Q: Can I talk about meditation as well as your peace work? I want to hear about how these two integrated. Obviously it has huge impact in other works you are doing. Also how we can introduce meditation in our lives to make a step towards peace?

P: Say if you are angry. Understand that this produces hatred towards others. Any action that comes out of that emotion becomes destructive. So if you seek to engage in peace activism you can’t be angry while doing so.

That’s why it is important for you to gain a peace of mind before you engage in peace activism. If you raise a criticism while you are in a peaceful state of mind then your criticism becomes constructive.

I think the key point of meditation is to gain that peace of mind. There are three necessary conditions. First is to reduce any tension you have. The second is to have a singular focus for your mind. For example, maybe focus on the tips of your nose. Focus on the ins and outs of your breathe.

And third you have to be aware and awake for that focus. You have to maintain a state of wakefulness. For example, say we engage in a breath e meditation.

First try to relax and loosen all the tension, make a comfortable posture, focus your mind on the tips of your nose. Become aware of your breathe, because we are breathing every single moment but we are not aware.

But when you focus on breathing, when you breathe in you are aware of the breathe going in and when you breathe out you are aware of the breathe going out.

And if you are panting just from exercise you realize that you are panting, and if you are breathing smoothly you are aware. So it is not how you breath, you just recognize the natural state of your breathe.

To really focus on the nature of your breathe is not as easy as it sounds. Because we have these random thoughts always coursing through our heads. If you lose your focus, then you lose the sense of awareness of your breathe. So forget about the past and then don’t think about the futures. Just here and now.

Just focus on the breathe and realize the existence of the breathe here and now. If you manage to do this you will gain peaceful state of mind.

And with peaceful mind, our mind becomes even smoother. But if your breathe becomes too smooth then you will lose focus and you will allow thoughts. That’s why you need intensive focus to maintain awareness of your breathe. Then you gain even deeper peaceful state of mind.

Then there’s always the risk of losing that focus. That’s why the more you become aware of your breath the more you need to focus.

If you manage to focus then your breathe becomes really smooth, you can even feel the difference of the temperature of the air. Then you attain a state of really clear awareness of everything that goes around you. From this state or self-peace, can your engagement with peace activism be constructive? But if you are angry and engage in peace activism, you tend to fight in the name of peace.