“Peace, that’s all that anyone wants”, a friend said to me after I told him I had decided to wind down the business that I had run for nearly 8 years. Having spent many years craving and searching for peace, I honestly thought that time out from a busy working life would be the answer. That was not so; it did not bring the peace that I craved.
Ironically, the word peace is banded around frequently. When the children were small, we would get them into bed and have a little bit of peace and quiet. However, in that instance, the peace in question was not true peace, but just quiet time for the re-charging of batteries. When the children wake up, not only does the sense of peace fade, but it is also forgotten.
Some people believe that going on retreat – staying at a remote monastery or going on a pilgrimage – can bring a certain peace into their lives. No doubt time spent away from daily life can bring huge benefits, but when the person returns home, does that remain? If the peace that is found in that environment is dependent on a certain level of quiet or solitude, or due to the absence of interruptions caused by digital devices, then the peace in question may be lost almost immediately, particularly if you get caught in the rush hour after a long return journey home.
Human beings crave peace. They always desire for Peace of Mind. This may be sought by ensuring we have our smartphones with us wherever we go, just in case we break down in the car, or our family needs us in an emergency, or that we are in danger. However, this may give rise to unnecessary anxiety, expecting the unexpected. What kind of peace is that?
Advertisers bombard us with information about how we might achieve happiness, health and inner peace. Finding the right toothpaste that ensures our teeth are the whitest they have ever been, or releasing precious equity from our houses may indeed bring momentary peace, but what happens when we have toothache, or run into financial trouble? Does it matter how white our teeth are? All we can think about is what painful treatment we may need to stop the toothache. The equity also may bring peace and joy by releasing money, but after the wonderful lifetime trip or the purchase of a new settee, the supposed peace may ebb, when the interest fees begin to bite.
Peace is shattered is a common phrase, often used to mean that peace is disturbed. But is it true peace that can be shattered so easily?
Perhaps the word peace should not be used so glibly. It is something that once discovered, should be treasured. The human psyche focuses on creating peace – fragile peace – that depends on external factors. These factors – money, wealth, health, land, and relationships – cannot maintain any lasting peace, for they are all transitory.
The wonderful Nirankari Mission and the Neti-Neti meditation have revealed to me that the only lasting peace that can be sought is through love of Nirankar, the Formless. Nirankar loves us so much that there is nothing we can do or say that will ever interrupt the flow of that love. This does not mean that we are free to cause pain or injustice; we must be accountable for these actions in the due process. However, the lasting peace that we feel knowing the love of Nirankar, is eternal. Far from living with guilt that has built up from past mistakes, weaknesses, thoughtless acts, we can talk to Nirankar and ask for forgiveness. Through the practice of Simran, we get to know and feel the peace of forgiveness and the all-embracing unconditional love of Nirankar.
When we realise that the Formless is the constant in our lives, we experience the inner peace that we have so desperately craved from the outside. This is a peace that remains when we are in pain, when we are sad, when the world is in chaos, when we are tired, and when we are frustrated or disappointed. All of these emotions are transitory because the world is transitory. However, when everything we know disappears, the love and peace of the Formless is still there. It is always there with us. We do not need anything else to create or hold on to it. Nirankar is the peace.
– Helen Richards, Lichfield, UK
