Inner disharmony

If we look around, we would just realise that the world we live in is full of problems. However, none of us can pinpoint any single major factor that lies at the root of all those problems.

A penetrating look at these problems, most of which are interlinked, would show that the underlying causes, common to them all, have invariably been some kind of disharmony in the field of political, social, communal, racial, environmental, etc. A study of the case-history of any of these problems would also show that if the policy, practice or solution, adopted to solve that problem, had been other than the one that aimed at restoring the harmony, it had not only failed but had also led to a bigger problem because it caused greater disharmony.

Most of the people hardly realise that the cause of all social, political and other upheavals in the inner disharmony. For example, in the case of Alexander, history and historians are generally mute on the question as to what led Philip's son, Alexander, to take such a big army to India to conquer it. Though history mentions social, political and other factors, it does not go to the root of all these. It discusses the life of Philip, Alexander and his mother but it does not lay its finger on the nerve that linked Alexander's personal life to the historical role he played.

It does not point to the truth that it was inner disharmony that led to disharmony in his family and, later, to continental disharmony. If mankind had understood the diagnosis that the crux of all problems is disharmony of one kind or the other and that the disharmony of all kinds is caused mainly by inner, mental or spiritual disharmony, then people would not have tried to curb violence by using violence nor would they have attempted to remove poverty by such over-ambitious developmental plans that cause ecological disharmony.

Instead, it would consider universal harmony as the only worthy choice. Also, though political, religious, racial, spiritual or any other kind of harmony was considered the need of the time during different periods of history, there never was such an aggravated or urgent need for all kinds of harmony than it is now. So, let restoring harmony in all spheres of life be our first priority and our declared goal, policy and plan and our avowed practice now.

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