Acharya Tulsi
None—violence is light and violence darkness. None—violence is truth and violence untruth. Non-violence is life—giving nectar, violence death. Non-violence is compassion and violence hatred. Non-violence is equanimity, and violence ruthlessness. Non- violence is invisible, violence palpable. There is a joy in the unknown which is not to be found in the known. In non-violence there is contentment; in violence only discontent. This is the eternal truth. The enlightened live it. Those who ignore it can never find peace or joy.
It is found in Ayurvedic literature that myrobalan is beneficial for the body as a mother to her son. It may chance that a mother gets angry with her children and in that moment of anger may wish them ill, but myrobalan would do a man no harm under any circumstances. The same may be said about non-violence. Like a mother, it can only do well to man. Under certain circumstances, a mother may cause her children some hit, but non-violence can never hurt a man. Unfortunately, man has not learnt to appreciate non-violence, which continues to be the only way to peace and prosperity. Political parties are today looking for a change of leadership, and they may well find a substitute. But there is no alternative to non-violence. If you want peace, you have to seek it in non-violence.
Non-violence is an all-time and universal remedy. It is possible to resolve every problem through non-violence. The agreement signed in Colombo recently on 29th July, 1987 between the Indian Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi and the Sri Lankan President, Jayevardhane, is a living example thereof. The non-violent resolution of the 4~year old ethnic conflict between the Tamils and the Sinhalese in Sri Lanka only testifies that there is no substitute for non-violence and that violent methods are bound to prove counterproductive. ln such matters, the adoption of a non—violent approach from the very beginning would provide non opportunity for violence to erupt.
Man lives in contradiction. He wants light and yet nurtures darkness. He longs for peace and yet he prepares for war. He talks of non-violence but is putting all his energy into evolving hew and more destructive weapons. The armament race has a long tradition. If any individual, society or nation gives themselves wholly to the development of weapons, then the neighbouring individual, society or nation would join the armament race out of fear and competitive spirit, even though all are greatly concerned about the danger of uncontrolled and wise use of such weapons. Such contradictions in human behaviour cannot be resolved by recourse to arms. lt would be rather more to the point to try to understand the mentality which manufactures arms. Only when man's consciousness is free from preoccupation with armament, shall non-violence have a chance to function without any obstruction.
If man wants to achieve something, he will have to develop his capacity for it. The power on non-violence depends upon the capacity of its devotees. Do people devoted to non-violence putas much faith in it as those given to violence have in the use of force? The mere adoption of non-violence without faith is utterly futile. But if one has complete faith in non-violence, one would not seek any substitute for it under any circumstances.
None—violence is the whole truth. It cannot be segregated; there can be no such thing as Asian, European or American non-violence. For non-violence to be effective on the international level, one must ensure three things—research, training and application. If the believers in non-violence come together to do research in this field,’ provide training in non—violent living, and in their own lives counter violence with non—violence, the glory of non—violence would be firmly established.
None—violence is our final destination. If we move in this direction, step by step, non-violence would provide us with full security. Just as a small earthen lamp is capable of piercing the density of darkness, similarly one step at a time towards non- violence would ultimately take us to our destination, where all is light and no darkness, where all is clarity and no confusion.
