Unity of Man

Peace on earth can be a reality!

When the message of the Unity of Man is understood
in the heart of humanity,
it will bring about a change in the human consciousness,
so that peace on earth will become a reality!

Unity of Man is a worldwide movement initiated by Sant Kripal Singh for the benefit of mankind, whose aim is to reveal that all human beings are members of the same family of humanity, regardless of the different man-made labels of race, religion, or nationality.

Content:

– What is the cause of all conflicts and wars?
– What must be changed to make peace possible?
– How can world peace be achieved?
– What can I do?

What are the answers? Read on:

Definition of the term Unity of Man:

Unity of Man

“Unity of Man” means that all human beings are of equal value and belong to the same family of humanity.

“Unity of Man” contains the words “Unity” and “Man”.

“Man” refers to the human life form, which consists of both consciousness and a human body. Man is an embodied soul, a conscious entity. Man is constantly receiving impressions from the five senses (touch, sight, hearing, smell and taste), but it is through the consciousness that man is able to experience the world and understands what he sees and hears.

All human beings are born in the same way, receive all the bounties of nature in a similarly manner, have the same inner and outer construction, and are controlled in the physical body by the same Power, called differently by name, but still refer to the same Power of God. All men are the same as souls, worship the same God, and are conscious entities; being of the same essence as God, they are members of His family, and thus related to each other as brothers and sisters in Him. As members of the same family, all are born with the same rights and privileges before God.

“Unity” refers to the principle of Unity in this Creation. Unity means that “God is ONE” and “all are ONE in Him” because all life in this Creation has its existence because of God. Unity therefore refers to the idea that all life has the same origin in God.

God is the force that gives life to all creatures in this creation. The same life impulse resides in every human being. Not only is God the source of all human life, but all human life is of the same essence as that of God, which is consciousness. Being of the same essence as God, all human beings are members of His family. Thus, all human beings belong to the same family and are related to each other as brothers and sisters under the fatherhood of God.

Thus, the term “Unity of Man” refers to the fact that all human beings belong to one and the same family and all are born with the same rights and privileges from God. There is no high or low class of human beings, because all human beings belong to the same class. All human beings are equal before God.

When people understand that all human beings are equal before God, they will show respect to all human beings, since they have risen above all external differences, to see the unifying factors of all human life. We are human beings first, then come the external labels of creed and nationality etc.

The following poem by the Iranian poet Saadi, which adorns the gate at the entrance to the United Nations building in New York, is a kind of official motto of the UN and also sums up the message of Unity of Man:

“All human beings are members of one frame, Since all, at first, from the same essence came. When time afflicts a limb with pain The other limbs at rest cannot remain. If thou feel not for other’s misery A human being is no name for thee.”

The cause of all the world’s conflicts and wars:

There is no unity in the World – this creates division and conflicts
Although all human beings belong to the same family, man in his present condition is so blinded by all the external differences that he cannot see this unity. As a result, man is identified by the external labels of religion, nationality, etc., which divide people into different groups. With this division comes conflict between the different groups.

In a war, you are fighting people from another country or another religion. But in reality, you are not from one country and the one you are shooting at is not from another country. All people are human beings who belong to the same family of humanity. It is a brother fighting against his own brother from the same family of humanity. Nationality is just an illusion that separates man from man. The earth has no borderlines, borderlines are all man-made and belong to the mind, not to reality.

If man is able to see through these external differences and see the unifying factors that all human beings are human beings, regardless of the external different labels, they can meet at the level of man. In this way man can transcend the external different labels that exist and that divide man. When man has risen in consciousness to see this unity (instead of seeing the external differences), there can be unity at the level of man.

All the problems of the World are of a spiritual Nature
Although there have been so many social, economic, religious, and political revolutions in the world, the problems remain the same. Why? Because the problems of the world are not of religious, political, social or economic nature, but the problem is of a spiritual nature.

