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JAIN JOURNAL: Vol-XXX, No. 2. October 1995
These conditions can persist and when unchecked, a lifetime can pass. After many years of unchecked, non-vigilant lives, one becomes A-G-E-D with Anger, Greed, Ego, Deceit. These are also forms of violence. We have choices, and the consequences of nonattentive choices fossilize us and make us incapable of development. To make the right choice requires awareness of ahimsā.
Negatives in comparisons
Without knowing the process of vigilance, we will, in ignorance, compare everything and everyone; and in so doing we do not attend to the deeper meaning of life. For many, comparison is natural, because the mind is trained to compare, but if we stop to think and probe deeper, truth may dawn upon us that each is different and unique. Even in twins, each is unique.
Why do religious groups fight? Because they also compare. By comparing, they concentrate on superficiality and not on the essence of the religion. The learning from a teacher can be true in its time but it also can be a learning opportunity at other times, if each generation interprets the words in the context of the time, space and culture that is present for them. Karuna, loving compassion, inspires us to transcend the comparative and competitive attitude of the mind.
Those who impose their beliefs on others, expecting others to accept their truth, are nurturing a subtle seed of violence which in time will grow into a tree of even more small seeds and then more trees as a vicious cycle of violence. And as long as one is otheroriented, one has given his remote control to someone else.
When walls of other-ness are dropped, we see the sacred beauty of life in ourselves and we see that sacred beauty in others. We do not see that person as a man or woman or a person from a certain sect or religion. All these obstacles are removed. Unless we see beyond barriers, there won't be peace in us or in the world. We may talk about peace but inside we go on creating separation. Some say, "My religion is best; it is the only true religion. And, if you don't start to practise my religion. you will go to hell." Such dogmatism and bigotry is also a form of iolence. When we practise ahimsa, we try to understand what others are saying, what they are conveying, what they are feeling. We listen beyond the words. We may not agree but we respect their right to say.
Ahimsa in Introspection
Ahimsā tends to be understood only as "Don't do" this or that to others, animals and living beings. This is one meaning but it is
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