Nonviolence – A Boon Or a Bane For the Society?
Nonviolence is considered to be one of the greatest necessities of spiritual people. It is preached in all religions. Jesus Christ was perhaps the biggest votary of nonviolence in his time. He categorically said to his followers,
But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who **** you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. (Luke 6:27-31)
All religions originating from Indian soil like Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism are unanimous on the issue of nonviolence as all believes that “Nonviolence is the greatest religion or duty of mankind” (Ahimsa Parmo Dharma). Nonviolence or Ahimsa in Hinduism means refraining from causing harm to others, physically, mentally or emotionally. Ahimsa is the first and most important of the Yamas (restraints) of the yogic philosophy of Hinduism. Jainism professes against killing of even animals and insects.
A nonviolent person must avoid hurting others by their thought, speech and action. Jesus said the same thing in the following words,
“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, “Raca, (A term of contempt)” is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell. (Matthew 5:21-22)
Gandhi too strongly believed the Nonviolence is the ultimate weapon of the soul as he said,
“Ahimsa (Nonviolence) is a weapon of matchless potency. It is the summum bonum of life. It is an attitude of the brave, in fact it is their all. It does not come within the reach of a coward. It is no wooden or lifeless dogma but a living and life giving force. It is the special attribute of the soul.”
The Cult of Violence
However exalted may be the purpose of nonviolence, yet in reality, it has always been present in this world. Violence has always been used to discipline the unruly people and bring order in the society. It has always been the weapon of the mighty and powerful. Earlier, it was called the “law of the jungle”. In the modern times, it is called the “survival of the fittest” or Darwinism.
The reason for the omnipresence of violence is that there is no other mechanism to deal with the people who refuse to be good. Just like only iron can cut iron, only violence seems to quench violence. How could have one applied the principles of nonviolence against ****** or Stalin? Even now, every state function on the basis of the rules and the laws that provide (violent) penalties and punishment for the people who break the laws of the land.
It is also a fact that societies get weak if they shun violence. The rise of Buddhism and Jainism (which preached nonviolence) in India led to the fall of the empires and thereafter India faced number of invasions. Thereafter, it was almost always ruled by the rulers of foreign origin. Later when these invaders become Indian (less nonviolent), they too lost power to Muslim invaders. Even the rise of Europe in the world was not on the principles of Christ but on the foundation of violence.
Hinduism is a unique religion in many ways. While the religion preaches nonviolence yet all their Gods and Goddess like Ram, Krishna, Shiva, Kali were violent and they are worshiped as they killed the evil people. Lord Krishna says in Gita, the holiest scripture of Hindus (Gita IV:7-8)
Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendant of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion–at that time I descend Myself on this world as an Avatar (incarnation) in order to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I advent Myself millennium after millennium.
Even in Bible (Old Testament), God categorically advocated the policy of the eye for eye the evil acts (Leviticus 24: 17-20)
He who kills a man shall be put to death. When a man causes a disfigurement in his neighbor, as he has done, so shall it be done to him: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth.
Quran (9:29) too advocates violence against nonbelievers in the following words
“Fight those who believe not in God nor the Last Day nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by God and his apostle nor acknowledge the Religion of Truth (even if they are) of the people of the Book, until they pay the Jizya [religious tax] with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.”
However ashamed a modern civilized man may be of the open preaching of violence in their scripture, yet no society has ever been formed in the history of the world without using the use of violence. The criminal justice system of modern civilized society does impart justice to its citizen by punishing their wrong act often disproportional to the crime. All societies which are nonviolent fail to grow and prosper as in such society only the evil people rule the roost.
The Bane of Nonviolence
The eastern word, particularly India is known for its nonviolence. India may perhaps the only country of the world where majority of the population are still vegetarian, i.e. they do not eat meat and even egg. The ultimate religion of India can be summarized in single word viz. nonviolence. Yet India is one of the poorest nations of the world, which despite of having millions of God fail to bring a single medal in Olympic games in spite of over a billion population. It shall be discussed as to how nonviolence weakens the society to such an extent that gradually it loses its independence and ruled by people who practice violence.
Corruption: The main reason of corruption is nonviolence. It is because, government agencies and people are nonviolent. Thus the corrupt people are never punished in a nonviolent society.
Poverty: All nonviolent societies are necessary poor since the poor are nonviolent. In violent societies, poor revolt against the riches by violent means, but in the nonviolence societies, poor always remain poor as riches continue to become richer without facing resistance from the poor.