Religions and politics are not the problem. All religions forbid killing. There is no religion that advocates war and conflict. Yet there are many religious conflicts and wars in the world. If we have inner weakness, no right understanding, and no character, then we bring the problems to the religion and politics. So the real problems come from our own mind and our own lack of right understanding. When we interpret the holy scriptures, our personal character, attitude, and mentality comes into it. If our weakness is that we are aggressive and violent our personal character comes in when we interpret the holy scriptures. Through our misinterpretations we think that religion divides people from people and that it gives us the right to hate people who belong to other religions, etc. We bring our personal problems and our own personal motives into the religion and politics. We rephrase our personal problems and motives in the terms of religion and politics. Kings, presidents, prime ministers and leaders often use the overriding ideology of their time to formulate their own personal motives. The leaders mislead the people, and the people let themselves be misled. It is all due to lack of right understanding. Conflicts arise from these misconceptions that we and our leaders create. They are not the problems of religion and politics; they are our personal problems. They are the problems that are caused by our lack of proper understanding and by our lack of spiritual development of the human consciousness.

For example; Jesus preached love, to love your enemies, and to turn the other cheek when someone strikes your right cheek. Yet people go into religious wars and kill other people and persecute people who do not share their beliefs.

Another example is that the Koran says, “No believer shall kill another believer“, and the Ten Commandments of Moses say, “Thou shalt not kill“. Yet people start religious wars in which believers kill other believers.

Still another example is that in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism the main principle is that of non-violence.  Yet there are religious conflicts and wars.

How can this be? The leaders deliberately twist the scriptures to suit their own social, political and economic aims. And it is through ignorance of the true meaning of the scriptures that the masses allow themselves to be led astray. If the leaders revealed their true personal and selfish motives for starting a war, no one would follow them. No one wants to die for the sole purpose of making the leaders richer and more powerful. Thus, leaders hide their true personal and selfish motives for starting a war and instead exploit people’s weakness by using the overriding ideology of their time to reformulate their own personal motives. People want to feel special, so they divide people into ‘us’ and ‘them’, and the leaders take advantage of this weakness in people. It is “us” against “them” and then conflicts arise.

So, the real problem lies within man. It lies in man’s lack of right understanding, in man’s desire to divide people into “us” and “them”, and in man’s selfish motives. The outcome of all these inner personal weaknesses, is external conflicts. The problem is of a spiritual nature, not seeing that all human beings are brothers and sisters under the Fatherhood of God. The same God dwells in all human beings.

The main problem of the world is that man has forgotten his spiritual origin and therefore does not understand that all human beings are members of the same family under the Fatherhood of God. Because of this forgetfulness, man has created a false identification that his origin is in his nationality, religion, race, social status, family name, and other outer man-made labels. But we are not the man-made labels (of race, religion, or nationality), but we are human beings. We all have our origin in God. The same God dwells in all human beings.

By forgetting our spiritual origin, three destructive states arise in our human mind, which are:

1) We identify with external labels (of nationality and religion etc.) to the extent that we cannot see that all human beings belong to one family of human beings. It creates division, tension and conflict between people of different faiths and nationalities. It is narrow-mindedness to believe that we are these external labels, thus dividing people into “us” and “them”, instead of understanding that we are all members of the same family of humanity, born with the same rights and privileges.
People say they are Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Americans, Europeans, Africans, Asians and so on.  It is strange because I thought they were all human beings. Are they not?
In conflict, people tend to strengthen their identity with their own group, reinforce the differences between their own group and other groups, and dehumanise other groups of people. People begin to see their own group of people as good and superior, and the other groups as evil and not really human, and so any act of aggression against them is legal in their eyes. When people stop seeing other people as human beings, the most terrible acts are possible. This happens when we divide people into ‘us’ and ‘them’ and fail to understand that we all belong to the same family of humanity. 

2) We become egoistic and selfish, thinking only of our own interests, regardless of the cost to others, because we see ourselves as separate from other human beings and do not understand that all human beings are equal before God and that we are all part of one family. It gives rise to egoistic, selfish, and evil thoughts which in turn give rise to egoistic, selfish, and evil words and actions, which give rise to conflict.

3) Since we do not understand that all human beings are our family members, we have no love for other human beings and we have no respect for other human being’s opinions, needs, and welfare. Love means recognising the well-being of other people instead of hating and disregarding their needs. Love also means being non-violent in thought, word and deed. With the lack of love for other people comes the inability to practise non-violence when conflicts arise. Thinking only of one’s own interest, even at the expense of the welfare of others, creates conflicts. Hate and violence also create conflicts.

It is these three above states of the human mind that create almost all conflicts in the world, both on an individual and national level.

So, the root cause of all the conflicts in the world is that man has forgotten his spiritual origin and that all human beings are members of the same family of humanity. Because it is from this forgetfulness that the three destructive states of the human mind arise, which in turn create divisions, conflicts and wars in the world.

