About The Author: Arun Gandhi is one of nine surviving grandchildren of Mahatma Gandhi. He currently lives in Rochester, New York, and is founder president of the Gandhi World-wide Education Institute, Wauconda, Illinois. See: www.gandhiforchildren.org and www.arungandhi.net

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Ed note: The following is a transcript of an interview by
ISKRA staff with Arun Gandhi that took place on March
19, 2013. Arun is the grandson of Mohandas (Mahatma)
Gandhi and heads the Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence
located in Rochester, NY. He has previously made
appearances in Brilliant as well as Grand Forks and will be
speaking at the Brilliant Cultural Centre on May 17, 2013.
We feel fortunate to have the opportunity to interview
Arun and ask him several questions provided by our
ISKRA staff as well as members of the broader Doukhobor
community. It was truly a pleasure to converse with this
soft spoken advocate of peace and nonviolence. We were
impressed with the simplicity and wisdom contained in the
philosophical views that he shared with us. We encourage
our readers to reflect on his comments.
ISKRA: A lot of people would like to know from you what it
was like growing up as a child, with a grandfather that was
always in the press and followed by millions of people?
ARUN: I grew up in South Africa which was very far away
from where my grandfather lived and worked in India, so
my exposure to him was not so much as it would have
been if I was living in India. But I did read a lot about
him in local newspapers and also heard my parents and
others speak about him, so I was a little daunted by the
fact, and you know it’s not easy being a relative of such
a great person. And I think that when I was a teenager
it became a little more oppressive and I told my mother
one day, I said“I don’t’know how I’m going to go through
life with this legacy, it’s already becoming a burden” and
she told me “that is all up to you. If you consider it to be
a burden it’s just going to get heavier and heavier as you
get older, but if you consider this legacy to be a light
that illuminates the path ahead for you, it will be easier
for you to deal with it.”So since then I’ve been looking at
this legacy as a light that is shining the way for me and
making it easy.
ISKRA: What was your relationship like with your
grandfather when you were spending time with him
later?
ARUN: Yes, I went to live with him at the age of 12 and
my relationship with him was wonderful. It was like
grandfather–grandson and he was a very approachable
person, he was very loving and kind. We had wonderful
times and he would tell me stories and help me with my
lessons and all that whenever he had time. So for me he
was like just a grandfather.
ISKRA: I imagine a lot of those childhood or teenage
experiences you shared with him had a great influence
on the formulation of your beliefs later on in life.
ARUN: Yes, they did. In fact those lessons that I learned
during those two years that I was with him helped shape
the foundation of his philosophy and his work.
ISKRA: Going back to your mother’s comment that it was
your choice whether it was going to be a burden or not.
My understanding is that you were between 12 and 14
when you spent time with your grandfather. Did it take
you a while to understand the meaning of that and to
find a way to accept it as a legacy of light rather than a
burden?
ARUN: Yes, it took me a period of several years. I wouldn’t
say that it happened over night, it took a lot of time. In fact
I would say it was only when I reached my early twenties
that I began to see the wisdom of what my mother had
said. At that age of 12 or 14 I didn’t understand the
philosophy and I didn’t understand the connections
between the lessons he taught me and the philosophy.
I thought those lessons were just, you know, a one time
thing for that specific purpose. But later when I grew up
and started reflecting on all that I realized how important
those lessons were in understanding his philosophy.
ISKRA: Do you find that you are still discovering some
connections?
ARUN: Yes, everyday I’m discovering new connections
and new aspects of his philosophy and it’s continuous
process.
ISKRA: Interesting, a nice gift.
ARUN: Yes, and I think like he said himself that he himself
was discovering new aspects to the philosophy all
through his life and that is how it remains fresh… If it’s a
philosophy that is living and keeps changing and taking
new forms, then it is a living philosophy that will continue
to live forever.
ISKRA: Great, that’s excellent. I like that. Arun why did
you decide to become a speaker yourself and continue
sharing your grandfather’s message with the world?
ARUN: Actually I didn’t decide to do that at all. I came to
the United States to write a book comparing prejudices in
South Africa, India and the United States. And it was only
when I came here and people found out that Gandhi’s
grandson was here in town, and they started inviting me
to go and speak at churches and community centres.
I was so nervous, I was literally shivering when I was
invited to speak. But then gradually I realized that this
is my calling and that this is my mission in life and that
I ought to learn to do it as best I can. And that is how I
became a public speaker. If my mother and father were to
see me today, they wouldn’t believe it. I was so shy that I
couldn’t even speak in front of a group of my friends and
now I am exposed to big audiences.
