The Anuvrat Movement: Theory and Practice: Vow 01

Vow One:

I will not intentionally kill any innocent creature. I will not commit suicide and I will not commit feticide.

The first vow clearly belongs to the category of ahimsa, exhibiting great reverence for all living beings. The traditional ahimsa vow entails five infractions: "the treatment of humans and animals in one's care and include holding beings in captivity, beating, mutilating or branding, loading excessive weight on the back or head and providing insufficient food or water."^[86] The vow centered on the protection of animals was relevant when conduct for the household was dependent on agricultural activities in a predominantly agricultural India. In the Anuvrat Movement of the mid twentieth century, Tulsi expanded on the ahimsa vow by specifically singling out the issues of suicide and abortion, as he was aware that they were topics of great public debate in modern Indian society than the issues related to animals.

In respect to the first part of the vow, I will not kill any innocent creature - I wondered how an Anuvrati who complies with a vow of non-killing rids their house from unwanted cockroaches and other insects. Does the vow, not to kill living beings mean sharing one's food and bed with insects, mice and rats? To this question an Anuvrati housewife responded in the following way:

We discussed this problem with the nuns, and according to them, if these creatures are troubling you or infecting your food and grains, then they cannot be considered as innocent. The Anuvrat vow refrains you from killing innocent creatures. At least by taking this vow, one develops the consciousness of limiting the act of killing insects of one's house.^[87]

The argument that only the innocent are protected from all killing is, of course, an old one, appearing in most treatments of just war (non-combatant immunity) as well as in classical justifications of capital punishment. The aforementioned response, typical of my respondents, demonstrates the ability of Anuvratis to allow some flexibility in interpretation. An Anuvrati can be conscientious about not harming innocent life, but still able to address a situation that may be harmful to themselves or their family. On the other hand, this seems a somewhat simplistic answer. For one could make the same argument about killing insects or rodents in the yard, around one's house that bite or otherwise could harm children.

Along the same lines in the application of ahimsa, I wondered: can a non-vegetarian be an Anuvrati? Many respondents, along with the above interviewee, rejected the idea of non-vegetarians being Anuvratis. However, the antithesis of this view given by another respondent was: "Food and personal eating habits do not obstruct an initiate from taking the vows of moral upliftment."^[88] Such contrasting views regarding the criteria of vegetarianism and non-vegetarianism for the Anuvratis was not exclusive to the laity but was also reflected among my ascetic respondents. Perhaps, it raise the question of why there should be an absolute line between animals/insects on the one hand, and plants on the other, especially since we know of all the virtually invisible forms of life, down to the size of viruses that exist and can be killed by our activities. If we have the right to take medicine to kill infections or viruses in our bodies, do we also have the right to research how to exterminate such infections or viruses? What does "innocent" mean here - anything that is of potential harm to humans?

Coming to the vow, I will not commit feticide - in a strongly patriarchal society like India, abortion is principally sex selective abortion of females. New data from the 2011 Indian census show that there are now 914 girls aged 0-6 years old for every 1,000 boys of the same age. [...] Anyhow ratio has deteriorated from the 2001 ratio of 927 girls.^[89] To counter these social issues, the Akhil Bhartiya Terapanth Mahila Mandal (ABTMM), a women's association has been working actively since 1966. The women's association was formed with the inspiration from Acharya Tulsi to increase public awareness on gender exploitation, issue of female feticide and other challenges of modern society. One respondent, who presided over ABTMM for several consecutive terms, said: "Our nationwide Save Girl Child movement is running very successful. We organize workshops, campaigns, rallies, press releases, banners on the subject, advertisements, awareness seminars in school and colleges, counseling sessions for newlyweds etc."^[90] Whereas, in an interview, Muni Sukhlal (the monk who currently oversees the Anuvrat Movement) said: "Save Girl Child movement is under the Anuvrat banner."^[91] However, the ABTMM carries the spirit of the movement but does not credit Anuvrat in its initiatives.

The indefinite response of Akhil Bhartiya Terapanth Mahila Mandal (ABTMM) raises questions like: How does one define success, and it is still unclear whether the increased awareness is having a real impact on the statistics or not. Secondly, one needs to consider how wise it is to attempt to deter people from a practice without changing the circumstances that cause such practice to be chosen; for example, what are the reasons behind son preference?

As for the vow, I will not commit suicide - Suicide is a more difficult subject to address as the reasons for committing suicide vary greatly among different socio­economic groups and cultures in India. In a country where poverty is a key reason for suicide, globalization and affluence are also contributing factors to the seemingly high suicide rate in India. Some respondents held opinions on how the Anuvrat Movement might be able to address the issue of suicide. They emphasized upon meditation to manage stress, incorporation of the Science of Living in schools for developing an integrated personality and combine income generation programs. One example as narrated by Muni Sukhlal (monk) is as follows:

A woman from a remote village near Mumbai was deserted from her husband's family. Out of desperation, she was intending to commit suicide. On her way, she met an Anuvrati woman worker. This poor woman was taken to the Anuvrat center. First she was trained in Preksha Meditation to stabilize her mental state. Eventually she was provided with a sewing machine and training in stitching. She went back to her family as an empowered woman.^[92]

The above example as narrated by the monk-respondent demonstrates material, social and spiritual assist provided to the woman. Thus it implies, how along with the changing time, the movement has redirected from being solely a concept of vow, to embrace a more holistic approach for self-transformation.