________________
CHAPTER 1. NONVIOLENCE
are our past. Millions of years ago when man was a caveman, was living in hollows of mountains, when there were no fire, and no means to light lamps, that fear of darkness at such times which entered man's mind is pursuing him even today. Today there is no fear from darkness outside, no cave is surrounded by darkness, and in spite of this, darkness remains a cause of fear even today. Fear due to darkness, which man's mind got millions of years ago, is not yet leaving its pursuit of man, it is still linked with him. I said this as an illustration. Exactly in the same way, violence is an impression carried by man from his life as a beast. Beast cannot live without committing violence. But we cannot live with violence. Man is not born with violence. But we see that man is not doing anything else but fighting for the last many thousand years. He is not living, he is merely fighting; there would not be any exaggeration if we say man is living simply for the purpose of fighting. Fifteen thousand battles have been fought in the last three thousand years. This fact of thousands of battles is on a big scale, but we are quarrelling and fighting all twenty-four hours. At times we are fighting with enemies, at times with friends, at times for wealth and at times for fame. We fight for position and then our fight takes a political form. And when we fight for wealth, our greed takes the form of exploitation. At times we also fight without any cause, because the fighting habit in us makes us fight. When a person goes hunting, be fights without any cause. He is fighting and calls it a sport. Man searches out and develops such sports in which the fighting instinct is satisfied. If he cannot go into actual warfare, he would win to fight in a game of chess. In a deep sense, there is a strong longing to defeat others and an interest to fight with others in a game of chess.
Life is full of violence on all sides. Violence is a disease for man. Now, it is not inevitable, it may be inevitable for beasts. It should be borne in mind that no sooner is a new step of evolution taken than new responsibilities and new burdens are also taken. Every step in evolution is a step towards greater responsibility. Nonviolence has become his responsibility from the day man left beasthood and evolved as man, because the flower of manhood can never bloom in the midst of violence. His manhood can fully bloom only in the midst of love. That is why I said nonviolence is wholesomeness, violence is a disease. Perhaps there does not exist a more dangerous disease than violence.
The meaning of violence, is having such a mind which would remain restless without quarreling, which would not experience happiness without hurting somebody or making someone miserable. Naturally the mind which is eager to hurt others, or to which the only happiness is to make others miserable, can never become happy. In its depth, such a mind will be miserable. There is a profound rule that we give to others, which we have within us. We cannot give anything else. A sane person is one who has achieved symphony, similarity and rhythm within himself. The musical sound produced by the steps of Mahavira or Buddha is not found even on the faces of expert musicians sitting with Veena in their hands. That music is not of that kind which can come out from any Veena. It is the symphony of the soul within which spreads and flows out on all sides. The symphony in Buddha's gait, the rhythm in his movements and the sparkle in his eyes, are not to be found in any composed song, not in the tunes produced on instruments, but that rhythm is created from the depth of the soul on the dispersal of all inner conflicts. nonviolence is a music that is produced within. When the vital breath within is filled with music, life becomes completely harmonious, and when the vital breath is filled with disharmony, life becomes full of disease.
This English word 'disease' is very meaningful, it is made up of dis-ease. When ease within is lost, when all balance within is disturbed, all rhythm is destroyed. All the lines of the poem are scattered away. That condition is really a disease which is produced as a result of breaking of all the wires of a sitar. the body cannot be kept in a healthy condition for long when the mind within becomes
The Perennial Path: The Art of Living
3
Osho
