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C. Yadav: Practicing the Principles of Peace in Nepal
Written by Hon. Chitralekha Yadav, Deputy Speaker, Parliament of Nepal
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
As members of parliament, we have to find our role and learn how we can contribute to creating lasting peace, not only in Nepal but also throughout the world. As Ambassadors for Peace, we know that our responsibility is to achieve peace.Let me remind you of the words from a poem by Rabindranath Tagore: “Where the mind is without fear and head is held high, where there is not any kind of barrier for development.”
To achieve peace, I think first we have to work to create the environment where no injustice is done to anyone, where everyone can enjoy equal rights. I think it's very important for us as Members of Parliament to work for peace. We know this is very important, and perhaps we Nepalese have realized during this decade what happened to us when there was an absence of peace. Still, we have to work very hard for sustainable and lasting peace, and the effort that UPF is making to create peace is wonderful.
Let me remind you of Rev. Father Moon coming to Nepal and talking about peacebuilding to the Nepalese people at the Birendra International Convention Center on November 22, 2005. On that same day, we started moving forward with the 12-point agreement and understanding which was the beginning of the peace process in Nepal.
So, as a Member of Parliament and as a Nepalese citizen, I would like to express our gratitude to Father Moon for helping to bring peace in Nepal.
When we are talking about peace, we tend to generate love from within our hearts. That kind of love is true love. When we are talking about true love, just physical unity is not enough. We have to understand that moral unity and spiritual unity are more important than physical unity. Physical unity is important but should be based upon true love. Unless and until there is true love, there cannot be any kind of unity that can move forward with the mission to bring lasting peace to this world.
I strongly remember one thing that Mahatma Gandhi said:
There was a woman, who came with a baby to Gandhi and asked him to give medicine to her son so that he could be cured, because the lady had heard so much about Gandhi. Every doctor had told her that there was no medicine to cure her son, so she went to Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi-ji told her, “Okay, you come back after 15 days.” The lady again came with her baby after 15 days. Gandhi-ji recognized that the boy was suffering from too much sugar. He told the mother, “Don't give any sweets of any kind to your child.” The lady said, “Oh! You only have just this simple thing to tell me — not to give him sweet things? So, why did you ask me to come back after 15 days?”
Then Gandhi told her, “You came to me with your baby, and I could see he had too many sweets, but I too am a great lover of sweets. So how can I, as a leader, tell a little child not to eat sweets while I myself am taking too many sweets? During these 15 days, I tried my best not to have sweets. Only after I gave up eating sweets could I ask you not to give your baby sweets.”
What a leader says and what a leader does must be in harmony. A leader’s words and deeds should match; otherwise, people will not follow him. In this regard, as Member of Parliaments, I think our role should always be very clear, because people are watching us.
Bringing peace is very important for us and, if we work together, we can certainly achieve peace. I think the ultimate solution lies in realizing that we can only survive together or not survive at all. You know, these days so many conflicts are going on inside the country and we are talking here about lasting peace, sustainable peace, but we never realize why the country is in conflict. How many people have to suffer? How many people must be displaced? How many people have been affected? Almost 15,000 people were killed in Nepal. In this decade of conflict, we Nepalese people have paid an unacceptably high price for what happened in Nepal.
It is high time for us to achieve peace. Without morality and spirituality, there will be so much violence and society will likely perish. The Universal Peace Federation teaches universal principles of peace, and I think, as Members of Parliament, if we realize these things and if we really try to put them into practice, then we can be very instrumental in achieving lasting peace for our nation:
- There is one God, who is the creator of all and the parent of humankind. When we do wrong things, we don’t want anyone to see us. So we try to hide. But, at the same time, if we just recognized, “Oh, God is there and sees what I'm doing,” then maybe that would help us not to do the wrong things.
- The second point here is that human beings are essentially spiritual in nature. By nature, we are spiritual. So, if we practice that spirituality in our daily life, it helps to bring peace throughout the world. It really does help in bringing peace, making peace, and keeping peace.
- Third, it is very important that the family is acknowledged as the school of love and the cornerstone of world peace. We have to start love from within the family. We have to respect our elders, we have to love our younger brothers and sisters, and we need to know this very well so that we can truly practice this.
- Fourth, and very critical, is to understand that the highest standard for human relationships is in to live for the sake of others. When we go campaigning for election, we tell the people we are there to help them, that we are there to solve their problems. In essence, this is a promise that we will live for the sake of our constituents, and we have to be very honest about that.
- Finally, the fifth principle is that interreligious and international cooperation is essential to world peace.
If we realize these five principles of the Universal Peace Federation and if we really try to adopt them in our daily lives, then we could really practice them as Members of Parliament. In this way, we can find a vital and clear role to contribute toward bringing peace everywhere.