A More Lasting Harmony

From the Sacred India Tarot, the Six of Arrows; from the Land Sky Oracle, Aparigraha:

Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.

— Albert Einstein

Bhishma (aka Bheeshma) was the supreme commander of the Kaurava forces during the Kurukshetra War. He did not become the king after the death of his father, having taken vows of celibacy. But he played a major role in the affairs of the Kuru kingdom, helping to guide and manage it to a relative state of peace. However, when peace of a kingdom (or peace of mind) is forced through subjugation, its stability will tenuous at best (as what eventually happened in his realm). Aparigraha is a moral guideline often translated as non-attachment or non-greed. We generally think of peace and contentment as getting what we want and keeping what we believe we are entitled to. But when our desires bump into the similar beliefs of others, a war of the wills is at hand. Would it not be better to use communication and compromise to achieve a more lasting harmony?

There can be no peace if there is social injustice and suppression of human rights, because external and internal peace are inseparable. Peace is not just the absence of mass destruction, but a positive internal and external condition in which people are free so that they can grow to their full potential.

— Petra Karin Kelly