by Dirk Gysels

YOU AND YOUR EMOTIONS is really a book everyone who is interested in psychological well-being and spiritual growth should read!