Awakening the law within

Each day as we tune into the news, there are reports of violent acts, unrest and dishonesty engendering a sense of fear. Added to these is the apparent lack of solution to resolving these crimes which are fast increasing in almost every country across the globe. The situation in the international arena is no better. Some nations support terrorists who disturb law and order in another country. Others violate the Charter on Human Rights to which they are signatories. Certain others attack a country without declaring war. Many others are preparing weapons for mass- killings in another country. Powerful nations, who should set an example for others to follow, evince scant regard for law when it stands in the way of their own narrow interests. When an ordinary person finds that there has been an all-round fall in standards of public and private morality and observance of law, he or she feels tempted to take recourse to illegal or extra-legal measures.

Today, there is hardly anyone who does not violate or flout the law in one way or another. The tendency to disregard law has reached perhaps an all-time high. Powerful people consider their own conduct as the law or above the law. One is required under the law to print statutory warning on cigarette packets and then one can advertise and sell this poisonous stuff without any fear of law! One may have a mother-in-law, father-in-law and brother-in-law but when one hears of bride-burning, one asks: Where is the law? Under such a scenario, one wants to know who is to think about this sad situation? What are the reasons for this sorry state of affairs? What can now be done to make man law-abiding and peaceful by nature? In fact, everyone has been responsible to some extent for the current state of act to lawlessness and disorder because everyone has violated the law at least in thought if not in deed. There are many factors which have led to the present near-anarchic state of society — the main among them, being lack of moral and spiritual education, ignorance about the identity of the self, spread of materialistic values etc. And, so, the remedy now is to include human values in education and to give importance to the code of conduct for every profession.

Most people dismiss morality by saying that it differs from person to person; so who draws the line between right and wrong? It is possible to dissolve this difference by understanding spirituality as it is based on the truth that every human being is intrinsically virtuous and possesses qualities of wisdom, purity, peace, love and truth. So, any act that goes against these fundamental qualities amounts to immorality and disturbs the social fabric. And so, to cleanse society of crime, there is a need to foster a culture of spirituality.

Spirituality adds dignity to how people look at each other. There is a need to use the latest technology, media and government channels to empower people to recognise their own goodness so that they obey laws themselves, and even if some people err, others in the society respond to the victims’ appeals with greater responsibility and humanity. Such a culture would then be able to create harmony deep within people where laws cannot reach, and promise an inner security that fences and guards cannot provide. This shift may not happen overnight, but it begins with each of us choosing to act with inner integrity. When values like truth, compassion, and justice take root in individual minds, they naturally begin to reflect in the systems we build, from families to governments. So, let us not wait for new laws to be drafted or new leaders to emerge, but instead strive to awaken the leader within, guided by a conscience that knows right from wrong.

(The writer is a spiritual educator and popular columnist for publications across India, Nepal & UK. Till Date 9000+ Published Columns have been written by Him.)