Monday, August 10, 2015

अहिंसा (Non-violence) a misunderstood term in Hinduism

अहिंसा परमो धर्म; धर्म हिंसा तथीव च |

अर्थात
अहिंसा मनुष्य का परम धर्म है और धर्म की रक्षा के
लिए हिंसा करना उस से भी श्रेष्ठ है...!!!!

Mahatma Gandhi popularized only part of the Gita quote and I mentioned about this in oct 2014 on Facebook. he perched and popularised partial quote and misguided the nation in the freedom struggle.

Non-violence is the ultimate dharma. But, violence is essential to protect people, their land and the nation and this is every King’s duty (धर्म) that he needs to follow...

1.Rama didn't forgive Ravana in-spite of Ravana being one of the most revered and respected kings at that time having greatest knowledge in Music, Architecture and warfare. His act of abducting other's wife (अबला) who was alone and couldn't defend herself, was just unforgivable and Rama mentioned that they didn't want to set this as an acceptable trend. 

2. Krishna advised Arjuna that the act of Drupadi ‘vastraharan’ (disrobing) was not acceptable in anyway. The reason he mentioned was Drupadi was a daughter of powerful king, gifted woman herself, a wife of noble men and a future queen.

He further said, "If you forgive Duryodhan for humiliating such a powerful and respectable woman, there will be no respect for common women in the society." 

3. Prithvi Raj Chauhan, a famous Rajput King forgave Md Ghori 16 times as mentioned by few historians. However, when Md Ghori got an opportunity to defeat the Rajput king deceitfully (as his confidant officer, Jaichand helped Md Ghori to capture the king), he did NOT reciprocate the act of 'forgiveness' for once. On the contraryhe killed the Rajput king by torturing him as inhumanly as possible. History witnessed this.

Hinduism talks about compassion(माया), kindness(करूणा) and harmony(सहचार) with every living being, not just restricted to human being. Therefore, there are festivals where Hindus worship cow, bulls, elephants, and the snakes (during nagpanchami). This peace and kindness is also extended to mother nature to value their contribution in our life. The Hindus also revere Mother Nature such as river, the mountain, the farm, the produce and the soil.


So, forgiveness is depends on the situations and thus, non-violence is a relative terms and must be used cautiously.

#compassion #customs #gandhi #Hindu #kindness #love #misunderstood #nonviolence #practices #religion #Sanatana Dharma #violence VedicGyaan #vedicknowledge #sandhyajane