Percieved differences dividing people, says President Pratibha Patil

Asserting that it is the "perceived differences" that are dividing people, President Pratibha Patil said on Sunday that violence and terror will have to be negated and defeated to bring peace in the world.
    
"The fact is that all human beings are one and our behaviour should be based on this basic truth. People create distinctions in their own mind and believe them to be true. Today, it is the perceived differences that are dividing people," Patil said while inaugurating the Global Vipassana Pagoda in suburban Gorai near Mumbai.
    
"A whole ideology of hatred, executed with instruments of violence and terrorism, is being spread. Violence and terror will have to be negated and defeated to bring peace in the world," Patil said.
    
The Global Vipassana Pagoda is a monument of peace which aims to spread teachings of compassion and non-violence
propagated by Lord Buddha and to promote the practise of Vipassana, an ancient meditation technique which seeks to
bring about inner peace in an individual, the President said.
    
In a world full of strife, stress and strain, the need for calming the agitated mind is extremely important. Vipassana could bring, to an individuals' life, a quieter perspective

through control over the mind and purity of heart, she added. 

Patil noted that there is a tendency to give vent to anger and use harsh language to describe one's feelings. This, she said, aggravates the situation and a person often repents that moment of anger.
    
"Then why not, from the very beginning, learn how to exercise restraint and be balanced. Buddha preached that only
by being content and purifying one's thoughts can peace be experienced," Patil said.
    
Emphasising the need to exercise moderation, she said, "But to attain this, he (Buddha) prescribed the middle path -
a path of moderation that avoids extremes. Excess of anything can be harmful. Therefore, in life one could adopt a balanced and moderate approach, whether it is our consumption habits or expressing our views".
    
Those present on the occasion included Priyanka and Robert Vadra, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal and other ministers from the state government.
     
Renowned Vipasanna teacher, Satyanarayana Goenka and foreign delegates from Myanmar, Taiwan and Thailand also
participated in the inauguration of the monument.