| Discourses On Gita By Acharya Vinoba Bhave |
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| Discourses On Gita |
| A SUPPLEMENT - THE CONFLICT BETWEEN DIVINE AND DEMONIC TENDENCIES |
| Then
the non-violent brahmins began to consider how society could
be saved from these power-mad kshatriyas. Parashurama, though
a devotee of ahimsa himself, resorted to violence. He set out
to destroy the kshatriyas. For removing the violence of kshatriyas,
he himself adopted violence. Though this was an effort of ahimsa,
the attempt did not succeed.
Twenty-one times he destroyed the kshatriyas, still they survived, because the method was wrong in its very basis. He who set our to destroy the kshatriyas became a kshatriya himself and added to their numbers. How then could the kshatriyas caste be destroyed? He himself had become a kshatriya and the seed of violence survived. If one cuts down the trunk and branches of a tree but preserves the seed, one will only see the tree sprouting up again and again. Parashurama was, no doubt, an excellent fellow, but his attempt was strange. Himself becoming a kshatriya, he tried to clear the world of kshatriyas. He should have begun with himself. He should have cut off his own head first. When I point to Parashurama's fault here, it does not mean that I am more intelligent than he. Compared to him, I am a child; but I stand on his shoulders, and can therefore see much farther without effort. The very basis of Parashurama's action was wrong. |
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