Preventing Violence

Spiritual practices like prayer, meditation and yoga help us to overcome violent thoughts. Mohandas Gandhi said, “When I see not one ray of light on the horizon, I turn to the Bhagwad Gita, and find a verse to comfort me, and immediately I begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming sorrow. My life has been full of tragedies and if they have not left any visible and indelible effect on me, I owe it to the teachings of the Gita.” Sage Valmiki, born as Ratnaker, took to robbery to take care of his family. Once Sage Narada passed through the jungle and was attacked by Ratnaker. Narada asked Ratnaker whether his family members will take responsibility for his sins. Ratnaker was surprised when his father and wife refused to share his sins. He came to his senses. After long years of meditation, when his body got covered by anthills, Narada came and removed those anthills and named him Valmiki, as ant-hill is called valmika in Sanskrit. Valmiki founded his ashram on the banks of the Ganga. He wrote the Ramayana in Sanskrit, consisting of 24,000 versus. Ratnaker had gotten transformed from robber to maharishi. A kernel of truth is at the heart of religion because spiritual experience, ethical behaviour and strong communities are essential for human happiness. While spiritual experience is a natural propensity of the human mind, we need not believe anything on insufficient evidence. So, it must be possible to bring reason, spirituality, and ethics together. This will have a positive effect, leading to less violence and fewer violent thoughts.

Source: Economic Times, 18/02/2020