AHIMSA-THE PATH TO THE BETTER WORLD

INTRODUCTION

Evil and violence always accompany a person. These two phenomenae are closely related to each other. They may come to a person from the outside world as triggers. They can be generated by the person himself, therefore the fight against evil is, first of all, a fight with oneself, that is, with vices, fears and passions. This struggle is succeeded through the use of the main principle of ahimsa, that is, "conscious abstinence from thoughts and actions that generate evil and violence".

No Matter How Do I Feel, I Don't Harm

Scott Mandelker

MEANING OF AHIMSA

Ahimsa in Sanskrit (अहिंसा) means "harmlessness to all living things", "non-violence." The Sanskrit word "ahimsa" consists of the prefix "A" (against) and the root "Himsa" (violence; the world of violence, suffering and pain). Failure to observe this principle leads to increased suffering in this world. And the one who consciously observes ahimsa in its entirety acquires enlightenment: quarrels cease in his environment and, in general, do not arise, everyone coexists harmoniously with each other, peace and goodness reign.

Ahimsa is the first principle of the Yama Yoga.

Ahimsa is a concept based on the lifestyle of a person who does good, who does not allow evil consciously and deliberately to be cultivated in his thoughts or deeds.
The opposite of this term is Himsa. This is a concept that denotes evil itself, its manifestations and consequences, that includes: violence,murder,
mental and physical pain, resentment, damage to property, envy, dissemination of negative, specially distorted information, etc.

Himsa denotes the state of a person who deliberately wishes evil to another being.

ORIGIN OF AHIMSA

The doctrine of minimizing evil in the human world was formed in South Asia in ancient times. It was firstly the result of a rejection of the rituals of blood sacrifices. Since not only people, but also animals were sacrificed, the principle of not causing harm extended to all living objects of ritual torture. After that, a list of sacred animals has been formed. This list included cows, elephants and monkeys, that is, those animals that were most often sacrificed.
The ideas of life without harm to others are reflected in Buddhism, Vedism, Jainism, Brahmaism. In Jainism, this teaching was realized in the most radical forms. The followers of this religion were forbidden to fight any kind of living organisms, kill mosquitoes, defend themselves from animal attacks. There was even a ban on plowing the land, since small animals perish in this process.

Ahimsa was the ideological basis of such a phenomenon as part of yoga in Asia . In our time, yoga also has become a part of European culture. However, European yoga is more of a set of physical exercises. The ideological concept of this teaching of Yama yoga is still available only to those who consider the principle of not doing evil to a living one as their conviction.

Ahimsa combines both passive and active action. In the dogmas of almost all religions, there are similar principles. For example, in Christianity it is forbidden to kill and steal. Moreover, it is prescribed to love your neighbor. However, this only applies to humans. The difference between ahimsa is that its principles apply to all living organisms.

AHIMSA IN ACTION

Ahimsa means the absence in human behavior of the qualities accompanying the manifestation of evil in all possible forms - in thought, speech and deeds towards all living beings.

Self-restraint and self-regulation are at the heart of ahimsa to comprehend the truth, improve karma and develop society. The state affects a person after he has committed an act. Practicing Ahimsa consiously forms restraining mechanisms in a person, which should work at the level of habits, stereotypes and a way of thinking.

Mahatma Gandhi is considered the greatest practitioner of the principle of ahimsa, one of the leaders and ideologists of the Indian independence movement, a preacher of the idea of ​​non-violence. He achieved the liberation of India from the enslavement of the colonialists of the British Empire without firing a single shot the. He organized a campaign of civil disobedience "satyagraha", the participants of which boycotted English laws, refused to purchase English goods, which was facilitated by the transition to his own production. The spinning wheel was the symbol of their struggle for freedom. The goal of the campaign was to turn the opponent into an ally and like-minded person; as Gandhi preached, appeal to conscience is more effective than any threats and violence. According to his theory, violence always leads to an increase in violence, and nonviolence interrupts the process of whipping up evil and turns the enemy into an ally. 
Thus, Ahimsa is not a weapon for the weak, but for the strong in spirit.

