WELCOME
to this website sponsored by Global Coalition For Peace
|
|||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
APARIGRAHA,
A NEW ECONOMIC PARADIGM FOR A CULTURE OF PEACE |
|||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
One day during my lesson hour with Grandfather, he asked me to dismantle his spinning wheel. When I did, he said, "Now, spin this cotton sliver into yarn." "How can I do that," I asked, "when the machine is dismantled?" "Very well, then, put it together again." he said. While I was busy doing this he took away a very small wheel. I could not complete the assembly without this wheel, so I asked him for it. "Why do you need it? It is so small. Can you not make the machine work without it?" "No, I cannot," I said. "Exactly," Grandfather said. "Just as the machine cannot function when it is divided into separate parts, life cannot function meaningfully when each person acts independently. Also, just as the smallest wheel is necessary to make the spinning wheel work properly, every individual that God has created is an integral part of the whole, and must work in unison with others so that life can be smooth and in harmony. Nobody is dispensable." The reason why human society does not function today as efficiently as
we would like is because, as individuals and as nations, we neglect the
rules that Grandfather illustrated here so simply. It is difficult for me to believe that humanity is the end product and
ultimate beneficiary of all creation. All other species in nature act
quietly and diligently fulfill their natural roles and enhance the world,
while human beings, regarding ourselves as the most intelligent of species,
live in confusion. We continually search for the answer to the question,
"What is the meaning of life?" And when we fail to find an easy
answer, we proceed as though life means nothing more than amassing personal
wealth. An analysis of conflicts around the world today will readily reveal that
they all have roots in the gross lack of respect people have for those
with economic, religious, educational, nationalistic or cultural differences.
We are adept at finding reasons for hating others. It is this attitude,
more than anything else, which contributes to the violence that afflicts
humanity today. It was Grandfather's view, passed down to me through my
parents, that no one is superior or inferior. No one can assert special
rights over another, and no one is an enemy. From: Legacy of Love: My Education in the Path of Nonviolence, by Arun Gandhi
|
|||||||||||||
Back to Supplemental Material | |||||||||||||