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
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