Sunday, February 13, 2000		Your Option

Seeking alternatives to violence
By Taru Bahl

WISE men have said that there is no man in the world who has attempted to wrong another without injuring himself in the bargain. In our daily lives we often see that people get angry and may even resort to assault and battery. But at the end, they are left with a feeling of remorse. In order to avoid such negative behaviour, it has been emphasised from time immemorial that patience, tolerance, compassion, humility and endurance are virtues which all of us should cultivate. They help an individual to overcome the negative feelings of aggression and anger, and get the better of the other person and his circumstances.

Many a time, we may get provoked enough to think of retaliating but if we retain our calm and poise the feeling will pass. We must learn from the heron. When the grey heron is pursued by its enemy, the eagle, it does not run to escape the attack. It remains cool and composed and and waits quietly with its bill raised towards the sky. Often, when the eagle swoops down on its prey heron, it gets impaled on the lance-like bill of the heron.

When Gandhiji talked of non-cooperation being one of the most effective forms of non-violence, he specifically said: "Non cooperation is not a movement of brag, bluster and bluff. It is a test of our sincerity. It requires solid and silent self-sacrifice. It challenges our honesty and our capacity for national work. It is a movement that aims at translating ideas into action. The more we do, the more we find that much more must be done than we had expected. The thought of our imperfection must make us humble."

A non-cooperationist strives to compel attention and to set an example by his unobtrusive humility. He allows his actions to speak for his creed. Neither in the Koran nor in the Mahabharata was there any sanction for and approval of violence. If the science of war leads to dictatorship, the science of non-violence leads to democracy. Today, more than ever before, there is a need to practice non-violent conflict resolution skills. Hence, at an individual and at a collective level, we have to seek viable alternatives to violence before we make our world an extremely hostile and unfriendly place.

Gandhiji said that our belief in non-violence must be genuine. Being non-violent in action while harbouring violent feelings in the mind and suppressing hateful feelings in the heart is as bad as giving vent to these feelings. The idea is to convince our opponents treading the path of violence to adopt non-violent means.

This becomes easier if we understand and practise the four basic principles of non-violence — respect, understanding, acceptance and appreciation. When we talk of respect we mean respecting not just those who we interact with and who are important to us, but also our own selves.

To achieve harmony and cohesiveness we must accept the fact that we have to work together to build society. This makes us inter-dependent, inter-related and inter-woven with the people around us. It is not enough to just respect individuals. We must also respect different cultures, ways of life and belief systems. The danger lies in our becoming competitive and in believing that our way is the only way. To assume that our way is the best is to say that we alone ‘possess’ the truth. When we accept that others can also be right, we join them in an honest search for the truth.

Understanding, which is the second principle of non-violence, can be reached only when we learn who we are and what is our role. With understanding comes the ability to look at others’ point of view, to digest a different opinion, to hold one’s own without getting agitated and violent and to introspect and come to terms with one’s flaws and mistakes.

Understanding automatically leads to the third principle of non-violence, i.e., acceptance. This comes only when we accept the physical and philosophical differences between human beings. When these differences cease to matter, we accept each other, and all our blemishes With this comes a lot of tranquillity and peace. Discord, tension, stress and conflict dissolve. Also trivialities get sorted out and only real issues remain. They can now be resolved in a practical and non-violent manner.

The final stage of non-violence which can well be termed moksha and nirvana, is that of appreciation. Here one acquires the natural ability to appreciate the other person. He may be our opponent, arch rival or severe critic but we still hold no grouse or ill will against him. When he does well, we appreciate and laud his efforts. It should not enhance our own insecurities and inadequacies. We have by now risen above petty competitive feelings which allow negative emotions like jealousy, hatred and resentment to brew and are able to look at things objectively in a more solution-based manner.

Mahatma Gandhi wrote in Harijan in 1942: "To practice non-violence in mundane matters is to know its true value. It is to bring heaven upon earth. There is no such thing as the other world. All worlds are one. There is no ‘ here’ and no ‘ there’. The whole universe, including the most distant stars, invisible even through the most powerful telescope in the world, is compressed in an atom. I hold it, therefore, to be wrong to limit the use of non-violence to cave-dwellers and for acquiring merit for a favoured position in the other world. All virtue ceases to have use if it serves no purpose in every walk of life. I would, therefore, plead with the purely political-minded people to study non-violence and fasting as its extreme manifestation with sympathy and understanding."

This approach, which sincerely seeks non-violent alternatives for finding practical solutions, is what each one of us must strive for.