Who doesn’t want peace?
The whole world is concerned about peace. In the context of the individual, it means peace of mind. No one wants mental unrest or disquietude. Every one likes to lead a life of peace and tranquility.

How can this be possible?
There can be neither individual nor world peace without first refining your emotions, because it is there that unrest has its roots. One of the ways of refining the inner world is choosing someone adorable or Ishta. There is hardly any religion without a concept of the Ishta. Who should be your Ishta or adored one? Could it be the guru? No, the guru can show the right path, but cannot be Ishta. Could a teacher be Ishta? The teacher can show the way, can teach and impart knowledge, but being a human being he cannot be Ishta. Even a Tirthankar – Jain saint – cannot be an Ishta.

No physical being can be an Istha. Why? Because an Ishta is nirvikalp – admitting no alternative – and so is free from distinctions. A physical being will say, “Do this, don’t do that”. That will create a dilemma. Why follow someone who obstructs, hinders stops? The Ishta neither stops nor obstructs, but is simply an ideal. God or Deva and guru or teacher are recognized as two centers of faith. Deva is one who has become passionless; a seer. It is only the seer who can be an Ishta.

But one who shows the path is a different person. Vitaraga or the passionless do not show the path. So they are not regarded as arha or competent to guide. It is the guru who has been regarded as arha; he points out the path. The vitaraga, if asked whether something should be done, will answer: Do as you please. The guru, on the other hand, can stop you from doing something. The Ishta can only be one who has transcended the world of inner feelings. He is not only beyond the mind, but also beyond emotion, pure and free from love and hate. One who has become arhat or vitraga, becomes our Ishta. We can call him by any name, Atma, parmatma, whatever.

One of the principles of yoga is oneness with the Ishta. Those who want absolute peace and tranquility, should conceive of the Ishta at the center of peace, at the hypothalamus, and ‘instil’ the image of the Ishta there.In times of difficulty, they should concentrate on it and the suffering will disappear. If a person’s mind is devoid of the concept of absolute peace, peace will keep eluding him. Now happy, now offended – that is the way he lives. Our emotions change so often. If a person starts noting down in a book all the emotional changes he has undergone from dawn to dusk, recording when he felt at peace and when he was agitated, he will probably fill a whole book. We cannot help being affected by emotional changes from moment to moment.

If one feels insulted by any remark by someone, he will be on the offensive and have a strong desire to take revenge. Even in single day, moments of joy and sorrow, peace and unrest keep alternating. These momentary ups and downs keep repeating and recurring. Even a single disagreeable remark creates mental disturbance and fills the mind with the feeling of revenge.