Non-Violence
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that he wants to hurt or harm another living being. You are only
required to have such an intent; an intent whereby you do not
want to hurt any living being in the slightest, through the medium
of your mind, speech and actions. Only the intent is important
here and not the act or the deed. Besides, how can a person save
lives through his actions? Even the mere act of breathing, destroys
innumerable lives! Countless life-forms die as they collide with
the hand or even a single movement of the body.
Kashaya: The Greatest Violence Against the Self
One commits self-violence when one does kashaya (when
one has anger, false pride, attachment and greed), whereas the
other violence is against external life-forms. Intent-violence is
the violence against one’s Self. Such violence through kashayas
creates bondage for the Self and it is for this Self that you must
have compassion. The Lord has said that one must first have
intent non-violence towards one’s own Self and then towards
others.
The killing of animals, insects and smaller life-forms is called
effect violence. And to inflict mental anguish on others or to become
angry with others is intent-violence. No matter how hard one tries,
it is not easy to practice non-violence. In fact the real violence is
anger, false pride, attachment and greed. Effect violence continues
according to the laws of nature and no one has any control over
it.
Kashaya is the ultimate violence and that is why the Lord
has said that first and foremost, one should not have any kashaya.
This type of violence is called self-violence or intent-violence. If
effect violence occurs, let it happen, but one must not allow intent-
violence to occur at any cost. Instead, people try to stop effect-
violence and continue to do intent-violence.
If a person were to resolve in his mind that under no
circumstances does he want to kill any life-form, then he will not