Bhagawan Mahavira expounded ahimsa as the ultimate
dharma. One may ask why a negative word, ahimsa, meaning non-violence, was
used. Should religion not denote some-thing positive?
In truth, though non-violence
sounds negative, it is an extremely positive state. It is the state of absolute
and complete love. What can be more positive than love itself? It is only
because we are familiar with the state of violence, that this term has been
used. It is to ease our transition from the known state of violence to the
unknown state of love that the term non-violence has been used. In order to
obliterate darkness, the presence of light is necessary. Likewise, the darkness
of violence is dispelled only in the positive light of love....
Not Just Love
If ahimsa were substituted by love, we would mistake it to be that which we know as love, leading to the delusion that our interpretation of love is religion. We have a deep-rooted association with the word love and whenever we use the word, it is full of attachments, passion, conditions and expectations. We have mistakenly taken the relational aspect of love, rather than its pure unconditional state.
If ahimsa were substituted by love, we would mistake it to be that which we know as love, leading to the delusion that our interpretation of love is religion. We have a deep-rooted association with the word love and whenever we use the word, it is full of attachments, passion, conditions and expectations. We have mistakenly taken the relational aspect of love, rather than its pure unconditional state.
This state is so pure, so fulfilling
and established in the wellness of one’s being that you cannot think of causing
harm to anybody, including yourself. You have become love itself! So now, only
love can emanate from you. It does not matter if there is another to receive
your love, as that no longer is of consequence. A lamp in the dark will radiate
light, even if there is no one to witness it; a flower will emit fragrance
everywhere, irrespective of whether anyone imbibes its fragrance or not!
Ahimsa is a state of active
positivism - or of being proactively positive. It means consciously extending
love to one and all. The meaning of love is, ‘I wish others well, I pray for
their well-being, I will be instrumental in bringing joy to their lives and
will offer flowers on their path.’ This is the real meaning of ahimsa. If it
was merely negative, then ahimsa would read as, ‘I will not cause unhappiness
to others, nor cause them injury’ and this would be its restrictive or myopic
meaning, as it would constitute no positive element. To put no thorns on
anyone’s path - that is not all, but going beyond that to decorating their path
with flowers is the essential meaning. To restrict oneself to non-violence
alone is not the definition of ahimsa, but to make others truly happy is
ahimsa.
If a person is not full of
love and restricts himself to only not harming others - thus believing himself
to be an ahimsak person - then one may question why he wants to be non-violent.
The Real Intention
Let us say that he loves animals, then it is understandable that he does not want to cause them any harm. But if he has no real love for them and still does not want to harm them, then his abstaining from violence is surely due to some other reason. In reality, he does not want to step on them, as he thinks that, ‘If I cause them harm, I will accrue sin, and I will go to hell. But I do not want to be unhappy, so I don’t want to harm them.’ He is only being selfish. The real intention behind not wanting to harm others actually stems from not wanting to make oneself unhappy. Here, the other is not important for the ‘i’ is enlarged. How can one be religious with such ulterior motives? Where there is love, selfishness cannot exist as the ‘i’ has become unimportant. Dissolution of the ‘i’ is true religion and that is only possible with love. This is the true meaning of ahimsa and it is the ultimate dharma.
Let us say that he loves animals, then it is understandable that he does not want to cause them any harm. But if he has no real love for them and still does not want to harm them, then his abstaining from violence is surely due to some other reason. In reality, he does not want to step on them, as he thinks that, ‘If I cause them harm, I will accrue sin, and I will go to hell. But I do not want to be unhappy, so I don’t want to harm them.’ He is only being selfish. The real intention behind not wanting to harm others actually stems from not wanting to make oneself unhappy. Here, the other is not important for the ‘i’ is enlarged. How can one be religious with such ulterior motives? Where there is love, selfishness cannot exist as the ‘i’ has become unimportant. Dissolution of the ‘i’ is true religion and that is only possible with love. This is the true meaning of ahimsa and it is the ultimate dharma.
When a person expands into the
state of loving consciousness, all beings become the object of his love.
He becomes incapable of harming anyone. To expand in love is the way to
becoming truly non-violent.
When the entire universe
becomes the object of your love, you will no longer try to acquire happiness
from others; rather, you will make every effort to bring happiness to them. You
will take care to support all forms of life. So, ahimsa is the paramount state
of unconditional love. Outward observance of rules or vows is only an
expression of non-violence. True ahimsa is achieved by attaining the internal
state of absolute unconditional love and it is only through this form of love,
that we can dissolve negativity and violence. May all beings be filled with
such absolute, unconditional love.
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