Towards absolute harmlessness

Towards absolute harmlessness

May 2023

Ahimsa, commonly interpreted as non-violence, is a powerful and transformative  tool that can reform us and society, provided each of us digs deep within ourselves  to uproot not just physical violence but emotional, mental, and spiritual violence as  well, says Suma Varughese 

I will start with a story. I love stories. I assume you do too. 

Dharam Das was a virtuous man who spent all the money  his father left him in aiding the sick and the poor. When his money was over, his beneficiaries deserted him. Dharmadas  was content, though he could no longer help people as he  once could. One day, he had a dream in which a holy man  told him that he would come to rest under the tall tree  of the local temple and that Dharamdas could take the  opportunity to beat him to death with a staff. His body  would turn to gold, which Dharamdas could then use  to disperse to charity. 

The next day as predicted, a holy man came at the  appointed time and stretched out and went to sleep  under the shade of the tall tree, setting aside his staffand a big sack. Here was Dharamdas’s opportunity.  

No one was around. And besides, the victim had  permitted him to murder him. But Dharamdas could  not. He watched over the sage sleeping calmly under the tree for several hours until he awoke. 

“You missed the chance of a lifetime,” the sage said, shaking  his head. 

When we are kind towards ourselves, ahimsa towards other living forms becomes a natural offshoot

Dharamdas responded that he could not kill  him even if he had asked him to do so for all the  gold in the world because an act of violence was  an act of violence. He invited the sage to join  him at home for a simple meal. Smiling, the sage  declined and got up to leave. Dharamdas bent  down to touch his feet. When he straightened  up the sage was gone, but the sack had been left  behind. A sack full of gold coins. 

Makes you think, does it not? Someone permits  you to kill him so you can become rich.  Moreover, the money is not for you but for the  betterment of people. Irresistible, save for one  thing. Once you kill, you become a killer. And  nothing can redeem you.  

For killing violates the concept of oneness, the  central truth of existence. If all is one, killing  another is tantamount to killing oneself. 

From head to heart  

This may become an experiential truth only  

when we become enlightened, but even a  little movement on the path sensitises us to  the suffering of another. For spirituality is a  movement from the head to the heart. As we  move away from our head, we become more  aware of what is going on with the other. And  our heart opens up. 

Ramakrishna Paramahansa was so sensitive  that when a buffalo was beaten in front of him,  welts appeared on his back. Another time, he  was passing through a village struck by famine  along with a rich disciple. The plight of the  people moved him so much that he sat down  and wept like a child, refusing to move until the  rich disciple had promised to feed the masses. 

The movement towards absolute happiness  includes becoming aware of suffering, both  ours and that of the other. After moving on  the path, many of us, including myself, can no  longer stomach the daily news. The unending parade of rapes, corruption, terrorism, murder,  and theft, leaves a visceral impact on us. At the same time, that same sensitivity to pain  also motivates us to action. To doing what we can  to alleviate the pain. And ourselves committing  to refrain from causing pain to others.  

Ahimsa—a way of life 

It is no wonder that ahimsa is a central tenet  in all Indic religions, especially Hinduism,  Buddhism, and Jainism. 

The Buddha has said, “All beings love life and  fear death. Therefore, refrain from killing.” 

Nonviolence is most identified with Jainism.  Mahavira, the great Tirthankara, considered  that since water also has life, ships that sailed  on water and forced it to bear their weight were  performing a sin. 

Jains wear cloth masks against their mouths to  prevent the accidental consumption of a flying  insect and walk barefoot to step more gently on  creatures of the earth. According to an article  we once carried in Life Positive when I was its  editor, Jains do not consume sprouted nuts or  pulses because they believe that it enhances  the life force and, therefore, goes against their  creed.  

Mahatma Gandhi, my personal hero and role  model, took this concept of non-violence and  expanded it to unprecedented proportions.  He fashioned it into a philosophy of life and a  political and social weapon called Satyagraha,  which enabled him to win freedom for this  country through non-violence. The Satyagrahis 

clung to their hold on truth and non-violence,  and refused to meet violence with violence,  using instead soul force to enable them to bear  the pain and the need for retaliation. In the  Bible, Jesus Christ advocated that when struck  on one cheek, you should turn the other cheek.  

And if someone asks you for your cloak, you  should also give him your coat. This is what the  Satyagrahis demonstrated so nobly, taking the  batons and bullets of the British government  without a whimper or whine until the British  had to declare themselves defeated. 

What a great force ahimsa is. Truly, it is said that  he who covets not gold nor fears death cannot  be conquered. No wonder, for Gandhi, non violence was the greatest force at the disposal  of mankind. It is mightier than any weapon of  mass destruction. It is superior to brute force. It  is a living force of power, and no one has been  or will ever be able to measure its limits or its  extent. 

And yet, how difficult it is to practise it; what  inhuman levels of will and self-control it calls  for! And can you imagine that ordinary people,  farmers, labourers, clerks, housewives, and  traders all rose to such high levels during that  blessed time! No country has ever succeeded in  such a task before, save ours. 

So ahimsa is very much a part of our culture,  our land, our vibes. The air we breathe, the  water we drink, and the land we walk on, are all  submerged in ahimsa. And yet, of course, there  is a lot to be done. 

Forms of non-violence 

Today, we live in transformative times. And  transformative times mean that the negative  will first be flushed out. Therefore, we can  see huge violence at every level. There is  tremendous unrest in several parts of the  world. There is economic violence caused by  the exploitation of resources and people. There  is social violence of every nature and, of course,  individual violence. But at the same time,  there is unprecedented awakening everywhere.  People are becoming more aware, making  

choices, leaving jobs, following their calling,  becoming healers, therapists, counsellors,  artists, and writers, preferring holistic ways to  live, to heal, and even to eat. 

