________________
SCHOOL
TIONAL
OF
SELF STUDY IS THE
SUPREME AUSTERITY,
STUDIES
also. Therefore they are always ready to take revenge on cruelty committed. Thus their readiness to go to war is against cruelty and not just for the sake of war only.
Acārya Patanjali, while defining the nature or 'yamas' or the vows for life for the practitioners of religious-moral ethics in Yoga-darśana says Ahimsa styästeya brhmacarya parigraḥ yamah. He then proceeds to emphasize the importance of ahimsa prtatsthāyan tatsannidhyau varia tyāgah. There are many part/ limbs/anniga in yoga and Ahimsa is the first one amongst them. Sages say that ahimsa is the supreme religion and it is the supreme penance and charity also. If a householder practices ahimsā, then his family life also becomes pleasant. One who does not have ahimsa in his heart is said to be heartless. An Urdu poet has expressed this in the following couplet.
agar tere dil mein daya hi nahim samajha le tujhe dil milā hi nahim
Ahimsa means absence of himsā i.e. absence of violence, absence of violent feelings and activities. Ahimsa makes all beings free from pains. Besides these Saint Kabir gave importance to Ahimsa in his thoughts and doctrines as is evident in the following verses:
Page 248 of 273
jihin ghați priti na premaras, puni rasnā nahim Rāma te nar is samsara mem, upaji bhaye bekām
The one who does have love in his heart, nor have tasted love and does not recite the name of Rāma; he is born without any meaning and gets destroyed ultimately.
Kabir prem na cāsiyā na liyā sāva sune ghar kā pāhuna jyun aya tyun jāna Kabīrā soī pīra hai, jo jānai par pīr jo par pir na jānaī, so kāfir bepīr durbal ko na satāiye jāke moti hāya mare jīva hāya se, loha bhasma ho jaya
STUDY NOTES version 5.0
