1.16 Non-Violence - Its Dimensions and Practices

Non-violence, Compassion and Instrumentality A Jaina Perspective Seminar organized by the Department of Jainology of the University of Madras, 13 and 14 February 2009 Chennai, India

 13.02.2009

1.16 Non-Violence - Its Dimensions and Practices

Today’s major issue for which almost all the nations of the world endeavor to find a solution is raising violence. From time immemorial it is thought that man is a sociable animal who respects his fellow-humans, but looking into the global violence today one fails to understand how man got into the grip of violence or to be more precise how violence got over him. Is it all because of psychological tension arising from economic inequality or is it a social problem originating from conflicts of ideologies and faiths or political problem such as arms race, war, or is it due to problems of human survival linked to production and ecological balance?

The world is torn by tension, strife, crime and regional conflicts. Everybody is suffering from uncertainty about the future and from lack of peace of mind. It is obvious that man has become intolerant and does not want to respect the sentiments of others. Even for, as small a matter as crossing the road as a pedestrian or driving a vehicle or standing in a queue to procure something, how impatient he has become!

When we could notice such intolerant behavior in the day to day life of any individual then the cases of a group behaving intolerantly towards another group, a community to another community, a nation to another nation –after all only these individuals form the group, the community or the country can easily be justified giving the same reason of state of impatience, intolerance and insolence.

Is the intolerance alone the cause for violence? What are the dimensions of violence? If we analyze this we can automatically know the answer for the question: “What are the dimensions of non-violence?”

Ahiṁsā is a Sanskrit word meaning to do no harm and more precisely, avoidance of violence - hiṁsā. It is an important tenet of all the religions that originated in ancient India, namely Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. ahiṁsā is a rule of conduct that bars the killing or injuring of living beings. It is closely connected with the notion that all kinds of violence would attract negative karmic effects. The extent to which the principle of non-violence to be observed is differing within these religious faiths has been a subject for debate for centuries. But the basic Indian concept of non-violence is that one should refrain from causing harm to others not only by action, but also by words and even by thoughts - the three kāraṇas: mano vāc kāya! But we find that the in the present day violence is three dimensional –man does harm to his neighbor by all three kāraṇas by his thoughts, talks and touches!

- But if this concept has been our ideal for centuries together why man’s mind has become the hot-bed for violence today?

Although the ideal of nonviolence is universal we can proudly record that the religions of Indian origin consider it to be the foundation of the entire code of ethics. ahiṁsā paramo dharmaḥ – nonviolence is the supreme virtue - this is the key mantra of all Indian religions.

In Indian traditions non-violence is translated into the practices of the following principles which include non-injury to all living beings including animals and plants, compassion to all, abstinence from animal sacrifices, cultivating universal love, forgiveness and friendliness to all, a non-violent approach to any violent action or words, and controlling oneself against any sort of violent overture.

The root of non-violence can be traced if we analyze it in a systematic manner. There are four basic factors that normally contribute to one’s violent attitude or his non-violent posture.

The first one is the genes in him which he has inherited from his forefathers. In this case is he helpless?

The second contributing factor is the basic instinct - which comes from the angle of social scientists.

The third important factor which is much talked about by the political analysts and environmentalists is that the atmosphere and the circumstances of the events around him have an immense effect on his tendency to be either violent or otherwise.

The last but not the least is the karmic effect which is his own contribution which he can always control by controlling his sensual organs which they call śabdhādhi matters: See no evil - speak no evil - Hear no evil policy!

For the first case - the genetic problem - some say it can’t be cured as the victim is helpless as he cannot change the influence of the hereditary disposition, but as any genetic disorder is treated nowadays this can also be cured as this is only a disorder and not a disease like diabetes.

Basic instinct, the second reason quoted, can also be controlled by means of diverting the mind to better avenues and nobler thinking and efforts can be made to make the mind come out of the clutches of violence by keeping it always under control.

The third one - violence due to circumstances - can also be won over by a proper approach and a few minutes of sane thinking could avoid many catastrophes.

The last one - the karma which is the result of our own actions can be arrested by refraining from the “three evil T’s”: thoughts, talks and touches! - denoting three kāraṇas! The originating point here is mind and if the mind is mended towards good thoughts and noble ideals then automatically the other two are brought to book and the rest is taken care of. Good thoughts lead to good actions, good actions lead to good practices, and good practices make one lead good life!

To have good thoughts instilled on us we should have good intake after all one’s food alone decides his actions.

