International Non Violence Day

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International Non-Violence Day

Oinam Anand *

'Ahimsa is the highest duty. Even if we cannot practise it in full, we must try to understand its spirit and refrain as far as is humanly possible from violence'
— MK Gandhi

To Gandhiji, non-violence is 'love' of the highest kind. It includes the whole creation of God on this earth and not only human beings. His opinion on non-violence is that it is no non-violence if we merely love those who love us. It is non-violence only when we love those who hate us. Love of the hater is the most difficult but the best definition of Non-Violence. Ahimsa means infinite love, which means infinite capacity for suffering.

In the period of struggle against Apartheid in South Africa and freedom movement of India many world leaders of the time had taken Gandhiji's Ahimsa an act of cowardice. But in its true meaning Cowardice and Non-violence are contradictory terms. Gandhiji said 'Non-violence is the greatest virtue, cowardice the grea-test vice. Non-violence springs from love, cowardice from hate. Non-violence always suffers, cowardice would always inflict sufferings'. (Young India. 31.10.1929)

Do cowards and timids resign to non-violence. No, non-violence is the weap-on of the strong. Gandhiji had his opinion that to the weak, non-violence might easily be hypocrisy, because he had his view on fear and love. Fear and love are contradictory terms. Love is reckless in giving away, oblivious as to what it gets in return.

Photo Courtesy : Jinendra Maibam

Love wrestles with the world as with itself and ultimately gains a mastery over all other feelings. Gandhiji had seen law of truth and non-violence, the law of life which would lend itself to solution to every problem. To him Truth and Non-Violence are the faces of the same coin. He said, 'True Ahimsa would wear a smile even on deathbed brought about by an assailant. It is only with that Ahimsa that we can befriend our opponents and win their love'. (Harijan 2-3-1940).

Non-Violence is the greatest force at the dispo-sal of mankind. Conscious-ly or unconsciously, we, the human being, in our life adopt non-violence towards one another in our daily life. It is what we call a cultured life or a cultured society.

In a cultured society, the minds of the individuals grow like flowers, fruits and vegetables in a well-terraced and beautiful garden. In a society predominant with violence, nature does appear to be 'red in tooth and claw' and our society becomes a tract of land that is overgrown with weeds and wild bushes.

Non-violence in its positive form means the largest love, the greatest charity. A follower of Ahimsa must love his enemy. It should be applied to the wrong doers who are our enemies or strangers to us as we would be our wrong doing father or son. This active Ahimsa necessarily includes Truth and Fearlessness.

As man cannot deceive the loved ones, he does not fear or frighten him or her. Gift of life is the greatest of all gifts, a man who gives it is reality, disarms all hostility. He has paved the way for an honourable understanding. And none who is himself subject to fear can bestow that gift. He must, therefore be himself fearless.

Gandhiji's philosophy of non-violence is centred mainly on our daily activities. If we have to cultivate Ahimsa to be effective, it must be shined through our speeches, our action, our general behaviour. A victory non-violence must cultivate a habit of unremitting toil, sleepless vigilance, ceaseless self control.

Gandhiji had taken non-violence as an unchangeable creed. It has to be pursued in face of violence raging around us. 'Non-violence with a non-violent man is no merit. Infact it becomes difficult to say whether it is non-violence at all. But when it is pitted against violence, then one realizes the difference between the two. This we cannot be unless we are ever wakeful, ever vigilant, ever striving (Harijan, 2-4-1983).

Gandhiji in his life had sworn by non-violence because he knew that at alone conduces the highest good of mankind, not merely in the next world but in this life also. Gandhiji strongly objected to violence because when violence appears to do good, the good is only temporary and the evil violence has done is permanent.

Gandiji adopted non-violence to achieve freedom of India. As a part of violence to none in his freedom movement, he undertook fast unto death on several occasions. In his ordeal of propagating non-violence, often his life was hung in balance of life and death on many occasions.

In one of such fast unto death, Prime Minister of Britain Mr Churchill had decided to let Gandhi die but his political advisors warned him of the explosive situation in which India would be placed in if the tallest leader of Indian National Movement died while fasting in prison and made Churchill retract his stand.

To Gandhiji, to capture power cannot be the goal of non-violence. But it can effectively control and gui-de power. Science of non-violence can alone lead one to pure democracy. But in the later phase of his struggle, moreover when India got freedom and the aftermath of blood bath through partition, Gandhiji realised that violence had got an upper-hand and non-violence had taken the back seat.

After watching the bloody events at Naokhali, Gandhi concluded that it was man, not God who do the wrongs. And as those happens in man of genius or avatars, he was killed and got martyrdom on the 30th January 1948.

In this volatile and explosive world, the world begins to know the importance of non-violence used by Gandhiji. The United Nation honours Gandhiji's ideal and his birth day is observed as International day of Non-Violence from this year. Let peace be prevailed in this restless world.

On Shanti, Om Shanti, Om Shanti

(with inputs from Gandhiji's choicest writings and speeches).

* Oinam Anand writes regularly for The Sangai Express. This article was webcasted on October 28, 2007.

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