RESISTANCE TO EVIL

It is a mistake to understand the principle of ahimsa as the need to remain passive in any situation, not wanting to harm. This has given rise to many misconceptions. In fact, you need to understand that passive non-resistance to evil can lead to disastrous consequences. 
You should not allow others to destroy you, you must not react to the wave of evil directed at you, and properly resist any energetic attacks from others. That would be a correct way..
To do this, you must learn to defend yourself without displaying negative emotions and aggressive responses. It is necessary to train yourself to maintain a state of equilibrium and calmness, dispassionate and unshakable. Only then, any "attacks" will not be able to strike you energetically, and you will not show negative responses, and the wave of evil directed at you will be neutralized without causing harm, faced with a wall of opposing energies of calmness and fortitude. It is necessary to defend oneself, but not allowing evil in the heart.

Envy, hatred, curses ... Until we accept them, they belong to those who brought them. We have the right to refuse such a "gift".

At the same time, non-resistance to evil is manifested in relation to evil as such, and not to people who bring it into the world. They are only mediators and, without knowing it, suffer from the evil they themselves do. They “do not know what they are doing”, therefore, one should not allow unkind feelings towards these unconscious accomplices of evil.

It is necessary to find out what is the root cause of the emergence of the desire to carry out "violence", to cause harm to other beings and the surrounding world as a whole.

Let's look at the following ubiquitous forms of "violence" that in our consumer society together are the way of life of the vast majority, and how to practice ahimsa in all this variety of manifestations of evil in our world:

1. Anger, revenge, hatred, aggression and all the ensuing consequences (quarrels, abuse, violence, murder, physical harm, etc.).

Any external manifestations of anger, revenge, hatred have a hidden internal source, which is the rejection of oneself ...

In no case should ahimsa be understood as restraining the anger that has arisen, which will entail undesirable consequences in one form or another. It is important not to allow it to occur at all.

The energy of anger is destructive. If it is directed at another person, then it begins to destroy his energy shells. The Law of Karma does not sleep and in any case will lead to a reverse reaction: sooner or later all our actions will respond to us in the same way, and the destructive energies with which you "gifted" the world around you will inevitably return to you.
Any manifestation of aggression and rejection towards someone is what is in us and it is reflected outside, in the surrounding world, not at all with the aim of manifesting the notorious "law of meanness" in action, but to clearly show all our shortcomings, to reveal our ignorance ...

2. Satisfaction of selfish desires: killing animals for pleasure (hunting, fishing, eating meat (red meat, poultry, seafood and meat of any other animal), harming your body (eating harmful substances, indulging your taste preferences, overeating, alcohol, smoking, narcotic and intoxicating substances), etc.

Much has already been said about alcohol, smoking and other harmful substances that people "delight" their bodies with. An organism subjected to such bullying makes it clear to the ignorant consciousness that its actions are destructive through a disease that inevitably overcomes it.

It is important to mention vegetarianism as the main ethical aspect of not harming animals.
It is necessary to understand what should negate any possibility of harm. By deliberately causing harm, putting our needs first, we make a choice in favor of personal good, and for this we are responsible in accordance with what we have done.

It is extremely difficult, or rather impossible, to realize the idea of ​​not harming all living things in full. Man is an animal that can only eat organic matter. However, this omnivorous animal is able to choose its food in accordance with beliefs and desires. For this reason, non-harm is realized, among other things, through a conscious choice of food products.

The main principle of ahimsa is to reduce suffering. Since only living organisms suffer, in order to live according to the rules of ahimsa, it is necessary to do what is impossible, that is, to stop eating organic matter. The compromise in this case is vegetarianism.

3. Ignorance manifested in the desire to impress others: also causing harm to your body, only through cosmetics and various cosmetic procedures.

