Thoughts on Aman ki Asha

Jan 23, 2010, 12.00am IST
C V S K Rao.


Swami Vivekananda said: “Bring all forces of good together. Do not care under what banner you march. Do not care what be your colour – green, blue or red – but mix all the colours and produce that intense glow of white, the colour of love. Ours is to work. The results will take care of themselves”.


To focus on two things is important -- to energise the process of restoring peace and advance the ‘ Aman Ki Asha’ mission. The first is to nullify the attempts of those limited few, who due to their selfish ends, fan the fire of conflicts, like for example, those who misinterpret holy books and scriptures. The second is to create a harmonious, conflict-free atmosphere, where a meaningful dialogue leading to peace is made possible.


The scriptures do not support violence and hatred; they clearly advocate nonviolence, peace and love. For example, the Mahabharata is often cited as one that advocates war and killing, even killing of cousins! In fact, more than one third of the Mahabharata deals with conflicts, preparation for war and violent war in gory detail. Yet it is the Mahabharata which says: “Ahimsa paramo dharmah” – Nonviolence is the supreme virtue and is the foremost duty.


The word Jainism is from the root `Jin’ meaning the conqueror or the one who has overcome. Jains are followers of Bhagavan Mahavir – whose main teaching is nonviolence. Interestingly the foremost invocation of Jains is ‘Namo Arihantanam’ – salutation to those who destroyed their enemies.


Destruction of negative forces is possible only after overpowering and defeating them. Who are the enemies, who should be killed mercilessly? They are certainly not people with who we have a difference – that too when the difference can be resolved by peaceful means.


Sri Paramahamsa Yogananda explains the essential message of the Mahabharata, in his commentary of the Bhagavad Gita . The hundred sons of Dhritarashtra – symbolizing the blind irrational mind -- have characteristics of meanness, ill will, hardness, destruction, racial pride, temper, quarrelsome attitude, revengefulness, lack of vision and stupidity. These are the enemies and they must be defeated with all effort on a war footing. This is the real Mahabharata war, both at an individual and societal level.


The one who overcomes negative forces is the real ‘Arihant’ , whom the Jains salute. Satya Sai Baba says that truth, righteousness, peace, love and nonviolence are the five Pandavas, who can destroy evil tendencies. The essential teaching of all harbingers of peace, like Nanak, Kabir and others is also the same, in whose footsteps we must follow.
What is worth noting is that factors like lack of vision, destructive instinct and harshness which can ruin individuals, can also thwart peace processes and so these must be guarded against during negotiations. The next question is how to create a free and congenial atmosphere for proper dialogue.
Patanjali says that enmity is absent where ahimsa is the basis. What is ahimsa? Swami Vivekananda says that the test of ahimsa is the absence of (unhealthy) competition or jealousy. This can be made possible by following the dictum of Mathews 7:12 “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Thus Aman ki Asha and peaceful co-existence are possible through nonviolence only since ahimsa is nonviolence in thought, word and deed.