Why is Ahimsa important for you?

One of the most famous people in history that used the ahimsa principle was Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948), the great Indian activist and politician who employed nonviolent resistance standing against British colonialism. He used non-violence, the sanskrit word is ahimsa – non harming. Ahimsa is one of the basic moral rules in Hinduism, Budism and Jainism. Gandhi believed that it is possible to conduct non violence and come to the truth in all aspects of life: private, economic and politic. The importance of ahimsa in Gandhi’s life came from the traditional Indian teachings, where all beings are equally valuable – the link in all is God. He said: “Life is unique, and by harming any of it’s parts, we are harming the whole, ourself included.“

Like the Newton’s Law of action and reaction in physics, the same law applies in the moral sphere. Indians call it karma, or the Law of Karma. Gandhi said that non violence is the natural human condition, and that by being violent man loses it’s humanity, and consequently harms itself more than the one he is inflicting harm to.

The literal translation of ahimsa is non harming and implies every aspect of our doings – not to harm anybody with thought, word or action – to the best of our capacity we should never inflict injury on another living being. Killing and doing physical harm are grosser forms of violence that are easily seen and understood. Here we will talk about many subtle implications that start with out thoughts.

Carrying ahimsa to an extreme becomes very impractical, for example we might unintentionally squash an ant while taking a walk. Sometimes we might use force to protect our life – but defending ourselves against an agresor is justifiable because our intention is to protect our life, and not to inflict mental, physical or spiritual injury for the sake of it. Also we cannot live a moment in this world without injuring innumerable beings, for example just by breathing and maintaining health, our body wars and defeats germs and bacteria. So ahimsa can be perfectly observed only mentally. As Shi Yukteswar said to Yogananda: “Ahimsa should be the absence of the desire to injure.“

In nutrition ahimsa is also important when we choose foods. Vegan and vegetarian diets implies the concept of ahimsa, and sattvic diet for yogies also. So we choose foods where consciousness is less developed (vegetables, fruits, berries, seeds…) instead of killing highly developed creatures. An aspiring yogi must realize that the observance of ahimsa must include abstinence from eating animal flesh.

Ahimsa is an amazing concept as implies nonviolence towards other living beings, as well as ourselves. It includes our spontaneous expression of love – it will take violence out of out body, mind and spirit.

We usually see ourselves and like to show that we are loving towards our brothers, sisters, family members, coworkers, neighbours… but when we are immersed in self talk and comment ourself it might sound different. If we are being honest, we can admit that we have angry an violent thoughts daily. Usually we feel that it is all well because we choose not to act on them.

When we commit to personal evolution we should take time and explore the self talk relating to ourselves and start practicing ahimsa from within. Our interior self talk is usually automatic, habitual, almost unaware. We make mistakes, have insecurities, experience lows, and at those times we say to ourselves something like: “I’m not good enough”, “I’m not smart”, “I’m stupid”, “I’m not skinny enough”, or “I do everything wrong”. By thinking like this, our thoughts hurt and cause damage to ourself – ahimsa can therefore become a guide to cultivate more gentle and more positive interior communication – the opposite of destructive and critic self talk described formerly.

The words we use in our self talk can change our energy in all aspects, try this exercise: look at a mirror and word out only critics to yourself, how does make you feel? Or, look at the mirror and praise yourself, how does that make you feel? You will notice that this two opposite talk scenarios will make changes in your posture, your breathing and your energy. Immagine now your self talk lasting a lifetime – it obviously results in a deep influence to your life, from approaching others, facing difficulties, and choosing how to realise your life.

If we want to start practicing ahimsa within us, the first step is to become aware of the inner conversation. Listen to your self talk to become aware of it. When you feel worried, afraid, powerless you might find yourself speaking unkindly and even explode with a violent outburst. You should catch yourself whenever you say something harmful, or react with emotional violence. It takes time, at first you may not realize it when you do self harm, but the more you become aware, the easiest it will become to notice it. Remind yourself to be gentle, and change the phrases with more gentle and more considerate variants, you must turn inward and treat yourself with kindness and compassion. You will have to repeat you inner monologue many times, so it will become a new habit. It will take time, because it is a practice. For example, if you say to yourself “I’m stupid” – notice it and change it: “I’m learning. I did not succeed in this. But I’m evolving.” – you would probably have the same gentle words for a friend or a family member, so why not to start from yourself?

Whenever you catch yourself in negative self talk and become more aware, you can use positive self talk, but also you can speak gentle sentences and positive affirmations literally talking to yourself! Hearing your voice is a great thing.

As we talked about thoughts in ahimsa, we should also take time and notice the actions and behaviours, that is the “action” toward ourselves in ahimsa. Of course all actions have their root in thoughts, but we are so used to live on auto pilot, that sometimes we do not catch the thoughts but see just the results – our actions. Sometimes you can push yourself physically and stress your body to the verge and not noticing it, or not paying attention to it, for example: have you been sitting at your work desk pushing to the limit just to finish a report, and by doing so you were intentionally holding hunger, thirst and other body needs? Did you push yourself while gardening, at the gym, or at the tennis court that you hurt you back, knee or ankle? That is also not ahimsa at all, because you should respect your body needs and limitations.

Or even worse – do you smoke or drink alcohol? Maybe you do from time to time, particularly in stress, sometimes for social fit in – but non injuring your body is a core part of ahmisa. Practicing ahimsa you must do nothing in thought, word or deed that harms your body. Treat you body as a temple, with healthy food, exercise and good lifestyle habits.

When practicing asanas, what most of the people perceives as yoga, we might encounter difficult poses, a moment of distraction, even boredom – listen to your self-talk and see what comes out. This is also a good moment to start practicing ahimsa.

In conclusion our self-talk is extremely important, because it is the base of how we feel in our body, how we see ourselves in the world and what actions we decide to do. Ahimsa starts within and expands outwards – when we change our thoughts we change our words an actions and in this way we change the world. Each of us has something to offer and something to receive, in that light your actions have the potential to affect everyone and everything around us.

Show loving kindness to yourself and all living things by choosing peace and love. Practice ahimsa.