Some scriptures, saints and holy men define non-violence as non-injury of any being in thought, word and deed. In our modern world, this seems to be a code of conduct or a moral precept. It is apparently practised to secure social harmony and world peace. Morality is an invention of the human mind and thus can be manipulated. Likewise, the precept of non-violence is a malleable code of conduct. It is used according to one’s advantage. Has there been a time when non-violence was not preached in the world? It has always been preached by every religion and most people on this planet follow at least one religion. Then from where comes all this violence? Love marriages which are supposed to produce ideal souls take place every minute, yet people of satanic nature are found everywhere, ready to do much harm to others in order to fulfil their own desires.
In truth, people do not know what is non-violence – they have invented a code of conduct to protect their own lives. Non-violence is a by-product of understanding of the one and same life which throbs in every single particle of existence. That wisdom engenders a feeling of oneness which I call love. Therefore non-violence is not only non-injury to any being in word, thought and deed, but respect and love for all forms of life which are part and parcel of the Supreme life. Every creature is given a body, which is a temple of the Divine, for his spiritual evolution which ends in mergence with his Creator, Originator and Lord. Any harm to any form of life may obstruct the march of the evolution of the latter. Every creature represents the mind at a certain stage on the ladder of evolution. The higher a creature is on the ladder, the more it suffers when injured. The degree of consciousness differs in every creature.
Non-violence, being a virtue which springs spontaneously from a pure, loving and understanding mind, is not to be an imposition for any kind of imposition is a form of violence. On his pilgrimage through India, the famous Swami Vivekananda met with a yogi who had attained a laudable level of perfection. So as not to cause any suffering to any form of life, he had raised his body a few feet above ground and had stopped his breathing process. This may seem irrational, but through yogic practice, this is well possible. This was an example to show to what extent one should respect other lives.
Violence is the inherent quality in all forms of life. It is only once the mind obtains a human life that it can transform the cyclone of violence that rages in him. Stress, strong emotional drive, desire, jealousy, hatred, anger, greed, lust, the sense of separation or racial and facial discrimination are the basic violent instincts that are latent in us. Without getting rid of all these, how can one become non-violent? A non-violent person is free from the above-mentioned instincts; he is calm of mind, thus his senses are not excited, silence and love emanate from his whole body. He is an enlightened one. We are filled with innumerable repressed impressions from past lives. From childhood to adulthood, we have been imposed many codes of conduct. We have been forced to follow the priests, to obey the law and the society without any proper education.
All these have made us a rebel, but against whom to rebel? We have but ourselves to torture – this is the reason why many of us become victims of drugs, alcohol and other vices. It is difficult and nearly impossible to revolt against one’s own parents or the forces of law. Morality has been the greatest form of violence. Meditation, the science par excellence, always shows how to transcend the inner violence to attain pure non-violence. Meditation does not teach morality, but awareness. Where morality is the unconscious, unwise application of certain codes of behaviour and law, meditation is the spontaneous action that emerges from a divine state. A really meditative person can never injure, not even in dreams. He will salute not mechanically, nor because he has been told to do so, but because he has realised that each person is part and parcel of God. The body is a temple, therefore he will see to it that it suffers not and is given due respect.
Any form of injury creates ripples in the ocean of energy which fills every iota of space. The reaction will come to the doer and will be in proportion to the amount of injury caused. So long as the ego is there, non-violence cannot blossom. Separation from existence is ego, and the mind, which is the root of the ego, does everything to protect it. Yoga is the science to transcend the ego to achieve oneness with the whole existence. Oneness will eradicate all forms of violence. The ego survives so long as self-knowledge is not acquired. Man is not an ego, nor a mind which is a thinking process. He is a homogeneous consciousness free from all sense of separation. There is only one life and that is the one homogeneous Pure Consciousness that binds every particle of existence. The experiencing of that state eliminates all barriers of caste, creed, sex and engenders a feeling of love and respect. Thus the question of violence or non-violence does not arise with the enlightened ones. ‘Manyness’ or separation brings violence, oneness gives birth to harmony, love and respect.