Bharti Jain
 | 8th International Conference on Peace and Nonviolent Action |
In The Train ►Anuvrat As An Instrument Of Change For A Better World
Anu means ‘small’ and vrat means ‘Vows’. So Anuvrat stands for ‘Small Vows’.
To describe the world - for me my world is inside me. ‘I am’ is my world and this ‘I am’ is within me.
And my journey of my world starts now. I think we have boarded the same train and I want all of you to enjoy this journey with me.
So the journey has just begun and we have boarded our train. What a wonderful feeling that we just have begun our journey and there is a lot to do and this journey is going to be very exciting and adventurous. We will find various obstacles but we have to move ahead. J
Let’s enjoy the journey with a small question - I want to ask everybody –“Are you living a successful life?”
Most of the people say - ‘yes’. What success means to them? WEALTH, MONEY, is that success?
Ask yourself: “Are you enjoying a balanced successful life?”
Balanced means ensuring your health, relationships, mental peace everything in good order.
Tell me “Is there any point of getting a promotion on the day of your breakup? Is it fun driving a car if your back hurts? Do you enjoy shopping if your mind is full of worries and tensions?” Of course not.
My dear friends: Life is like one of those races you have done in nursery school: where you have to run with a marble in a spoon kept in your mouth. If the marble falls, you can not win the race anymore. Same with life, where health, relationships and mental peace are the marble.
Your journey is only worth it if there is harmony in your life. Else, you may achieve the success, but this spark, this feeling of being excited and alive, will start to die.
Actually we all have troubles in life, but you cannot solve the problem at the same place as where you created it because you are the only person who is creating problems for you and nobody else is doing the thing.
I asked everybody: “How many of them are here just because their friends or relatives are there in the conference?” and so many people raised their hands. I wanted to explain that ‘everybody is running in the rat race and nobody knows why they are running.’ They are just running because others are running. And still they are worried about ‘what if I loose the race?’ They don’t know why they are running the race, still they are full of fears and worries.
Fears and worries are the cause of most of our emotional blocks. FEAR means ‘False Evidence Appears Real.’
Years back people thought that the sun was moving around the earth, but when reality came into picture, the scene was totally opposite as it is not the sun moving around the earth, but the earth is moving around the sun.
And my point here is that the falling of that marble off your spoon is just because of that fear or doubt in your mind, and nothing else.
So one obstacle for our happy journey we found is FEAR.
Let’s move on in our journey with a sweet story. It’s a story of a couple. The story shows the role of parents in a child’s life and also how self-realisation and small vows can bring happiness and make a difference in your life.
That night the woman of the house was sitting on the dining table waiting for her husband and when he came, her husband said: “I want to divorce.” She didn't seem to be annoyed by his words, instead she asked him softly: “Why?” But the man didn’t answer.
In the morning she presented him the divorce conditions. She simply asked for a month's notice before the divorce. She requested that in that one month they both struggle to live as normal a life as possible.
Her reasons were simple: their son had exams and she didn’t want him to disturb with their broken marriage. Here I would like to highlight the concern of a woman for her child.
He agreed to that. But … she needed more. She said: “Every morning you carry me out of our bedroom to the front door in the same manner as you took me on our wedding day.” The husband had to agree because he had no other option.
So when he carried her out on the first day, they both appeared clumsy. Their son clapped behind them: ‘daddy is holding mommy in his arms!’
The process continued for a month and everyday he felt some sense of intimacy returning. Everyday he found it easier to carry her. At the last day he realized that she had grown very thin, and that this was the reason why he could carry her more easily. Suddenly it hit him. She had buried so much pain and bitterness in her heart. And he realised that their life had lacked intimacy.
He said, “I won't divorce. Our marriage life was boring probably because both of us didn't value the details of our lives, not because we didn't love each other anymore. Now I realize that since I carried you into my home on our wedding day I want to hold you until death separate us.”
That last evening when he came back home with a bouquet in his hand he found his wife dead.
His wife had been fighting cancer for months and she knew that she would die soon and she wanted to save him from whatever negative reaction from their son, in case they would push through with the divorce, so that at least, in the eyes of their son he was a loving husband.
Here we found 2 obstacles: Bitterness, and Lack of Intimacy.
Here we also see how parent’s behaviour can affect their child and what kind of example parents can set for their children.
So my dear friends there may be much more difficult obstacles in our way but we have seen that all these obstacles are created by us only.
