AHYMSIN

"PEACE IS..." has been read at the inauguration of the UNESCO Chair of Peace Studies, University of Innsbruck, Austria, on 4^th July 2004.

PEACE IS.....

Peace is the cool waters that flow between riparian states

Peace is the continents touching under the mantleof the depth of the oceans

Peace is the mountain passes through which the people course freely from one side to the other

Peace is the breezes travelling freely from country to country

Peace is the monsoons nourishing the fields of friends and the enemies alike

Peace is the moonlight scattered on both sidesof the imagined borders

Peace is the stars looking down on all humanity without discirimination in each twinkle

Peace is to call upon God by the name by which the 'enemy' used to call Him

Peace is the breath shared when two nations kiss and hug

Peace is to place all weapons in a Museum to Barbarity

Peace is every child on earth going to sleep with a full stomach

Peace is every child learning to recite the song of many nations

Peace is when you name any religion and every child as "that, too, is my religion"

Peace is God calling your enemy "My Beloved Child"

Peace is God calling you "My Beloved Child"

Peace is the enemy's God calling you "My Beloved Child"

Peace is you and the enemy calling each other over the mountains and across the rivers, "Brother, where are you?"

Peace is to contemplate, "Can I manage without this additional acquisition of goods?"

Peace is the Art by which all arts flourish

Peace is to call the scriptures of all religions, "my sacred book"

Peace is to abandon that which was acquired by power

Peace is to let the weaker one win

Peace is for the stronger one to bow in humility

Peace is women suckling children unthreatened

Peace is women continuing to civilize wild males

Peace is the philosopher advising all kings¹ and the kings listening to the advice

Peace is trees, plants, grasses forever remaining green and lush

Peace is no more war inside any Continent of the Skull

Peace is diffusing anger with non-anger

Peace is the heart not missing a beat in love

Peace is a conflict-free mind immmersed in the contemplations of the beauty of diversities

Peace is to know the one soul in all bodies and forms.

Peace is the heart pausing in stillness between beats

Peace is the silent moment between breaths

Peace is the natural human urge to which we all give way after the warps and aberrations of conflict

Peace is the mind becoming a still abode of infinity.

¹ The 'king' here is meant to indicate all who rule and lead with secular power.