Absolute Non- Violence?

[Guest guest]

Dear Siri Gian Singh,

Sorry it is a little late reply.

 

"Is it right to kill a man, if in turn a 10, 100 men, or even one other man

will be saved? Or...Should one practice Ahimsa

(non-violence) to its fullest extent."

I take ahimsa in its fullest extent, one should not harm anyone - including

his/her ownself.

You may ask the reaction of a yogi when someone attacks him. Would he choose

to protect him/her-self or would he stick to ahimsa to death. Well, the

ancient texts says that if you are "really" practicing ahimsa, you will

create that great positive energy aroud you and no one will even think of

harming you.

"In the presence of him who has perfected harmlessness, all enmity ceases."

(Patanjali's yoga sutra 2/35 )

If you have to kill a person to save 10,000 people, you need to this "job"

for the sake of the "job" if you want to prevent any future negative karma.

This is well explained in Bhagavat Gita which is a conversation between Sri

Krishna and Arjuna in the middle of a battlefield. In the beginning of the

Gita, Arjuna felt pity for his relatives and refused to fight and Sri

Krishna gave him some advices.

1.Sri Krishna says to Arjuna that he should do (as a Kshatriya) his duty,

and if he dies, he goes to heaven and if he wins he will conquer the world.

(Sankhya Yoga) - Righteous war generates good karma.

2. Sri Krishna also says that if you just work without expecting the fruits

and without attachment, or if you say "I am not the doer, but the Absolute

is doing everything using me as a tool then you excel all realms and unite

with the Absolute. You do not generate karma and you excel. (this is the

essence of Karma yoga)

So, if we adapt this to your question, I come to the conclusion that if you

kill a man, thinking that "you kill that man for prosperity of the world",

you generate good karma. If you kill that man thinking that the Absolute has

already killed that man and you are only a tool in the hands of the Absolute

to kill that man, and if you do not expect any awards for your action and if

you are not attached to it, then you do not generate any karma at all. You

are above all three gunas and you excel!

 

"Should one stand aside as a man kills another man...knowing that this man

will suffer the karma for his action, and that the soul of the dead man’s

body is untouchable and will be reborn?"

If there is anything you can do, do it. Help if you can, why not? Thank God

for giving you a chance to decrease someone's future suffering. It would be

a great gift, wouldn't it?

 

"Say the man wasn’t killed but injured instead, shouldn’t one attempt to

prevent his injury? (first with non-violence, but if all else fails, by

means of violence itself?) "

My answer is still the same. Help if you can.

 

With peace and love.

Ayca.