In 1914 at the outbreak of World War I, H.G. Wells wrote a series of articles that appeared
as a book called ‘The War to end War’. Meanwhile the retort of Prime Minister David Lloyd
George was: “This war, like the next war, is a war to end war.”
And so it was: World War 2, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and it continues to this day. At a rough
count, 240 million people died during World War I. H.G. Wells didn’t get it right. My
mother, who lived through the holocaust had also told me that at the end of World War II,
everyone had thought, “Now we have learned our lesson … no more war.” They didn’t get
it right either. Can man stop war? And will next one possibly be a nuclear war? Is World
War III, inevitable?
If humanity continues living as it is doing now then the answer is: no you cannot stop war.
And World War III may be one of them.
Are there any solutions at all? And what lifestyle do we need to live to bring about an end
to this conflict? First let me say what are not solutions—peace treaties, international
committees or the United Nations (UN). Since the UN was formed in 1945, there have
been over 140 wars. They don’t have it right either.
To solve a problem, you need to know the cause. What are the causes of war?
There are two: 1) man’s misuse of his free will 2) the reaction from the misuse of our free
will (Karma). Karma means nature’s response to man’s actions. You have to really dig
deep into history to find a more sinful and degraded time than we live in today. The scale
of it is staggering:
- 90 Billion animals slaughtered for food yearly.
- 1.5 billion abortions since 1980
- Rampant drug abuse, alcoholism and sexuality
- Ethnic cleansing
- Race discrimination
- Pedophelia
- Senseless destruction of forests, our waterways and the environment
I could go on. The bottom line is this: for every action there is a reaction.
For every action not in harmony with God’s and nature’s laws, man will get a reaction—
that’s karma. That karma stores up, and when it hits a critical point, a tipping point, then
something happens. Plagues, tsunamis, earthquakes and yes, also war. S
So we need to change our lifestyle in order to reduce our accumulation of Karma. Our
lifestyle needs to be in harmony with God’s laws. And yes, we need to know what those
laws are and abide by them. In this we will live in Peace, not pieces.
– HH Sivarama Swami