All conflicts and wars begin in the mind of man
So the root cause of all the problems in the world is our forgetfulness of the spiritual brotherhood between all human beings, because it is from this forgetfulness that the three destructive states of the human mind arise, which create separation and conflict in the world, and it all starts in our minds.

The preamble to the UNESCO Constitution says that “since war began in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that defences of peace must be constructed.” 

War is not created by God, but by man. Everything you see in the world is a reflection of man’s inner intentions and thoughts. Man’s inner intentions and thoughts are in turn controlled by man’s heart, state of mind, desires and wishes.

Whatever you see in the world is the result of man’s inner intentions, thoughts and mindset. What man has in his heart and in his conditioned mind, is what is reflected outside in the world in words and actions. If a man has aggression in his mind, violence will be reflected outside in the world. If a man has love in his heart, peace and harmony will be reflected outside in the world.

As a man thinks, so he speaks and acts. It is a man’s inner state of being that produces his outer words and actions. If the mind is filled with narrow-mindedness, greed, selfishness, anger or hatred, then the words and actions will be coloured by the same spirit, which in turn will create conflict with the people around. However, if the inner virtues are those of understanding and loving kindness towards other people, then the words and actions will be of the same qualities, and the result will be peace and harmony in relationships with all people around.

So it is the inner state of the mind that causes the outer words and actions, which either create harmony or conflict with people around. It is the same for all people, as well as for all political, social and religious leaders, prime ministers, presidents and governments. Therefore, even presidents and prime ministers speak and act according to their inner state of mind, but their words and actions have a great effect on the destiny of the whole nation, either in harmonious coexistence or in conflict with other nations.

Thus, all the external conflicts and wars in the world are directly related to the result of man’s own negative intentions, thoughts, words and actions. All conflicts and wars begin in the mind of man.

So, the cause of all the conflicts in the world is man’s way of thinking, which is based on the three destructive mindsets of the human mind. And the three destructive mindsets of the human mind are due to the fact that we have forgotten that we derive from the same Creator and belong to the same family. Therefore, the root cause of all conflicts in the world is that we have forgotten that we belong to the same family. This is true not only at the individual level but even at the level of countries, nations and religions.

The solution to all the conflicts and all the wars:

How can World Peace be achieved?
Since the problem of the world is of a spiritual nature, caused mainly by the three destructive states of the human mind, the solution must also be of a spiritual nature. The solution must be to raise human consciousness, by understanding that all human beings have the same origin, and belong to the same family, and have the same privileges and rights before God, so that man can transcend these three destructive states of the human mind, which cause the problems of the world.

So there needs to be a change of human consciousness, so that the cause of war (which begins in the human mind) can be removed.

Man needs to raise his consciousness, or in other words, man needs to change his heart, to be able to understand the divine principles of this universe, that all human beings are members of the same family of humanity, to develop love for other human beings and to overcome selfishness. These are the remedies for all conflicts and wars in the world.

Therefore, the only solution to the world’s problems is to take the message of the Unity of Man into one’s own heart and spread it to others. When man has overcome these three destructive states of the human mind, by understanding his origin and the spiritual brotherhood of all human beings, then peace on earth is possible.

A change of heart is necessary
So, in order to achieve peace, man has to change at the level of his heart and consciousness, and it has to start in his own heart. Although the whole of humanity has to make this change, it begins with the individual. Man has to make this change in his own heart. We have to do it. We have to start changing our own hearts before we tell others to do it.

To develop love for others, we must try to understand the situation of other people and care for them as our brothers and sisters. Love is a matter of the heart, which will only grow as our spiritual consciousness increases. To rise in consciousness requires a change of heart.

How can this change of heart be induced?

The first step is that we must use our intellect to see through the false identification of the outer labels (which divide man into different groups based on creed, nationality, etc.) and try to understand that we are all members of the same family of humanity, born with the same rights and privileges. We are not the outer labels; but we are human beings. All of us are born as human beings, but soon after we are born, we are given our name by our parents, our nationality by the country, and our religion by our ancestors and society. So, all these man-made external labels of name, nationality, and religion were given to us by others, it was not even our own choice, yet we identify with all these external labels and spend our whole lives defending these external labels, not being able to see that in reality we are all human beings. We are not the external man-made labels, but we are human beings, just as all people are human beings (regardless of different external labels). There is no difference between us because all human beings belong to the same family of humanity. When this understanding that we are all part of one family is established in our hearts; then humility, love, and care for others will automatically arise.

