Ahimsa Transformation

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Ahimsa, Transformation, and Ecology

Ahimsa and the Indian Tradition

It is an interesting paradox that on the one hand it can be said quitecorrectly that the highest ideal of a sage in India is ahimsa, while on the

other hand, it does seem odd to associate ahimsa with the practice and

symbols of Indian society, especially with the mainstream Hindu tradition.

In his political activity ahatma !andhi populari"ed the common

understanding of ahimsa as nonviolence and as refraining from hurting

others, human beings and animals ali#e. $rawing inspiration mainly

from %uddhist and &ain sources, he managed to give the impression

that ahimsa is at the very heart of the Indian tradition. However, this

popular understanding can hardly be derived from Hindu scriptures or

mythology. Almost all Hindu gods and goddesses carry weapons, usually

in more than two hands. They do so not 'ust for adornment, for they use

these weapons quite frequently, either to #ill or to compel others to act in

ways they would not otherwise act.

All the standard incarnations of (ishnu, especially the anthropomorphic

ones)with the singular exception of the %uddha)engage in #illing. The pictorial

representations and descriptions of *al#i, the future avatara +incarnation of

(ishnu, inspire anything but thoughts of nonviolence.

The (edas, the two great epics ahabharata and -amayana, and

the uranas all depict and celebrate violence. Apparently /han#ara, thegreat Advaitin, had a rule that anyone who lost to him in philosophical

debate must commit suicide)a practice that could hardly be held up as

a model of nonharming.

The (edic sacrifices often involved ritual #illing of animals. The -ig (eda


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+I,012,34 says that 56a'7a +sacrifice is the navel of the cosmos.8 To

be sure, the 9panishads give a more internal interpretation of sacrifice

+ya'7a)see, for example, the opening verses of the %rihadaranya#a 9panishad)

but that is not how it was understood during the (edic times.

:or is the sacrifice during $urga u'a in a *ali andir without actual

#illing of animals. In *ashmir, a %rahmin must eat meat and fish at least

during the festival of /hiva -atri. It would seem that violence and #illing

have been one of the main features of the Indian society from the time

of the (edas until the present. eriodically, the #illing is on such a vast

scale)as with *ing Asho#a in the *alinga battle)that the ideas of nonviolence

seem appealing)temporarily.

;ertainly, there is an invitation to ahimsa in India, and not only in &ain and

%uddhist thought. and Ar'una is called arantapa +tormentor of

enemies. ?f course, the enemy may not necessarily be an


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external one. 6et the battle and the struggle inside requires a force, and

is not only a matter of letting things be as they are. Internally or externally,

there is no suggestion anywhere in Hindu literature to turn the other chee# when

someone smites you. %ut *rishna says in the %hagavad !ita +03@ and 01@B, for

example that one of the characteristics of a wise person is ahimsa. resumably, a

wise person may #ill someone while maintaining the practice of ahimsa. Is that soC

?r is it notC

Ahimsa: Force and Violence

and partiality is itself a form of himsa,

the opposite of ahimsa. Ahimsa means nonviolation and noninterference.

This certainly includes nonviolence but is subtler and more comprehensive.

In some cases, as in the %hagavad !ita, ahimsa may require physical violence at

one level in order to preserve what is regarded as more significant and inviolable.

This is parallel to the necessity of transgression

of one level of dharma by the demands of a higher dharma. $uring the war of the

ahabharata, *rishna advised Ar'una to override his sense of family dharma or

societal dharma, or even his *shatriya +warrior dharma, according to which he

would not use treachery in #illing his enemies even in the service of a higher vision

revealed to him by *rishna.

It is necessary to distinguish between the use of violence and the use

of force. It is not possible to be violent without using force, but it is possible

to use force without being violent. If it were not so, all chastisement or disciplining

by parents, teachers, or gods would be considered violent.

/entimentality would require that such disciplining be abandoned.

However, every parent #nows that children are not always amenable to


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rational discourse and persuasion, and need to be contacted at the level

at which they can understand)including hugs and #isses as much as

physical restraint. If one always adheres to the notion of not chastising

children, it is unli#ely that a sense of and need for inner discipline will

find much place in the child for whose education one is responsible. It

is possible that by sparing some physical pain earlier one would hurt the

child more in the long run. If the great teacher arpa had clung to the

notion of ordinary nonviolence, the education of ilarepa at his hands

would have been quite different. 5


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there will be chaos internally, in the society and in the cosmos, leading to

a violation of right order +dharma and of wholeness.

?nce the idea of levels is understood, it becomes clear that the higher levels need to

use force to control the lower levels. In order to gain an inner integration, there is

an obvious place for the exercise of strength and determination in controlling the

lower tendencies of the mind during the practice of yoga, or any other spiritual

discipline. Even if we ta#e the %hagavad !ita completely allegorically, as spea#ing

of the battle for the #ingdom of the soul, we cannot escape the need for the use of

force. All transformation needs force and energy, whether this transformation is an

inner one or an external +technological one. The use of force is violent when it

does not serve the purposes of the higher levels.

Ahimsa needs to be understood not in terms of appearances and external

forms of conduct, but with regard to the internal intention and order

involved. Egotistic intent and motivation, however placid, peaceful, and

nonharming the external behavior may be, always carry seeds of violence

in their very core.