There are specific scriptural injunctions in Indian religious thoughts against meat eating - which is the lowest form of non violence - but while Hinduism and Buddhism permit certain types of non-vegetarian foods this is totally taboo in Jainism. After all, the action or a reaction of any individual is directly dependent on his intake of food. Non-vegetarian food always results in excessive intake of protein which is the source of many imbalances including that of the mind. There are three types of diseases - ādhi, vyādhi and upādhi. The first is mental disease, the second is physical disease and the third is emotional disease. We always want to give preference to treating physical disease, but in reality we should begin with the emotional ailment, which consists of lust, anger, egoism, jealousy, delusion, greed and such other faults. Since emotions are vitally linked with food, we must exercise utmost discrimination in what we eat.

Non-violence - can yoga and meditation help?

There are other methods by which the cropping up of violent instinct can be allowed to die down: Control the mind and never allow it to succumb to diversified and base thoughts. Only tranquility in mind begets tolerance and contentment. In return moral and spiritual values and virtues as non-violence can lead to further peace of mind. But quite unfortunately these virtues are never given much importance in this world full of materialistic pursuits fueled by greed and base desire to get ahead of others in the race. No doubt, scientific and technological advances have made human life, especially for those who have access to the material means, quite pleasant. Nevertheless, most people on earth have no peace of mind. One of the most important factors for this unrest is stress and we are sure that violence is not possible in the absence of stress.

When in a relaxed mood a man is incapable of committing violence. Stress may be due to the feeling of disappointment and defeat or due to a hurt ego, and to be free from this meditation and yoga practices will definitely help relieving the stress.

Another way of looking at the problem is the attitude of man which is twofold - a positive attitude and a negative attitude. Man is always influenced by hatred, jealousy, fear and lust which are negative in nature while the positive attitude is to develop a mind that does not harbor such feelings. Meditation and yogic postures help us to develop this positive attitude which is free from all ill-feelings. Introspection, analyzing the self is a sure means to positive approaches which definite relieve the man of the stress and tense.

Non-violence is always misconstrued as an expression of a fear complex, as the general belief is that only people who are afraid would resort to a non-violent course. In today’s parlance heroism is always, as the celluloid hero does in a film, striking many opponents single-handedly, but a non-violent hero is not given any respect nor is he ever glorified. We have to recognize that today negative ideas hold sway in life and positive ideas are at discount. We must develop a non-violent personality through long, continuous and strict practice, even if the critics point out that if you are non-violent even after provocation, it is not because you are soft-natured, but actually because you are full of fear.

Even though Lord Mahāvīra gave much thrust to non-violence in his religious philosophy it is Mahatma Gandhi who gave a political recognition to it and the following incident shows how fearless he was. Once during one of his marches through the countryside he saw some villagers in a procession carrying a goat for sacrifice to some god. Gandhiji overtook them and sat on the ground obstructing their path and requested them to stop the animal sacrifice. When the villagers insisted he told them that if they were bent upon offering a sacrifice they might as well sacrifice him and leave the animal, as a human body would by any god be preferred to an animal body. The villagers felt ashamed and assured Mahatma that they would give up the practice of animal sacrifices. Gandhiji could do so only because he was not afraid of death even though the circumstances were dreadful. It shows how nothing in the outer world can strike fear in those who have succeeded in building a consciousness free from fear. On the other hand if the mind is given to fear, it will be full with fear only even though there is no cause for it. Only for facing such circumstances courage is required as cowards die many times in their life!

According to the Indian religious faiths, namely Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism non-violence as a noblest path for leading the life here though there is a little difference in their fundamental concept. There are scriptural injunctions in all these religions against violence. In Buddhism non-violence is one of the five percepts which in turn constitute Right Action of the Buddhist path. But Buddhist religious codes permit eating certain types of meat just in the case of Hinduism, whereas in Jainism the practice of Non violence reaches its culmination. It is one of the aṇuvratas. Since this ahiṁsā-vrata is based on the fundamental principle of avoidance of or abstention from hiṁsā, that is injury to sentient beings, it is quite necessary to understand the concept of hiṁsā as delineated by Jainism. In Jaina scriptures there is a clear cut distinction between Sthūla hiṁsā - destruction of higher order animals having two senses and above, and Sukṣa hiṁsā –the destruction of even ekendriyas - beings with one sense-organ. Similarly there are ‘Bahya’ - external aspects and ‘Antargata’, internal aspects obviously meaning external or actual acts of killing or injury and to the internal or intentional side of committing of injury. Mahāvīra in his Sūtragrantha says “The essence of all knowledge consists in not committing violence. The doctrine of non-violence is nothing but the observance of equality and that is realizing that I do not like misery as others also don’t like misery.

From time immemorial ahiṁsā appears to be a key concept for attaining the ultimate liberation for the human soul and we find many references to it in the Vedas and Upaniṣads. Even though the earliest references to ahiṁsā were without any moral connotations the later works like the Kapisthāla Kaṭha Saṁhita of the Yajur Veda reference to the idea of non-violence to animals (paṣu-ahiṁsā), is linked to moral values. This might have been written in 8th century BCE. The Chāndogya Upaniṣad of the 8th or 7th century BCE is one of the oldest Upaniṣads, and has the earliest evidence for the use of the word ahiṁsā in the familiar sense in Hinduism (a code of conduct). It bars violence against “all creatures” (sarva-bhūta) and the practitioner of ahiṁsā is said to escape from the cycle of reincarnation. It also mentions ahiṁsā as one of five essential virtues.