ISKRA: What helped you overcome the fear of public
Interview with Arun Gandhi

2. 2066 May 1 Мая 2013 17
speaking, was it just doing it so many times?
ARUN: Well it took a little mental effort of my own. When I
realized that this is something that people are interested
inandit’smymissiontosharethislegacyasbestIcan.And
so I made up my mind and began to work on it, and I was
able to get over the fear. I won’t say that I’m totally over
the fear. Every time I go in to speak I am a little nervous,
until I get on the stage and make that connection with
the audience, then it comes, you know, free flow. But
that is, I think, a good thing if you become too cocky
and become over confident then you don’t really make a
good impression.
ISKRA: I think that is very true. I have the same problem
myself in terms of being very nervous. My brother JJ has
hadalotofexperienceandit’samazinghowhe’simproved
in terms of public speaking. Myself, I try to think to myself
that it’s not me but it’s more about the people and the
message and that helps me a little bit.
ARUN: Yes, that’s exactly what helps me too.
ISKRA: So can I ask, when you try to make a connection, is
there something specific you try to do? How is it that you
try to make a connection with the audience?
ARUN:Well, it is, I don’t know I can’t explain it. It just comes
from within, it’s kind of a heart to heart connection. You
can see it in the eyes of the audience that they are willing
to listen. Or sometimes you get the wrong vibes there.
Sometimes people are sitting in the front, who you know
are not willing to listen, they are against the philosophy
and so it is something that comes with, I think, experience
with a heart connection.
ISKRA: Right, that makes sense. So it’s more of a feeling,
you can kind of sense it right away.
ARUN: Yes, right.
ISKRA: It’s interesting. I actually read somewhere about
making that space available, trying to make that space
available whether you’re talking to someone one on one
or with a group, to allow that rather than getting too
much into your head.
ARUN: Yes, exactly.
ISKRA: So the next question we have is - could you explain
the theory of nonviolence using examples from personal
experience?
ARUN: Well, first of all, if you want to understand
nonviolence we need to understand the extent and scope
of violence. And I understand this from my grandfather
when he made me go out and look for a little three inch
butt of a pencil that I threw away when I was coming back
from school. He sent me in the evening with a flashlight
to look for this pencil and I couldn’t understand why he
was so fussy about a little butt of a pencil. When I found it
and brought it to him he said“Now I want you to sit here
and learn two very important lessons. The first lesson is
that even in the making of a simple thing like a pencil
we use a lot of the world’s natural resources and when
we throw them away we are throwing away the world’s
natural resources, and that is violence against nature. And
the second lesson is that because we over-consume the
resources of the world we are depriving people elsewhere
of those resources, and they have to live in poverty, and
that is violence against humanity. That was the first time I
realized that all of these little things that we do every day,
consciously and unconsciously, when we throw away
things and waste things and destroy things because we
have so much of it – that is all violence. Yes, until then I
used to think that violence was only when you fight or
when there is a war, that that’s the only violence. But he
made me understand that there are two kinds of violence.
There is physical violence, where we use physical force
against people like wars and killing and beatings and
murders and rapes and all of these things. And then there
is the passive violence, where we don’t use any physical
force and yet we hurt people by the way we behave with
them or the way we destroy things and over-consume
things, and the hundreds of things that we do every day,
consciously and unconsciously – that becomes passive
violence. You know then he made me draw this tree of
violence to do this introspective to find out how I was
committing violence all the time. It was a revelation to
me because within a few months I was able to fill up the
whole wall in my room with acts of passive violence. And
then he explained the connection between the two. He
said we commit passive violence all the time, every day,
that generates anger in the victim.Then the victim resorts
to physical violence to get justice. So it is passive violence
that fuels the fire of physical violence. So logically if we
want to put out the fire of physical violence we have to cut
off the fuel supply, and since the fuel supply comes from
each of us, we have to become the change we wish to see
in the world. So until we find out how we are committing
violence in society all the time, we will never be able to
change. And if we don’t change then we continue to feed
the fire of violence and then we wonder why we are not
able to achieve peace. We can’t achieve peace until we
change ourselves and our attitudes. You know over the
centuries, because of our lifestyle we have built a whole
culture of violence, a culture of violence that has taken
over every aspect of our lives. Our language has become
violent, our entertainment is violent, our sports are
violent, our relationships are violent, everything about
human beings is violent, and when we have that type of
a culture of violence, then you know bringing peace or
“And then there is the passive violence,
where we don’t use any physical force yet
we hurt people by the way we behave with
them or the way we destroy things and
over-consume things...”

