Peace: Our Natural State

There is a happy natural state of peace within us. This state is always present. This happy natural state is the feeling of consciousness within. It is the existential experience of being. It is our natural higher self. Peace in simple words means being connected to the consciousness that encompasses us all. Peace is when consciousness is experiencing itself. But when it is shrouded by ignorance, it is not accessible. The moment the ignorance is removed, it can be accessed. When you are established in that state, you are happy and peaceful. When you are in that state, nothing can shake you.

Happiness and peace are your true nature. You can block them, but you cannot turn them off completely. You can just obstruct the peace to experience unhappiness, conflict and other negativities.

The experience of peace and joy is continuously going on within every human being. The wave of joy is constantly passing through your being without a break. When it is accessed, there is a natural flow of abundance and serenity. When this consciousness within is experienced, the oneness and universality of it also become apparent and you understand that it is the very purpose of life. People ask what the purpose of life is. The purpose of life is life itself. The meaning of life is the inner experience within each one of us, termed Self, Witness, Allah, God, Ishwar, Lord, etc. It is the living, sentient consciousness within us due to which this body is alive.

Why Peace?

You may ask, ‘why is so much importance given to peace?’ The very first reason to give importance to peace is that it is just what ‘is’. It is your natural state which one can access easily. But it is so shrouded in ignorance, that only the symptoms of the absence of peace can be seen. When the veils of ignorance are removed, you will realize that you are not supposed to be peaceful – you are peace. It is your nature. The more you operate from this natural state, your sensitivity increases and so does your understanding level. Your clarity about everything happening to you and all around you increases. By reminding yourself and by accessing the peaceful natural state, you attain supreme consciousness. The second answer to the question, “Why peace?” is that only when you are in peace, do you experience true happiness. This happiness is true happiness which is arising from within and is not dependent on external causes. From this state of well being, one gravitates towards love, creativity, harmony, abundance, vitality, tranquility and self-expression effortlessly. It is an effortless effort. The third reason to value peace is that when you are in the happy natural state of peace, unnatural tendencies and wrong habits disappear. Unhappiness and conflict go away. As you begin to value peace and be more peaceful, you start becoming free from all the defilements or evils of the mind such as anger, hatred, violence, malice, greed, obsession, jealousy, fear, insecurity and all other undesirable qualities. Another reason for giving importance to Peace is that it is not only your natural state, but it is what ‘everywhere’ is. So you begin experiencing oneness by being aware of this. The more you are established in peace, more is the love that flows for others. This love is true love which is unconditional and unlimited. Thus, by being peaceful, you allow love to expand in the universe. The fifth reason for valuing peace is that a highly evolved society can be formed when everyone accesses and operates from peace. Imagine a society where importance is given to the common thread of consciousness in all religions rather than sectarian beliefs and myths of religions. Imagine a society where movies and media promote happiness, non-violence and love. Imagine a society where differences in men and women are cherished and each takes on their unique roles at work and at home. Imagine a society where children are taught how to access the peace within and youth are taught how to fortify their character with kindness and compassion. Such a society is possible. Such a society is in the anvil if the peace within us is accessed.

Put Peace First

In today’s technologically advanced world, unhappiness and conflict have become our habit. When one experiences unhappiness, instead of looking for a way to permanent peace, he tends to complain more and more and ends up shrouding peace even further. That is why at least when you are unhappy – put peace first. Get off unhappiness immediately – let it not become a habit. Due to this habit of unhappiness and conflict, even when everything is going on well in the household, people invite unhappiness by triggering a quarrel or teasing one another. Then they sit down to solve the problem that they caused in the first place. After finding some temporary solution, they all party together. This gives them temporary relief which they mistake to be happiness. And thus, man first creates suffering and then finds quick fixes to solve it. Because of this predisposition, he keeps inviting suffering without any reason. So what to do when you become unhappy? The answer is simple – become happy. Putting ‘peace first’ means developing a habit of putting serenity and happiness first. The moment you become unhappy, remind yourself and switch.

When you are at peace, your level of consciousness is high. When your level of consciousness increases, you become more and more sensitive. You are able to interpret the subtlest of hints that life gives and understand the slightest pain of others. Putting peace first means you are sensitive to peace.

How to Put Peace First?

When we say that we should not allow the peace to be shrouded, we should make sure we guard it. We only guard what is important or precious to us. If there is neither awareness nor any conviction that consciousness is our biggest wealth, we won’t make any efforts to guard it. Conviction is a must – only then will we consider it as important, and that it needs to be protected. Otherwise, in our unconsciousness, it will continue to be stolen, which is a great loss. Unfortunately, we don’t even make the preliminary enquiries for the preventive measures. When you become more aware of this fact and more alert, it becomes more essential for you to guard it and rest of the things would follow. You won’t even worry as to how work will get done. You would have the conviction that everything will happen appropriately and that everything is available in abundance.

Just as each one understands the importance of protecting and securing wealth, you have to safeguard peace and to do that you have to keep an eye on it. Where attention goes, energy flows. Whatever you give attention to increases in your life. The thing you don’t keep an eye on will disappear from your life.

How will you put peace first? How will you keep your eye on your consciousness? Whenever an incident happens, ask yourself, “Do I see this incident as opportunity or an obstacle?” If you disliked somebody’s action and your level of consciousness dropped – that means it was an obstacle in whose trap you fell. But if you reciprocated in the way a person of higher level of consciousness would have, then you have taken advantage of that opportunity. Now you will not be imitating anyone or living a life of deception as most others are living. You will work as a person of higher consciousness operating from peace. Since you are guarding your consciousness, it won’t be stolen.

Summary:
There is a happy natural state of peace within us. This state is always present. But when it is shrouded by ignorance, it is not accessible. The moment the ignorance is removed, it can be accessed. When man experiences unhappiness, instead of looking for a way to permanent peace, he tends to complain more and more and ends up shrouding peace even further. That is why at least when you are unhappy – put peace first. When we are convinced that peace or consciousness is the biggest wealth, we won’t allow it to get stolen. When this happens, you will not look at incidents in your life as obstacles, but as opportunities.