Vedic
Non-Violence
In this regard we should contrast the Gandhian view of
non-violence with that of the older Hindu tradition, particularly
the teachings of Sri Krishna and the Mahabharata. This great epic
contains many chapters on the role of the Kshatriya class and its
need to apply force in order to uphold right behavior in society.
Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita taught several levels of teaching, not
only the way of renunciation but the Yoga of works, and always
honored the Kshatriya Dharma.
Sri Krishna worked throughout his life to
create a Dharmic Kshatriya, an order of noble souls who could
establish and sustain a Dharmic social order. He was willing to
promote a great battle, a civil war among the Kshatriya themselves,
to allow his handpicked Dharmic Kshatriya followers to gain power.
He purified the Indian Kshatriya with the blood of a Dharmic war.
Because of his great achievement a Kshatriya
order was established in India that maintained a Dharmic society for
many centuries. This example should not be lost on us today.
The
Kshatriya of India today, its social and political leaders, require
a similar Dharmic purification, perhaps not a Kurukshetra in the
literal sense but a purification from false values and egoistic
practices that are rampant everywhere.
Sri
Krishna repeatedly encouraged Arjuna and his brothers to fight,
though they were reluctant to do so. He never tried to turn them
into monks against their nature or asked them to suppress their
Kshatriya spirit. He raised up the spirit of Arjuna on the
battlefield to fight his own kinsmen and gurus to the death for the
sake of Dharma. One cannot imagine a more difficult battle than
this. Should there be any doubt that absolute non-violence is always
better, this would have been the ideal situation in which to employ
it.
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