Page 125 - Age of Peace Goodword.indd

The Age of Peace

Here, I am not just theorizing about peace: I have
experimented with it in practice. The venue of this experiment
was Kashmir. I have been working towards inculcating
peaceful thinking among Kashmiris since 1968, and I am still
continuing with my efforts. There has been a sea-change as a
result of this movement, and now, in almost every house in
Kashmir the peace-promoting literature of our mission is read.
In 2011 we organized a meeting of those Kashmiris who
are acquainted with our ideas. On this occasion, someone
representing a group of Kashmiris said in the course of
conversation: ‘We have travelled a long way from October
1989 to October 2011. Formerly, we used to throw stones at
the Indian army. Now, we present them with literature about
peace.’
Kashmir, which after 1947 was continually engaged in
militancy, has now almost become a peaceful state. If there
is any news of attack or violence from Kashmir, it is not due
to the local Kashmiris, but is the result rather of a proxy war
conducted from outside.
The above example of bringing about ‘Peace through
Education’ can be experienced everywhere. The most effective
way of bringing about peace is only one—and that is, to educate
people’s minds along peaceful lines.
The best way to bring about change in society is through
education. In the pre-printing press age books were not
available. So it was not possible to educate people on a large
scale—war is a remnant of that ancient age. In those times
people tried to bring about change through force, and this led
to war.

Now we are living in the age of printing press in which
books exist in abundance. It is therefore possible to bring
about a change in society through mass education. Those who
are engaged in war for the sake of reform only show that they
are unaware of this fact. If they realized this, they would throw
away their guns and concentrate on education.

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