Darshan on Non-Violence
July 30, 1977 pm
BAPUJI:
Lovers of God, brothers and sisters, I do believe that I must speak something, or give some message to you.
That is why I will try to give you few words.
I was observing silence from last seventeen years.
So my practice of speaking is very little.
I do not have much desire to speak.
In spite of that, I will present some of my thoughts in front of you.
I believe in universal religion.
So I will say those things that will be useful to you all.
Whether it is the progress on the physical level or the spiritual level, the body is the medium.
Body and mind are the medium.
There are four efforts that are described in the Indian scriptures.
The first three efforts are more concerning the worldly life.
And that is dharma: means religion, financial benefits, and satisfaction of one’s desires.
All these three efforts go in these three directions; they are all called samaj dharma.
For the general public.
And they are useful for anybody of this entire world. The fourth effort is only for the great masters.
Only those who practice this moksha dharma, the religion that leads to the ultimate freedom, or moksha; only they could be the light of this world.
And that is called yog.
Yoga is a science.
And the science is always useful to all. Today the subject that I am going to discuss in front of you, the name of it is nonviolence.
Whether it is concerning the physical growth at the material level, or physical growth [sp doesn’t speaker mean psychological growth?], this nonviolence is very useful.
Because when an individual’s mind becomes violent, it becomes disturbed.
For the successful completion of any work, mental peace is invariably necessary.
What we call love is not love in its true form.
In Indian scriptures, Indian religion, it is called attachment.
And one that is opposite to that is called malice.
Opposite to that.
So there is one which is in between the malice and the attachment which is more of an objective state, in which there is no attachment and there is no malice.
In attachment, there is an attraction.
And in malice there is repulsion, there is a hatred.
We are attracted by the attachment, and we are repulsive to malice.
So violence comes within the malice.
Just as the malice increases, the mental disturbances of the individual also goes on increasing.
So as a result, beginning from anger, this individual may go as far as killing someone.
The violence is not committed only with weapons.
Violence could be committed by the words or by thoughts also.
Now think, do you really need the nonviolence, or not?
In the family when we say the disturbing words, we are creating pain in the loved ones.
So the malice first is created or born in the form of thoughts at the earlier stage.
So then it matures itself into form of words or language.
Then it matures itself into violence in action.
This is why the three most important religions of India, Sanatana Dharma, Buddha Dharma, and Jain Dharma, say that ahimsa, means nonviolence, is the highest religion.
There is no way we can continue without practicing nonviolence.
It is true that the saint’s nonviolence would be of one kind, and the householder’s nonviolence would be slightly different, according to his stage.
The individual who has not learned to love his own family, he cannot love God.
We can also say that such an individual does not have love for true religion, and neither does he have the faith in God.
When we love someone, when we serve someone, when we favor someone in any way, know that we are
practicing nonviolence in some form.
If you want to see the spirituality in an individual, you can see it by how many individuals love him.
The individual does not love the individual, the individual loves the nature, or the love that that individual has to offer.
I am known very much as a swami and a yogi.
So many brothers and sisters keep my picture.
Do you see that I am that attractive?
Then do they really love my appearance, my face?
No.
They love some other element.
There are many such disciples who see me from a distance, and they burst into crying.
Some children come to bow down at my feet, and I have little time, and yet they don’t give up.
But do not make the usual meaning of children, because my children could be hundred years old, too.
What do they love?
They do not love my face.
So is there such sweetness in my behavior?
When I look at myself, when I have objective self-observation, I feel like I have very little of that.
And yet I do believe that I do act or behave in such a way that might not cause pain to others; that is why they love me.
GURUDEV:
Bapuji is being very modest, by the way.
BAPUJI:
Sometimes we do think, but under all situations and circumstances, we do not think.
We cannot think in all conditions, because at such times we might be worried or concerned.
If you have a cat in your house, and if you do not see her, you will not be happy.
Where is she?
