Free from violence

Fear, pleasure, sorrow, thought and violence are all interrelated. Most of us take pleasure in violence, in disliking somebody, hating a particular race or group of people, having antagonistic feelings towards others. But in a state of mind in which all violence has come to an end, there is a joy that is very different from the ‘pleasure’ of violence.

We could go to the very root of violence and be free from it. Otherwise, we might live forever in battle with each other…. So, let us consider together…. Whether it is at all possible totally to end every form of violence in ourselves and still live in this brutal world. I think it is possible. I don’t want to have a breath of hate, jealousy, anxiety or fear in me….

Violence is not merely killing another. It is violence when we use a sharp word, when we make a gesture to brush away a person, when we obey because there is fear. So, violence isn’t merely organised butchery in the name of God, society or country. Violence is much more subtle, much deeper….

When you call yourself an Indian, Muslim, Christian, European or anything else, you are being violent. Because you are separating yourself from the rest of mankind. When you separate yourself by belief, nationality or tradition, it breeds violence. So, a man who is seeking to understand violence does not belong to any country, religion, political party or partial system; he is concerned with the total understanding of mankind.