So also, the Buddha’s preaching that expects a monk to bear all torture meted on to him by the adversary. Will such a reaction to attacks done to you ever work? Shouldn’t you at least protect yourselves? Shouldn’t you stop the aggressor from further attacks?
I have explained why both Jesus and Buddha chose such an approach in my book “Was Jesus really in India?”. Probably, under the circumstances in which they made these suggestions, that was the best option.
But ancient Indians barring the likes of Buddha, never advocated such an approach. Their approach was
First try to dissuade the adversary from attacking you by whatever means it takes, of course without resorting to violence. That may include sane advice, sorting out the issues amicably by discussion, appeasement etc. – the so called Saama, Daana, Bheda.
When everything else fails, use the last weapon namely retaliation or Danda.
The great Indian Epic Mahabharata was a great example for this ancient Indian approach. You can see my book “Crux of Mahabharata for busy people” for a real-life case how this principle was adopted.But Patanjali in his Yoga Sutra, lists Ahimsa as the first ‘do’ in his set of dos and don’ts. Ahimsa literally means nonviolence – not indulging in harm to others.
The way the word Ahimsa is defined in Yoga Sutra is as follows
Not betraying any being, at any time, in any form, is Ahimsa. The opposite of this is Himsa.
So, Himsa is not restricted to human beings alone since it says – all beings.
It is not just about physical assault or killing. It says - all forms.
The justification of many meat eaters that the animals are butchered in a humane way is not acceptable. No matter how you kill them, you are snatching their right to exist. That is the biggest betrayal and the pain you can cause. Every being wants to live on.
That brings up the most important question – can we ever practice such a value?
Even if we turn into vegetarians, we do eat plants and their produce. Even the plants have life and they too may have feelings. Are we not snatching their right to live in addition to harming them?
How about a fisherman or a butcher who lives by killing even though he has no enmity with the fishes or any animal? If he does not kill, he probably cannot survive!
What about a soldier engaged in protecting his country? He has to retaliate and kill the enemy if needed. Is he wrong?
Yoga Sutra suggests these possibilities. It also advises that if one can avoid all kinds of Himsa, then that is the best.
Probably, the Yoga means to say that one should try to avoid Himsa to the extent possible. When unavoidable, indulging in Himsa becomes acceptable.
So, probably the best way to define Ahimsa is ‘shun avoidable Himsa’. If something is unavoidable, still you will be doing Ahimsa but in a restricted way.
Why is Ahimsa so important?
Obviously, when you kill or harm someone, that someone would surely retaliate. Either that someone would harm you in return or at least you will forever be in the fear of being attacked. That is what has been happening all over the world today. No matter how many terrorists you kill, more are going to erupt and the massacres continue. We will forever be under the shadow of fear of being attacked.
Fear induces stress and stress is the root cause of all our problems.
Supposing everyone follows Ahimsa. Then we have the most peaceful world, a world that is not only peaceful for us but also to all beings. That lifts off a major burden from all of us.
One may feel that such an ideal is never practicable. Even if you practice Ahimsa, it is not necessary that the opponent also should practice it. He may harm you even if you don’t mean any harm to him.
So, it is a quite tricky issue. All that one can try to practice is not to indulge in avoidable violence. Try avoiding violence to the extent possible. And when inevitable, try to minimize the harm. That may be a more prudent approach. But are we following that approach at the moment?
Unfortunately, our decisions are guided by political aims, short sighted greed for wealth, mindless show of superiority, and so on.
Let us continue our discussion with the next Do in Patanjali’s Yama in the next episode.
A series revolving around Mind – Science of Mind, Philosophy of Mind, Notions of reality, Mind modulation, Domains beyond Mind, and so on. © Dr. King 2019
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