If you have your pet dog, and if you don’t see him, you always look for him and say, “Where is he?”
But when your dog sees you from a distance, comes running, licks your toes and wags his tail, doesn’t he tickle your heart?
If this animal can love you and you can love this animal, can’t you love the family members?
You must learn to love the family.
There, naturally the love flows.
If you cannot love there, then in any field of this world you will not be able to love in a true sense.
Our homes are not the homes, but it is the school of love.
From there we get the opportunity to learn love.
The flow of love comes from there into our heart.
Or we can say that the seeds of love are first coming from there.
When you look at your little baby brother, or little son, or little sister, when you look at them with so much love, at that time you are bringing the love in your heart, showering upon him, and filling his heart.
Make this school a school of learning love.
Father and mother should become a big pile of sugar.
So that the child may receive that sweetness of parents, and then spread to the entire world.
Yes, there are some whose language is as sweet as sugar.
And he is successful in his life, also.
But if he is cheating others by his sweet tongue, that sweet tongue doesn’t have much value.
It is the changes, the certain customs change from country to country; I am not criticizing what is here, but I would like to summarize little bit what I have seen.
When my disciples and my disciples’ disciples tell that, “I love you,” at that time it really sounds very sweet.
I just like listening to it.
But in India, such words are very strongly held back in the heart.
Those things are simply conveyed by the eyes.
In India, the eyes do the work of the tongue.
The words don’t come out from there.
Only the feelings are carried.
In your heart the feelings are generated and the words are coming out of the mouth.
The first lesson of nonviolence is that we should practice the sadhana of love, living in the family.
There is one character of love.
There must be patience in love.
Where there is no patience, you cannot call it love.
Where there is no sacrifice, it cannot be called love.
Where there is no selfless service it cannot be called love.
Whatever I am telling you, I am telling you as your own.
It is not my intention to criticize in any way.
I simply love you, and this is why I am telling you this.
Here, the male and female in the Western world, as I have observed, are very impatient.
They take divorces too soon.
I love you, I love you: after repeating that 100,000 times, how can there be divorces?
That doesn’t seem appropriate.
After being with one individual for five years, and then again the question of divorce comes in?
It’s not proper.
This is where impatience is.
When the husband is disturbed, the wife should bear with it.
When wife is disturbed and unhappy, husband should not get angry with her, should love her.
This patience should be cultivated. In India, the women of the highest culture, they get married only once.
There are some people of lower qualities, and they could be of the higher families, too.
They sometimes even beat up the wife, too.
The wife bears with that.
It is shameful.
And yet, that woman, that wife stays with him.
She says, he is my husband.
When there is such anger, they act violently also with each other.
But when that violence passes, they again get together.
They don’t get together in the court, by the way; they get together.
One couple came in the foreign country.
They were Indian.
They had some difference of opinion, then they took divorce.
That wasn’t allowed in that higher family.
That is where the stage and the development of the family is tested, by this.
So for about five years they separated and stayed separate.
Neither wife married again, nor husband married again.
And both of them one day came to me.
They asked, “Can we both get married again?”
I said, “Your marriage has never been separated.
Because your marriage cannot be broken; your marriage is Indian style.
Shouldn’t we be patient?
Couldn’t husband be angry?
Shouldn’t wife be angry?
It is all right, if both of you do not get angry.
But if both are getting angry, then each one would have to bear with the other’s anger.
So when we become impatient, our mind becomes impatient, at this time we should look at the good qualities of the individual.
So first lesson of nonviolence, first lesson of love, is to spread the love in the family.
If the love can even control even the violent animals, and other animals and birds, couldn’t love be enchanting to the loved ones? I’ll give you an example.
This is historical incident.
This is the story when there was a tradition of slavery.
On the slaves, many violent practices have been carried out.
That is all violence.
As long as we have that violence in our heart, we are not true men.
Because we have eyes and nose and ears and hands and legs and we look like men, that doesn’t make us men.
