politics and ahimsa

[Guest guest]

Britain abolished the death penalty about 40

years ago. Opinion polls regularly suggest that there

is a majority of public opinion in favour of

bringing it back. But a few years ago parliament had a

free vote on it (i.e. no party lines, MPs voted

according to their individual consciences on the matter)

and it was rejected by quite a large majority. A

(rare but important) case of a parliament making a

wiser and more moral choice than its

electorate?<br><br>Election-democracies were invented in ancient Athens over two

thousand

years ago. They didn't catch on widely until after the

American and French revolutions 200 years ago. It is only

in the last 100 years that women, people with

different coloured skins and people with little or no

material wealth have been widely accepted as "people" for

electoral purposes.<br><br>The same point also applies to

ashtanga yoga, actually. It is only in the last 100 years

that non-Brahmins (including "women, people with

different coloured skins and people with little or no

material wealth") have been widely accepted as yoga

students. We have the farsighted attitude of a handful of

senior Brahmin yogis like Desikachar, BKS Iyengar and

Pattabhi Jois to thank for this.