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We
live in a time that sets little store by non-violence as a prerequisite of peace.
We read in newspapers how American soldiers are getting desensitised. In Veitnam,
Iraq, Somalia and elsewhere, they have had to display their capacity to kill and
destroy. They have got so used to it that the thought of violence does not disturb
them any more. Family feuds easily result in senseless violence. Small boys and
girls carry pistols in their hands and enjoy indulging in violent activities.
The
Roman Empire was once very powerful. People there underwent successive violent
and bloody conflicts and in the process lost all their sensitivity, so much so
that they lost interest in traditional ways of killing. They resorted to newer
and newer methods of torturing people to death. The fiercer the death, the greater
the joy derived from it. Special torture cells were built to entertain onlookers.
No wonder it led to the final fall of the empire. So a stage came when they started
killing their own kinsmen. Mutual killings brought down the empire.
Wars require
cruelty and entail absence of sensitivity and compassion. Or, the violence, implied
in war, will not be possible. In some Arab countries young children are tied on
to the back of racing camels, which are prodded more and more to run faster and
faster while the children cry, weep and die of fear and the Sheikhs and other
spectators enjoy the fun. Could anything be more insensitive?
Developing sensitivity
is essential to the growth of non-violence. And for that, one will have to adopt
the method of self-contemplation. Perhaps no better method for the above purpose
has yet been developed. "Treat all beings like yourself. Weigh all souls
on the scale of your own soul." Try to contemplate on these two sayings.
Quite a few people who had done so say that it changed their outlook completely.
The
need of the hour is to practise self-contemplation and the repetition of a truthful
saying for changing one's attitude. Everyone knows how hard a rock is, but through
repeated friction a rope cuts into it. One important component of training is
repeated practice, which constitutes a powerful experiment in forming permanent
refined habits.
We should adopt a method of training towards non-violence.
One component of training in non-violence is the food to be eaten. There is a
link between food and violence. What matters is the nature of the food, whether
it is satvik (good and pure) or rajasik (passion-rousing). Meat and alcoholic
drinks promote violence. In ancient India those charged with the task of fighting
wars (Kshatriyas) were allowed to eat meat and take liquor. Brahmans, Vaishyas
and Shudras had no such choice.
Another component of training in non-violence
involves our notion of health. A good state of the body, free from any disorder
is not the proper understanding of the word 'health'. But even if we leave out
the mental and emotional dimensions of health, physical health itself has a profound
relation with violence and non-violence. Nowadays, it is an important subject
of scientific study. Malfunctioning of the liver gives rise to the instinct for
violence. Hyperacidity gives rise to bad thoughts and feelings. A low percentage
of glucose in the blood rouses the killing instinct, including suicide. Again,
the violent instinct is aroused by an imbalance in the nervous system or in the
secretions of the endocrine glands.
People look after their bodies in order
to keep them healthy and free from disease, which is not a bad thing. However,
it is equally necessary to direct attention to the effects the major organs have
on the mind and disposition. Modern medical science requires people to undergo
several tests, but rarely do people go in for tests aimed at ascertaining the
proper functioning of the various endocrine glands like the thyroid, the pituitary
and the adrenal. Their tests are essential for preventing violence.
Napoleon
lost the battle at Waterloo. People wondered how a superb warrior with a dream
of world conquest met with defeat. An examination of his brain revealed that his
pituitary gland had stopped functioning when he took the decision of going to
battle at Waterloo, which prevented him taking the right decision.
Defence
experts define peace as the interregnum between two wars. We have restricted the
scope of the discussion of non-violence to the domain of war and peace. But in
fact it permeates living behaviour. Training in imbibing non-violence achieves
more than sending peace volunteers to an area of conflict and brokering peace
and is a comprehensive approach. This training consists in the right ways of eating
and keeping healthy.
Peace and security would not have been sought to be ensured
through deterrence and competitive armament if the principle of training in non-violence
had gained wide acceptance. One aspect of training in non-violence is exercising
control over the manufacture of arms. How to render the arms industry ineffective
should also be a part of thinking on training in non-violence. |