Panch Mahavrat or The Perennial Path The Art of Living

Author(s): Osho Rajnish
Publisher: Osho Rajnish

Page 16

CHAPTER 2. SOURCE OF VIOLENCE IN MAN
make them green like the water of a lake today. And you will begin to laugh at yourself, thinking that due to the violence which can be purged thus, you gave pain to others and created a vicious circle.
Once Mahavira was standing near a village, at that time some persons came there and beat him severely. Somebody pushed nails in his ears. He was just standing and looking. After some time, somebody asked him, 'Did you not say anything?' You should have said something, you should have at least asked them why they were beating you unnecessarily. Then Mahavira replied, 'they were not beating me unnecessarily, there must be some reason within them to beat me. It is possible, the reason may not be concerning me, but there must be some cause within them. And I also thought it is better they beat me, because if they beat someone else, they cannot go back without getting a proper reply. It is difficult to find out a better person than I to purge their violence on. Mahavira behaved like a pillow with those persons.
Meditation is purgation, it is catharsis. Meditation means, let that which is taking place within, come out without any purpose. That process of coming out will not be on anybody, but it will be in a void. It is to be dedicated to the void.
Examine this by performing a small experiment when you become angry. Shut yourself up in a closed room and be angry. Be as angry as you can in that empty room. You will laugh a lot because the whole thing will look very absurd. You have always become angry with others, but when you examine it in solitude, you will find that it is becoming more difficult to be angry with others. On the first occasion you will laugh in solitude, and on the second occasion you will laugh on becoming angry with others. Keep a mirror in the room and be as angry as you can, and see how you look in it. Then you will realise that this kind of madness you cannot do even in solitude because it makes you laugh. And then imagine what kind of a picture you will create in the minds of a company of some people by becoming angry. If you wish to break the mirror, you may do so, and standing in that destruction, see what kind of poison there is within you. These poisons will be purged, it will be their catharsis. After this catharsis you will br able to see your violence. To be free from violence, it is inevitable to see violence.
VIOLENCE VIS-A-VIS SEXUAL ENJOYMENT
From the time of Rashabha to that of Parshva, religion had four slogans; or you can say, the chariot of religion had four wheels, or you can say religion had four legs. Religion was a four-wheeled vehicle. Mahavira added one more slogan, that of celibacy No predecessor of Mahavira up to Parshva made celibacy a religious slogan. It is a very interesting and a matter worth understanding. This will be found wonderful that thinkers and wise men from Rishabha to Parshva did not include celibacy in slogans of religion. Up to Parshva, it was thought that one who attained nonviolence would observe celibacy without any effort. It was thought so because sex itself is a very deep-subtle form of violence. Why is sex called violence? It is essential to understand four slogans in this connection, and it will also be proper to think about why Mahavira considered celibacy as a separate slogan.
Mahavira's name is very intimately connected with nonviolence. No other name is so much connected with it. But you will be surprised to know that Mahavira had to separate celibacy from nonviolence. The whole reason why he did this was - that the persons whom Mahavira was addressing were unable to understand violence in its deepest sense, they could understand only the upper layer of nonviolence. As long as one understands nonviolence at the superficial level, one
The Perennial Path: The Art of Living
16
Osho