Ahimsa: Physical, Verbal, and Mental Kindness
The very first of Patanjali’s yamas, or restraints, is ahimsa. “Himsa” is Sanskrit for violence, and modifying it with “a” makes the literal translation “nonviolence.” Many teachers have said that if you can master this one practice, you don’t need to master any others, because they all roll up into this idea. And, though it cover a broad range of actions (physical, verbal, and mental), it’s a fairly easy concept to wrap your head around. The yamas and the niyamas are guidelines for living, so it makes sense that we start with doing no harm.
Let’s start with the physical. Don’t injure others, and most certainly, do not kill others. (For many this idea extends to animals, leading to vegetarianism.) When citing examples of ahimsa in action, most people easily point to Ghandi and Martin Luther King Kr. as examples of nonviolence. They were able to make huge change without harming others. We don’t need to cast a stone to get a point across.
But if ahimsa is not causing harm to others, what does this mean in terms of self-defense? If we ...
...y shocks most of people who hear and see it, encouraging and moving others who also suffer. In instance, Elena screamed at Longoria to show she would not give them any information about resistances and Antonio when Longoria was about to killing her (Tobar 148). Elena sacrificed her life to protect Antonio and her friends who fought against the Guatemalan government without using any violence when she faced Longoria who tried to kill her. She showed it was important not to be daunted by fear and to keep fighting for justice. Mohandas Karamachand Gandhi advocated nonviolent resistance as a means of seeking peace and gaining independence for the Republic of India from Britain. Justice should be served by means in the name of justice. Nonviolent resistance is a powerful way to fight against the cycle of violence and work towards the realization of a peaceful world.
“Non-violence is a powerful and just weapon without cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals.” - Martin Luther King Jr.
Gandhi once said “An eye for an eye and the whole world is blind.” This is true in most circumstances but there are exceptions. By comparing acts of nonviolent civil disobedience with acts of violent civil disobedience it is apparent that force or violence is only necessary to combat violence but never if it effects the lives of the innocent. A recurrent theme in each of these examples is that there is a genuine desire to achieve equality and liberty. However, one cannot take away the liberties of others in order to gain their own. Martin Luther King Jr. believed that political change would come faster through nonviolent methods and one can not argue his results as many of the Jim Crow laws were repealed. Similarly, through nonviolent resistance Gandhi was able to eventually free India from the rule of Britain. It is true that sometimes the only way to fight violence is through violence, but as is apparent, much can be said of peaceful demonstrations in order to enact change. Thus, it is the responsibility of we as individuals to understand that nonviolence is often a more viable means to an end than violence.
Maus is a graphic memoir by Art Spiegelman, about a father, Vladek, survivor of the Holocaust and a son, Arty, who wants to know what was it like living during the Holocaust era. During the holocaust years, Vladek was advised by a rabbi that his tattooed number will bring him luck. Throughout the story, he continues to personify the luck his number represents by being persistent and hardworking. Despite suffering starvation, thirst, and not feeling well, Vladek continues to remain humble by helping his fellow inmates. Many years passed after the war ended, Vladek was portrayed as this conservative man, but there was a reason behind that mask. Vladek did not want people to step over him like he was stepped on before; he wanted to teach Arty
“I have consistently preached that nonviolence demands that the means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek. I have tried to make clear that it is wrong to use immoral means to attain moral ends. But now I must affirm that it is just as wrong, or perhaps even more so, to use moral means to preserve immoral ends.”
types of nonviolent actions from not just the leaders, but the ones who follow them, show a true
...able to showcase the great power that nonviolence could have on the world and how by using methods such as that one would be more successful than if one used violence. As Mahatma Gandhi once said “Non-violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man.”
Self-defense is not something that should be taken lightly. Its dictionary definition is, “the act of defending one's person when physically
It has been debated though out history whether or not nonviolence “works”. Many societies, and this without question includes the United States, have mostly relied on violent tactics. Many people believe that violence is the only way to stop wars, even though it creates war, and people tend to believe that violence is the one solution to many global and political problems. However, recent literature and research is starting to prove otherwise. Erica Chenoweth, a political scientist, recently published a book, Why Civil Resistance Works in 2011. The research highlights data that shows throughout history, nonviolent tactics are more effective than violent ones in various ways.
