Ahimsa, commonly referred to as “nonviolence” but more literally translated from Sanskrit as “absence of injury” is an ancient concept originating in the Vedas—Indian spiritual and philosophical wisdom dating from as far back as 1900 BCE, or nearly 4,000 years ago. Patanjali, developed what we know as the Yoga Sutra and the basis of classical yoga’s eight limbs. Ahimsa is part of the first of the eight limbs known as yama, or practices of self-regulation designed to free us from being victims of our own human impulses. Ahimsa is also a foundational principle of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism.
Ahimsa in Hinduism:
Ahimsa is the Hindu belief that symbolizes love, genuine care, and compassion towards all living beings. The principle of ahimsa extends far beyond avoiding causing physical harm; it also includes avoiding causing harm through speech, thought and inaction. The mere act of living requires some violence. Therefore, the objective is to minimise the level of violence.
There are many reasons why Hindu Dharma strongly advocates Ahimsa. Hindus believe that God pervades all living and non-living things. Humans, animals, plants, mountains, rivers, oceans, and the whole of creation; hence, all forms of life are sacred and should be loved and revered. In addition, the law of karma teaches that whatever we do through word, thought, and deed will return to us whether it is in this life or the next. If we cause harm in any way, it will eventually revert to us in an equal or amplified intensity.
Because of the knowledge of reincarnation, the Hindu knows that he may one day be in the same position of anyone he might be inclined to harm or persecute. The Hindu who is consciously aware within his soul knows that he is the time traveller and may incarnate, take a body of flesh in the society he most opposed, in order to equalize his hates and fears into a greater understanding which would result in the release of ignorance. The knowledgeable Hindu is well aware of all these possibilities. According to religious scriptures, Ahimsa is certainly not cowardice; it is wisdom. Wisdom is the cumulative knowledge of the existing divine laws of reincarnation, karma, dharma, the all-pervasiveness and sacredness of things, blended together within the psyche or soul of the Hindu.
According to Swami Vivekananda, the test of Ahimsa is the absence of jealousy. The man whose heart never cherishes even the thought of injury to anyone, who rejoices at the prosperity of even his greatest enemy, that man is the Bhakta, he is the yogi, he is the guru of all.
According to Hinduism, to have a nonviolent world would simply mean that all individuals have to somehow or other reconcile their differences enough so that the stress their differences produce can no longer take over their mind, body and emotions, causing them to perform injurious acts. Again, this would begin in the home. Peaceful homes breed gentle people. Gentle people follow ahimsa. Furthermore, the belief structure of each individual must allow for the acceptance of the eternal truths.
But in Hinduism, while non-violence is the ultimate dharma some level of violence becomes necessary to protect from others evil actions. Lord Krishna clearly states that Ahimsa, while highly regarded, is not the highest dharma for everyone and certainly not for Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra Cowardly behaviour in the face of evil is adharma, shameful and will bring disrepute. Practicing Ahimsa when someone enters a house and molests a householder’s wife or child would be an act of cowardice. In the same manner, a soldier cannot put down his weapons in a war. In either of the cases above, practicing of Ahimsa would be adharma, not Dharma.
Ahimsa in Jainism:
In Jainism, one of the subjective inhibitions is vows. It is also called as vrata. Ahimsa or non-injury is one among the five vows or vrata. The five vows of Jainas correspond to the five restraints of the yoga system. The injury consists in hurting the life of a creature by actions of mind, body and speech moved by passions (pramattayoga). The sins corresponding to the duties of ahimsa, truthfulness, non-stealing, sex restraint and non-acceptance of unnecessary gifts are injury, falsehood, stealing, sex-gratification and worldly attachment
Jain Dharma sees the whole universe as a great cosmic mechanism. Humans, as part of that mechanism, must conduct ourselves in harmony and rhythm with it. Anything said or done in this world is echoed back with the same intensity. One could even say that the global ecological crisis that is threatening the entire human race is the consequence of an echoing back of our own negative thoughts, words and actions. Everything works according to its nature. But humans live out of sync with the mechanism when we go against our qualities of love, kindness and friendship for all living beings. When we forget how so many invisible lives have made our single day liveable and comfortable we imperil our own lives.
Jains consider nonviolence to be the most essential duty for everyone. It is an indispensable condition for liberation from the cycle of reincarnation, the ultimate goal of Jainism. According to Jainism every act by which a person directly or indirectly supports killing or injury is violence (himsa), which creates harmful karma. The aim of ahimsa is to prevent the accumulation of such karma. Jains share this goal with Hindus and Buddhists, but their approach is particularly comprehensive. Their scrupulous and thorough way of applying nonviolence to everyday activities and food shapes their lives and is the most significant hallmark of Jain identity. Jains believe that all animals, plants, and human beings contain living souls. Each soul is of equal value and should be treated with respect and compassion.
Jaina philosophy is clear that the intention which precedes the act must be pure. Hence the control of mind is more important in this philosophy. Thus, a coordination of the mind and body is essential for the practice of this principle. Ahimsa promises to preserve and promote life with dignity and freedom. When a person understand and enjoy his own freedom and practice ahimsa based on Jainism, he/she will also respect others’ freedom. It also can be inferred that violence restrains moksha whereas ahimsa liberates the souls to attain moksha. We can enjoy violence free world and feel moksha here and now.
