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NON-VIOLENCE
cise independent judgment. We have no personal dimension. We have lost our desire for private life. We have become helpless pawns with no freedom of choice or action. We are becoming parts of a huge machine, and we sacrifice ourselves in an ecstacy of enthusiasm for the good of the machine. Thus we are at the cross-roads of history. We are not able to develop a firm attitude of purposeful hostility toward the danger of universal destruction. We are courting it by our attitudes and actions. We seem to be moving towards a world catastrophe with our eyes wide open and our ears deaf to the voice of the law of non-violence.
In man, there is always an urge to self-transcendence; but, until it becomes absolute unselfishness, narrow loyalties and destructive rivalries will prevail. The unrest in the world is a reflection of our inner disharmony. People are saved not by their military leaders or industrial magnates or by their priests and politicians, but by their saints of implacable integrity. We should bear in mind that the doctrine of Ahiṁsā or non-violence, if rightly understood and practised, leads us to self-reliance, self-realization, self-control, sympathy and serenity. It leads us to everlasting bliss.
It is hoped that the doctrine of Ahimsā, which is the basis of this moral universe, will illumine every heart enabling each one to attain spiritual independence by liberating his soul from the serfdom of passions and selfish actions.
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