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having harmony is impossible. We have to change that
whole culture of violence to a culture of nonviolence. And
that is why I say that nonviolence is a very far reaching
philosophy, which transforms the person, and every
person, and through transforming the individual we can
transform society and the world.
ISKRA: That is a very good understanding, Arun. What
would you say to people, and this may be why we
developed such a culture of violence, because it seems
like some people think that aggression and violence is
like a natural expression of human nature. What would
you say to people who value that?
ARUN: No, it’s not a natural expression of human nature
because you know if we are basically violent people by
birth then we shouldn’t have military academies and
martial arts institutes to teach us how to fight and kill.The
reason we need these academies to teach us is this is a
learned experience for us, it is not natural with us. What is
natural with us is anger, and anger is a wonderful emotion
that’s a motivating emotion. It shows us that something is
wrongandweneedtocorrectit,butwhatiswrongwithus
is that we abuse the anger instead of using it intelligently.
And that abusing of the anger, causes violence because
we get angry we lose our mind, we lose control of the
mind, we say things, we do things that we regret later on,
and that is because we just lash out, we don’t think about
it, we just lash out in anger, and yet anger is something
very powerful and useful. My grandfather used to tell me
that anger was like electricity. It is just as useful and just
as powerful, but only if we use it intelligently, but it can
be just as deadly and destructive if we abuse it. So just as
we channel electrical energy and bring it into our home
and use it for the good of humanity, we must learn to
channel anger in the same way so that we could use that
energy for the good of humanity rather than abuse it and
cause death and destruction. So anger is contributing to
more than 80% of the violence that we human beings
face. If we analyzed the violence we would find that the
root of it is anger. Somebody got angry and lashed out
in violence. Wars are declared by anger and you know it’s
totally unnecessary. So one of the things that I emphasize
all the time is that we need to teach children right from
the elementary schools all the way to the university how
to understand anger and how to channel that energy into
positive action.
ISKRA: Thank you Arun. It’s often been said that truth is
the first casualty of war.
ARUN: Yeah, truth is the first casualty in violence, any
violence. We don’t even think about truth, we just get
angry at what happened or what didn’t happen and then
we lash out. And so truth is the first casualty in all kinds
of violence.
ISKRA: Is that because people don’t understand or
misinterpret or misunderstand it?
ARUN: No, it’s largely because we have allowed our egos
to build up and our egos dominate us and when the ego
dominates our thinking then the truth is sidelined. Then
the ego decides, and if somebody has not acted the way
we want them to act we just get so angry about it, and
don’t even stop to find out anything about it. And so it’s
that ego that we have which has become inflated and it
needs to be controlled and suppressed. It’s the ego that is
leading us into all kinds of violence.
ISKRA: That’s a very good answer because the follow up
to that question was what do you think the first casualty
or loss is of any act of violence on a personal level, and
you explained that it is the lack of truth and the ego.
ARUN: Inflated ego.
ISKRA: I find this interesting. Earlier when you were talking
about passive violence and how we commit so many acts
of passive violence in a day, I was thinking that we are
probably not even aware of how many times we do it.
ARUN: No, we are not because in fact I would say it begins
with the way we bring up our children.
ISKRA: Interesting.
ARUN:YouknowthiscultureofviolencethatItalkedabout
earlier? To make it successful we have to control people
through fear and so you know government controls us
through fear. Everybody controls everybody through fear.
It’s always punishment and the fear of punishment that
controls us. And we do the same thing with our children
when we threaten them with punishment if they don’t
behave properly. We are controlling them through fear
and the tragedy is that human beings have a tendency
of getting out of fear. You know you can’t live in fear for
very long, so every time we have to keep escalating the
level of punishment to keep that fear alive. And so we are
soon going to reach a stage when we won’t have enough
punishmenttokeepthatfearandthentherewillbechaos.
And so I feel that our parenting methods set a wrong
example because the first seeds of violence are planted
in the minds of children. When we punish them we are
telling them that when somebody misbehaves, they
must be punished and that goes into their adult thinking.
