Bharat Soka Gakkai motivates 1,00,000 Indians
to adopt the culture of peace
“War is no way to resolve disputes. So long as wars continue, society cannot progress. The best way to achieve peace is to approach the younger generation, for they are without prejudice and have open minds.”
These words view of the former President of India, Shri R Venkatraman when addressing a seminar, Peace is in Our Hands, organised by the Bharat Soka Gakkai (BSG) on August 30, 2000 at the Nehru Memorial Hall, Teen Murti
Marg, New Delhi. Other speakers at his seminar were Prof
Moegiardi, Director, UNESCO, Dr Radhakrishnan, Director, Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Committee and senior members of the Bharat Soka Gakkai. On this occasion, over one lakh signatures to a pledge to peace – Manifesto 2000, were handed over to Prof Moegiadi by Manu and Pomila Gupta, representatives of the BSG’s Youth Peace Committee.
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Developed by a group of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, Manifesto 2000, aims at raising awareness and motivating individuals to adopt a culture of peace by signing a pledge to: Respect all life, reject violence, listen to understand, share with others, preserve the planet and rediscover solidarity.
Currently responsible for coordinating activities for the International Year for the Culture of Peace, UNESCO has taken the initiative for a worldwide awareness campaign mounted through Manifesto 2000. It will submit hundred million signatures at the Millennium Session of the UN General Assembly being held in New York from September 6-8 this year.
This movement for peace has found acceptance in all countries. Heads of state, the intelligentsia, artists and eminent personalities such as Mikhail Gorbachev, Jaques Chirac, Shimon Peres, Ehud Barak, Nelson Mandela, Tony Blair, Jiang Zemin, Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama and Gabriel Garcia Marquez are among those who have signed this pledge.
The Soka Gakkai International, an NGO with over 12 million members based in 163 countries, working through Buddhist principles for worldwide peace, actively supports this initiative. Its Indian affiliate – the Bharat Soka Gakkai (BSG) -- has over the last few months worked actively at persuading over one lakh individuals to sign the Manifesto, thereby putting into practice the values, attitudes and forms of behaviour which inspire the culture of peace. Among those who have pledged to join this international movement are several well-known Indians such as the former Prime Minister I K Gujral, sarod maestro Sharan Rani, actresses Nandita Das and Manisha Koirala, popular singer Palash Sen of Euphoria, and eminent journalists Vinod Mehta and Kuldip Nayyar.
In the opening address, Lalita Daikoku, Director, Bharat Soka Gakkai, recounted a moving Jewish tale, that clearly and poignantly brought out the fact that only when man can see another – rich or poor, black or white – as his brother is “the dark night over”. The tale was all the more significant because it was related to her by Shimon Peres, who during a four-day visit to India signed this pledge.
The spirit of Rabindranath Tagore’s poem Where the Mind is Without Fear rendered through song was brought alive through the accounts of two of the youth working on the signature campaign. Priya Marwah managed to overshoot her target of 10,000 signatures, by going from school to school, making students and faculty alive to the urgent need to adopt a culture of peace. Manish Kapoor, overcame inhibitions and fears, and went to shopping arcades and cinema halls -- places popular with the youth -- and spoke of Manifesto 2000. “I was scoffed at. One person accused me of being an agent of UNESCO, another asked me to get signatures from terrorists. `What’s the difference? many said.’ But I persisted and I believe it created a network of friendship.”
“Twenty per cent of the world target of 100 million signatures has come from India,” informed Prof Mogeadi, “and the majority are from Punjab. He went on to say that peace now has a more dynamic, multidimensional persona. Noting that wars were caused when there was acute scarcity in a country, he regretted that though there were enough resources to go around, people live still below the poverty line. The UNDP’s Human Development report showed most of Asia up very poorly. “There’s cost benefit in peace,” he said. “All the money used for arms trade can be channelled for development,” he said.
Dr Radhakrishnan pointed out that the occasion was historic “for many reasons – it shows the perseverance and dedication with which the youth went about their task”. Fittingly so, he said for “after Martin Luther King, it is the President of the Soka Gakkai International, Dr Daisaku Ikeda who has added such depth interpreting the message of Gandhi.” In his address, Shri Venkatraman pointed to the positive role religion has played in making "the human mind slowly attuned to a better way of living. However, till date,” he said,"a culture of war persists. There have been1000 bilateral wars between states – lakhs of refugees leading a life of misery. Schools too concentrate on teaching history through wars and dynasties. Nothing is said about the people, culture or humanism.” In this context, he said, “Gandhi becomes relevant – it is his moral and spiritual approach to all social and political problems that distinguishes him,” he said.
The century’s most significant achievement, Venkatraman felt was not in “satellites, missiles, medicine, test tube babies etc. It is in the attempt at bringing about a voluntary transfer of power from colonialists to those colonised -- without violence or war. It is here that we can see how Gandhi changed the minds of man.” Recalling his meeting with Dr Ikeda, Venkatraman said, ”For six decades he has worked relentlessly for peace and non-violence. Let us all pray that peace and harmony may be achieved, not in the future, but in our own lifetime.”
The seminar concluded with General Secretary of the Bharat Soka Gakkai, Navina Reddi’s vote of thanks on the optimistic note that, “The power of the spirit is greater than that of the atomic
bomb". |
