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JAIN JOURNAL
Vol-XXX
No. 2 October
1995
PEACE THROUGH NON-VIOLENCE
PUJYA SHREE CHITRABHANUJI
Preamble
Believe it or not, mankind faces severe crisis in almost every corner of the world, because of violence in so many places and in so many ways. Peace and harmony are in danger. Life is plagu inhumane torture, with senseless death, and with mutilated killings. In this time of turmoil and crises, the answer is ahimsā, non-violence.
As a photograph has a two-way process: a negative and a positive, non-violence is also expressed in two aspects: to do and not to do, commission and omission. The first aspect is karunā: a commitment to loving compassion, a feeling of equality with all life. And the second is ahimsā : not to harm, not to kill. There is no room for violence (himsā) when we are filled with love. Love is understanding.
Basis of Violence
Violence starts with oneself. Being harmful, we first harm ourselves because the negative vibrations of hate, anger and resentment poison our sensitivities and our well-being. In this state, negative vibrations are being collected and stored in the brain. From the brain, these negative vibrations go into the mind. Once the mind is permeated with these negativities, the mind is not capable to mind its business. Without discerning senses, these vibrations automatically enter our being. Here, even our consciousness is also tainted with violent, poisoning vibrations. So, the person is now possessed with it, and a possessed person is not able to listen to even his/her own voice. This process of movement from the brain to consciousness shows how we are conditioned and colored with negative habits and harm ourselves with violence. The person who is ready to change the habit of the mind, the tendency of the mind, has to feel ahimsā, non-violence.
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