Real human being is altogether a different thing.
The one that can see is the animal.
They cannot think, they can simply see.
And the definition of men is one who sees and can also think about what he sees.
So in order to attain this human stage, you must put every effort.
We know how to ride a bicycle, drive a car
or type, we know all these things but if we do not know how to become a human being, then what?
We must become man.
So we have to place a special effort in order to be man.
When animals love us, the birds love us, then we must learn from them to love, and we should spread that love everywhere.
There was one slave who was doing his slavery under the very stern master.
He used to give him continuous work, would not allow him to sleep enough, did not give him enough food.
But one night he decided that rather than living such a life, it is better to die.
But it was such a time, that the slaves never ran away.
Because the runaways were caught and were again brought back to the slavery.
In the history of man, there is a bright side, and there is also a dark side.
What a beautiful big highway man has built, such beautiful conveniences he has created, and yet man has remained a demon.
Shouldn’t that man make change within himself?
He loves the beautiful flowers; doesn’t he like to create the beauty within himself?
He loves the light; doesn’t he like to have a light within himself?
That slave ran away at midnight.
He ran away into such thick woods where many violent animals lived.
He was aware that by going into such woods he could be facing death any moment.
He was ready to face the death. After he entered deep into the woods, he heard a big roaring.
It was the roar of a lion.
He did not fear even a little bit.
So he felt that, “As soon as I die, I’ll be free from my slavery.”
In the depths of his heart, man is looking for happiness, and for that happiness he is even willing to face the death.
He started walking in the direction of the roar.
He was going in the right direction.
At a distance, he saw a big lion sitting.
After waiting for a few minutes, he realized that the lion was suffering from something and that is why he was roaring.
He approached the lion with a light foot.
Lion just stayed where he was.
This slave observed that one of his feet had a big thorn in it, and he had a big cut, abscess.
Because of his great suffering, this slave naturally experienced the great compassion for another one who was suffering.
Lord gives us pain so that we can experience wherever there is pain; we can understand wherever there is pain.
Only when we understand the pain, then only we become suitable to give comfort to others who are suffering from it.
Any pain that we have not suffered ourselves, even if we see it in others we will not be suitable to comfort in that pain.
The pain that we have suffered ourselves, only in that pain we will have the capacity to give comfort to others.
This slave sat near the abscessed foot of the lion, and slowly pulled out the thorn.
And the river was close by; he brought some water from there, and washed this lion’s foot with great care and love.
He also had some knowledge about natural medicine from the vegetation.
So he looked around and found the right medicine for it.
And then with proper care he tied it to the foot of the lion.
And he tore one of his garments and made a bandage out of it.
Then with great love he patted the lion.
The lion closed his eyes, and really absorbed the love.
The love from the heart of man descended from the arm of a man and entered into the heart of a lion.
Everybody is looking for the happiness of love.
The three day hungry lion really forgot that he is hungry for three days.
As if after drinking this love of the slave, he forgot his hunger.
The lion had to be hungry for a few days, but he got well.
Now this lion wasn’t comfortable or at ease without the slave, and the slave wasn’t comfortable without the company of this lion.
They both lived together.
The slave used to get the fruits from the woods and used to satisfy his hunger that way.
So after a few days the lion also started hunting for his food.
How beautiful is the love! When this man used to pat the lion on his head, the lion used to close his eyes; he forgot his violence.
The same lion had killed many, many people in the same woods.
The same lion was loving this slave.
This slave also never had found the joy of love in this world.
And he had found the happiness from the friendship with this lion.
After few days, this slave continued to go further, and the lion also continued to live his daily life.
As this slave arrived in some other town, it was his good fortune that he found very kind master, or owner.
This slave started serving this master, this owner, with love.
This slave was comforted.
This way he passed about six months.
So one day, one special occurrence took place in that town.
