KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR

POSTED ON: 11 Oct 2001

IS WAR VIOLENCE OR NON-VIOLENCE?

Violence and non-violence do not depend on the act but on the intention behind it. The basis of violence is anger, lust, hatred, jealousy, greed, frustration or aggression.

A surgeon cuts open a person's belly; so does a criminal. The action is similar. But the surgeon's intention is to save and the criminal's is to destroy.

Violence or non-violence is determined by the attitude and not the act.

Even a war can be non-violent if it is devoid of anger, hatred, jealousy or greed and it is for educating someone who cannot be educated in any other way.

Even charity can be an act of violence if it takes away self-esteem and inflicts slavery, and a war can be an act of compassion if it helps to put things in the right perspective.

Strange but True!

Jai Guru Dev