What I am trying to say is, “in most of the cases people starts looking at the petty faults or errors in each other.”
So in this journey of our peaceful world of I AM, take a small vow that today we will give attention to each other and praise for the constructive and wonderful qualities in each other. Value each other. Make each other feel complete. And make it a practice.
And take this vow every day you will see wonders will happen in life. Just assume a harmonious state, and you will find peace and harmony.
The next part of the journey will tell you the role of a woman in society and how important women empowerment is.
A little boy asked his mother, "Why are you crying?"
Mother replied - "Because I'm a woman", he then said “I don't understand", His mum just hugged him and said, "And you never will".
Later the little boy asked his father, "Why does mother seem to cry for no reason?" Father replied: “Ah - All women cry for no reason".
Finally he put the question to God; and asked God, “God, why do women cry so easily?"
God said, "When I made women she had to be special. I made her shoulders strong enough to carry the weight of the world; yet, gentle enough to give comfort.
I gave her an inner strength to endure childbirth and the rejection that many times comes from her children.
I gave her a hardness that allows her to keep going on when everyone else gives up and take care of her family through sickness and fatigue without complaining.
I gave her the sensitivity to love her children under any and all circumstances, even when her child has hurt her very badly.
The boy was wondering: “Oh my God. Women are so powerful.”
God continued…. “The heart of a woman is what makes the world spin!”
Women do more than just give birth.
They bring joy and hope.
They give compassion and ideals.
They give moral support to their family and friends.
Women have a lot to say and a lot to give.
The little boy ended it with... “I don’t think that every woman realises the power inside?”
And if they are graced with so many specialities then they must realise their inner strength, come forward, and serve the society in a much better way.
And there is a common saying that “When you educate a man you educate an individual but when you educate a woman you educate the whole society.”
Because in every journey, the surroundings make your journey easy or difficult.
We all have inner strength. But few realise it themselves and these few need somebody to push them and make them realise.
And I personally feel that an empowered woman has the capability to add more alike people in this train to make our journey easier.
In this journey take another small vow that I will contribute to empowering women.
We all know charity begins at home and I personally feel when you start radiating love to each other then peace will spread in your train as a fragrance.
I need to say: “Don’t think more, just think differently.”
Consider two beautiful words: Love and Power. Now it depends on you, how you join these together. I look at it as power of love and somebody else looks at it as love of power.
So for me: “Yes, everybody can reach to their destination of a nonviolent and peaceful world of I AM when in each person power of love replaces the love of power. “
Now it’s up to you how you join these 2 words.
And we all can make this journey a wonderful and peaceful journey. And now I want all of you to take a vow with me:
“I promise that nothing can disturb my peace of mind.
I Promise that no anger, no fear, no jealousy, no ego can disturb my peace of mind, my life marbles.
I Forget the mistakes of the past and forgive everybody.”
Do these every day before you go to sleep so that next day when you wake up your heart is full of love and mind at peace.
At last I would like to say that “Think only for the best, work only for the best and expect only for the best.”
You are the role models for your family, for your surroundings. Make your present non-violent, and the future will automatically be non-violent.
My last question to you: “are you enjoying the journey in the same train? A train which is going to a peaceful world… a world of I AM.”
Very well said, “a dream we dream together is a reality” and now as we have boarded the same train - a train destination to nonviolence and peace - then definitely it will reach to our destination as V stands for VICTORY.
I like a song very much and it inspires me a lot and I believe that it will inspire all of you as well.
Haan yehi rasta hai tera, tune ab jaana hai.
Haan yehi sapna hai tera, tune pehchana hai...
Haan yehi rasta hai tera, tune ab jaana hai,
Haan yehi sapna hai tera, tune pehchaana hai...
Tujhe ab ye dikhana hai,
Roke tujhko aandhiyan, ya zameen aur aasman,
Payega jo lakshya hai tera,
Lakshya toh har haal mein pana hai
The song says that now you know your path and your dream and nothing can stop you. You will definitely reach your destination.
I strongly believe in ‘I can do it’. ‘You can do it’ and together ‘WE can do it’.
Now I would request all of you to please join your hands together and sing with me and make it a memorable moment- ‘we’re all in this together, we’re all in this together, we’re all in this together, we’re all in this together.’
Truly said:
You can’t do anything about the length of your life but you can do something about its width and depth.
