Ahimsa

'Himsa' means violence and when you put 'A' infront of a word it means the opposite or to go against it. Ahimsa therefore means non-violence. It is not as simple as purely being non-violent as with the commandment 'Thou shalt not kill'. Infact if presented with a situation where we have to, for example, defend our family, then we may have to act in this manner. However 'True Ahimsa is non-violence in thought, word and deed, refusal to injure another in any way'.

Everything is affected by Ahimsa. Food is affected by this and this is why we as practising yogis should be vegetarian. Even if you have not killed the animal, you still participate in the killing of it if you eat it. Adrenaline from the killed animal goes into the meat and then goes into the system of the human when it is consumed. This causes disorders and a double Ahimsa is created. Not only has Ahimsa been violated by the animal being killed, but also by harming ourselves. Our body, mind and emotions are affected by this.

We have to look at and be aware of our thoughts. Thoughts are eternal and are far more dangerous than our words and deeds. We can harm others with the way that we think about them, through jealousy, envy, hatred, even love. This is one reason why we aim to learn to control our mind. We can also harm ourselves by what we think about ourselves. If we put ourselves down in anyway, this thought will be there in our system taking effect on our 'self'. All of this is harmful. Drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, laziness, over-eating, neglect, over-doing physical practise, are all ways of harming ourselves.

We have to look at our relationship to the earth for we can harm her also. Our consumption,waste, use of her resources, over-eating all have their effect on the cosmos, planet, air, plants, water, creatures and so on. We must be able to self-refelct so that we can see the effects of the way that we live our lives and in the way that we interact with everything around us. We require the ability to to look at and question the self. Every time we do this and every time that we strengthen our will-power then we are making a step forward in the Yamas and Niyamas.

Cosmos means order and purposefulness. We live in the cosmos and are governed by laws not chaos. 'Ritam' is the cosmic law and 'Santana Dharma' is to live in accordance with this law. It is our eternal duty to follow the law, the eternal law. Part of this law is the principle of 'Love'. Not the emotional 'Love', but 'Cosmic Love'. Cosmic Love is the reality of oneness, experiencing everything as one. We are all the same in the sense that we all have the same spark of divinity, thus there are no differences. If we follow this law of love it is impossible to harm anyone or anything, for what we do is also done unto ourselves. As Buddha said to a beggar "what you are I once was and what I am you shall be".

Here are some questions that you can ask yourself to see what relationship you have with Ahimsa...

Do I ultimately harm others?

Do I think harmful thoughts or say hurtful things?

Do I impose myself into the space of others?

Do I impose any negativity on others?

Do I force my viewpoints onto others?

Am I spiteful with or without consciousness?

Do I attribute to others being spiteful?

Do I harm living creatures of the beastial form?

Eating meat for instance or using or wearing leather?

Do I maliciously partake in the act of killing animals such as in hunting or killing an insect unnecessarily when I could have removed it instead?

Do I wish ill feelings on others?

Do I wish ill feelings on myself?

Do I pass judgements on others and on myself unnecessarily?