Nepotism: Another character of a nonviolence society is nepotism which means that every person ensures the interest of his kith and kin without facing any resistance from the people who endures such injustices due to their nonviolence.
Indifference: Another character of a nonviolence country is indifference since the evil people can hardly be persuaded to follow the good path. People therefore, gradually develop indifference to the good and bad in the society.
Stagnation: The nonviolent societies lack competitive spirit as defeating other is nothing but violence. The result is that people do not give their best to achieve as they lack killer stints which comes only with the spirit of violence. Thus there are not many innovation, enterprise and creation of knowledge in a nonviolent society as they remain contented in what they have.
Perils of Violence
While it is true that no country had ever achieved material prosperity and power without use of violence. Yet, it is also a fact that nonviolence has been preached in every religion by every God. Thus there has to be a purpose behind nonviolence. What could be the purpose?
Violence essentially is a means to change the status quo of the laws of the nature by the powerful to achieve more from the world at the cost of the weaker ones. This violence directly challenges the laws of the God. For example, man acquired whole earth for single specie (human beings) though it was created by Him for all creatures. Yet the injustice of man did not stop here. They applied the same principle within human race. They subdued the less powerful people or societies and made them their colonies. Thereafter, the superior races (whites) fought amongst themselves which cost destruction of their societies and death of millions of people in the world wars of twentieth century.
Thus violence can make a person prosperous and powerful, yet it can never bring happiness to the person as happiness can come only from the satisfaction of the soul. Soul being part of God or Holy Spirit integrates all creatures of the universe and it is present in all living beings, whether strong or weak, whether rich or poor.
Thus by practicing nonviolence one may lose material wealth or power yet gains happiness as he follows the laws of the Spirit. It is for this reason that the world is gradually becoming less violent with the growth of civilization.
Gandhi summarized the cult of violence by saying that if everyone start practicing eye for eye policy then the world will become blind soon. It is for this purpose the Buddha declared that nonviolence is the greatest religion (Ahimsa Parmodharma).
The Boons of Nonviolence
Nonviolence is the only way to respect to the wisdom of God by loving all His creations and respecting the laws of nature. Nonviolence brings many benefits to the societies and people which can be summarized as following.
Peace: The natural outcome of nonviolence is peace. Every violent action results into violence from the other person. Thus a person who does not resort to violence does not face reaction of violence and live in peace.
Happiness: A nonviolence person is happy as he has no desire to defeat others in terms of money and power. Therefore, he does not accumulate money and power. He earns only to live a decent life without aspiring more material things and sensual pleasure in life. Therefore, he is free from the worry of losing these perquisites. He is liked by people as they do not fear him taking their wealth or power.
Love: Love is most natural feeling for a nonviolence person as no one can remain nonviolent in thoughts, words and action unless he has stopped hating people. Love is the cause and effect for a nonviolence person as love is nothing but the absence of **** and **** has no place in the heart of a nonviolent person.
Wisdom: Power and violence are the most fetal addictions that these tend to produces quick result in favor of more powerful person. However, if the person becomes nonviolent, then the only method to convince the other person is by persuasion and discussion. This gives an opportunity to the person to understand the other side of the story and understand the world from the perspective of other people. Thus a nonviolent person always tries to finds a solution that is in the best interest of the society and the world rather then his own. Such persons alone are known as wise people in this world.
Culture: All nonviolent persons and societies develop the habit of synthesis as they can never discard any knowledge even if it is old and less profitable for the time being. Thus man is always connected with his past and follows the time tested knowledge rather than following the knowledge created for commercial purposes. Thus the good values of the society always remain in the society even in the difficult times.
The Challenge before Humanity
The root cause of violence is the spirit of discrimination. Only if you feel that the other person is different from you, then you can use violence against the other person to achieve your person goals. However, if one believe in the principle of Vasudev Kutumbam (Universal brotherhood), then violence would automatically cease as the spirit of competition would be replaced by the spirit of cooperation. In the modern world, people are coming closer to each other due to the information technology and faster means of transportation. The world is gradually becoming a global village. The spirit of scientific investigations has removed many dogmas in the mind of the people which dominated the scriptures. Thus everything in this world is gradually moving toward one Truth and one Society thereby reducing the discrimination between people. Thus the era of nonviolence, the dream of all religious and spiritual leaders, does not seem to be far away now.
By: Awdhesh K Singh
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Filed under Society by on Jul 16th, 2010. 