Non-violence. Many people confuse this term with pacifism. Pacifism is defined as the belief that any violence, including war, is unjustifiable under any circumstances. Non-violence is defined as the use of peaceful means, not force, to bring about political or social change. The difference between the two are fairly simple to see when we define them side by side. Pacifism states that war is unjustifiable, however, it does not specify that Pacifism shows any inclination toward preventing war. Compare this to non-violence, which states that issues should only be solved in peaceful means. In this comparison, it would appear that Pacifism allows war, whereas non-violence tries to completely eradicate or avoid it. Now that we have clarified the
There is a considerable debate about the precise meaning of nonviolence. Some people believe that nonviolence is a philosophy and strategy for social change that rejects the use of violence. In other words, nonviolence is a method for resolving a conflict without the use of physical power nor enmity towards opponents. Instead, it emphasizes you to look beyond convictions and one’s urge for victory, it is the motto behind the saying “hate the sin and not the sinner”. For others it is a way of living and an essential part of their values and norms, for those people, nonviolence is the road which will lead them towards attaining inner piece and moral satisfaction. “Learn and teach nonviolence as a way of life; reflect it in attitude, speech and action” say’s Gerber in his article The Road to Nonviolence. Thus making nonviolence the ultimate behavior towards achieving truthful, spiritual, loving life. Mahatma Gandhi, the nonviolence guru, defines nonviolence as “a power which can be wielded equally by all-children, young men and women or grown-up people, provided they have a living faith in the God of Love and have therefore equal love for all mankind”. (mkgandhi.org) Therefore we understand that nonviolence has some terms and conditions to be met; living faith in God, truthfulness, humility, tolerance, loving kindness, honesty and the willingness to sacrifice. ...
The first of the yamas is Ahimsa, whose translation from Sanskrit is non-violent. The yama of Ahimsa is about practicing non-violence in words, thoughts, and actions, as well as about practicing compassion, patience, understanding, and love of all creatures. This yama is the one that I am most consciously aware of and that I practice the most in my life, for Ahimsa is the very essence of my religion, Jainism. To me, Ahimsa is much more than a request to be non-violent. It has the positive meaning of intense and detached love for every living creature.
Akzia: After the Germans invaded Lvov and made several changes, rumors spread throughout the town of an akzia, which is Polish for the deportation and killing of a group of people. The first akzia in Lvov was for children, which made Aurelia too upset and anxious to do anything. Her dad had already started to build a hiding place for her in a wardrobe. One morning, she woke up to outside shrieks signaling the akzia; Aurelia’s first reaction was to hide. When the Nazis came to search the house, Aurelia’s dad, Isaac, told them that she was already taken, but that did not stop them from searching. They were very close to finding her, but lucky did not. Later on, there were a couple more akzia; there was one for the elderly, and two akzia for all Jews, which the Gamzer’s luckily escaped.
While using violence to counteract violence may seem like a contradiction of sorts it is possibly the only recourse for the oppressed. It is impossible to create a formula of what works and doesn’t work in terms of emancipation because it is highly dependent on the particular situation but it is quite apparent that counterviolence is a necessary tool in this struggle. As we have seen, violence is not the only tool in liberation; the reconstruction of human ethics and perceptions is as, or more, important. Furthermore, it has been shown that sometimes nonviolence can create systemic change and that violence is not always applicable. Other times, violence is the only means to achieve true human emancipation.
The name Akasha derives from the Hindu culture, and is a noun because it is referring to an entity or a Spirit of being. The actual root form of the name Akasha is from Sanskrit, “kāś meaning: "to be visible"” (Wikipedia). Among the many spiritual cultures Akasha is connected with, it is no surprise that in nearly every sprititual culture she is in she is associated with division. So for Pagans to the four separate elements and culminate into one Spirit is a rather cathartic beauty in itself. What is even more poetic in the realism that is Akasha is that her Spirit of division can be considered an actual plane of existence, a “Heaven” for lack of a better word. As I was researching the name Akasha, many sites had the same information (basically what I have already shared, so far), but as I was reading the Wikipedia article on Akasha I came across some other terms I was not familiar with. Theosophy. This is a philosophy based on nature and the mysteries surrounding us within nature its self. Theosophy literally means “Divine Wisdom”, and many Theosophists believe