Acharya Tulsi
Man has two types of instincts-the instinct of a lion and the instinct of a dog. If someone shoots a bullet or an arrow at a lion, it turns and looks behind. It is curious to know from which direction the attack came. Who attacked? After that the lion adopts aggressive posture towards the attacker and wants to make its future safe by killing him. When someone throws a stone at a dog, it stops, but does not look behind. It does not notice the attacker. It starts licking the stone.
People with the instinct of a dog aim at immediate solution when they think about any subject. The immediate solution of a problem is also useful. But the problem does not end with that. It emerges in a changed form. Some people do not give thought to any problem till they are themselves affected by it. This is also due to narrow-minded thinking. If that problem is seen as universal and related to people in general, then no then no individual in any country can avoid taking notice of it.
The American President Woodrow Wilson drafted the Declaration of the League of Nations in 1919. That Declaration stated, “Any war or the danger of war, irrespective of whether any member of the League is immediately affected, is a matter of concern for the League as a whole." This way of thinking symbolises the instinct of a lion. Here the problem has been considered an all time problem. It is necessary to develop this kind of attitude. Otherwise man's powers would get lost in finding the immediate solutions to the problems. Thereby, it would be neither possible to find any permanent solution nor avoid dangers in the future.
Violence, terrorism, secessionism, addiction to intoxicating substances are the challenging problems before the country. Lot of discussion is going on for the solution of these problems. But the signs of solution are nowhere in sight. The reason is obvious. There is no search for the roots of the problems. There are lots of frantic efforts for the immediate solution of the problems guided by the instinct of a dog. But less attention is being paid to root causes of the problems by depending on the instinct of a lion. Reaching the root of the problem may take time. But any permanent solution, if it is found, would be only through this process.
Training in non-violence is the all-time solution of the problem of violence. On the basis of this idea, we have started making an effort to give training in non-violence. After the international convention on this subject, we have come to the conclusion that if the training in non-violence is made part of education, if the students are given training in nonviolence from the early stage, if the training is continued on theoretical and practical bases, if an outline and example of a 'non-violent way of living' are provided then the time would not be far when we may hear that violence has been replaced by non-violence.
