Sri Sathya Sai on Non-violence

“I take birth in different Yugas for protecting the righteous and destroying the unrighteous and for establishing righteousness” – Gita.

In Treta Yuga on appeal from sages for protection from men with demonic qualities, God came in human form as Lord Rama, took Lakshmana and Hanuman as His assistants and performed the operation, and saved dharma. During Dwapara Yuga, taking the form of Lord Krishna, God came to the rescue of the Pandavas, “men of righteousness.” In that operation 40 lakh ‘germs’ were killed. And He protected dharma. In the Kali Yuga, to make men follow the path of righteousness God sent at different times His messengers–Buddha, Zarathushtra, Jesus, Muhammad, etc. Their scriptures are their precious gifts to mankind. But instead of following the path laid down by the messengers, their followers cornered the messengers and their respective scriptures, raised high walls, and created watertight compartments. As a result, wars became the routine of the day: 15,000 wars have been fought, millions of innocent lives lost during the last 5,000 years.

Violence is still on the increase. Weapons of Mass Destruction have been piled up; these WMD could destroy the World 70 times over! Men of righteousness, in microscopic minority, prayed. And they had their prayer answered. God has come in human form to save mankind, taking birth in Ratnakara Raju family at Puttaparthi, with the name: “Sathyanarayana.”

If He had come with destructive weapons, who would have been left out! He has come not for annihilation but for transformation. He has come with a powerful medicine, a panacea, and a perfect antidote to violence–“non-violence.” All the religions of the world–Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity and Islam–have glorified “non-violence.”

Right from His childhood every action of Sathya has been suffused with “non-violence”. He alone could say, “My life is My message.”

The Ratnakara Rajus were non-vegetarians. The Divine child refused the food prepared in the vessels previously used for cooking non-vegetarian food. As the grandfather Kondama Raju was a strict vegetarian, the Divine Child would go to his house for His food. There was another great soul in the village to feed the Divine Child, a Brahmin lady, Karanam Subbamma.

At the tender age of three or four, He had a heart that melted at human suffering. He would not allow a beggar to pass by His house unless alms were given. He would not even pass across places where any cruelty was perpetrated on animals and birds. When the village went to watch cockfights, He would sit lamenting in a lonely place. He would avoid the tank where fishing was on. On Tholi Ekadashi, when the entire village moves to witness the bullock-cart race on the Chitravati riverbed, He would sit in a corner and bemoan the suffering of the animals. He would persuade His playmates not to attend such functions.

In due course devotees started coming to Puttaparthi in large numbers. Once He called back some devotees who had just taken leave of Him. They hurriedly returned. He said, “So many of you have come in a single cart. It will be a burden on the bullocks, especially in the sands of the River Chitravati. So, until you cross the riverbed you walk along. That was what I wanted to tell you.” This is non-violence in Action.

Non-violence is the result of the total blossoming of the soul and the state of advaitic [non-dualistic] awareness. It is a state and sense of feeling of total identity with all life and creation. It is the quality and the attribute of the awakened soul. It sees only God in every bit of creation. It is pure and impersonal love flowing from the spirit.

While the other four values, sathya, dharma, shanti, and prema are mostly subjective in their implications, ahimsa or non-violence refers to our social obligations and general attitude toward the entire world and all beings without exception. It is all-expansive and all-encompassing love.

Ahimsa or non-violence according to the Shrutis [scriptures] is the first of the eight flowers (qualities) with which Bharatiyas [Indians] worshipped God. The other flowers are: Sathya [truth], dharma [righteousness], shanti [peace], prema [love], daya [compassion], kshama [forbearance], and dhyana [meditation]. Clarifying about the ahimsa pushpam, Lord Sai has said, “The true meaning of ahimsa is not to hurt or harm any being either through thought, word, or deed.” This kind of flower of ahimsa has been described as ‘trigunam [3 qualities—satisfaction, frustration, and confusion],triputi, ekabilvam’. All of these should be harmonized and brought together to one unit of flower.

Further Lord Sai has explained, “Nonviolence does not mean merely not injuring a living being, you should not harm anyone through your vision, hearing, or talking.” The Buddha also has said, “Non-violence is the Supreme Right Action.” We should interpret non-violence as not causing any harm to any individual by any means. Tolerance, fortitude, equanimity—these help us to be steady in non-violence.

It also implies refraining from causing harm to yourself. If you harm yourself, you cannot avoid harming others. How is this to be ensured? This is to be ensured by constantly examining whether your conduct is right or wrong. You should see that you give no room for a bad look, bad word, bad thought, and bad action.

Whenever we act against the dictates of our conscience, bad results follow. Our conscience is the divine within each one of us. Whatever we do, the conscience tells us whether it is right or wrong. However, to ascertain the directive of the conscience we need time. When we want to listen to something, we must examine whether it is good or bad to listen to and then decide what is proper. We should be careful about our food. Moderation in food is conducive to happiness.

Thus, ahimsa is what confers happiness on us. That which hurts us is violence. Likewise, our entire life should be governed by the principle of non-violence. Violence is present in all routine activities. To avoid the consequences of such involuntary violence to living creatures, we are advised to dedicate all actions to the Divine. But there is no meaning in dedicating conscious acts of violence to the Divine. The conscience will not approve of such conduct. In Vedanticparlance the conscience is called ‘chit’, ‘awareness’. Awareness is total understanding. Total understanding is within the capacity of every human being. And ahimsa is the primary duty of man.

