Peace of mind and non-violence are connected intricately. Ahimsa or non-violence brings about peace of mind, and when you are peaceful within, you naturally become non-violent.
Have you ever felt like hitting somebody? Why is that violence arising in your mind? What is the source of the violence? As you watch the source of violence, you will see that violence disappears, dissolves, and peace dawns. Yoga brings that inner peace which in turn establishes non-violence.
Violence, whether it is towards oneself or towards others, is the external expression of stress. Violence towards oneself can be self-harming. Violence towards others is expressed as aggression. If we don’t see life with a fresh eye, if we are overburdened with stress, we are bound to be violent.
Have you ever noticed what happens to you when you are overburdened? You get frustrated, and a barrage of questions bombard your mind. But no answer seems to satisfy you when you are stressed. A stressed mind is too disturbed to perceive anything with clarity and awareness. Unanswered questions ferment and become violence. In these moments, a stressed mind needs the presence of a wise person. Knowledge and wisdom help a stressed person resolve the unanswered questions in two ways- either they get the answers or the questions evoke wonder. This is when violence is replaced by love.
Viveka is when a person takes to non-violence, saying, “I will not kill any animal or any life on this planet consciously or unconsciously.” Already without your knowledge, many creatures die due to your actions. You walk and many ants die under your feet. Thousands of bacteria are born and die in your gut every day. It is not that you intend to do this harm. It is just happening. But an intention to destroy something or be violent can cut your own roots. Dropping this intention for violence is ahimsa.
What is the effect of ahimsa? Maharishi Patanjali gives a beautiful explanation in the Yoga Sutras- Ahimsapratishtayam tatsannidhau vairatyagaha.
If you are established in non-violence, in your very presence, violence will be dropped by other creatures. For example, someone comes to attack you. As soon as they come near you, because your vibrations are totally non-violent, they will drop the violence or the intent to harm you. Lord Mahavira emphasises ahimsa. It is said that whenever he walked, people would stop being violent within a 20-kilometer radius of him. The story goes to say that thorns would not prick anybody but would instead become soft.
Stress can lead one to violence. What is stress? It is when we have too much to do in a short time with no energy left in our body and mind.
Is there anything that helps us relieve stress? Yes, there is our breath that can help. How does it do that?
Breath is an important source of energy. It is the link between our body and mind. For every emotion, there is a corresponding rhythm in the breath. When one is depressed, angry, or anxious, we breathe in a certain rhythm, and when we are peaceful and joyful, the breathing is different. Looking into this aspect of our breath and emotions can make a big difference to the state of our mind. Learning how to use this breath can transform our emotions, make us positive and pleasant to be around.
‘Pranayamas’ or breathing techniques like Sudarshan Kriya and meditation help us manage stress and establish our minds in non-violence or ahimsa. Regular practices can help reduce the intensity and the occurrence of violent reactions in us.
We have practically experienced the miracle of breathing and meditation techniques when The Art of Living’s teachers taught these techniques to prison inmates in prisons across the world. The inmates had tremendously positive and life-transforming experiences in those sessions. Afterwards, many inmates have shared with our teachers and volunteers that if they had learned these techniques before committing crimes, their lives would have been different, and perhaps they wouldn’t have been in prisons.
In the spur of the moment, at the peak of negative emotions, people commit crimes, and when their minds settle down, they don’t even understand why they did them. By the time they come to their senses, they have already committed the crime. The mind that oscillates between the past and the future experiences anger about the past and anxiety about the future. This creates stress toxins in the body. Wisdom and spiritual practices are the keys to eliminate these negative impressions associated with the past or future, harmonize our emotions, and establish us in nonviolence.
Disclaimer
Views expressed above are the author’s own.
