Inner Peace

If you cannot find it in yourself; you cannot find it anywhere else. This is the simple equation about peace. The reward of this quest is that once you succeed in finding it in yourself; then Your Whole World is at peace. So the peace is what you drive; something that is in your hands completely.

It sure sounds simple, isn’t it? But honestly it is way more complex. Complex because the most difficult beast to tame; for anyone; is oneself. However look at the brighter side, self still is not as geographically (and culturally) spread as the World is.

Now the reason I started thinking about this; I was talking to this friend of mine a few days back. This guy is from an unhappy home. His parents divorced when he was in early teens and he was kept with his dad by the court. He could never be close to his dad, in spite of his dad making a lot effort for many years to please him before totally giving up on him. For some reason both father and son; are on my good friends list.

I am talking to this guy, he is somewhat depressed and dreamingly he starts, “I don’t know! I feel so lonely, all the time. I feel lonely when I am with my dad or my brother. I feel lonely when I am at work or in my school. I feel lonely even when with friends or in parties. I think I need a whole new social setup to start feeling better.”

As good friends do, I somewhat teasingly said, “So you are lonely when with anyone you know, do you feel lonely when with strangers? How about being with yourself? Do you feel lonely when with yourself?” and before I could even smile after saying that half-jokingly, he replied with a sigh, “I don’t know!” I could see some tears on the corner of his eyes and I knew this was serious. “You should know, that is the answer that you should seek before any other answers.” I just heard myself say this to him.

The more I mused about it, the more I felt that I was on to something. May be he was always feeling lonely because he was not enjoying himself. He was not able to give himself good company and so he was seeking to fill that gap from outside and it seemed to be getting wider instead of getting filled.

I was talking while deeply thinking; and maybe that was my Eureka moment.

“You don’t enjoy anyone’s company, because you don’t enjoy yourself. And the reason for that can be the fact that you are not at peace with yourself. You have to find peace with in you. And the day you find peace within; this all will change.” Isn’t that easy! To my surprise he replied, “You are right, I will work on it”

Sure, do work on it my friend, and do teach me when you are successful. My experience so far is that the more you chase inner peace, the more unrest you get. So chasing will not get you there. Sit still and let it come to you. And again staying still is easier said than done.

It is not only people like my friend on this quest. I was watching KungFu Panda 2 with my kids. In the movie Pho the Panda tries to frantically look for inner peace. His quest for inner peace was hilarious for the audience; however any seeker would know how difficult that really would have been.

So; once the inner peace comes, your world will be at peace. All you need for this to happen is to be very still inside and outside, can you do it?

NOTE: if you have not seen Kung fu Panda 2 search for the “Inner-Peace- boat scene” video; that’s exactly how it seems J