Non-violence and the omnipresence of God

All religions of the world have declared: “God is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent.” Lord Sai has said, “God is omnipresent. He is immanent in every being in equal measure. So man must visualize Him equally in himself and in others. That is to say, he sees only God in all. So how can he harm others or fear that he will come to harm through others? This is the basis of the Indian ideal of ahimsa.”

“You must examine every act to find out whether it will cause pain to others; if it does, withdraw from it. Don’t do to others what you do not like to have done unto you. This is called the Golden Rule—yes, it is the best test for distinguishing right from wrong.”

Jesus was the Messenger of God on earth. Lord Sai narrates the episode of his crucifixion, “When the nails were being driven into him on the cross, Jesus heard the voice of the Father saying, ‘All life is one, my dear Son. Be alike to everyone.’” Jesus said, “Lord, pardon them, for they know not what they do.” Lord Sai says, “Jesus sacrificed himself for the sake of mankind.”

Non-violence and unity of faith

“The scriptures of different creeds—the Bible, Koran, Upanishads, and Zend Avesta–appear different, but their aim is the same; to establish the Brotherhood of Man and Fatherhood of God as the basis for the peace of mankind,” declares Lord Sai.

Non-violence: A ceiling on desires

Who is the richest man in the world? He who has fewest desires. Who is the poorest man in the world? He who has more desires. Lord Sai has said, “Desires are a prison. Man can be freed only by limiting his wants. You should have desires only for life’s bare necessities. The first ceiling on desires is: ‘Don’t waste food. Food is God.’ The second instruction is: ‘Don’t waste money. God is wealth.’” Practice charity by giving away money, food, clothes, etc. The third instruction is: ‘Don’t waste time. Time waste is life waste.’ The fourth instruction is: ‘Don’t waste energy.’ People waste their energy by indulging in bad thoughts, bad looks, bad hearing, and bad actions.”

Non-violence and truth

Love in thought is truth. It is eternal. Lord Sai has said, “You have two eyes in your consciousness, namely truth and non-Violence. They are the guides, which will take you to the goal, the two lights, the sun and the moon of the inner firmament. To know the way in which you must observe truth in speech, look into Bhagavad Gita.” It tells us that the best speech is that which does not create pain or grief to others (anudvegakaram vakyam). The scriptures (Shastras) also say, “Speak the truth, but speak pleasantly (sathyam bruyaat, priyam bruyaat na bruyaat sathyam apriyam). Simply because a statement will be welcome to the hearer, don’t speak it out to win his approval. If speaking truth will cause grief or pain, keep silent. That is the vow of truth in ordinary daily life. Both unpleasant truth and pleasant untruth have to be avoided.”

Non-violence and Right Conduct

“Dharma eva adharmaohanti
dharmo rakshati rakshitah” 

(Dharma destroys the one who harms it. Dharma protects its protector)

Lord Sai has highlighted these three concepts, “preeti, bheeti, neeti”
Preeti pertains to the love for God–Daiva preeti.
Bheeti is related to the fear of sin–Papa bheeti.
Neeti is related to the morality in society–Sangha neeti.
If these three are observed there will be Peace and Non-violence.

Non-violence and peace

Lord Sai has said, “It is the state in which the senses are mastered and held in balance.” “Peace is a shoreless ocean; it is the light that illumines the world. Having it is having all.”

Non-violence and Love

In ancient days the seers and the sages lived in the forests often surrounded by wild animals. But they lived in amity. What is the secret? Their hearts overflowed with love and non-violence. Lord Sai has said, “The weapon of love will disarm every opponent. Love begets love, it will be reflected back; and it will have only love as reaction. Shout ‘love’, the echo from the other person’s heart will also be love.” The Gita says, you must be “without hatred to all beings, you must positively love all beings; actively love and actively engage yourself in acts of love. That alone wins the grace that you crave for. “Love is selflessness; Self is lovelessness; Love gives and forgives; Self gets and forgets.” “Love can never entertain the idea of revenge, for it sees all others as Oneself.”

Lord Sai has emphasized that the five human values are related to the different instruments of the body:

1) Dharma is related to Annamaya Kosa [physical sheath].
2) Prema is related to Pranamaya Kosa [energy body forces].
3) Shanti is related to Manomaya Kosa [mental sheath].
4) Sathya is related to Vijnanamaya Kosa [wisdom sheath].
5) Ahimsa is related to Aanandamaya Kosa [innermost blissful sheath].

But where is the scope for their promotion when the heart is the abode of six evil tendencies–lust, anger, greed, attachment, arrogance, and envy? Let us burn to ashes all these evil forces. When we promote these values, our heart will be the abode of peace. During Treta Yuga Lord Rama established Rama Rajya with truth as the foundation. In Dwapara Yuga Lord Krishna established Dharma Rajya with Righteousness as the foundation. But their field was limited to India, that is Bharata.

In this Kali Age Lord Sai has come with His own Sankalpa [resolution] to establish Golden Age with shanti as the foundation, where “Love and Non-violence” will reign supreme. There truth and righteousness will be the beacon lights. This Golden Age will travel beyond the boundaries of India and will cover the entire world. It will be a global phenomenon–“Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” (The world is one family).

~Late D.S. Habbu, Former Principal of Sri Sathya Sai Higher Secondary School
Source: Sai Sparshan 2005 (80th Birthday Offering)