To achieve this understanding, we need to change our whole angle of vision to see things from the right perspective of life. We need to understand the universal principles or laws of life. Understanding these universal principles from the right perspective is called ‘right understanding’, which is in harmony with the universal laws. Achieving “right understanding” is the first step in changing one’s heart.

But ‘right understanding’ is not the same thing as intellectual understanding, instead, it is a “change of heart”, to indicate that this understanding goes much deeper than the head (intellectual understanding), and reaches the centre of our being. Heart means the centre of our being, which is our consciousness.

So our understanding (that we all belong to one family of human beings) must go much deeper than a superficial intellectual understanding. It must sink deep into the core of our being and our consciousness so that our understanding will affect all our levels of understanding (intellectual, emotional, heart, and conscious). Thus, our understanding will be grounded at all our levels of understanding we have realized ‘right understanding’.  As a result, there will be no contradiction in our understanding at any level. Because only if our understanding is established on all levels (thoughts, emotions, heart, and consciousness) it will create a very strong insight in us so that we will act according to our understanding.

Otherwise, if man thinks in a certain way, but his emotions are not in harmony with his thoughts, he may act according to his emotions even though it is against his intellectual understanding. So, this right understanding must have settled on all levels of our awareness. The same right understanding must be present in our whole being at all levels of awareness. Only then is a man’s heart changed, when his angle of vision is totally changed (at all levels of understanding).

In order to achieve right understanding at all levels of consciousness, we must begin to practise our right understanding in our daily lives, starting in our own homes by showing love and respect to our family members, our neighbours and our environment.

Practicing means trying to treat everyone with respect in thought, word, and deed, and respecting everyone’s opinion regardless of social status, age, gender, religion or nationality. We should make a sincere effort not to get angry and furious with anyone on account of their different opinions and their disagreement, but should try to understand everyone. Be of help to your neighbours when they are in need. Try to talk about the message of Unity of Man with all those who are interested, but do not try to convince anyone or get into an argument. Just touch people’s hearts with your good behaviour and loving feelings towards all people.

It will happen from time to time that our old habits or emotions take over and we forget to treat all people with equal respect in thought, word, and deed. Then it is simply a matter of reminding ourselves of our goal and trying to return to our practice. After a while, this practice will produce results as our old habits slowly begin to change into a new habit and our attitude towards people will change to one of respect for all people. As we continue to practice, we will slowly develop mutual recognition, respect and understanding for the other.

From our own experience we know that if we repeat an action several times, it becomes a habit, and if we have a habit for a long time, it becomes part of our character, and from our character we create our destiny.
For example, if we steal something once and then repeat it again and again, soon our habit will be to steal, and after a while we will turn out to be a thief (our character), and if we are a thief, sooner or later we will be caught by the police and go to prison (this is our destiny).
Similarly, if we start treating all people (irrespective of their external labels of religion, nationality etc.) with equal respect, after a while it will become our habit and if we have this habit for a long time it will become part of our character and then our destiny is to treat everyone with equal respect and therefore we can live in harmony with all kinds of people.

It is through this law of nature that our lives are formed and can be transformed:
“Sow an act and reap a habit, sow a habit and reap a character, and sow a character and reap a destiny.”

So, if we try to practise this in thought, word, and deed, regularly in our daily life, after a while it will become our new habit, and if we have this habit for a long time, it will become part of our character. When it becomes part of our character, it means that this right understanding has begun to grow in us at all levels and it will create a fellow feeling, and then our whole angle of view will be changed, and our heart will be changed too.

When this right understanding and the fellow feeling that we are all part of one family is established in our hearts; then humility, love and care for others will automatically arise.

When you have established these inner human qualities, you radiate love and act as a true human being. Then the people around you will respond to your radiance with the same heart. When people respond to you with the same respect and kindness, mutual recognition and understanding develop which becomes a vital force, creating a reservoir of fellow feeling which in turn brings culture and atmosphere to your surroundings. This culture must grow to encompass all the people of the world.

Developing the qualities of humility and love for other human beings is the change of heart that is needed to change human consciousness because our qualities are located at the core of our being, where our thoughts, words and actions come from. The qualities of humility and love for all will bring about the right thoughts, words and actions that will lead to harmonious co-existence with all people.

