English poet John Milton wrote: Peace hath her victories no less renowned than war. The victories of war leave untold suffering, pain and agony behind. Wars bring about death, destruction, devastation, disease and disaster. They dehumanise humanity and leave a trail of misery, sorrow and grief behind. The constructive side of humanity gets jeopardised and obnoxious mentality haunts the victor. On the other hand, the victories of peace are noble, constructive and uplift humanity to a higher plane. All arts and sciences, literature and philosophy, all knowledge, wisdom and sagacity flourish in an environment of peace and tranquility. But war and peace both originate in the minds of men. Greed, avarice, jealousy, pride and arrogance, and thirst for power and pelf generate propensity to wage war. On the other hand, generosity, charity, truth and righteousness, fellow-feeling, an urge for creating heaven on the earth and a passion for service of humanity also originate in the minds of men. What is required is to cultivate these positive traits in ourselves and to learn to be at peace with ourselves. We should abjure all negative traits of character and nurture positive attributes so as to be meaningful not only to ourselves and our family but for all mankind, if we really wish to bring peace to the world and a heaven of freedom for the entire humanity.

How wars start?

"How wars start ?" The child asked his parents. The reason is economic", said the mother, "No. political differences cause wars," the father retorted. Mother felt slighte ned and said more emphatically, "No, you are wrong, the reasons behind war have always been economic." The difference of opinions did not stop here. It acquired the form of almost a quarrel. The boy intervened and said. "please stop here, now I understand how wars begin."

A man came home with some purchases which he had made in the market. On opening the bundle, he found that some of the articles were not up-to the mark. He felt enraged, and went back fully determined teach a lesson to the shopkeeper. On the way, he continued finding pun gent answers to all the arguments which the shopkeeper might put forward not to take back or change the article under reference. But, the young customer was surprised to see the shopkeeper feeling sorry for the inconvenience caused to the pur chaser and apologetically made the necessary amends So, the quarrels and wars begin in the minds of men, and turn into outside wars. The founders of the United Nations Organisation, Mr. Winston Churchill, the Prime Mini- ster of England and Mr. Roosewolt, the then President of the United States of America, had uttered these words of wisdom at the inauguration ceremony that U.N.O. will end wars in the minds of men and hence the future generations will not have to be disturbed mental state of a man does not only harm him, but also affects adversely his neighbourhood and makes the whole environment unhealthy. Thoughts of avarice jealousy, enmity etc. create their unhealthy vibrations, which in their turn pollute the whole atmosphere, nay, the whole universe. In short, the state of strife and want of peaceful conditions is due to the conflicts which continuously go on in our ledger of your time. minds. Since we like to quarrel with our ourselves, we inadvertently create conditions for wars to begin in the outside world.

Our young men and women would do well to take a lesson from facts of life and avoid quarrelling with themselves. When you prepare. for an examination, a series of conflicts arise within you, such as, how I shall fare at the examination, what would happen if I do not succeed, what other examinees are doing, whether I am selected or not, but Mr. X should not be one of the successful candidates etc. So, the thoughts of uncertainty, avarice, jealousy etc. continue to haunt your minds, with the result that your studies are disturbed and you are not able to devote as much time to your chosen work, as you ought to or what you can. Do you think this inner conflict does any good to you and helps you in achieving your aim ?

History tells us that all the works of art and inventions of science were made during the days of peace. Had there been no times of peace, huma nity would not have made any pro gress in the realms of civilization and culture. We know that war brings about miseries and destruction, while. peace brings out opportunities for construction and invention. The great English poet John Milton has rightly remarked that peace hath her vic tories no less renowned than war.

Be happy, thank you everyone!!