The slaves were made to fight with the lions, or especially trained athletes were made to fight with the cage.
It was declared in this town that a big, large lion was caught.
in the wrestling with this lion would receive a big prize.
So when the people of the town realized this, the large gathering came together to witness this event.
The owner of the slave said, “We will go to witness this fight.”
The slave said, “Whatever is your wish.”
So this rich man got his seat in the front row, and the slave was standing beside him, attending him.
The cage of the lion was brought in the arena.
This was a big lion, and a very big and healthy lion.
The wrestlers could not dare: “We cannot fight this lion.”
He was roaring so heavy that children used to faint.
Then this slave looked at this lion.
He recognized that was his friend lion.
The slave told his master, that “I will not fight with this lion; I would love this lion.”
“Would you love the lion?”
He said, “Yes. There is one condition. If I am successful in loving him, then that lion should be given to me: that is the condition. ”
So this owner of this slave realized that this is not possible, and yet he approached the king who had arranged this special fight, and requested him what this slave had proposed.
The king asked, “He’s not going to fight with him, he’s going to love him?
With such a ferocious lion, he’s going to love?
He will eat him!” And yet king consented. Entire public was informed.
Everyone laughed at this proposal.
“He is going to love this lion?” This love is funny; it just works everywhere.
When this slave approached this lion’s cage slowly, the lion saw him coming from a distance.
The cage was opened, and the slave just hugged him on his neck.
The lion simply roared; he didn’t do anything to him.
The whole public was enchanted; they thought he must be a magician.
Otherwise, how can he perform such a miracle?
Do you know, when we love someone we become the magician?
When father loves his son or daughter, he becomes a magician.
When mother loves son or a daughter, she becomes a magician.
When Guru loves the disciple, he becomes the magician.
But the magic of love is of the highest kind.
There is nothing to receive; there is only giving in it.
Both loved each other.
So, according to condition, king said, “OK, you can have this lion.”
So the slave took this lion out of the cage.
People got up from their seats.
Everybody started running here and there.
The slave said, “Don’t you be afraid. We will just go away together.”
And really, the lion did not look at anybody.
And just as a pet dog would look at his owner, that way the lion just was staring at his master.
From among the thousands of people, the slave and the lion just passed. The winning and losing are of two types.
When somebody gives us pain in the defeat, it is of a lower kind of defeat.
When somebody defeats us with love, it is a very superior kind of defeat.
So continue to give your love to your family.
Learn to love the family.
We are all thirsty for love, and all of us have gotten together, and every one of us is thirsty for love.
Each and every individual is a lake of love.
And yet if we are thirsty, isn’t that strange?
So pray to the Lord every day, so: “That I live in my family with peace and harmony and happiness.”
This is the living religion.
It is that it is said [sic] in the Bible, that if somebody slaps you on your right cheek, give them the left cheek.
Why don’t you experiment this at home?
If you are successful in that experiment in home, that would be a great work in itself.
The individual who cannot love his own family, is it proper to call that he is the lover of the nation?
If five human beings of our own family, whose blood runs into our veins, and in whom flows our blood, how can we love the entire nation?
Think carefully on this.
I’m not just lecturing in front of you.
I don’t have much attraction for lectures.
I have already given lectures to thousands.
Whatever I have spoken here is the direct outcome of my heart, of my love.
I feel I am speaking to my own family members.
I am not speaking as a spiritual leader.
So accept what you find suitable and best for your use.
After understanding the principle, they are to be digested in life.
If you truly digest this one principle in life, everywhere you will find happiness, happiness and happiness.
If you are a father, be a true father.
If you are a son, be a true son.
If you are a brother, be a true brother.
Same way, if you are a mother, be a true mother.
Similarly, if you are a daughter or a sister, be a true daughter or sister.
If this is the principle practiced in the family, that is the true religion that will take you all the way to heaven.
Now I conclude my speech.
If I have said anything inappropriate, be open hearted and forgive me.