So, if you have a good feeling, a loving heart for everybody, what will happen? At once the heart of other people will also change. Love means to give, give and give, and not to take. Give your good thoughts to others. Sacrifice each and everything! One who overcomes his or her own wishes and then fulfils the need of others, is a human being, a real man. Live 100% for others.

Ultimately, when our enthusiasm for the message of Unity of Man begins to grow within us, we want to share our right understanding with others so that there will be a change in the world, from a field of conflicts and wars to a place of harmonious coexistence and peace.

The wish to spread the message of Unity of Man to others will generate selfless service. This “service” is another name for love and fellowship. Love and fellowship bring with them peace, gentleness, and humility, the basic values of life.

Cultivating, practising and wholeheartedly embracing these values in life is what is known as ‘spirituality’, ‘sacrifice’, ‘selfless service’ or working for the benefit of others without personal reward or gain.

When the message of Unity of Man is spread to many people of the world, through the work of the admirers of this Campaign, then God will hear the wishes and prayers for unity and peace that have been raised in many people of the world, then He will bless their prayers and it will speed up the transformation of people’s hearts and the whole angle of view will be changed for the majority of people of the world. Then there can be peace on earth.

A change in human consciousness is needed to achieve peace
Not only do individuals need to change their thought patterns and mindsets, but humanity as a whole should to change its collective thought patterns and mindsets.

War is the result of the collective thought patterns of humanity. People may believe that it is our leaders who create wars, while humanity as a whole is not responsible for wars. But even the thought patterns of our leaders are the result of the collective understanding and consciousness of humanity.

War is created by man; it is not created by God. If the collective consciousness of humanity is negative and destructive, full of hatred, otherness, and disunity then the foundation for conflict and war is there, and war can begin. But if the collective consciousness of humanity is that of love, understanding, unity, and non-violence, then the foundation for peace is there, and war cannot begin.

If we want peace, we must change our current destructive mindset and replace it with love, non-violence and the understanding that all human beings belong to one family. This is the only way and the only solution to end all the conflicts and wars in the world.

The message of Unity of Man has to be passed on from man to man
The message of the Unity of Man must reach the majority of the people of the world before peace can become a reality. Therefore, in order to reach all humanity, it is necessary to spread the message of Unity of Man to other people.

It should go from man to man, starting in our own homes by showing care and humanity to our family members and to everyone else we meet to share and spread it to the environment around us. Eventually, it should reach out to the whole world, but that can only happen if it starts in our own hearts first.

We can also hold conferences on Unity of Man and invite political and spiritual leaders, post on social media, and use other media to spread this message because it is the only solution to the current problems of humanity.

Eventually this message will spread like wildfire to all corners of the world, and then there will be a change in human consciousness, and consequently there will be no more wars in the world.

In this way, the entire human society can be reformed. If the ideal of unity is accepted and adopted in daily life it will spread like a wild fire burning all hatred, enmity, separation, duality, and egoism. What will prevail is unity. Then man can achieve peace on earth.

Peace or war is the choice humanity must make
Peace is not a fantasy! It can actually become a reality if this message of Unity of Man comes to the heart of the people.

Peace and harmonious co-existence are the ultimate expression of love and non-violence of the consciousness of humanity together with an understanding that all human beings belong to one family. Whereas war and conflict are the result of the three negative and destructive mindsets of humanity.

Therefore, it is the collective mindset of humanity that creates the destiny of the world, either to live in war and conflict or to live in peace and harmonious co-existence. War or peace, are a choice, and it is our choice (the choice of humanity). It is up to humanity to make a decision and to choose which way to go.  Every person has to make a decision. War or peace?

If we choose peace, we must change our present destructive mindset and replace it with love, non-violence and an understanding that all human beings belong to one family. This is the only way and the only solution to end all the conflicts and wars of the world.

If humanity chooses to change its present destructive mindset and replace it with a loving and kind attitude towards all other human beings, the result will be peace and harmonious co-existence with other people and nations.

Humanity can choose to change its current destructive mindset and thereby achieve peace.

So, peace is a choice available to humanity.

You must choose and make a decision!

If you choose peace, then take the message of Unity of Man into your heart and spread it to the people around you. Then you will see a change first in your heart, then in your relationships, and later it may even be reflected in the collective consciousness of humanity. Then the dawn of peace will come to humanity.

Be Good – Do Good – Be One

Inspired by love and good intentions, one begins to act practically. Peace will come to the whole world if we follow the message of Unity of Man in practice.