The Official Website of his holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Terrorism wreaks violence, inflicting pain and suffering that destroys perpetrators and others. Terrorism induces fear and increases poverty, suffering and loss of life with no apparent gain to anyone. Instead of offering or seeking solutions, terrorism looks to destruction as an answer. In acts of terrorism, human values are lost.

The cause of terrorism is the lack of wisdom. We have done very little to globalize wisdom, to encourage multi-religious education and multi-cultural activity. Even if a small part of the population in a corner of the globe thinks that only they possess the truth or only they can go to heaven, and they want to thrust their truth on the rest of humanity, the world cannot have peace. The clashes of civilizations and religious ideologies have to be addressed; unless they are, peace cannot flourish and consequently neither can prosperity.

Deep-rooted prejudices among communities have to be checked. It is ironic that even in this progressive age, racial prejudice still exists. In many places, yoga and other spiritual practices have remained a taboo for a long time. Certain countries have even banned yoga. Gandhian principles of truth and nonviolence are talked of as outdated, even in their place of origin.

The 25th anniversary of the Air India tragedy should remind us that racial attacks happen not only in so-called underdeveloped parts of Africa or Southeast Asia but also in developed and advanced countries like Canada.

Read the full article on The Province.