Preface
'I seek Peace. I have no Peace of Mind. I am worried, stressed, and anxious. I am in a state of depression.' It is very common to hear this from people today. As the world is progressing in technology and is becoming so advanced in every domain of our lifestyle, we are losing a very precious gift – Peace.
Not just individual people, but families, cities, countries, cultures, civilizations, and religions are also waging wars against one another. There are feelings of jealousy, hate, and revenge in our Mind as anger fills our life. Peace and tranquillity are seen as a thing of the past. We all want Peace of Mind. We want to experience that state of bliss and that feeling of tranquillity. But where has our Peace gone?
Peace is not an external thing. If one has been snorkelling, scuba diving, or has just dived into the ocean, one will experience a calm very different from the roaring seas. So also, while there is noise, there are blasts, and there is chaos all around us, if we turn and go within, we will find stillness and Peace that we all seek.
Peace is a state of Mind. When the Mind is agitated, our Peace is shattered into pieces. The Mind is constantly jumping from thought to thought and it is sad that our own Mind steals our Peace and with it, our happiness. Little do we realize that Peace is the foundation of happiness.
The Mind is wired with our senses and we are perceiving the world all the time. As I start to write this book in the wee hours of the morning in India, far away in Beirut, Lebanon, a deafening blast has killed dozens and injured thousands. It has shaken the peace, not just of that city and country, but the whole world. As we see images of rubble and fire, the eyes and the ears transmit these signals to our Mind and it gets rattled, as it shivers in fear.
Today, the world is struggling to achieve global Peace. Countries are fighting with each other over issues of borders, religions, economy, and everything else in which they can have a difference of opinion. Unfortunately, they are losing the treasure of Peace. Countries are ready to wage a war to settle disputes. But what about Peace? Even today, the world is on the verge of another global battle with the world's most powerful economies unable to look eye to eye. If only they made Peace a priority, world Peace could have been achieved.
There are economic wars, just as there are religious battles across the world. People seek power and wealth. They want to defeat others and reign supreme. The Mind is triggered by the ego. Together, the Mind and Ego become the ME that steals our Peace and tranquillity.
The Mind is constantly creating thoughts and these thoughts create so much anxiety. Unless we learn to calm the Mind - our own thought factory and unless we fill our life with positive emotions, we will not experience Peace.
But is all this necessary? Ancient scriptures have stated – 'What would it gain a man, if he gained the whole world, but lost his own Soul?' When will we realize that money, power, and fame are temporary things? When will we learn to exchange our achievements with Peace of Mind? When will we learn to live satisfied with our need, rather than to let greed destroy our Peace?
We are enveloped in deep darkness, a darkness that makes us ignorant of who we are and why we are here. Our ignorance makes us live like apes who are chasing grapes. Unless we make the Monkey Mind into a Monk, we will never be able to experience true bliss and Peace.
Why is the entire world in turmoil?
Why this worry, anxiety, and stress?
We live with greed and lose our Peace,
And our life ends up in a mess.