World Jain Conference 1995 6th Conference

Author(s): Satish Jain
Publisher: Ahimsa International

Page 58

Realizing the Meaning and Beauty of Living
with Peace through Non-violence
-Gurudev Shree Chitrabhanuji Believe it or not, mankind faces severe crisis in almost every corner of the world because of violence in so many places and in so many ways. Peace and harmony are in danger. Life is plagued with inhumane torture, with senseless death, and with mutilated killings. In this time of turmoil and crisis, the answer is ahimsa, non-violence.
As a photograph has a two-way process: a negative and a positive, non-violence also is expressed in two aspects: to do and not to do, commission and omission. The first aspect is karuna : a commitment to loving compassion, a feeling of equality with all life. And the second is ahimsa : not to harm, not to kill. There is no room for violence (himsa) when we are filled with love. Love is understanding BASIS OF VIOLENCE
Violence starts with oneself. Being harmful, we first harm ourselves because the negative vibrations of hate, anger and resentment poison our sensitivities and our well-being. In this state, negative vibrations are being collected and stored in the brain. From the brain, these negative vibrations go in to the mind. Once the mind is permeated with these negativities, the mind is not capable to mind its business. Without discerning senses, these vibrations automatically enter our being. Here, even our consciousness is also tainted with violent, poisoning vibrations. So, the person is now possessed with it, and a possessed person is not able to listen to even his/her own voice. This process of movement from the brain to consciousness shows how we are conditioned and coloured with negative habits and harm ourselves with violence. The person who is ready to change the habit of the mind, the tendency of the mind, has to feel ahimsa, non-violence.
These conditions can persist and when unchecked, a lifetime can pass. After many years of unchecked, non-vigilant lives, one becomes A-G-E-D with Anger, Greed, Ego, Deceit. These are also forms of violence. We have choices, and the consequences of non- attentive choices fossilize us and make us incapable of development. To make the right choice requires awareness of ahimsa. NEGATIVES IN COMPARISONS
Without knowing the process of vigilance, we will, in ignorance, compare everything and everyone; and in so doing we do not attend to the deeper meaning of life. For many, comparison is natural because the mind is trained to compare, but if we stop to think and probe deeper, truth may dawn upon us that each is different and unique. Even in twins, each is unique.
Why do religious group's fight? Because they also compare. By comparing, they concentrate on superficiality and not on the essence of the religion. The learning from a teacher can be true in its time but it also can be a learning opportunity at other times, if each generation interprets the words in the context of the time, space and culture that is present for them. Karuna, loving compassion, inspires us to transcend the comparative and competitive attitude of the mind.
Those who impose their beliefs on others, expecting others to accept their truth, are nurturing a