The greatest disease (or absence of ease) is the absence of Shanti; when the mind gets peace, the body also will have health. So, every one who craves for good health must pay attention to the emotions, feelings and motives that animate the individual. Just as you give clothes for a wash, you have to wash the mind free from dirt again and again; otherwise, if dirt accumulates and you form a habit , it is difficult for the dhobi as well as harmful to the clothes. It should be a daily process; you should see that no dirt settles upon the mind; that is to say, you should move about in such company that dirt is avoided. Falsehood, injustice, indiscipline, cruelty, hate – these form the dirt; Satya, Dharma, Shanti, Prema (Truth, Righteousness, Peace, Love) – these form the clean elements. If you inhale the pure air of these latter, your mind will be free from evil bacilli and you will be mentally sturdy and physically strong. As Vivekananda used to say, you should have nerves of steel and muscles of iron. That is to say, you should have hope and joy and elation as an unshakeable resolution, not despair and dejection. (SSS Vol.1)
Supari is brown, paan is green, Chunam is white but when these are chewed together, the colour is red. When the three gunas - Sattva, Rajas and Tamas are equated in Sadhana the result is Shanti. (Ddd, p. 38)
Contentment is heaven; grief is hell; anger is the foe; calmness is the armour; compassion is the comrade. You repeat Shanti three times, don’t you? It is to encourage peace in the human, the godly and natural milieu in which you have to live; also to develop peace, in the body, mind and intellect! (SSS Vol.8, p. 29)
Shanti means ‘the giving up of activities of the senses’. (P.Vah, p. 34)
Shanti can also be defined as true Prema towards the Lord, towards Truth itself and towards true Dharma. (P.Vah, p. 27)
Shanti, or peace is a divine attribute. It is the sweet delight of the Atma. It is the prized possession of the Paramahamsa, or the one who has attained the summit of immaculate discrimination. Peace cannot reign in the malice-ridden hearts of selfish people. (SSB 1979, p. 150)
‘Establish your mind and intelligence in Me’, said Krishna. The aspirant for Grace must have before his mind the act, and not its consequence, beneficial or otherwise. That is the reason why Gopala said that Jnana is superior to Abhyasa, Dhyana is superior to Jnana, and the giving up of attachment to the consequences of your acts is superior to Dhyana. Such non-attachment, Krishna said, ‘will confer Shanti’. (GV, p.206)
Genuine Shanti is won by the control of the senses only. The Atma is imperishable. It does not die like the body and mind. It is universal, it is subtle and its very nature is knowledge. (P.Vah, p. 4)
Shanti is the distinguishing mark of Yogis, Rishis, and Satpurushas. It does not depend on external conditions. It will flee away from the selfish, and the sensual. It hates the company of such persons. It is the characteristic of the inner Atma, wonderful, unshakable and permanent. (P.Vah, p. 4)
Shanti embellishes every act; it softens the hardest core of man; it takes you to the footstool of the Lord and wins for you the vision of God. It knows no distinction. Through Shanti alone can Bhakti expand and Jnanam strike root. Jnanam, born of Shanti is the one and only means of living the full life, or the life that knows no death; for the inquiry, ‘Who am I?’ clears the path for Realisation. So, man must wait patiently and quietly, placing his faith in the Grace and Wisdom of the Lord. Such an inquirer will be ever earnest and patient. Man becomes fearless and, therefore, full of Shanti through another conviction also, that the Lord is everywhere, visibly present. (P.Vah, p. 11)
To enjoy Shanti, mankind must be controlled and directed by ideals of Dharma; this depends on mutual toleration in the family; that again is based on individual conduct, which is Sattvika, and aims at pleasing everyone. Such conduct has a charm all its own. Avoid in your behaviour, your actions, and your speech, all trace of the desire to pain others, to insult others, or to cause loss or misery to others. Find out the best means of reforming yourself thus, practise this type of living, desist from injury to yourself and your own good, and walk always in the path of Truth. That is verily the path of Beauty; that is conduct that is really charming. For this, large-heartedness is essential. One can acquire it only if he has (1) inborn impulse, or Samskara, and (2) Bhakti in every act. Through Bhakti, or devotion to the Lord, one gets humility, fear of sin, and faith in scriptures. Through these qualities, littleness of mind is wiped out and man becomes large-hearted. Therefore, O ye Seekers; first direct your efforts towards acquiring Faith in God and Fear of Sin. These two will promote meekness; and, remember, meekness is Shanti. (P.Vah, p. 38)
Truth is Atma; pure Prema is Atma; the Lord is Atma; selfless Service is Atma. Respect for these is Self-respect; of this type is, of course, Shanti; not the other types. Keeping the All-merciful Lord, the Personification of Truth, the Lord whose very nature is Prema, always in the memory, that is real Self-respect. To earn this, one has to cast aside as worthless, the respect that the world accords to wealth and status, to ignore praise and blame, derision and flattery, and engage in Sadhana with full faith in Truth and the Lord. That is real Shanti, pure Shanti; eternal Shanti. (P.Vah, p. 43)
Shanti is not just an external polish, which can be put on or brushed off. It is not the same as fortitude. It is not resignation, which comes of frustrated ambition or satisfied desire. It is an ennobling, elevating experience, which comes when one, attains the merger with the very source of one’s being. It is the stilling of the waves, the calming of mental activities and agitations. (SSS Vol.2, p. 214)