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KAUAI, HAWAII, September 13, 2001: In response to many inquiries he has received about yesterday’s calamity, Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, publisher of Hinduism Today and Hindu Press International, has asked his monks to share this view from the Hindu heart and perspective: “Every high-minded and good soul on Earth has been hurt and shocked by the appalling images of the buildings being destroyed in New York and Washington and the resulting deaths of untold thousands of innocent human beings. Hindus everywhere in the world, of every tradition, are praying for those who have suffered and rightfully calling for the terrorists to be brought to justice and for terrorism itself to be stopped in every nation of the world so people everywhere may live in security. Leaders must be vigilant, and governments have the duty to protect all citizens and to punish the guilty. We must all rely on the integrity of the US leadership to do the right thing to assure a future free from such terrorism. Hindus everywhere are reminding themselves and those they meet of the great principle of Ahimsa, noninjury, which Gandhi lived so faithfully and which lies at the heart of all Hindu thought and culture. Not to injure others is the highest path. The ancient South Indian scripture, Tirukural, says, ‘It is the principle of the pure in heart never to injure others, even when they themselves have been hatefully injured. Harming others, even enemies who harmed you unprovoked, surely brings incessant sorrow.’ The wise never let hateful people fill them with hate, never give permission to the angry to arouse their own instinctive nature of anger. They cling to the Divine, trust in the Divine in all circumstances and thus are channels for the divine process of human transformation and evolution. As unimaginable as this tragedy is, we must all not respond to violence with more violence in our homes and streets. Trust our government and the governments of the world to perform their military duty to assure our safety in the future. We must be the peacemakers, the arbiters of differences and the protectors of goodness. The world has always been populated by people of the lower nature and those of a higher nature. Immature souls, young souls in spiritual evolution, live in the chakras below the muladhara, where fear, anger, hatred, jealousy, confusion, selfishness and maliciousness without conscience reside. Old souls live in the higher chakras, where reason, will, understanding and love prevail. Life on Earth has always been happiest, safest and most rewarding when the higher-consciousness people are in control, both of themselves and of those who follow a lower path. Each one can make a choice in the days ahead to remain in the light and illumine the world or be drawn into the darkness of hate, fear and revenge. Our Siva is a God of love, and our traditions and scriptures assure us that this love will overcome every lesser force.”

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