Dr. Vijai S Shankar MD.PhD.
Published on www.academy-advaita.com
The Netherlands
13 December 2017
Shanti
“Peace”
The word ‘Shanti’ means peace in the majority of Indian languages. Shanti meaning peace is longed for by everyone. Every individual seeks shanti and wishes and desires to have shanti in their daily life.
Shanti can be understood wisely or merely as a belief. When shanti is understood as a belief, shanti becomes artificial and not real shanti. An individual with a belief of shanti is far away from real shanti.
Therefore, it is important to understand what real shanti is and what artificial shanti is, because artificial shanti displaces love and harmony within the mind. It replaces it with disharmony, no matter how much the individual tries to get shanti.
This is important because real shanti brings love and harmony not only to the individual, but also to the family and to every friend and colleague of the individual.
Firstly, the mind has to be in real shanti, because our soul is always in real shanti. If the mind of a man or a woman is in real shanti, it means that he or she has understood the mind deeply or wisely.
If a man and woman’s mind is not in real shanti, it implies that he or she has not understood that his mind is the same as any other mind, but with different intensity of the same feelings and beliefs.
Real shanti is present in the temple, in the church or in any religious place. This indicates that the mind is silent in the religious place. This is because love is present and love is silent.
Real shanti is present in a house when love is present or when each talks with each other in a house softly and in love. Real shanti is not present when anger is present within you or if you argue rationally or irrationally. Only artificial shanti is present in such conditions.
Real shanti is present when you talk openly with every member of the family, friend or colleague. Real shanti is present when you are honest and admit your mistakes. Real shanti is present when you remind everyone what real shanti is.
Real shanti is when you accept everyone as he or she is in any moment. Artificial shanti is present when you expect what others should be in any moment of daily life.
Author: Dr. Vijai S. Shankar
© Copyright V. S. Shankar 2017
Editor’s note:
During man’s lifetime, during his or her existence, man relies primarily on the beliefs and ideas of his mind. Even without realizing this, he or she converts these beliefs and ideas into reality, illusory though it must be. The words of the wise too are filtered through this process so that they are not understood and may be disregarded or misinterpreted. Such is the transformative energy of these words, however, as gifted in this article, that they gradually dissolve the power of the beliefs and ideas and allow man’s potential to shine out - a human being endowed with enduring values. Shanti, shanti, shanti.
Julian Capper, UK.
German Translator’s Note:
The conditioned mind blames and criticises the other mind habitually. This is because the conditioned mind has not understood that the structure of his own beliefs are the same as those of the other. The conviction that the other is bad, stupid or whatever, prevents peace between two individuals to happen. Dr. Shankar explains in the article Shanti that “his mind is the same as any other mind”. If a man or a woman notices in daily life that the other mind is just as his or her own mind, he or she will be compassionate with the other and will not blame or criticise the other, because this would criticise his or her own mind too. The other becomes a mirror of the own mind and this brings humility and understanding. Peace or Shanti is the outcome of this wise understanding.
Marcus Stegmaier, Germany.