Peace is what all of us seek but it cannot be obtained from the outside world. It is in our hearts that peace emerges. As every serious thinking Mauritian is willing to work for ?social harmony, religious-cultural understanding and national unity? by bringing about peace, let us try, in all humility, to analyse the ?culture of peace? as well as the ?process of peace? and enumerate a few principles of the maintenance of peace in our multicultural society.

The culture of peace

The ?culture of peace? can only become a reality if we cultivate ?divine love? in our hearts through ?prayer and meditation? performed with the three-fold value of devotion, faith and confidence. ?Divine love? is cosmic energy that illumines our life by making it fruitful and peaceful. It is comparable to electrical energy which, if rightly connected with the three-fold wire of positive, negative and earth, brings heat and light in our path. In spiritual terms, cosmic energy brings respect and understanding in our lives through the ?power of love? instead of ?love for power?.

In fact the culture of peace is synonymous with the cultivation of divine love. It can be put into practice in all our educational institutions, from primary to tertiary level. Our teachers, who should be examples of the embodiment of love, should start to emphasise not only academic excellence but also human excellence by strengthening human values in the hearts of our young students. This could be done in all morning classes or morning assemblies of our schools and colleges as well as institutes of higher learning with the following 5 ? fold and 5 minute ? mini agenda:

Silent ? sitting / silent ? standing

(To reduce stress by reinforcing the feelings of ?divine love energy? in the heart)

Universal non-sectarian prayer

(To promote unity in diversity through divinity by spiritualising noble thoughts in the head)

Quotations/proverbs/sayings

(To inspire and reinforce both heart and head with right feelings and thoughts)

Educational advice and spiritual instructions

(To improve character, conduct and virtuous behaviour)

National anthem

(To increase faith, devotion and confidence in God and love for the Motherland, as the anthem itself mentions: Beloved country! May God bless thee)

The process of peace: equations, steps and formulae

Experience, from great educationists as well as sages and seers, reveals that the ?process of peace? starts at the individual level and expands or moves to the family and to society at large. It is within the heart that the process starts with the cosmic energy of divine love. Be it noted that a spiritual equation for the process is:

Divine love energy + feelings=peace

It is an undisputed fact that everybody seeks ?peace? when he or she states ?I want peace?. But this peace cannot be secured because of ?I-ness? or selfishness coupled with ?want-ness? or greediness. Only when two enemies within are removed through the cultivation of divine love energy can real peace acquired. Another spiritual equation for the process is:

Live in love + ceiling on desires = peace

The ?process of peace? in day-to-day living can be made realistic at the societal and national level if the following steps are followed:

Divine love in feeling ? beauty in character

Beauty in character ? harmony with self and others

Harmony with self and others ? peace in world society

As Mauritius is a multicultural society, we believe that everyone can practically follow his or her religion and culture, and at the same time, can collectively live together in peace through sharing, giving, forgiving, understanding and helping which are the true characteristics of love in practice.

Nobody is our enemy. We are our own foe or friend. We can be restless or peaceful, depending on whether we practise ?de-values? or ?positive values?. Let us therefore work for peace, in a practical way by applying the three formulae of ?6D?, ?6S? and ?6P? in our daily life.

6D: Mindful of Divinity, let us Do our Duty with Discipline, Devotion and Detachment.

6P: Let us practise Purity, Patience and Perseverance, which lead to Progress, Prosperity and Peace.

6S: Let us Start Seeing Supreme-Self in Self and Society

The maintenance of peace

In order to maintain peace, we have to become ?fully human? by developing harmony in our feelings (heart), thoughts (head) and actions (hands). To do this, we have to be trained in education in human values (EHV) so that we learn to feel right through intense devotion to our work, to think right through real wisdom in the art of performing our duty and to act right through relevant skills in taking our responsibilities.

In fact, to feel right, to think right and to act right are true human rights. These are the three main aims of education in human values which, in the long run, lead a person towards human excellence so that he or she becomes peaceful within himself or herself. And it is by becoming peaceful that a person becomes really proficient and efficient.

A few practical rules and principles for the maintenance of peace are:

Consider the world as one family, while correcting our own faults to improve ourselves

Help one another by serving all with love and without distinction of caste, class, colour, creed and community

Forget the good done to others and the harm done to you by others

Control the mind and put a ceiling on desires

Consider work as worship and duty as divine

Conclusion

To promote peace everywhere in our nation and in the world at large, both the MIE and the MGI should run specialised courses in ?Gandhian ethics? and in ?education in human values? ? values that cut across all religions and cultures. In addition to this noble mission, the ministry of Education in collaboration with the ministry of Arts and Culture should organise conferences, roundtables and symposia involving teachers, parents, leaders of religious-cultural organisations as well as educators and students of our two universities namely University of Mauritius and University of Technology.

No doubt we are doing our level best to promote technology in our educational institutions but, unless and until we also promote spirituality through education in human values we will never be able to lead world society towards actual progress, prosperity and peace. A happy synthesis of technology and spirituality is becoming more and more important to combat all kinds of social ills with a view to establishing everlasting peace.

Dr Dev B. RAMNAUTH Pedagogue and Educationist