Ten Days Journey Into The Self

Author(s): Chitrabhanu
Publisher: Jain Meditation International Centre

Page 21

Chapter Six - The Quality Of Concord
Friends. We have concentrated on the four virtues which came to me on Mount Abu: amity, appreciation, compassion, and equanimity. These are the four pillars which support the whole structure of my philosophy. They are the foundation on which a life can be built and rebuilt.
NOW we come to the final lines of this song, "Let the spirit of goodwill enter into all our hearts. Let us all sing in chorus the joyous song of human concord."
Today we will concentrate on concord. Concord implies our hearts are together in agreement and harmony. It is not a matter of similarity or identity between us; but, like separate notes in music, we can create harmony rather than disharmony. BY "song". I do not mean a vocal song, but a song of service and action. Before we build unity in the world, which is necessary today if we are to survive, there must be a feeling of brotherhood, of concord. Our discord destroys the fabric of life long before we reach the point of physical destruction. Men who can reach the moon, can't reach one another across differences of opinion and interest ! We have one world, a planet we can fly around in a matter of hours ! But our song is still the national anthem, limiting us to one or another country, rather than a song of concord uniting us to the universe and mankind.
NO one torchbearer or bridge builder, saint or sage, prophet, or social reformer can by himself do much in building the world without co-operation from many others. We all have to join together to turn this earth into a paradise.
Though we are individuals, we are parts of this cosmos, whether we act in harmony or discord. As the popular saying goes, "Some are part of the problem, and some are part of the solution." Millions died in plagues until others developed medicine. Millions have died in wars, but others will establish the world of peace and justice and unity. So as monads in one whole, even our disharmony can call us to bring about unity and harmony.
All our endeavors call for collaboration, co-operation, corporate effort and concord. We cannot build a car single-handed. We cannot build a road single-handed. We cannot build science and technology single-handed. Philosophers in ancient Greece and also in India had intuitions concerning atomic theory, and the interrelation of matter and energy, but it was not until science developed as a corporate endeavor that such insights could give man the tremendous control he has over the physical world. AS Einstein said, science is born from transcendent experience. However, it is science as a corporate effort that has given us technology, which can be used either for destruction, or for construction.
We must work together, like the five fingers of the hand. Every single finger, as well as the thumb, is an indispensable part of the hand. They work in unison; each by itself