FEATURE STORY

No End to War?

Why Too Many Global Conflicts Are Not Solved Peacefully

The war in Ukraine sends shock waves across the world, yet it is only one of many terrible wars that have happened in recent times. Sadhguru discusses the reasons for today’s never-ending violent conflicts, as well as two main approaches as to how each one of us can contribute to arriving at true world peace in the next 25 years.

Question: Perhaps the most fertile soil on Earth is in a country which is now in war – Ukraine. What can we say about that? What do we do?

Sadhguru: Almost every nation in the world has invested enormous amounts of money in building and stockpiling arms, armaments, bombs, and missiles. Manufacturers are advertising “smart bombs.” From an aeroplane, they can drop a bomb and guide it through the window into a house. And they are proud of that.

A thousand people are sitting here, unaware of what is happening; you just drop a bomb, and all of them die – I do not know what is smart about that. It is the dumbest thing to do. At least do not use these terrible technological weapons, which are literally weapons of mass destruction.

We must get out of this inhuman attitude towards war, killing, and the suffering that other people go through.

This not just one nation – it is happening across the world. When all these bombs are piling up, you are okay with it. There is no movie without a bomb, or at least a smashed face, and you are enjoying it. When it really happens, you are shocked. Life does not work like that.

Will you grieve after the disaster, or will you be the generation who will turn the disaster around? This is all the choice we have. This is our time on the planet. We must make up our minds now how we are going to impact the world.

Who Benefits from Armed Conflicts?

Wars are almost inevitable because economies are built on war. One of the largest industries on the planet is arms and armaments. If you are making guns and bullets and selling them, how do you think they will not be used? If you can transform the human beings, fantastic. If that is not possible, at least do not empower them with weapons. But apparently, we have no intent of stopping the wars.

When it happens to us, or when it happens close to us, we will cry. When it happens somewhere else, it is drama. We must get out of this inhuman attitude towards war, killing, and the suffering that other people go through.

Most evil things have happened not necessarily because of evil intentions but simply apathy. You sleep through life. Is sleeping a crime? No, sleep is a good thing. But if you sleep through your life, it is a disaster. That is what is happening to the world both in terms of soil and in terms of war – we sleep through it.

Good Intentions Are Not Enough

Too many wars have happened. With World War I and World War II, did you not see enough misery? Human beings should not be exposed to such horrors, but people were put through them. After World War II, everyone seemed to come to some kind of wisdom. They said never again should such wars happen, not just in Europe but in the whole world.

They formed the United Nations. The idea was to have a world body through which we will negotiate, not shoot at each other. We are not in such a la-la land to think that we do not have any issues. We have economic issues; we have property issues; we have opposing beliefs – we genuinely have issues. The idea was to set up a platform that would solve problems. What has happened? We have pushed it to the side and are doing what we want to each other.

The first thing is within your hearts, your anger and hatred must go.

Since World War II, how many wars around the world? When the year 2000 came, we said the 20th century was a horrible century full of wars; the 21st century is the age of information technology – we are not going to fight. But since 2000, how many terrible wars across the world? How many nations have been destroyed? Too many.

These are things that you cannot turn around overnight. But, the first thing is within your hearts, your anger and hatred must go.

All Talk and No Action?

I used to attend a lot of world peace conferences at one time. Then I saw for a whole lot of people, conference-hopping is a profession – they are making a living out of it. I was the only “idiot” sitting there thinking we are working for world peace.

So, I was in a very prominent conference; a number of Nobel laureates and a few former heads of state were participating. On the afternoon of the third day, one particular Nobel laureate’s turn to speak came. He went and stood behind this big podium, opened his file, and started reading 42 pages without ever lifting his head. I was sitting in the front row, trying to grasp every word. Then I looked around – the hall was absolutely peaceful because everyone had fallen asleep. I thought, “This is world peace, for sure.”

If you can’t make your mind peaceful, making the world peaceful is out of the question.

Then my turn to speak came. I said, “In the last three days, I have heard so many bombastic speeches about creating world peace. But I’m asking you sincerely – how many of you can place your hand on your heart and say your mind is peaceful? Because if you can’t make your mind peaceful, making the world peaceful is out of the question. What you are seeing in the world is a larger manifestation of what is happening in human minds.” If there were no human beings on this planet, the world would be peaceful.

Then I inquired why in the afternoon session, everyone had fallen asleep. They told me, “Sadhguru, yesterday evening, there was a Bacardi festival.” Free drinks, so everyone became peaceful. That was the last world peace conference I went to.

Global Peace Takes Individual, Relentless Commitment

We cannot make everyone’s mind peaceful. You can make yours peaceful; I can make mine peaceful; she can make hers peaceful. That is the only way it works. We talk about the world, society, and humanity – these are just words. There are only human beings. If each individual does not solve their problems, the world’s problems will never be gone. It will manifest in so many ways.

All of you should demand that at least from now on, cutting edge technology should not go into military weaponry.

I am requesting all of you to make a strong statement, as much as possible. Nothing happens unless there is relentless commitment. Do not only do it one day and leave it. All of you should demand that at least from now on, cutting edge technology should not go into military weaponry. You must pitch for that. This is not going to be achieved overnight. But if you as a generation keep the throttle on, we could come to that maybe in the next 25 years. But, it needs relentless commitment.