Vedic philosophy does not substantially differentiate the soul within a human body from that of an animal. Hence ahiṁsā as a binding code of conduct implies a ban on hunting, butchery, meat eating, and the use of animal products provided by violent means. The question of moral duties towards animals and of negative karma incurred from violence against them is discussed in detail in some Hindu scriptures.

Several highly authoritative scriptures bar violence against domestic animals except in the case of ritual sacrifice. This view is clearly expressed in the Mahābhārata also. These texts strongly condemn the slaughter of animals and meat eating. The Mahābhārata permits hunting by warriors, but opposes it in the case of hermits who must be strictly non-violent.

Most of the arguments proposed in favor of non-violence to animals refer to rewards it entails before or after death and to the horrible karmic consequences of violence. In particular, it is pointed out that he who deliberately kills an animal will on his part be eaten by an animal in a future existence due to karmic retribution. Ahiṁsā is described as a prerequisite for acquiring supernatural faculties, highest bliss and ultimate salvation.

The Dharmaśastras specify eight flowers for the worship of Brahman:

ahiṁsā prathamam puṣpam puṣpamīndriya nigraha sarvabhūtadaya puṣpam satyam puṣpam gnyānānthi puṣpam tapaḥ puṣpam krīya puṣpam dhyāname astamam puṣpam viṣṇupriyakaraḥ bhavet

The eight flowers, namely ahiṁsā, control of the senses, treating all alike, truth, peace, penance, forgiveness and meditation are the highest offering that can be offered to Viṣṇu - and of course ahiṁsā is in the first slot.

Rāmānuja Darśana, the other name for Viśiṣṭādvaita, clearly tells that the soul, whether it is in human body or in devas or in animal or even in any creature has no difference and it is only an embodiment of knowledge and bliss. According to Vaiṣṇavism Viṣṇu is all-pervasive and antaryāmī, i.e. he abides in all beings. As all the souls are the amsa [amṛṣā?? - truth?)] of Lord Viṣṇu, a vaiṣṇava should look upon all individuals as not only equal but also be compassionate to all. The crux of Viśiṣṭādvaita philosophy is only love and compassion to one and all of the objects of the world whether sentient or non-sentient. The true vaiṣṇava is expected to develop ethical virtues like honesty, integrity, truth and ahiṁsā. There is not a single soul on earth who is not connected to Vishnu and all are bhagavathas in the eyes of a devotee of Viṣṇu and the Viśiṣṭādvaita says he should be always sticking to non-injury and compassion. An oft quoted statement of Najīyar, one of the post-Rāmānuja āchāryas is appropriate here: “He who is compassionate towards others misery alone has a Vaiṣṇavite heart. He who doesn’t does not, has no true Vaiṣṇavite heart. Vaiṣṇava scriptures specify that besides compassion a Vaiṣṇavite should cultivate satya or truth, arjava or integrity, dāna or benevolence and ahiṁsā or non-violence. According to Vedānta Deśika, an eminent āchārya of Śri Vaiṣṇavism of the 13th century, the members of the society are classified not on the basis of caste or social status, but on their attitude towards the Lord. The non-believers should be persuaded to accept Him. The Vaiṣṇava should only take pity on these people and not condemn them.

The ethical values advocated in Vaiṣṇavism are universal, and the song which found the place in Mahatma Gandhiji’s daily prayer “Vaiṣṇava janato tere sahiye” amply echoes the Vaiṣṇavite concept of compassion and ahiṁsā.

Conclusion

Followers of all religions, including Jainism, rightfully contend that their respective religions promote peace. Everybody says that all men are created equal. All teach universal love, friendship, brotherhood and forgiveness. All religions preach charity and service to the sick and poor. Indeed, peace among mankind will prevail if everyone practices the teachings of their own religion.

The above observation implies that instead of trying to change others, we should look inward and imbibe the virtues of nonviolence, truth, non-stealing, chastity and non-possessiveness in one’s daily activities. One should minimize one’s passions and desires. One should give up egoism, greed and selfishness, have contentment and practice equanimity. This is Bhagavan Mahāvīra’s message of nonviolence and peace. By practicing the teachings of Bhagavan Mahāvīra, we will certainly achieve true happiness in our lives. To quote from the Uttarādhyāyana Sūtra:

A person who is free from delusion (who understands things as they are),
who has good qualities, who has good thoughts, speech and deeds,
and who avoids violence of body, speech and mind,
enjoys freedom like a bird while living on this earth.