The Eternal Plan of Love and Light
&
the Work of the United Nations

Thursday, May 18, 2000, 3-6:00 p.m.

What Is "The Eternal Plan of Love and Light"?

By Dr. Kala Iyengar, Brahma Kumaris

I would like to start by adding one more beautiful word to that wonderful chant we had: OM SHANTI.

As you know the sound of OM is a very powerful sound because it leads you inward and introduces you to yourself. Contrary to what we, 24 hours of the day believe ourselves to be-the physical; the word OM makes us want to think about who we really are. And further than that, when we say OM "SHANTI", it reminds us that we're not being who we truly are. Because most of the time we're not peaceful - "shanti", meaning, of course, peace. And so very warm greetings of peace and it is a wonderful pleasure for me to be here, a part of a unique theme that we have taken up-right across from the center of the world where all hope lies [the United Nations Headquarters building in New York].

In considering the eternal plan of love and light, I cannot but think of it all as a huge play, a drama; and of course every drama, every play, has a script to it. It's for us to find what the script or plan is and I think it's very intriguing that whatever backgrounds we're coming from and whatever our faith or whatever our hopes, we all have one thing in common and that is the script for us all is very much filled with hope.

We're all here because of that hope. But within that hope perhaps we could look at the different actors that are playing their part in this drama or play. And I'd just like to think of it, if even for an intellectual exercise, as three different actors playing a role together in this drama. The first actor that I want to honor is nature-beautiful nature; the world, the planet with all its beauty and elements-that has given us so much to enjoy and the pleasure of light. The most important lesson that nature teaches us is change-that everything must change. I don't think there's anyone here who has gone to sleep doubting the fact that the sun is going to rise the next morning. It's an in-built mechanism of the universe and the planets-change must happen and we must move with that change. And we must also understand the plan according to that change. So the first and foremost point that I would like to get across is that, yes, here we are sitting and looking at, perhaps, the last x-number of years of humanity's history and yes, of course, there is hope, we want to be hopeful. But further than wanting to be hopeful, there is definitely reason to be hopeful because after the night comes day, as definite as the day comes after night. Peace has to come - a time free from all the suffering that we've been trying so hard to get away from on the planet. And of course it's we who have to understand how it can come about.

The second actor that I'd like to honor is we, ourselves-we as human beings. Not so much as we identify ourselves from the different cultures or faiths or nations, but really human beings with more of an emphasis on the "being" that we are than on the "human" that we are. When we emphasize the "human" aspect, that's when the differences come into existence. But as soon as we start to look at the "being" that we are, we are able to relate to an altruistic part of us, an intuitive part of us.

And I think the plan of light really emerges from that "being" that we are. To put it very simply, the light is ourselves. So it becomes very easy then to plan, or understand the plan of light. I say this because I think all of the issues, all of the problems, all of the questions that we want to solve today really dating back to understanding the root of where the darkness stepped in or where the light disappeared. And I say that because most of the work, especially of the United Nations, and of many other such organizations, has to do with bringing back justice. We try very hard and of course hope that justice comes about, that peace comes about. But let us not forget the fact that justice is in-built within the mechanism of life. When we understand the plan of light or when we understand ourselves as light, then we know that as the awareness of the light grows, then there is the automatic conviction and faith that, yes, justice is destined. The protector of justice as human beings, especially "beings" I would say, is our own conscience. The more we can honor the conscience that we've all been endowed with, the more we can all take responsibility for our actions, the more we can see clearly where the path leads us; if we should fight or not; if we should arm or disarm-whatever that decision may be. However, the more clearly we can see the two different directions, the easier it is for us to bring justice, not with an external influence or not by somebody else coming and trying to make justice, but we ourselves can be perpetrators of justice.

The greatest plan is to simply listen to ourselves as that "being," as an embodiment of conscience, an embodiment of light, of inner wisdom.

The third and, of course, the final actor, the most important actor that I would like to bring into the picture, of course, is the Divine, the Supreme; the One with Whom we all have a very deep connection. This is the One with Whom we have all had an experience of love. We wouldn't even be sitting here and talking about love or light if each of us had not, at some point in time had an experience with this "Being." We have all experienced a connection, in some way or other, no matter for how short a while, no matter for how meager an experience. And we all hold within us, a memory of that experience. It's that experience that we need to rekindle and bring back that act onto this stage, in a very active way. This is the plan of light, the plan of love.

I'd like to introduce one more idea, and that is, the plan of "might", as well. By "might" what I mean is- we need the power, the persistence and the faith to go on. Because we have goodwill, we may even see the path, but the obstacles may be many. The enemies may be countless. And of course we know that the enemies are not out there. The enemies are really inside of us. And this is why we need to add not only light and love, but we need to also add power to the self, the soul, the conscient being that we are. We need to feel the power of the self. We need to not marginalize ourselves any more. Of course we've had years and years of conditioning and books upon books telling us how limited we are and how strung with wars our history has been and how our origin is from apes. However, we need to break some of these walls and de-marginalize ourselves, re-educate ourselves. We need to re-connect ourselves to our own divinity. And that takes a lot of strength; it takes a lot of power. And that power I believe can only come from the One Supreme Source-the One who does not come into the cycle of changes as we all do. The One Who doesn't get influenced by the ups and the downs of human beings and by the changes of times. So I would very strongly recommend to add the element of "might" into our meditation today, not only of light; not only of love; but also to fill ourselves with the "might"-power to go on with our work, to continue, to break those walls, to conquer those obstacles, and to come out of this as winners.

As a final remark, I would like to mention that perhaps for me the most important thing in fighting this war-the spiritual war, the war of silence, the war of the mind, the war against the negative traits that we all hold within ourselves as human beings-the most important thing for me is to believe in myself, that I come from an origin of divinity; I do not come from an origin of sin. And that's the origin that I need to go back to.

OM SHANTI.