Case for Non-Violence

All desire to live; none wishes to die. If animals were to be food for the man they would voluntarily surrender themselves to be butchered. All act of killing cause immense pain and suffering. Imagine how we jump ourselves around when we get a small cut accidently by a razor blade and yet we wish to decapitate the body of others for our own pleasure. Imagine how we could not even bear a little excessive heat or cold for a moment, or even a mosquito bite, and yet we wish to inflict pain on others, which is 100x more painful, for our own pleasure. Life is same in all beings, only forms and bodies differ.

Mosquito bite

One of the greatest impetus for religious life is to come out of pain and suffering. Every day in our lives we see that. Every day we read it in newspapers. In fact, the news is all about death and obituary. There is no day in which the newspapers has not reported a death in one form or other. Earthquakes, wars, accidents, murders and other forms of death fill the paper every day.

News - Disaster

Death, pain, and suffering are a universal experience common to all beings. If man were to come out of that, he wishes the same to all beings. Therefore, the first obvious thing in religious life would be non-violence. Hinduism begins by non-violence (Yoga Sutras: 2:30 begins by Ahimsa), Buddhism begins by non-violence (The four noble truths), and other religions as well. Great men like Buddha had an ideal far removed from the ordinary religious. It surpassed the love for humanity and embraced all animals as well. The goal he decided was to get everyone out of suffering.

All-embracing love

The great teachers of mankind, found in their religious experiences, that even an iota of inflicting pain or suffering on others is bound to come back. They create an adverse karma, which one reaps in equal measure. Therefore, one ought to be careful not to create such adverse karma. The teachers also found that the human body has the ideal set of conditions for achieving liberation, and any harm done to it means stalling the liberation process. When you harm others you disturb the whole liberation process. Though animals do not possess such ideal conditions for achieving liberation, yet harming it would undermine the liberation process. Therefore, from the point of view of liberation non-violence has to be exercised.

What exactly does non-violence constitute?

1.       Abstain from inflicting direct physical harm or pain on human beings as well as animals. There are some group of people who argue that plants too possess life and if that is the case, there would be no absolute non-violence. Yes, it is true to a certain extent, but plants don’t bleed and cry when we uproot them; the sense organs are completely missing and the faculty which discerns pain is completely absent. Pain involves sensory organs in relation to a body and a nervous system which transmits the pain to the brain and a resulting experience. This cycle and the system is completely absent in plants and other similar life forms. Therefore, the pain is negligible.

2.       Non-violence constitutes complete detachment. Attachment to any object or person brings a series of motion resulting in pain or suffering to a particular person. The more self-dependent a person is, the more he will be able to help others. The more dependent a person is, the more he is likely to harm others.

3.       Non-violence is exercising love and helping others in distress. Only a non-violent person would be truly able to sympathize with the suffering of others. He becomes a great humanitarian, helping others in time of distress.

Humanitarian aid

Non-violence is not merely abstaining from flesh, but is essentially non-harming, non-attachment and helping others in distress. But it will be good if a man essentially abstains from eating flesh and blood.

Thank You.

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