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Slowly their anger extinguished. They became silent and reflective. They came to understand the vicious cycle of violence, and the far-reaching value of ahimsā.
The young people were moved. The effect on both Munishree and on his listeners of his moving from silence to words, and from solitude to group experience, was a positive and dynamic one. Interacting with these young people was a means for him to turn his meditation into action and to become truly genuine with himself. He learned how to communicate with others at their level of understanding and to lose his petty self in their needs. Each group of villagers became a new family, a temporary laboratory in which he had a chance to test his forbearance, his compassion and his inspired insights.
He closed the meeting with the young people by telling them, “Every morning Gandhiji offers a prayer. He lives with the idea, 'If I do not give breakfast to my mind, what right do I have to give nourishment to my body?' Wherever he is, before writing at least twenty letters, walking miles and miles, and meeting many villagers, he makes prayer his first priority. I am going to recite one of his favorites which became one of my favorite subjects of contemplation as well:
न त्वहं कामये राज्यं न स्वर्गं नापुनर्भवम् । कामये दु:खतप्तानां प्राणिनामातिनाशनम् ।। “Na twaham kāmaye rājyam Na swargam Na punarbhavam Kāmaye dukkha taptānām Prāņināmārtināśanam.”
"Not for any kingdom do I long, Not even for the kingdom of heaven, Not even for freedom from the endless cycle of birth and death; For one and only one thing do I long --- To free living beings from their burning pain and suffering, And to wipe away their tears." "When I used to meditate on these lines, I realized that I
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