Concept of Pancasila in Indian Thaought

Author(s): Kamla Jain
Publisher: P V Research Institute Varanasi

Page 62

Non-Violence
also uses it in a somewhat similar sense of unconditional and universally applicable vow of the yogin, which is complete in the sense that it is unqualified by species, place, time or urgent necessity,1 i. e. it makes no room for any exception to commit any act of violence under any circumstance. It is not qualified in respect of species as for example a fisherman can say, 'I will not do injury to any one except catching fish' or in respect of place as when one says, 'I will not slay in a holy place', in respect of time as when one says, 'I will not slay on the fourteenth of the fortnight or on a day of good omen', or when one says in respect of exigency, 'I will slay only for the gods or the Brahmin'. It is this vow which is entitled 'mahāvrata', having no conditions and qualifications. Here one clearly sees that the slaughter of animals for the yajñas or for any other purpose is condemned as in the Śramaņical systems.
Patanjali further pronounces the helping devices which are auxiliary for the development of these yamas. He points out that if there are inhibitions by perverse considerations (vitarka), there should be cultivation of the opposites (pratipakṣa bhāvanā). What actually it means is that whenever in the mind of a person violence or other similar vices creep in, as for instance, 'I will kill him who hurts me', he should immediately cultivate the opposite of these. He should think: 'Baked upon the pitiless coals of the round of rebirths, I take my refuge in the rules of yoga by giving protection to every living creature'. Thinking in this way would be a fruitful effort on one's own part to destroy this mental conflict or a tendency to kill. One cannot fight with this by a frontal attack, that is by simply checking it; what one could do is to
1. जातिदेशकालसमयानवच्छिन्नाः सार्वभौमा महाव्रतम् ।
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--Pat. Yoga, 2.31.
2. धारेषु संसाराङ्गारेषु पच्यमानेन मया शरणमुपागतः सर्व भूताभयя : I-Vyasa's Comm. on Pat, Yoga, 2,33.