Non-Violence
and Non-Appeasement
Many of the problems in India today have arisen because of this
inability to combine non-violence with non-appeasement. Non-violence
in India has been associated with an attitude of telling all
religious groups that they are right, even when what they may be
perpetrating is wrong or harmful. But Hinduism is not a limited
religion based upon a particular belief. As Sanatana Dharma, or a
formulation of the universal religion, it states that we are all
subject to the same universal laws. Hence non-violence itself is
part of a global Dharma and must be used to address all the issues
of humanity, or it has no real meaning.
That a policy of non-violent appeasement has not worked does not
mean that a policy of non-violence has failed. Appeasement is
another form of violence, not the basic attitude of non-violence.
Appeasement or giving in to the violence of others, is a passive
form of violence, not true non-violence. |