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Gommatesvara Commemoration Volume
but by the deep-seated doctrine of Ahimsā. In the hands of Gandhi, who believed, Satyannästi paro dharmaḥ (there is no religion greater than Truth), Ahimsā proved the most powerful instrument for the regeneration of the masses. The connotation of Ahimsā as preached - practised by Gandhi reached the highest watermark ever. To Gandhi, Ahimsā was not merely non-violence but love, and not merely 'love all' but ‘love thy enemy', almost a divine quality. Once I asked Gandhiji as to why stick to the negative word Ahimsā, why not adopt the word Love; he quipped, ‘Love has other meanings, and I do not want to take the risk; for me Ahimsā, is more than sufficient'. The fabric of the whole philosophy of Gandhiji's life was built round Ahimsā. Truth is God, but the way to Him is Ahimsa.
Gandhi gave Ahimsa a positive content, and that was, 'Resist evil and injustice, you must but always do it by non-co-operation, by Ahimsã and with no ill-will towards even the opponent'. His Satyagraha was another word for the Ahimsā way of life, the fragnant flower of the philosophy of love : Life lived in love, for love and out of love for all.
It is true that things and events as they are happening today in our midst, are sufficient to shake any one's faith in Ahimsā and the Ahimsä way of life and Ahimsā Culture. But if one glances objectively and without any prejudices at the course of human history, one can easily discern that it is, Ahimsā -- Love, non-violence, self-control observed by the bulk of humanity which have been responsible for all the civilization and culture that exists today. One may say, that if there were no violence, hatred, war and destruction, humanity would have evolved not only to the present levels but even to higher levels. But do we not see, that within the span of about six thousand years, man has evolved from the tribal and head-hunting stage to a United Nations Organisation which can boast of 152 free and independent nations ? Science and technology have advanced to such an extent that the idea of the Family of Man is no longer too distant. Global planning and thinking have come to stay. Problems of peace, of food, of refugees, of health, of population are no longer thought of piecemeal, but on a global scale The idea of One-World is no longer an impossible utopia but some thing which can be thought of and planned. Gandhi asked himself a question, man who had access to the secret of the atom, will he be far away from the secret of the human heart, human harmony and human happiness? What is required is to follow, the clues already provided by Ahimsā, by love, by altruistic disciplines. Pitrim Sorokin, the great Sociologist of the century, in his preface to 'The Ways and Power of Love' declares: "...cruelty, hatred, violence and injustice never can and never will be able to create a mental, moral or material millenium. The only way toward it is the royal road of all-giving creative love, not only preached but consistently lived'.
Abimsā, spelt Love, is a life-giving force, necessary for physical, mental
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