Ahimsa in full measure is not possible for a person as long as the

person is egoFcentered. There are many relative levels of freedom from

violence and manipulation. Ahimsa is not accomplished once for ever,

and one needs to continually search for its dynamic source. ?nly at the

highest level of being can one naturally manifest ahimsa> below that we

can only approach it more or less. True ahimsa is a property of the real

world, where it is a natural consequence of insight, as are compassion

and love. To fix its understanding as nonharming at the level of the ordinary world

is li#e ta#ing sentimental love and attachment as the core of

the %uddhaGs compassion. !iving an exclusive importance to physical

harm, and not ta#ing into account the mental, psychological and spiritual


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anguish caused by our actions, further strengthens the fallacy that a

person is primarily a body, a fallacy that *rishna is at pains to dispel in

the %hagavad !ita.

?nly a sage at the mountaintop sees the proper place of everything and everyone>

such a person comes to a deepFseated acceptance of all there

is. %ut all the sages who return to the world in order to be active in it and to

teach others commend struggle)always internal and sometimes external.

erhaps it is only by an endless struggle between the higher energies of

consciousness and the lower ones of forgetfulness that the play of forces,

which constitute the cosmos, continues. A complete destruction of one

side or the other would bring this play to a halt)a possibility only for the

end of days when time shall be no more. ?therwise, as *rishna says in the

ahabharata, the choice is not between battle +yuddha and absence of it,

but only between one #ind of battle or another. The real question then is at

what level of existence and consciousness one is going to fight. As /t. aul

says, 5inally then, find your strength in the =ord, in His mighty power.

or our fight is not against human foes, but against cosmic powers, against

the authorities and potentates of this dar# world, against the superhuman

forces of evil in the heavens8 +Ephesians 1@0J0B.

As the myths tell us, the $aityas and the Adityas are constantly engaged in a battle

for the control of the cosmos. The $aityas, who are the children of what is limited

+$iti and of vision +*ashyap, and the Adityas, who are the products of what is

vaster, unlimited +Aditi and vision +*ashyap, are always naturally in conflict. The

former are usually stronger at the lower level of brute force, and at that level are

li#ely to physically overwhelm the subtler beings. The myth of the churning of the

mil#y ocean is particularly stri#ing and insightful. In this myth, the stronger halfF

brothers, the $aityas, who operate from a lower level, cannot be eliminated.


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urthermore, they too are needed to assist with the churning of the mil#y ocean, the

field of all that is, for amrita, the nectar of immortality. =ater, after amrita has

emerged, the $aityas are deprived of their share by cunning on the part of (ishnu,

who succeeds owing to the inner wea#ness of the $aityas in the face of temptation.

%ut cunning and strategy are as much instruments of manipulation as physical

weapons are. And in this myth, when one of the $aityas, -ahu, becomes aware of

the ruse of (ishnu and gets hold of amrita and starts drin#ing it, (ishnu uses his

discus to cut his head off.

Transformation as a Human Imperative


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involving regularity of phenomena and generality of the laws and a harmony of the

various forces which permit a continued existence and a

constant unfolding of the world. The more we #now about the universe,

the more elegantly and wonderfully wellFordered it appears. !iven the

fundamental lawfulness of nature, according to which every creature and

physical constellation has a function in the cosmic economy, we would

expect that humanity also has a function and a role in the cosmos, even if

we do not #now what it is.

?ne can as# the question about the place of human beings in the lawful $ance of

:ature, but this question is relevant on an individual scale also@


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beings are creatures who must intervene> they cannot leave themselves or

the cosmos the way they find them.

Transformation is not 'ust any change> it is intentional change> it is not natural,

which is to say, it will not happen without intention. All wor#s of art are examples

of transformation. An intentional intervention is required to bring into existence a

sculpture from a stone.


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intervention. Another way of saying this is that

human beings have a purpose to their existence> they are needed in the

cosmos. A human being fulfills this purpose when engaging in the wor#

of inner and outer transformation.

the %hagavad !ita provides the best example.


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transformation so that there is a proper order, a wholeness and a lac# of violence.

Transformation, whether it is inner or outer, spiritual or technological, needs force

+virya, power +te!as, determination, and steadfastness. (iolence arises in the

inversion of the right hierarchy@ when an attempt is made to appropriate the higher

in the service of the lower.

In the ancient world, a developed human being is understood to be a microcosmos

that mirrors the large cosmos, and vice versa. A human

being is a #shudra brahmanda modeled in all crucial aspects on the vast

brahmanda. The person is not limited by the body, nor is the boundary

between the inner and outer determined by the s#in. As the *atha 9panishad

+II.0.0 puts it, 5


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lies in partiality and in the denial of our wholeness. As long as there is the other,

there is fear. ?nly when one reali"es, as did -amana aharshi, who said 5There

are no others,8 can there be freedom from fear and consequently, from violence.

:onviolence +ahimsa is a characteristic of a sage> for us it may serve as an

invitation to practice, a step toward wholeness. The first principle of true ecology is

ahimsa, primarily toward oneself.

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Ahimsa Transformation