Every religion preaches non-violence. Religion or Dharma is a well defined path which guides us to what we ought to do and what not to do to experience peace, love and happiness, while walking through the journey of life. “If you do this you will be happy. If you do that you be will hurt.” It constantly teaches us how to walk through life to maintain happiness.
We want to be happy, peaceful and loved. However, in order not to fluctuate in these qualities and drop down to a low pace, we are taught to strengthen our mind and stabilise the inner consciousness by means of prayers, rituals, charity, and good deeds.
This helps us remain calm. Knowing that “as I sowed, so I would reap,” we refrain from deliberately giving anyone sorrow in return. Therefore, we make a special effort not to hurt, be forgiving and hoping that it would be ‘done unto me’. But, these efforts are usually performed at the verbal level and deeds, while silently cursing those whom we think and believe are responsible for our sorrow and wishing them sorrow in return in our thoughts.
We have mastered the art of communication at the level of speaking and hand shaking. We speak very sweetly and softly, but are rude and bitter in our thoughts. Life is a compilation of events, through what we express and experience.
Expression is first through thoughts and then words and deeds. What ingredients we use to express ourselves, decides on the quality of experience we get. Often, we become a crusader in order to advise and help others, while doing so, we become so judgmental and we give permission to ourselves to blame and prove that their every moves were wrong. “This not the way to dress, this is not the way to speak, this is not the way to walk, this is not the way to laugh and this is not the way to present oneself “and it goes on and on. We take this right in our hand to push someone constantly to change. During the process, we do not realise the negative effects inflicted onto them, resulting in their eventual low self- esteem. We have considered not hurting, or giving sorrow superficially. We have emphasised attention on words and deeds, but ignored thoughts. Many times, we convinced ourselves it is okay to be rude, harsh, and angry because I care and I am only helping, doing this for betterment. We feel justified in our judgment and without realising that there may be a price to pay for doing so. We feel right and correct without considering it is only a reflection of our own mental attitude.
It is hard, but we have to accept that every single judgment about other people, objects or situations are only a reflection of my inner mirror. If others don’t respect our opinion or judgment, we conveniently close the relationship, move on and just blame it on their fate.
Causing sorrow is “violent at the level of mental action”, which is producing thoughts, even though I have sealed my lips and have been kind and tender. If I judge a person as wrong, I have created one thought that, the person is not, my energy travels instantly, stimulates a feeling of unhappiness about him by bringing the self-esteem low. As per the Law of Karma, we have to realise that even the movements of our thoughts as subtle actions and feelings are reactions which are caused by our own thoughts.
Karma works on the principle of Newton’s Third Law of Motion, “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction” and is an “impersonal energy and it is dynamic.” It is very clearly defined that Karma is not a moral dynamic. Morality is a human creation. The law of karma governs the balancing of energy within our system of morality and within those of our neighbors. It insists our experiences are our responsibility.
“Every action, thought and feeling is motivated by an intention” and that intention is a cause that exists as one with an effect. If we participate in the cause, it is not possible for us not to participate in the effect.
In this most profound way, we are held responsible for all our actions, thoughts and feelings, which are to say, for our every intention. Wisdom is when we are aware of our intentions that transforms into our experience and choose them wisely according to the experience we desire to produce.
Judging someone as being wrong is based only on our assumptions of right and wrong. Labeling someone as wrong and trying to change them only proves their lack of inner strength of power to tolerance and the power to accommodate.
First step towards Ahimsa, living with Morale of Non violence starts with the Golden rule of Non-violence towards self. It is not possible not to hurt when we are hurt. That is why spirituality reinforces “don’t take sorrow and don’t give sorrow”. How not to take sorrow? Judgments are direct effect of any emotionaldisturbance such as irritation, impatience, unhappy due to the influences ofexternal source. Emotional disturbance causes the fluctuation in our positive energy flow.
This is self-inflicted pain, causing sorrow to the self. Accept the persons andsituations as they are in order not to undergo the pain on self. When the volcano erupts, it damages the self. To escape the law of karma, we have to become more careful, stop being judgmental and prevent negative emotions from developing towards anyone, regardless of what they might be do. Karma is created when I express the sorrow or other negative emotion that accompanies the pain.
We can learn to accept and heal karmic imbalances only when we have a strong sense of our worth. At the innermost level, the way I think about myself, the regard I hold for myself is what determines my spiritual strength and vitality. In order to heal my karmic imbalances I must not only understand the cause and treatment of the imbalance, I must also know how to strengthen myself as a whole being. Develop a kind and compassionate relationship with yourself. Heed the messages in your feelings, learn from your pain and accept responsibility for your karma. Forgive others and send them only good wishes and positive vibrations. Let the past be the past, remain compassionate but unaffected by the pain of others, refrain from taking things personally. Realise that we create our thoughts and use this power to create Happiness. Give and take only happiness.