Righteousness will make your life peaceful

When we are deciding ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ it was left up to the consensus of a rational-minded people, there would be peace. Yet many nation’s leaders through history, in order to maintain control, do nothing to ensure their people have that opportunity (or even ability); when one nation’s leader doing this confronts another nation, the result is war, because the invader’s position is an opportunistic-bullying, and not a rational, one. And if both leaders in the conflict control their populations in this way, the result will most definitely be war.

If an invader representing a thought-control nation were to try to subjugate mine (that is more or less a reason-based democracy), I would defend it, but I wouldn’t call that ‘righteousness’, as, no matter the conflict’s outcome, removing the very thing that makes us human (autonomous critical thought) would be removing our life, anyway. And calling a subjugated, dictate-ruled no-dissent-possible state ‘peaceful’ is Orwellian indeed.

At the outset, it is worthwhile clarifying that what people commonly think of as righteous—as people who give of themselves for the betterment of others, e.g. people who give money, clothes, and food to the needy—such people are not actually righteous. Why? It is because such people have a natural desire to do good deeds, and instinctively following one’s desires is not a quality of a righteous person. A righteous person is one who hosts two counter-forces, positive and negative, and who exercises their free choice to raise the positive force and action against their own natural desire.

The negative force is our egoistic desire, which makes us want to benefit ourselves without any concern for anyone else. The positive force lets us receive what we need for our sustenance, and give the surplus we receive to benefit others, despite the negative force that tells us to take everything for ourselves. A righteous person is one who hosts these two forces, and who elevates the positive force over the negative one. When we give of ourselves to others against our innate desire to receive for ourselves, we bring correction to our desire: from receiving for ourselves to giving unto others. Our soul, our collective desires, then become filled with a divine light.

If we receive what we need for our sustenance, and give the rest for the benefit of others, then we become great righteous people. Even more so, we become balanced with nature. Holding the right balance in life and with nature means that we leave for ourselves what we need in order to live normal lives, and contribute our surplus to society. It does not mean living merely on bare bodily necessities. We can be healthy and wealthy, and give a lot to others. We are talking about an inclination in our hearts, and the more this inclination sorts itself out—from evil to good—in our hearts, the more we will see its positive materialization throughout the world.

As you have asked, personally if we have to choose between peace and righteousness then we should choose righteousness because if something is going wrong with anyone, he should stand against it! Because righteousness and peace belongs to each other.. If one is right and is against the wrong or atrocity, then by taking stand against that wrong thing might cause clash for some time but ultimately it will result in peace! For instance, If there is a person who is corrupt or wrong and we take stand against him, it will cause a clash and also many problems but if we are firm in our stand then no one can defeat us. So, ultimately the wrong one will be defeated and there will be peace and justice not only for us but also for the other persons who were harmed by the wrong one…

On the other hand if you are asking that if one is a leader of strong nation then what should he choose.. In my opinion, He should also choose righteousness and he should stand against all the powers that are against his nation or country (In case of war). But he should also try to held talks with other country to create peace but if it fails, he should do as explained above. It’s not anymore difficult to be righteous than unrighteous. It’s a matter of how we choose to cultivate our mentality. Our specific mentality and the activities that follow are cultivated over time. How we think and act is determined by the three modes of material nature.

Of course, in the modern world, irreligion is encouraged, even in the name of God. Thus people in general may find it easier to be unrighteous than righteous, because that’s what most people do, anyway. But righteousness automatically follows a genuine religious life. There are four pillars of religion - cleanliness, austerity, compassion, and truthfulness. There is a systematic and well-rounded process to religion, whose foundation is structured on these four pillars. Religion is not simply a matter of faith, nor just a system of morals and ethics, although it is often portrayed as such. It is more than faith, it is a science - in Shrimad Bhagwad-Gita, Shri Krishna calls it the science of the self.

As these four pillars are the foundation of religion, the Vedic scriptures also teach that there are four main sinful activities - illicit sex, intoxication, gambling, and meat eating. Why are they "sinful?" Because they each attack and destroy a specific pillar of religion. Cleanliness is destroyed by illicit sex; austerity by intoxication; compassion by meat-eating; and truthfulness by gambling. Thus it is clearly seen that modern, contemporary culture is consistently trying to destroy religious principles by undermining the four pillars of religion.

For example, the vast majority of all TV and movies out of Hollywood are based on the repeated and glorified practice of the four sinful activities mentioned above, which destroy religious principles. There is a constant propaganda going on to normalize and make acceptable illicit sex, intoxication, meat-eating, and gambling. Thus, the modern global culture, which is being hailed as the pinnacle of all human progress and knowledge, is actively seeking to destroy the eternal religious principles mentioned in the Vedas. Another sign that contemporary culture is thoroughly degraded and guided by atheistic principles is that the most intimate dealings between a man and a woman, i.e. kissing, is depicted in minute, graphic detail on big widescreens. According to the Vedic standard that is tantamount to pure pornography.

Now, when we point that out to mainstream people, it is rejected and scoffed at as being backwards and primitive. But when one of the most intimate exchanges between a man and a woman is engaged in freely and publicly without any restraint, what does that tell us about the culture we live in? Why this observation? Because as devotees of Shri Krishna, we are trying to emulate the Vedic culture and values. At the same time many of us live in a society, where these values are regarded as primitive and back-wards. In fact, as westerners we have grown up to see the standards of the modern consumer culture as normal and even coveted and glorified.

This is to show how important it is for a devotee to understand how harmful and degraded the modern culture is. Things that according to the Vedic standard are considered extremely sinful are considered completely normal in modern society - cow-killing, publicly kissing and fondling, scantily clad women and so on. The global culture is merely an attempt to make the whole world into a market place of McDonalds, Levis and Coca-cola. It is being hailed as the info-age, but when examined closely, the info available is more or less a barrage of propaganda to make the general population into good and loyal consumers and usurpers of nature.

The goal of life, instead of being knowledge of the self and an end to the existential problems of life, is now centered around getting an education, then a job that will enable one to spend money for sense-gratification. The goal of life has become to spend money on consumer goods, and the producers of these goods spend vast amounts of money to convince people to buy their products. Basically the whole world is running on trade.

It is a business-culture governed by Vaishyas not by brahmanas, as a proper human culture is meant to be. Shri Krishna says: Those who are free from false prestige, illusion and false association, who understand the eternal, who are done with material lust, who are freed from the dualities of happiness and distress, and who, un-bewildered, know how to surrender unto the Supreme Person attain to that eternal kingdom. (SBg. 15.5) Jay Shri Krishna