Idea of Ahimsa and Asceticism in Ancient Indian Tradition

Author(s): Bansidhar Bhatt
Publisher: B J Institute

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THE IDEA OF AHMSA ....
dent on his own ritual karma. He is born in this world of his own creation, due to his own karmas, karmas in a broader sense : not only the ritual ones! Any type of karma, whether good or evil, cannot be transferred to othes. The mystery of the good or evil karma is found in the BA. Up. (3.2.13). The karmas of any type cannot be transferred in this world. The man has to enjoy the results of his own karmas. The successful effort in rooting out the (result of the) karmas lies in only the individual man and his interior capacity. No outer force or any sacrifice too is helpful in this matter. Such ideas about karma and transmigration of the soul developed on the basis of the individualization and the interiorization of the ritual systems of the early upanisadic times. They do not show any impact of the nonAryan sources on the Vedic Aryans (Heesterman-2 p.16; Schmidt-1 p.650 with fn. 2; Lommel. pp. 214 · 215).
(d) Karma and its origin :
Also, the belief in metempsychosis - transmigration of the soul, recurring deaths, the karma theory, etc. emerged gradually from the vedic ritualism - in the processes of individualization and interiorization, in its encounter with the renunciatory mode of life (cf. Schmidt-1.p.650; Heesterman-2.40). The recent study of Harmann W.Tull on the origins of the karmas in the vedic literature is worth noting. In his thesis: "The vedic origins of Karma", he observes that origins of karma lie in the vedic religion, in the ritual theology. The karma concept is as much old as the ritual theology of the Brahmana texts, ca.600 BC to 900 B. C. (Tull.p.15). According to him, the overvaluation of the upanisadic thinking overshadowed consequently some other aspects of the vedic religion. They were underestimated, but deserve all our attention. --- Man's birth after death depends on the moral quality of the karmas which he has done in his lifetime. This is reiterated in the BĀ. Up. (3.2.13) that man becomes good by his good karmas and he becomes bad due to his bad karmas of the past. The ritualists consider also the well-done - suksta - sacrifice, and its opposite, the sacrifice not well-done - dus-krta -, and the deciding factors for the next world accordingly. They also believe in the deva-yana and the pitr-yana, and 9. Due to the changed situation of rituals from the transversal axis to
the "vertical axis of the individual life.." and also because it was the negation of the contest, Yajňavalkya had to go outside to explain the mystery of the u panişa dic karma doctrine, but not in front of the participants of the verbal contest (cf. Heesterman3. pp.34-35; also Heesteman-2. p.15, fn.31).