And so we have this whole justice system that is based on
punishment.That somebody has to pay and that we have
to make them pay, and so we punish them and that is
wrong. So in a culture of nonviolence it’s not punishment
that is important, but penance. My parents believed
in nonviolence, so we were brought up in a nonviolent
home. And when we misbehaved, my two sisters and I, we
were not punished. My parents did penance. They would
not eat for one meal, or for one whole day depending on
how serious the offense was. But they would cook and sit
at the dining table, they would feed us children, but they
would tell us that they were not eating because they were
... continued on page 28

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not good parents, that they didn’t teach us the right way
to behave and so they were doing penance. But because
the relationship between them and us was based on
mutual love and respect, we felt awful when our parents
had to do that. And so we made sure that we didn’t do
that to them.
ISKRA: Wow!
ARUN: And that is what I call nonviolent parenting. But
if we punish our children and threaten them and do
all those things we do to children then they will learn
violence, they are not going to learn nonviolence.
ISKRA: So how can we break the cycle because
unfortunately many of us are not ready?
ARUN: You have to become the change. You start in your
community and everybody will soon pick up on it. That’s
how change happens. Change doesn’t come from the top
down, it has to grow from the grassroots upwards.
ISKRA: And so, Arun, what do you feel the role is of the
Gandhi Institute of Nonviolence?
ARUN: Well we have been teaching and taking the
message of nonviolence to people all over, wherever we
can, and so basically it is a teaching thing.
ISKRA: So is it mostly that you go about speaking or are
there courses that you offer, for example nonviolence or
parenting?
ARUN:Therearenocourses.Thereareseminars,workshops
and conferences – you know unofficial teaching.
ISKRA: The people that are involved with the Institute, do
they come from all over the world or is there any place
in particular that you have more people being involved
from?
ARUN: No, because the Institute is here in Rochester,
the people involved are mostly from Rochester. But
sometimes people come from other parts of the country
and other parts of the world too depending on how big
the conference or the seminar is and whether we can
afford to bring people in or not. But most of the time I take
the message to different parts of the world. It’s through
my lectures and I address conferences and seminars, it’s
through that that people know more about it.
ISKRA: OK, just a couple of questions, kind of more in a
global position. There was one asked by a local peace
initiative group in town and they are interested in what in
your view has led to the significant increase in global and
local wealth disparity?
ARUN: Because we are focused on materialism and
materialismtendstomakeusselfishandself-centred.And
we even tell our children that they have to be successful
in life and get to the top by any means possible. Don’t
worry about others, think only of your self. Now that is
planting the seed of selfishness in them, and success
today has come to be measured in terms of possessions,
what kind of car you have, what kind of a home you have,
and how you dress and so on. That becomes the measure
of success, and so in that kind of materialistic lifestyle,
you know people become greedy and they grab things
for themselves and become more and more affluent
while a lot of people have to suffer and are left behind
marginalized, and left to die in poverty.
ISKRA: I understand. Another question asked was do you
feel that the United Nations and its assorted departments
truly address the current global issues?
ARUN: No, I don’t think so, I think the United Nations has
become a victim of the Cold War; in the past when there
wasacoldwarbetweentheSovietUnionandtheUS,both
sides played havoc with the United Nations, and so now
they can’t get out of that mindset and so there is a lot of
power politics going on there and I think the worst thing
is having the security council, where a few nations have
veto power to cancel resolutions and programs which the
majority of countries may want. So there is need for the
rejuvenation and transformation of the United Nations.
Only then will it become more effective.
ISKRA: That’s an interesting point of view, it makes a lot of
sense. I also have trouble in that, just from seeing a movie
about arms running and arms dealing and at the end of
the movie it was sated that the largest arms dealers in the
world are the countries that make up the security council
of the United Nations.
ARUN: Right, we’ve created this arms industry in the
United States and President Eisenhower, he cautioned us
against this in 1953 when he said this military industrial
complex, one day is going to destroy the United States,
and we are coming very close to that. We continue to
manufacture weapons of mass destruction and we have
to have a market for it, we have to sell it somewhere, and
so sell it in all parts of the world and create revolutions
and war in other parts of the world and now it’s coming
back hitting at us with terrorism and things like that so
you know this is something we need to be aware of.
ISKRA: There are a couple more questions specific to
the Doukhobor Community expressed by parents and
younger people within the Doukhobor Community. The
first is how can we support the spiritual development and
growth of our children, given the influence of today’s fast
paced and materially demanding society?
ARUN: Well the best way to teach children is by living
it. Children learn more from how you live and how you
interact with each other and with them, than from books
and lessons. So you know it’s a question of living what
you want others to learn.
