Moin Qazi&#39;s ‘Mantras of Peace’ touches upon aspects contributing to internal peace

Moin Qazi's ‘Mantras of Peace’ touches upon aspects contributing to internal peace

By Ravindra Pandit*
Review of the book “Mantras of Peace”, an interfaith compendium authored by Moin Qazi
“Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all” -- Aristotle
The world has seen the rise and fall of several civilizations. What was the root cause of their downfall? Denis Goulet, an American human development theorist, argues that most civilizations perished not on account of external threats but due to internal strife precipitated by the erosion of fundamental human values. Religious scriptures, spiritual gurus, thinkers, and leaders have given us profound wisdom on how to lead a happy and peaceful life. The question is, are we following them to live a righteous life?
The author, Moin Qazi, draws our attention to the reality that we live in troubled times in a dangerous and destabilized world. Wedges between faiths are created by raising questions about the history of people, places, and cultures. All religions teach love, compassion, and forgiveness. And yet there is violence in the name of faith. Our living conditions have improved a lot over the years. Have we also become better human beings? Unfortunately, there is no evidence that civilized societies are morally superior to primitive societies. We have seen two highly destructive world wars in the past century. Have we learned our lessons to live in peace? Not quite.
COVID-19 also exposed the fragility of our shiny world. It came as great adversity and caused social isolation. Moin Qazi put the period of isolation to good use by writing spiritual columns for the Asian Age. This book is a compilation of these short essays.
The eternal quest of every person in this world is for happiness. Different people adopt different means to derive pleasure. But true and lasting happiness comes by observing the universal moral law. This book endeavours to handhold the readers find contentment, the essence of joy.
Those who focus solely on happiness do not find it; those whose goals lie elsewhere are more likely to achieve satisfaction. The plans should not be confined to personal gains but to larger purposes of doing good to others. Happy people connect well with the world around them. They have a goal in their lives. Materialistic accomplishments alone do not ensure happiness.
The key is to develop inner peace and serve others. Selfless love needs to be a key component in our compassionate actions. And compassion has to be practiced with a spirit of altruism, expecting nothing in return. Muslims are taught to live as trustees of God’s blessings. There is a duty to serve those who are less privileged. Similar preaching is found in scriptures of other religions as well. And yet we find that peace is lacking in the world.
“Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all”, – said Aristotle. Conditioning of our mind colours our vision. We act accordingly without applying a discerning mind. Ideologies, superstitions, customs, and social restrictions cage us. There is a need to do some introspection periodically. Every religion encourages its adherents to set aside time for silence, reflection, and meditation. Self-reflection is not a trait we are born with; we must cultivate it as a habit. This is so important that Plato said, “The unexamined life is not worth living”.
Life is never a cakewalk. We face several challenges. This is for our good. A life devoid of adversities is an incomplete life. Unless we are exposed to healthy doses of pain, there is a danger that we will become hyper-sensitive and vulnerable to even small amounts of stress. We need to build our resilience to face adversity. Adversity turns our faces to God. A firmly embedded template of sound values brings out our inner repertoire of talents.
The author points out that the values of justice, fair play, humility, modesty, tolerance, and curiosity are time-tested. Values constitute the inner sense of right and wrong based not on laws or rules of conduct but on who one is. When we look at the world today, we see a breakdown of society, family life, religion, and ethical principles. The collapse seems to be deeply connected with a loss of human values. This, therefore, highlights the need to rebuild human values.
It is also essential to keep the mind open to fresh thinking. Societies prioritising women’s empowerment show better development indices and are better governed, more stable, and less prone to violence. Proactively embracing change and adaptability are the keys to survival and progress. Adaptability includes respect for differing opinions. Diversity alone does not constitute pluralism. Legitimate space needs to be given in our consciousness to the other. Pluralism is built on dialogue, give and take, criticism, and self-criticism.
Spiritualism helps us to guard against the corruptive influences of the world. We need to stay away from fake religious leaders. Buddha has taught us the way to a good life – neither too much nor too little, in brief, the ‘middle path. We must understand that every scriptural book has to be read with the truest and purest light that our hearts and conscience can provide. Our prayers and rituals should enhance the quality of our character.
Making peace is a process. Never a single action. ‘Mantras of Peace’ touches upon every aspect that contributes to finding internal peace. It would be a continuous journey to internalise its wisdom and make it a part of oneself. The book keeps the reader fully engrossed. An enriching experience indeed.
----
*Interfaith author and HR professional, has a special interest in human development. He has actively participated in endeavours to enhance service orientation in Civil Hospitals by conducting workshops

