Light of Nonviolence

Author(s): Sushilmuni
Publisher: Vishwa Ahimsa Sangh Delhi

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I tell you these things with benefit of hindsight. At the time, I had no knowledge nor even suspected that there might be trouble. First, shortly after the rally officially opened, and I was at the speaker's platform, a disturbance was heard and people could be seen fighting about something in the distance. I immediately took the microphone and said to everyone that this was supposed to be a peaceful demonstration against violence and we were not to fight among ourselves. Otherwise, how could we say that we were against violence and the killing of cows? But the fighting went on and it got worse; people started screaming and the whole rally was suddenly in jeopardy. Again I spoke and this time there seemed to be some effect from my words and the people became peaceful again. I said, "Do not hit anyone because you disagree with them or they disagree with you. You must try to persuade with your nonviolent actions because only through nonviolence can you become one-withGod and know the love that He experiences everywhere in the universe. You must never give into the forces of violence because you will become powerful with evil and destroy yourself. We can only save the cows from slaughter if we first save ourselves."
But there were some people in the crowd who were not prepared to hear my words and who were there to destroy the rally.
Fifteen minutes later, fighting broke out again and the crowd raged in anger toward the reserve bank building.
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