We cause harm to ourselves, to our body, because we consist of many cells - living organisms that go their way of evolution in our microcosm. But we also manage to harm them by following selfish desires. By being unpretentious in food, you need to accustom yourself to undemanding in everything. Let's start treating our body with respect, like a temple of the Spirit. Energy is primary, matter is secondary. Therefore, take a closer look at what you are doing with your body (in particular, this applies to women): does the temple of the Spirit need rejuvenating procedures and tons of cosmetics in which you immerse your face, as you mistakenly believe, to look beautiful. Beauty comes from within, and no matter how you decorate your outer shell, what your Soul is filled with will invariably manifest itself and "overlap" your physical image.

4. The use of other living beings for their own purposes: people (deception, self-interest, betrayal, which cause mental pain); animals (not only eating them, but also using them in the form of clothing, as a means of movement and transportation, and as entertainment (zoos, circuses, hippodromes, etc.).
In our society, for some reason, it has become the norm to use others for their own selfish purposes, without thinking about how they feel.

5. Environmental pollution (household waste, chemical waste, reagents, non-recyclable waste).

The consumer lifestyle is relentlessly destroying the ecosystem of our planet. The problem of ecology is especially acute in recent years. Human impact on nature leads to the impossibility of its self-healing. Sources of environmental pollution are various factors, but the reason lies precisely in the negative influence of a person, his selfish way of life. The ecological crisis is generated by the manifestation of human selfishness. Mountains of garbage with which man filled up the planet, deforestation, pollution of the hydrosphere with oil products and heavy metals, removal of huge masses of minerals from the bowels of the earth, depletion of the world’s oceans, toxicity of the earth with pesticides, herbicides and nitrates, destruction of thousands of species of plants and animals, pollution of the atmosphere with harmful substances. You can’t list everything, what man has done on his planet during his "consumer" existence. And at the moment, the environmental problem in the world can be described as close to critical

AHIMSA OF THOUGHTS

Ahimsa also means non - harming thoughts. Before that, we considered harm in its physical manifestation, when we see the result of the action of evil. But the essence of ahimsa is much deeper. The evil done in thoughts is not obvious, in a latent form. However, the damage that can be caused by a single negative thought in relation to someone can be truly colossal, because it is not limited in its action. Therefore, its occurrence will necessarily lead to a certain consequence, favorable or not - depends on its nature. Only these results are invisible, but the energy of thought underlies all phenomena. We say: "If you want to change the world, start with yourself." We also build our world in our thoughts, try not to allow their unfavorable manifestations. Remember that the thought born in you, first of all, poisons you, attracting the appropriate vibrations in the surrounding space - self-poisoning occurs with their own evil thoughts. Do not create in yourself and do not allow others to "infect" you with low emotions and feelings.

When we condemn and criticize other people, we resent their nature, thus showing a rejection of divine purpose. Better not to judge at all. The best judge is karma. Each deed will be appreciated and a consonant consequence will inevitably appear in the future. In any case, it is important to understand that it is impossible to correct another person, one must learn to accept, remembering that all beings in this world suffer from destructive passions and emotions, being held captive by their own illusions. Other people's shortcomings are always before our eyes, and our backs are turned to our own. Let us always look at ourselves - this will make us more tolerant of other people's vices.

The practice of mentioned principles of ahimsa has different goals and directions. However, the main thing is the path to self-improvement and comprehension of the truth. In addition to a conscious choice of healthy lifestyle.

The beginning of the path to goodness should be an understanding of one's own significance for the processes taking place in the world. Every person is great. We are born with the potential to make this world a better place. And we can do it with every act, every thought. And if our actions and thoughts do not make the world a better place, then we can not justify our existence.

It should be remembered that ahimsa reflects the value system of people who want to live in a world free of violence and evil. In order to change the world, you need to change yourself, since good can only be generated by a kind person. This is the principle of the spiritual evolution of mankind.

[written ,scripted, edited by INFINITY, Maria G 01.06.2021]