Mahadeep Singh Jamwal
When on one hand with the release of Happiness Index in the world, we find India ranked 126th out of 143 nations in the World Happiness Report (WHR) 2024, at the same time the release of the book “How to Live a Peaceful Life” written by non else but revered I D Soni, who had held multiple responsibilities and recipients of countless awards in different fields of his activities spread to multi sphere and when we perch into his literary field, he has already five masterpiece books at his credit, I am sure the book will provide us a road map to pull down this Happiness Index as peace and happiness are associated concepts. Peaceful countries report a higher level of happiness. Peace and happiness are described as positive human experiences. True peace is a state of harmony where individuals, communities, and nations coexist in mutual respect, understanding and cooperation; this is the indicator I track from the writer’s mind. “With graceful reading habits, Mr. Soni is a treasure of knowledge. Be with him for a while, and you will simply acknowledge”, these are the lines by Dr. Jitendra Udhampuri (Padma Shree) in-between the remarks in his forward about the book. A deep dive into each page of the book and each line of the page carry us to the realization that we must have patience and tolerance, we need positive thinking and attitude, need to adhere to morality, we need to be sympathetic, sincere and honest. About life, the writer has attributed it as a gift of God and of the view that God’s gift are wonderful, are beauteous,, are graceful, are adorable, are divine and above all worth appreciating. Human conduct and belief are now transforming and more disturbing than any since the appearance of wealth and our approach to have a happy life has diversified to materialistic than to spirituality for a contented life but alas! We have failed to differentiate between a happy life and a contented life. The writer has given us few ‘Mantras’ as how to live a peaceful life and have categorized them as: Have a full faith in God and worship him, practice compassion, be truthful, exert to be humble, have loving heart for all creatures, develop unilateral positive character, form the habit of forgiveness, always make use of gratitude – secret of life, be a giver, dethrone the ego, exert to have patience and tolerance, to have positive attitude/thanking, maintain peaceful co-existence, adhere to moral values, be sympathetic, always count your blessings, be a true friend to all and maintain healthy relationship, develop sense of humor, be fearless, sincere and honest, make efforts to enlighten yourself. A peaceful, happy life greatly depends on our inner balance – that inner connectedness with ourselves and the way we live. The writer has beautifully reconciled spiritualism and materialism when he speaks that when we go into our self-dipper and dipper, we will touch love at last and love is at the heart of life, love and purpose. The writer by quoting the views of different religions and great souls have made it crystal clear that compassion has a definite role to play in living a peaceful life. He has beautifully elaborated the steps to compassion such as: Develop a morning ritual, practice empathy, practice commonalities, practice relief of suffering, and practice the act of kindness. Compassion is not an attribute of any religion. It is a universal principle for happiness and peace. While elaborating on the ‘Mantra’ to be truthful, the writer has concluded that human behavior is subordinate to ethics. But when it comes to truth, ethics itself becomes subordinate to ethics. Truth represents God in this world. That individual is blessed before whom when truth reveals itself and on recognizing it, he bows before it. The writer advises us to exert ourselves to be humble by guiding us that humility is not self-abasement; it is recognition of every animate being, every inanimate object as a theophany of the eternal. Humility is a royal quality. Humility is necessary and useful for the same reason that a lead is useful on a racing sloop: it keeps us from tipping over. The writer guides us to have a loving heart and claims that words fall in front of love; reason and logic fall short of expressing the beauty that is love. Love is by acclaim the most interesting of all forms of human experience. Perfect love casts out fear. Love is always harmonious. Love breaks the barriers of timidity or lack of understanding. Regarding ‘Mantara’ as to ‘Develop Unilateral Positive Character’, the writer defines the character as a combination of integrity, unselfishness, understanding, conviction, courage, loyalty, compassion, humility, commitment, determination and respect. As to form the habit of forgiveness, the writer says forgiveness is a deliberate and conscious choice that we make. Forgiveness is an attitude of compassion and understanding with which we choose to react to the world around us. Forgiveness is not a one-off action; it is a constant and ongoing process. Forgiveness is certainly the better option, for it is based on a proven formula of saving ourselves from even worse experiences. Here we need to shed tit-for-tat policy as it arouses the ego of another person, whereas if we follow the policy of forgiveness, it will activate the other person’s conscience. And it is a fact that, in controversial matters, consciousness always plays a positive role. The writer gives an edge that always makes use of gratitude – the secret of life as gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others. Gratitude is the perfect antidote to negative emotions like depression, frustration, resentment and bitterness. Summing up the book in totality, I am of the opinion that there may be many other books on same subject with different headings but the book “How to Live a Peaceful Life” under my consideration is a unique in itself as it has in detail given us very simple Mantras that can stand in full strength with us if we are really interested to proceed in direction as how to live a peaceful life. I am of the view that ‘Fundamental peace is a peace that occurs in an individual as well as a society at large, as a unification of its three ‘pillars’ – freedom, consciousness, and happiness’.
16/198 Udhampur (JK)