ISKRA: I totally agree. The parents have to basically
show an example of that. Their children are basically a
Arun Gandhi Interview continued from page 18...

5. 2066 May 1 Мая 2013 29
reflection of how they live and it’s hard to come to terms
with getting the children to change when you’re setting
a different example yourself.
ARUN: Exactly.
ISKRA: It seems to me a lot of the parents, a lot of people
in the community are carrying a lot of pain and that’s
keeping them from opening up, opening themselves up
to change.
ARUN: What is the source of the pain? Why are they
getting the pain?
ISKRA: From past experiences, I think. Hurts from their
childhood.
ARUN: Well that is what I keep saying to people. We don’t
learn anything from history. We just carry the pain and
agony from history and we destroy ourselves by doing
that. So carrying the pain and being hurt by it is not going
to change anything. We have to change and we have to
recognize the fact that if what happened to us in history
should not happen again and that can be avoided only if
we create the atmosphere for it, not by carrying the pain.
Andsoyouknowpeoplewhohavesuffereddiscrimination
and oppression and things like that, carrying that pain
doesn’t help anybody, it just destroys the individual. But
by dedicating their life to ensure this doesn’t happen ever
again to anybody else would be a more constructive way
to deal with the situation.
ISKRA: I guess forgiveness plays an important role in
dealing with that pain.
ARUN: Yes, of course. Forgiveness is part of the whole
philosophy of nonviolence and you know it doesn’t mean
like that popular saying “forgive and forget”, you can’t
forget it. You do remember it, but you’ve got to forgive
because you’ve got to remember that you’re master of
yourownlife.Youcannotbemasterofsomebodyelse’slife
and so if we decide that we are not going to be provoked
by somebody else into doing something foolish, then we
will be wise. But if we allow somebody else to provoke
us or to instigate us into doing something that is foolish,
then we are to blame for it, not that person. Why do we
give the control of our life to somebody else?
ISKRA: That is very true. This next question comes from
the younger members of our community, who will be
holding their Youth Festival this May. The theme for this
year’s festival is;“The Spark Within”– What awakens you?
Can you share with us what your spark is? What inspires
you?
ARUN:Truth is the spark and the constant search for truth.
You know truth is ever changing. You see something
today and say that is the truth and we are going to hang
on to that forever. It keeps changing, but we have to be
honestandsincereinoursearchfortheultimatetruthand
it’s only by learning from experience and going on from
day to day, making that honest search and living it from,
through your own forgiveness and your own actions and
relationships with each other and so on. It is through that
experience we can learn about truth, when we live truth
then that spark within us becomes stronger.
ISKRA: So it’s a constant living, a constant process.
ARUN: Yes, it’s a constant living.
ISKRA: At different times in one’s life it seems that the
understanding of truth or the realization of the truth, the
experience of it is more dramatic at certain times than
others, and it makes one feel just about as if“Oh, I learned
it now and I can forget about it”, and then you stumble
the next day and you realize that it is an ongoing process.
Have there been certain experiences in your life, kind
of like euphoric moments when truth was really made
evident to you through an experience?
ARUN: It’s because of my experience over the years that I
have come to understand that what I see as truth today, is
going to change tomorrow. So I don’t get overjoyed that
I have found truth today. I just accept the truth as I see it
today and have that open mind to let it change and reveal
adifferentaspecttoitthenextday.Soit’saveryimportant
thing that we have an open and absorbing mind. This is
something that I tell students all the time. Your learning
doesn’t begin and end in school.Your learning is a lifelong
experience. It’s only that after you leave school you don’t
have a teacher to teach you things, you have to learn from
life’s experiences yourself, and the only way you can learn
from life’s experiences is by having an open mind, that is
willing to absorb from every little thing that happens.You
know that every person we meet, or every experience we
have during the day is a lesson and if we learn from that
then we improve ourselves, but if we don’t learn from
that then all those lessons are going to waste and we
stagnate, in our minds and then the mind becomes like a
room that is closed with no fresh air coming in and after a
while it becomes unlivable.
ISKRA: I’m kind of curious, if truth is always growing and
changing how can we recognize it for sure?
ARUN: It’s something we have to work on all the time.You
know it’s not something you can find in a textbook, or
things like that. Its having an open mind, learning from
experiences, learning from what happens during the day
that reveals itself to you. There is no formula. What I’m
saying is there is no formula or textbook that can teach
you about truth and how to recognize it.
ISKRA: Practice. Our understanding of the world is
constantly changing and evolving and so many faiths
believe that they have kind of a proprietary knowledge
of the truth.
