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Chapter 16
CONFLICT BETWEEN THE DIVINE AND THE DEMONIACAL TENDENCIES
90. Four Stages in The Development Of Nonviolence
10. That experiment failed. Then came the age of Rama. Brahmins again began to think about the matter. They had already given up violence and had resolved never to commit violence themselves. But then how to repel attacks from the demons? They thought that the Kshatriyas have anyway taken to violence; so it is better to make them fight the demons. Sage Vishwamitra, therefore, brought Rama and Lakshman to protect his yajna (sacrificial worship) from the demons and destroyed the demons through them. Today we think that non-violence should be able to take care of itself; it should not be dependent on others. But sages like Vasishtha and Vishwamitra did not consider it infra dig to utilize the services of Kshatriyas for their protection. But what would have happened, had Vishwamitra not found Rama? He would then have preferred to die rather than taking up arms. The experiment of fighting violence by violence had been a thing of the past, and the resolve to remain personally non-violent was now firm. The non-violent men were ready to die if they could not get Kshatriyas to protect them. In the Ramayana, there is an incident wherein Rama enquires about the heaps of bones he had seen and the sages tell him that those were the bones of the non-violent Brahmins who, on being attacked by the demons, embraced death without putting up any resistance. This type of non-violence had the element of sacrifice in it, but there was also an expectation of protection from others. With such weakness, there cannot be perfect non-violence. 11. The saints of the mediaeval times carried out the third experiment. They resolved, “Now we will never seek protection from others and rely on nonviolence itself to protect us. That alone can be the true protection.” This experiment was on an individual plane; and on that plane, it was carried to perfection. But it did not have a social dimension. Had people asked the saints what should be done in the face of a violent attack, they would perhaps have failed to give an unequivocal answer; they would perhaps have admitted their inability to give a definite guidance to the people in such an eventuality. Again, it is childish impertinence on my part to blame the saints. But I am telling you what I can see standing on their shoulders. The saints should forgive me for my comments; and I am sure that they would, as they are large-hearted. It is not that the thought of making collective experiments in non-violence must not have crossed their minds, but they must have thought that the situation was not ripe for such experiments. They made different experiments on the individual level; but, a science, after all, develops through such experiments only. |
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