War can at best be only a means to an end; it can never be an end, in itself. It is, therefore, imperatively necessary for the war lords to search their own hearts and make sure that the ends, for which they are fighting, are a reflection of the Divine Plan which is to lead humanity to a Spiritual Brotherhood, cemented by an inviolable sense of the Unity of all human beings, irrespective of the distinctions based on class, colour, nationality, race, religion or creed.
Even in itself, war is not an unmixed evil, since it calls forth and releases, under the stress of imminent danger, much action which is regardless of the limited self and which is inspired by the impersonal spirit of welcoming sacrifice and suffering for the safety and prosperity of fellow beings. It is better that such unselfish action be released under the stimulus of danger than that it should not be released at all: it is better that men should forget their petty selves under the pressure of a collective calamity than that they should be permanently encased in the ignoble pursuit of personal safety and in the ruthless attempt to perpetuate separative existence and interests. War-effort generates and fosters many qualities of spiritual importance; it is, therefore, not altogether without spiritual significance, even when it is considered in itself. And when war-effort is forced upon a nation or a people for the sake of higher values and impersonal considerations of general well-being, it becomes not only spiritually defensible but inevitable.
Right understanding of the status of violence and non-violence in the scheme of spiritual values, requires a true perception of the meaning of the purpose of existence. Action, therefore, should not be governed by means of any slogans—however high sounding—based upon incomplete and insufficient ideas of mere violence or mere non-violence: it should be a spontaneous outcome of Divine Love, which is above duality and of Spiritual Understanding, which is above rules.
– ’Gems from The Discourses of Meher Baba’, p12