ARUN: Yes, that’s a tragedy. A lot of the western religions
for instance believe that they possess the truth and many
of the eastern religions believe that we can only pursue

6. 2066ISKRA ИСКРА30
the truth.That is where the mistake lies.You know that for
everything, for instance the Christians will go to the Bible
and say the Bible says this so it’s got to be true. But the
Bible was written 2000 years ago and times have changed
since then, and what was written 2000 years ago can’t be
true today. It has to change and keep changing. So it’s that
whole question of the difference between possessing the
truth and pursuing the truth.
ISKRA: Yes, that’s quite a difference. People are interested
to know what keeps you going Arun? What advice can
you give to us to keep us motivated?
ARUN: Well, I see myself as a peace farmer and like a
farmer goes out in the fields and plants his seeds and
hopes and prays that he gets a good crop, I go out and
plant seeds of peace and hope and pray that I get a good
crop. I don’t have high expectations, I just go out and do
my job. Plant the seeds and then it’s up to the people who
receive the seeds whether they want to let those seeds rot
and perish or whether they will nurture those seeds and
create a world of peace. Yeah, I can’t transform you, I can
transform myself, I can only influence people. Whether
you accept that influence or not, it’s up to you, I can’t
force it on you. So I just go and try to influence people and
hope that they get the message. I think disappointment
comes when you have very high expectations, and if you
come there with the expectation that I will transform
the entire Doukhobor Community then I would be very
disappointed.
ISKRA: Our expectations aren’t that high. But we really
enjoy having you share your message with us. I think it’s
inspirational to a lot of people and we take it to heart.
We have a lot of commonalty. I believe in our legacy and
it’s nice to be amidst people that we have similar beliefs
and similar goals and aspirations with. And that leads to
another question. How can we inspire people to join our
cause for peace?
ARUN: That is very difficult to answer. I think we just have
to go on working and people will see this is something
worthwhile and join you and come and support you,
otherwise as I said you can influence people but you
can’t force them to do something. So all we have to do is
influence them through our own actions.
ISKRA: Do you think there is a place in today’s society, or
what do you think is the place in today’s society, as far
as influencing other people, as far as civil disobedience
goes? Do you think it is as an effective tool as it was during
the time of your grandfather?
ARUN: Yes, it is always an effective tool, and it is the most
sensible and civilized way of resolving conflicts and I think
in many ways we do use the tool in little issues, when
we resolve little issues between individuals and small
groups of people. It’s only when we have a big national
crisis that we get very violent and so you know I think the
philosophy itself is relevant and very important for today,
but it’s the people that have to accept it and live it and
practice it.
ISKRA: I think in our own personal experience as far as
Doukhobors, civil disobedience has been effective in our
history, when the emphasis has been on civility rather
than disobedience.
ARUN: Well, that’s what my grandfather didn’t’ like. If it’s
civil disobedience there is nothing disobedient about
seekingjustice,andsimilarlyhedidn’tlikethetermpassive
resistance because he said there is nothing passive about
resistance, it’s very active resistance.
ISKRA: In general do you have any suggestions for the
global peace movement, so that it might become more
effective?
ARUN: Unless we have peace in our hearts, we can’t create
peace in the world. We have to individually have peace in
our hearts and work for that.
ISKRA: Again it gets back to simple expressions of what
your grandfather stated in terms of being the change you
wish to see around you.
ARUN: Yes, right. Peace is not the absence of war. Any
country that is not at war cannot say that they are living
in peace because they are committing a lot of passive
violence all the time.
ISKRA: So, is peace just the absence of violence, even
passive violence or is it something on a higher scale?
ARUN: No, peace is when harmony prevails in society.
Any society that can claim that there is absolute harmony
in their relationship with each other, then they are truly
living in peace. If there is no harmony there can never be
peace.
ISKRA: How would you best describe peace of mind,
Arun?
ARUN: Being in harmony with nature and with everybody
else.
ISKRA: Well, we really appreciate you taking the time to
answer some of our questions. There is a lot of food for
thought here. I’m sure our readers will appreciate it very
much. We look forward to seeing you in May.
ARUN: I am very glad I was able to share with you. Yes, I
look forward to meeting you. Namaste.
ISKRA: Namaste.
“I see myself as a peace farmer, and like a
farmer goes out in the fields and plants his
seeds and hopes and prays that he gets a
good crop, I go out and plant seeds of peace
and hope and pray that I get a good crop.”