Positive Non Violence

Author(s): Kanhaiyalal Lodha, Dalpatsingh Baya
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy

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which gave Non-violence or Ahimsa a negative connotation. Some other western scholars too had the same perception for the same reasons.
Those Jain scholars and thinker-preceptors, who exclusively emphasize only the negative aspect of Non-violence or Ahimsa appear to have understood Non-violence or Ahimsa only as non-killing or nonharming and bereft of any element of compassion. Some of them have even expressed the extreme view that kindness or similar sentiment is a form of delusion only. Also, it has been said that actions of mercy, kindness, service, etc., result in karmic bondage, though of a pious kind, which may at the most lead to material benefits or noble rebirth and not the ultimate liberation. This line of thought distorts the real meaning of Ahimsa and, in turn, Jainism.
According to these thinkers, only abstinence can lead to liberation and is thus the true religious route. Again, this line of thought is incomplete as it misses out the positive aspect of Ahimsa.
In the Indian tradition, although the etiology of the word 'Ahimsā (Non-violence)', according to its very definition - Na himsā iti ahimsā (what is not violence is Non-violence) – requires a negative prefix 'a or non' before the word "himsā (violence)' on one hand, but on the other hand, imparts a positive or prescriptive meaning. As a proof, in Praśnavyākarana Sūtra, out of sixty synonyms of the word Ahimsā, there are words like dayā (mercy), mangal (wellbeing), abhaya (encouraging to be fearless), etc. These synonyms do not merely mean lack of violence, but also signify positive feelings and actions, which are opposite of himsa (Violence), such as mercy, kindness, compassion, friendship, service, etc., which involve thoughts and actions that are quite opposite of violence.
Again in Samskrt language, the negative particle 'nañ (na=a)' has been ascribed six meanings. In the word ‘ahiṁsā’ ‘nañ (na=a)' has two meanings – 'lack' and 'opposite'. According to the first meaning, the lack of violence in thought and action is Non-violence or Ahimsa. According to the second meaning of 'nañ (na=a)'in Ahimsa, positive thoughts and actions such as kindness, compassion, mercy,
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Positive Non-Violence