Notes - Week 2

Week 2 Notes

AHIMSA

To understand Ahimsa, one has to first understand what Himsa means

• Himsa -    Violence
• Ahimsa – Non-Violence.

What is Ahimsa?

•     Not to intentionally hurt any living beings or their feelings.
•     Ahimsa is the absence of evil actions, thoughts .feelings or attitude towards any living being.
•     Do not injure, abuse, oppress, enslave, insult, torment, torture or kill any living being.

Ways of committing violence.

Ahimsa is not practiced at physical level only, it should be practiced by a combination of the following.

• 'Man'     (Mind)                  Mental Actions
• 'Vachan'(Speech)                Verbal
• 'Kaya'     (Body)                  Physical Actions.

1) Man (Violence through thoughts).
It is the most dangerous type of himsa. On average a person gets 60,000 thoughts in a day. Almost all of these thoughts are repetitions of our past/present actions.  Energy is lost in just these unnecessary thoughts.  Therefore it is very important to practice purity through our thoughts.

• Do not think evil of others.
• Do not think negatively about any other Jiv.
• Do not hurt others feelings.

All living beings irrespective of their size or shape have souls, all souls are equal, therefore it is necessary to live in peace and harmony with each other.

2) Vachan (Violence through Speech)

It is very important to control one's speech by not using harsh words e.g. talking rudely, backbiting, gossiping.

"Always think before you speak or react to anyone."

3) Kaya (Violence through one's actions).

There is life in air, water, earth , trees/plants.  Therefore we should not kill life of even the lowest form. We must have respect for life.  Not only Live and Let Live but live and help others in living.

         

It is impossible to exist without killing or injuring some of the smallest living beings as some lives are killed even when we breathe, drink water or eat food.  Therefore Jainism says that minimum killing should be our ideal. Moreover it is more serious where killing is done intentionally or through indifference.

Jainism has classified all the living beings according to their sense organs. It is more serious if life of the highest form is killed.

Hinsa is committed not only by action, speech or thought but

• 1) You may commit hinsa yourself or
• 2) You may ask someone to commit hinsa on your behalf or
• 3) You may support or praise the hinsa committed by someone.

Hence one should refrain from commiting hinsa by any of the above means.

Ahimsa can be practiced in the following ways.

• Do not kill any innocent creatures.
• Forgive.
• Promote Tolerance.
• Be Compassionate.
• Work for peace.
• Protect the Environment.
• Kindness to all living beings.
• Lead life free from addictions.
• Vigilant while cutting vegetables, cleaning houses or any other household chores.
• Do not waste water.
• Do not discriminate on the basis of caste, colour or creed etc.
• Do daily work in a just and honest way.
• Vegetarianism.

By practicing Ahimsa one can control the four inner enemies which are

Anger, Ego , Greed , Deceit.