Which brings me to one of the offshoots of  ahimsa—veganism—the refusal to consume  or use any product making use of animals  or sentient beings, as Buddhists would say.  Veganism is gaining huge currency not just in  India but all over the world, and one can only  applaud and appreciate this rising sensitivity  and respect for life.  

But ahimsa is more than just physical  abstinence from violence. 

According to Mahatma Gandhi, ahimsa implies  utmost selflessness. He felt that anyone  seeking enlightenment would have to be so  free of violence that he would come across as  being absolutely safe. 

In other words, what about emotional ahimsa? Mental ahimsa, spiritual ahimsa? Less is talked  about these dimensions, which in my opinion,  are equally, if not even more, crucial to the  pursuit of a truly ahimsic life. 

Even those of us who are masters of physical  ahimsa will err over and over again in the  zone of emotional, mental, or spiritual ahimsa  because in this we are ruled by our ego. Our  need to possess, to control, to be right, to win,  to put another down, as well as numerous other  drives have earned us the title of the cruellest  animal on Planet Earth.  

Each time we criticise or put down someone  else, we are committing emotional himsa  (violence) and are whittling away at the person’s  self-esteem and life force. Each time we oppose  another’s free will and seek to impose our own,  we are crippling and cramping their sense of  self and violating one of God’s primary laws,  which is freedom of will. 

Each time we tell another what to think and  what not to think, who to believe in and who  not to believe in, we are committing spiritual  himsa. 

Think about it. Are we all not culpable? So  how can we increase our emotional, mental,  and spiritual ahimsa quotient? Because that is  what the spiritual path is really all about. 

The root of the problem 

The first and most primary rule is ‘Love  yourself.’ Our fundamental problem is  that we do not love ourselves. We are most  himsic towards ourselves. Most critical, most  dismissive, most vitriolic. We would not dream  of speaking to most people as we would to  ourselves. And that is the root of all our himsa, 

The less we love ourselves, the more we look  outside ourselves for love, appreciation, and  endorsement. We also attempt to feel good  about ourselves by putting the other down.  By criticising them, controlling them, making  fun of them, making them feel inadequate,  and making them do what we want them to  do. Most of the dirty tricks department run by  the ego stem from its endless need to feel good  about itself and to feel secure. 

So how do we love ourselves? It won’t happen  overnight, but over time, we will get there.  Begin with becoming aware of how much  you run yourself down, how much you write  yourself off, your favourite epithets to describe  yourself, and so on. Work on accepting these  parts of yourself. Work on affirming the  qualities that are really you. Our biggest help  in the journey towards self-love is to recognise  that the person we are tearing down is really  not us. Who we are, the sages tell us, is nothing  less than God. We are whole, perfect, and  complete. We are the epitome of all virtues. So  let us affirm these virtues endlessly each time we feel not good enough, not pretty enough,  not smart enough, not ahimsic enough. 

Let us also learn to forgive ourselves. We are  here on Planet Earth to learn, to evolve, and to  attain freedom from the cycle of life and death.  We cannot do that without a few stumbles and  falls. It is all right to fail in any enterprise. And  what is more, we have been given the franchise  by God to make mistakes. We have been given  freedom of will. We are also freely forgiven for  our mistakes. God does not hold it against us.  He does not lose faith in us. It is another thing  that through the mechanism of karma we must  pay for the consequences of our actions, but  benevolent life is always for us. 

In time, we will learn to appreciate ourselves,  to endorse ourselves, and to be on our side.  Even when the whole world is against us, we  will learn to be there for us. The more we fill  up from within, the more we naturally learn  to love others, to accept them, and to forgive  them. 

Mahatma Gandhi said that ahimsa is love.  Once we work on ourselves and heal ourselves,  love naturally flows because love is who we are.  Compassion is who we are. Service is who we  are. 

Putting others before ourselves 

This is my own journey; and of course, I am very  much a work in progress. My own technique  to help me work towards these higher forms of  ahimsa is to prioritise the happiness of others  because only through that can we arrive at  our authentic happiness. I remind myself as  often as I can every day that my focus is on  

the other’s happiness and my growth. That  helps me minutely every time to move a little  further away from my ego and a little closer to  my divine Self. 

Only when we achieve ahimsa at these other  levels will physical ahimsa become a natural  and simple state of being. Veganism is on  its way to becoming a major movement, and  to nurture its growth, we will need to use all  forms of ahimsa, not only the physical. For  instance, we need to beware of making people  feel guilty and bad about consuming animal  products. Because that is a form of violence.  Everyone has their own rate of evolution, and  we cannot force the pace. Let them come to  veganism when they are ready to. Our only job  is to create awareness. 

The Buddha, for instance, used to tell his  bhikkhus (monks) that it was advisable to eat  vegetarian food, but if a householder were  to drop some non-veg into their plate, they  were not to refuse because they would be  putting the householder to a lot of difficulty  in accommodating their needs. It is this larger,  more expansive view that will enable us to  propagate our point of view without putting  others’ backs up. 

And as we evolve into that stage of perfect  ahimsa, we will find that we emanate powerful  vibrations of amity and friendship that draw  people to us and cause them to drop their  guard. Only then will you be able to reach  across and influence them. Simply by being  you, you will be able to spread the message of  ahimsa without saying a single word! 

Suma Varughese is a thinker, writer, writing coach and the founder-facilitator of the popular  Zen of Good Writing Course. She is the former editor of Life Positive and Society magazines.  She has authored Travelling Light, Travelling Lighter and 50 Life Lessons. She can be contacted at  sumavarughese@gmail.com