Dr. Ikeda is one of the eminent and influential leaders of our time. I have had occasion to meet him three times, in India and in Japan…and I was always inspired by his presence, inspired by his views and thoughts. This book is particularly written for children, for the young people and it is they who can change the world and therefore he has addressed the book to them, specifically, with the title, The World is Yours to Change.
The first essay in this book is on Mahatma Gandhi, and I would like to read out some portions from this essay. Referring to the historic exhibition held in Japan on King Asoka, Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru: A Healing Touch. Dr. Ikeda writes, “for violence is born from a wounded spirit, a spirit burned and blistered by the fire of arrogance, a spirit splintered and frayed by the frustration of powerlessness, a spirit parched with the unquenched thirst for meaning in life, a spirit shriveled and shrunk by the feeling of inferiority, the rage that results from injured self-respect from humiliation, erupts as violence. A culture of violence which delights in crushing and beating others into submission spreads throughout society, often amplified by the media”…and then he proceeds, “from a healed and peaceful heart humility is born, from humility a willingness to listen to others is born, from a willingness to listen to others, mutual understanding is born and from mutual understanding a peaceful society will be born.” Dr. Ikeda has interpreted Gandhi for India because we need Gandhi today in the world, especially in India more than at anytime before and I think Dr. Ikeda has the right to interpret Gandhiji to us more than anyone else, because he has propounded Gandhiji’s ideas for a long time, for a long time…and spread it in Japan among millions of people and carried it to the world as a message of Buddhism as a message of Gandhi from India.
In another essay in this called A Bridge Between Civilizations, a piece on Prof. Kawasaki he writes about Iraq and Baghdad, which he visited when Kawasaki was in that city. He writes, “it was a beautiful city, the Japanese mission had a spacious garden featuring a riot of roses that bloomed all year around…there were orange and pomegranate groves, forest of date palms and groves of grapewines too and then he writes, “yet we now hear that it has become a wasteland, ruined by war and years of economic sanctions. The bombing has reduced hospitals to rubble. There is not enough food to provide malnourished children with a subsistence level diet…an alarming rise in leukemia, cases he thought to be linked to the use of depleted uranium shells. How can the slaughter of civilians for whatever reasons be ever justified, who has the right to kill innocent babes, why do children have to die in a war, begun by adults. Is there is any justice in depriving the sick of medicine and leaving them to suffer and die. And then he adds, we must reach out to others through dialogue…repeatedly and regardless of the challenges involved…if you do not change the thinking, that so easily runs to the use of force to settle disputes, the 21st century will become yet another century of war. This is a salutary warning by Dr. Ikeda to the present generation.
I think we have to read this book over and over again to understand the meaning of non-violence, the meaning of humanity, love for humanity and compassion for the human being. I congratulate the Samskriti which has brought out the Hindi translation of this book in the same volume. And I think it is a great contribution to Indian thought and the philosophy which we all have followed though not in our daily lives at least in our thoughts, is restated here with compelling simplicity and persuasiveness.
Ikeda has analysed the teachings of Gandhi in very simple terms and again and again emphasized that vengence or taking revenge upon others is not the way for peace. I think this is practical statesmanship also. I remember a great practical statesman of Europe, of Germany has stated that, “it is not for us to take vengence on history - you cannot revenge upon history, all you can do is try to prevent the same mistakes are not repeated again in history…but try to take revenge upon history is one of the most futile and disastrous experiments that can be conducted. We in India have to remember this very clearly today because some of us are frustrated, some sections of our people are frustrated for no reason at all because how can a majority, an immense majority of people can feel frustrated in this manner…and therefore they want to take revenge upon history. And this attempt to take revenge upon history…is not only futile but will make India, one of the worst countries in the world. Gandhiji once said that to take an eye for an eye, that philosophy will make the whole world blind.
I think this book has come at a very crucial time for us in India. And we have to disseminate the book widely, teach it in the schools and make it available for the young people, the young children and that will be one of the great contributions that Dr. Ikeda will be doing to us in India…and not only to the world. Peace has to be preserved. Dr. Einstein peace has once said, peace cannot be forced, peace cannot be kept by force. It can be nourished only by understanding. This simple lesson has to be learnt by us all as a practical guide to keeping peace for the world, and peace for the country. While releasing this book I would like to give my homage to Dr. Ikeda especially on this day that is his birthday, may I wish him many, many years of happy and fruitful life in this world of ours, so that the world is changed and the world has become a beautiful, peaceful and a useful place to live, for all of us.
Thank you.
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