Positive Non Violence

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

Page 90

instead of non-violence by Kundakundācārya clearly indicates that he did not limit himself to the ‘non-killing meaning of the term nonviolence and emphasised its positive aspect in the form of mercy towards the living beings.
When somebody sees a creature in misery and dying and if he is not moved with sympathy and with a desire to save such a creature, he can only be called cruel and pitiless. Not only this, if he has the ability to save such a creature and does not act to save it, the rise of his feeling of pity is useless. That feeling is lifeless, dead, meaningless and useless.
Mercy is to save some dying or miserable creature from death or misery, it is not merely to watch it kindly while it is dying and miserable. If only watching be considered as mercy, then every moment everyone is watching innumerable dying and miserable creatures, and they will all be considered as merciful, which is ridiculous and, hence, unacceptable. Therefore, the true implication of the term 'mercy' is in actively saving and protecting. Mercy indicates activity in the form of saving and protecting and not inactivity and uselessness in the form of passive watching. Inactivity in this case is the extreme form of negligence. If inactivity and uselessness are accepted as the meaning of mercy then sleep will be the highest form of mercy. What is meant here is that the feeling and knowledge also become useful only when they are translated into appropriate actions. From the aphorism, ‘Padhamaṁ Nāņam tao dayā, too, we can infer that the fruition of knowledge is in the form of merciful activity. The essence of knowledge is in translating it into mercy (action). Without such mercy the knowledge does not fructify and one cannot gain the fruit of spiritual emancipation and liberation through knowledge without mercy.
When Tāpasa Vaiśyāyana attacked Gośālaka with Tejoleśyā (Spiritual power of creating intense fire) to burn him alive, Bhagvān Mahāvīra saved his life by projecting Śītaleśyā (spiritually created coldness in order to extinguish the fire of Tejoleśyā). If the Lord were not endowed with the feeling of mercy, kindness and compassion, He would have just passively watched Gośālaka being burnt alive and
Positive Non-Violence