Comments

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor* This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

History, culture and literature of Fatehpur, UP, from where Maulana Hasrat Mohani hailed

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Maulana Hasrat Mohani was a member of the Constituent Assembly and an extremely important leader of our freedom movement. Born in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, Hasrat Mohani's relationship with nearby district of Fatehpur is interesting and not explored much by biographers and historians. Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri has written a book on Maulana Hasrat Mohani and Fatehpur. The book is in Urdu. He has just come out with another important book, 'Hindi kee Pratham Rachna: Chandayan' authored by Mulla Daud Dalmai.' During my recent visit to Fatehpur town, I had an opportunity to meet Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri and recorded a conversation with him on issues of history, culture and literature of Fatehpur. Sharing this conversation here with you. Kindly click this link. --- *Human rights defender. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/vbrawat , X @freetohumanity, Skype @vbrawat

Uttarakhand tunnel disaster: 'Question mark' on rescue plan, appraisal, construction

By Bhim Singh Rawat* As many as 40 workers were trapped inside Barkot-Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi after a portion of the 4.5 km long, supposedly completed portion of the tunnel, collapsed early morning on Sunday, Nov 12, 2023. The incident has once again raised several questions over negligence in planning, appraisal and construction, absence of emergency rescue plan, violations of labour laws and environmental norms resulting in this avoidable accident.

India's health workers have no legal right for their protection, regrets NGO network

Counterview Desk In a letter to Union labour and employment minister Santosh Gangwar, the civil rights group Occupational and Environmental Health Network of India (OEHNI), writing against the backdrop of strike by Bhabha hospital heath care workers, has insisted that they should be given “clear legal right for their protection”.

Job opportunities decreasing, wages remain low: Delhi construction workers' plight

By Bharat Dogra* It was about 32 years back that a hut colony in posh Prashant Vihar area of Delhi was demolished. It was after a great struggle that the people evicted from here could get alternative plots that were not too far away from their earlier colony. Nirmana, an organization of construction workers, played an important role in helping the evicted people to get this alternative land. At that time it was a big relief to get this alternative land, even though the plots given to them were very small ones of 10X8 feet size. The people worked hard to construct new houses, often constructing two floors so that the family could be accommodated in the small plots. However a recent visit revealed that people are rather disheartened now by a number of adverse factors. They have not been given the proper allotment papers yet. There is still no sewer system here. They have to use public toilets constructed some distance away which can sometimes be quite messy. There is still no...

Women's rights leaders told to negotiate with Muslimness, as India's donor agencies shun the word Muslim

By A Representative Former vice-president Hamid Ansari has sharply criticized donor agencies engaged in nongovernmental development work, saying that they seek to "help out" marginalizes communities with their funds, but shy away from naming Muslims as the target group, something, he insisted, needs to change. Speaking at a book release function in Delhi, he said, since large sections of Muslims are poor, they need political as also social outreach.

Sardar Patel was on Nathuram Godse's hit list: Noted Marathi writer Sadanand More

Sadanand More (right) By A Representative In a surprise revelation, well-known Gujarati journalist Hari Desai has claimed that Nathuram Godse did not just kill Mahatma Gandhi, but also intended to kill Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Citing a voluminous book authored by Sadanand More, “Lokmanya to Mahatma”, Volume II, translated from Marathi into English last year, Desai says, nowadays, there is a lot of talk about conspiracy to kill Gandhi, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, and Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, but little is known about how the Sardar was also targeted.

Weaponizing faith? 'I Love Muhammad' and the politics of manufactured riots

By Syed Ali Mujtaba* A disturbing new pattern of communal violence has emerged in several north Indian cities: attacks on Muslims during the “I Love Muhammad” processions held to mark Milad-un-Nabi, the birthday of Prophet Muhammad. This adds to the grim catalogue of Modi-era violence against Muslims, alongside cow vigilantism, so-called “love jihad” campaigns, attacks for not chanting “Jai Shri Ram,” and assaults during religious festivals.

Counterview

Search This Blog