I’m reading the book A Life of Balance which is the journey of a woman who was diagnosed with cancer and used this illness as an opportunity to seek out health with Ayurveda. She dug into her family roots and spent years searching out a healthful way to live a life of balance. In her introduction she includes a peace invocation:
Swasti prajabhya paripala yantam
Nyayena margena maheem maheesah
Go-Brahmanebhyah shubhamastu nityam
Lokah samastah sukhino bhavantu.
Kale varshantu parjanyah
prithivi sashya shalini
Deshoyam kshoba rahitah
Brahmana santu nirbhaya
Which means:
May people be happy. may the peacemakers righteously rule the Earth
Let there be welfare for animals and people of wisdom at all times.
May all be happy.
May it rain at the proper time. May the Earth produce grains.
May this world be free from famine. May people of contemplation be fearless.
(A Life of Balance p. 5)
I’ve been thinking the past couple of days of the importance of spreading peace in the world. I was talking with a friend earlier this week about different religions. She’s a Mormon and they have friends who live in Raymond, Alberta. As we were talking about peace and pacifism and how much better we would all be if we could stop arguing and fighting I mentioned the Hutterites who live in Alberta. I recalled (from years ago so it’s probably a little rusty) learning in one of my history classes that the Hutterites had been brought to the Prairie provinces in the early 1900s because of their farming knowledge. They were seen as a huge asset in teaching people in the area how to farm and cultivate the land. They also were pacifists and as such were promised by the Canadian government that they would not have to fight in any of the wars. Pretty significant since both World Wars were to come in the fairly near future.
It’s my rose coloured glasses moment – but wouldn’t it be nice if we all had a pacifist approach to life – where we simply didn’t believe in fighting with others?
May all be happy.
That’s a really good post Melissa. I’ve been thinking a lot about our relationship with nature because of the recent UN report on the climate and as well I’ve been influenced by our environmental class at the University
Also I was very interested in what you said about the Hutterites. It’s interesting how we still look to them as models of good farming in many ways That seems to fit some how very well with their pacific aspirations When I studied economics as an undergraduate we were told a country could choose to spend its wealth on either guns are butter. It’s good to see butter wins out sometimes over guns
Love mom Sent from my iPhone
It is good to see butter winning over guns. It’s a real act of love working in a healthy and hands on manner on the land isn’t it?