Ahimsa in Buddhism:
In Buddhist thought, Ahimsa is also an important concept, the first precept of Buddhism is to avoid doing harm to other living things.
Buddhism teaches us non-violence towards others; violence towards other living things is contrary to the teachings of the Buddha. Historically, Buddhists have, on the whole, adhered to this precept. The Buddha taught us to overcome and avoid suffering. Therefore, we cannot impose suffering on others. Killing not only causes suffering for the person who is killed but also causes suffering for their family and friends who have lost their loved one. It is also the seed of future suffering, with bad karmic consequences for the killer.
The Buddha also taught us to show love and compassion to others in place of hate and violence, and not just love for our friends but equally for our enemies, or those who seek to do us harm. One cannot become enlightened without compassion; killing is the fundamental opposite of compassion. The only exception might be — in the opinions of some — a mercy killing such as euthanasia for terminally suffering beings, or defending another innocent being from harm. But when I refer to killing, I am referring principally to war, murder and killing.
The story of Angulimala is one of the most famous in the Buddhist cannon. Angulimala became a serial murderer, killing innocent people and terrorising many others. He chopped off their fingers and made them into a necklace and thus became known as “Angulimala” (translates as Finger Necklace). The Buddha tells him that this is the result of his actions and that him being attacked is his karmic debt being paid off. Ahimsaka later became enlightened and became an arhat, after years of purifying the negative karma of his violent past. Although the story of Angulimala teaches us many things, its main point is that no one is inherently evil and that no one is beyond redemption. The Buddha challenges someone who practices extreme violence with non-violence and wins.
Ashoka last major emperor in the Mauryan dynasty of India. After his successful conquest of the Kalinga, acknowledging the bloodshed in the war he converted into Buddhism and renounced armed conquest and adopted a policy that he called “conquer by dharma”. One of the scholars of religion explained the ultimate goal is the attainment of the state of nirvana, this escaping the cycle of suffering and rebirth.
Ahinsa of Mahtma Gandhi:
According to Mahtma Gnadhi, nonviolence is an active force of the highest order. It is soul force or the power of Godhead within us. Imperfect man cannot grasp the whole of that essence – he would not be able to bear its full blaze, but even an infinitesimal fraction of it, when it becomes active within us, can work wonders. For him, there was no space for violence. He advocated Ahimsa (Non-Violence) in his idea of Satyagraha, a method used for mass mobilisation. While the Truth was the foundation of his philosophy, Ahimsa was the guiding law that should be followed by each Satyagrahi.
Gandhi saw violence pejoratively and also identified two forms of violence; Passive and Physical. The practice of passive violence is a daily affair, consciously and unconsciously. It is again the fuel that ignites the fire of physical violence. Gandhi objects to violence because it perpetuates hatred. When it appears to do ‘good’, the good is only temporary and cannot do any good in the long run. A true nonviolence activist accepts violence on himself without inflicting it on another. When Gandhi says that in the course of fighting for human rights, one should accept violence and self-suffering, he does not applaud cowardice. Cowardice for him is “the greatest violence, certainly, far greater than bloodshed and the like that generally go under the name of violence.” For Gandhi, perpetrators of violence (whom he referred to as criminals), are products of social disintegration.
Gandhi feels that violence is not a natural tendency of humans. It is a learned experience. There is need for a perfect weapon to combat violence and this is nonviolence. Gandhi said ahimsa means love. Because if you have love towards somebody, and you respect that person, then you are not going to do any harm to that person.” For Gandhi, nonviolence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than any weapon of mass destruction. It is superior to brute force. It is a living force of power and no one has been or will ever be able to measure its limits or it’s extend.
It was in this course of his pursuit of truth that Gandhi discovered nonviolence, which he further explained in his Autobiography thus “Ahimsa is the basis of the search for truth. For nonviolence to be strong and effective, it must begin with the mind, without which it will be nonviolence of the weak and cowardly. A coward is a person who lacks courage when facing a dangerous and unpleasant situation and tries to avoid it. A man cannot practice ahimsa and at the same time be a coward.
True nonviolence is dissociated from fear. Gandhi feels that possession of arms is not only cowardice but also lack of fearlessness or courage. Gandhi stressed this when he says; “I can imagine a fully armed man to be at heart a coward. Possession of arms implies an element of fear, if not cowardice but true nonviolence is impossibility without the possession of unadulterated fearlessness.” In the face of violence and injustice, Gandhi considers violent resistance preferable to cowardly submission. There is hope that a violent man may someday be nonviolent, but there is no room for a coward to develop fearlessness.
Conclusion:
Non-violence is abstaining from violence in its different forms. Even thinking and wishing violent and negative things is a violence. Violence may be through speech, hatred, action. Violence means not having compassion. Violence can be intentional or unintentional. Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism all declares that non-violence is very important stage is obtaining moksha. Today, when the world is combating issues like cross-border terrorism, international conflicts, wars, and other forms of violence, we are contemplating the pertinence of Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy of Ahimsa in the current scenario. Gandhiji not only led the country to achieve Poorna Swaraj (Total Independence), but also laid the foundation for a New India free from social evils like casteism, religious differences, economic inequalities, and gender bias.