19 Jul Can Meditation Bring Peace in World?

Peace iswhat we all desire but violence is what we see. Bomb blasts, shoot-outs, riots, terror attacks and various other inhumane activities in different parts of the world are not only taking toll on the lives of people but on world peace as well. Whether it is India or Pakistan, Syria or France, peace is what people are craving for today. Several actions have been taken in order to bring peace in the world but the result is nowhere to be seen. So how do we bring peace in the world?

Well, meditation can help in achieving world peace. This might sound funny but actually this is true. As per a scientific research, the cities or towns where as less as 1% of the population practiced meditation have observed a reduction in crime rate and increase in order and harmony.

In fact, there are more than 100 scientific studies which prove that meditation can actually help in reducing war and violence and hence bring peace in the world. Some of these studies are listed below.

• Lebanon War: During the Lebanon war in 1980s an experiment was conducted in order to check if mediation could actually reduce war. Around one thousand people meditated in Jerusalem for world peace. The result of this mass meditation was reduction in the war deaths in Lebanon by 75 percent. Not just in war deaths, reduction was also observed in other destructive events such as crime, traffic collisions etc. on the days when the group meditated. Various other experiments with mindfulness and meditation were performed and the results turned out to be positive. As a result, scientists concluded that meditation seems to have the power of preventing war and hence can bring world peace.
• Maharishi Effect: In the year 1978, around 7, 000 people gathered in order to meditate for 3 weeks. They believed that this would bring a positive effect on their community and their belief was proved to be true. Results showed decrease in the number of suicides as well automobile accidents. Not just this, acts of war as well as terrorism also got lowered by 72%.
• Study in Washington DC: In the June and July of 1993, a controlled scientific demonstration was carried out. It was a 2 month long demonstration which started with 800 meditators. However, the number gradually rose to 4,000 by the end of the demonstration. Just one week after the demonstration started, positive effects could be seen. Also, as the number of meditators were increasing, crime rate was decreasing. And, when the number of meditators reached 50,000 violent crimes observed a drop of 23.3%. This study was later repeated in many other cities and similar results were observed.

Bhutan’s tale of Happiness

Although Bhutan is a small nation but peace and happiness flourish here. People leave there in harmony by following the path of non-violence, respecting their culture and preserving their pristine environment. The nation introduced the concept of Gross National Happiness which it plans to achieve by the means of meditation.  Also, because of this concept, Bhutan came to be known as the land of happiness.

People in Bhutan practice Buddhism. As per its philosophy, right causes are must for achieving positive results which in case of happiness is inner peace. Although there are several ways to achieve inner peace but the best way is through meditation.

There are 3 main causes that destructs happiness of a person which are anger, desire and ignorance. As long these causes stay with the person, happiness is hard to achieve. This is simply because one cause leads to another and the series continues. As a result, happiness gets lost. The best medicine for these causes is meditation. It allows you abandon your anger, desire and ignorance and find true happiness.

Weapons are made to create violence. However, meditation can be used as strong weapon against these peace-destructing weapons to bring peace in the world and make it a better place to leave. The world has given so much to us. Hence, it is our responsibility to stop it from destruction. Every individual who can breathe, walk, talk and think should meditate at least for 15 minutes not necessarily in a group and contribute in achieving world peace.