Tuesday, July 1, 2008
From karma to ahimsa
Traditional Hindu society is divided into castes having different activities, and morality in this tradition involves performing the duties identified for each caste. Hindu teaching affirms that those who do their duty will eventually achieve release from the suffering of this world through the chain of cause and effect (karma) that leads to liberation from the cycle of rebirth.[1]
The Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu classic, teaches that doing our duty means renouncing “the fruits” of our actions. In this ancient tale the god, Krishna, tells Arjuna, who believes that fighting a battle is futile, that he cannot foresee the consequences that will come from his decisions, because he is a mortal, and thus should simply do his duty as a warrior, leaving the future to karma.
In the context of the Indian struggle for independence, Gandhi interpreted this story figuratively to mean that everyone has a duty to pursue the truth through non-violent action (ahimsa), leaving the consequences to God. Gandhi reasoned that taking non-violent action is the only way to verify that we are not acting to benefit ourselves. In the practice of satyagraha, he wrote, we should “always try to overcome evil by good, anger by love, untruth by truth, himsa (violence) by ahimsa.”[2]
Gandhi agreed with Kant that we should not use others for our own gain, and should always try to act with a good will and without ulterior motive. His conviction that moral action, truth, and God are one is a Hindu way of affirming that we should always act on rational principles which apply universally.
[1] “The law of cause and effect forms an integral part of Hindu philosophy. This law is termed as 'karma', which means to 'act'. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English defines it as the ‘sum of a person's actions in one of his successive states of existence, viewed as deciding his fate for the next’. In Sanskrit karma means ‘volitional action that is undertaken deliberately or knowingly’.” Subhamov Das, “What is Karma?” Online at http://hinduism.about.com/od/basics/a/karma.htm.
[2] Gandhi, Young India (Mar. 5, 1925), in Robert Traer, Faith in Human Rights: Support in Religious Traditions for a Global Struggle (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 1991), 132.
The Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu classic, teaches that doing our duty means renouncing “the fruits” of our actions. In this ancient tale the god, Krishna, tells Arjuna, who believes that fighting a battle is futile, that he cannot foresee the consequences that will come from his decisions, because he is a mortal, and thus should simply do his duty as a warrior, leaving the future to karma.
In the context of the Indian struggle for independence, Gandhi interpreted this story figuratively to mean that everyone has a duty to pursue the truth through non-violent action (ahimsa), leaving the consequences to God. Gandhi reasoned that taking non-violent action is the only way to verify that we are not acting to benefit ourselves. In the practice of satyagraha, he wrote, we should “always try to overcome evil by good, anger by love, untruth by truth, himsa (violence) by ahimsa.”[2]
Gandhi agreed with Kant that we should not use others for our own gain, and should always try to act with a good will and without ulterior motive. His conviction that moral action, truth, and God are one is a Hindu way of affirming that we should always act on rational principles which apply universally.
[1] “The law of cause and effect forms an integral part of Hindu philosophy. This law is termed as 'karma', which means to 'act'. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English defines it as the ‘sum of a person's actions in one of his successive states of existence, viewed as deciding his fate for the next’. In Sanskrit karma means ‘volitional action that is undertaken deliberately or knowingly’.” Subhamov Das, “What is Karma?” Online at http://hinduism.about.com/od/basics/a/karma.htm.
[2] Gandhi, Young India (Mar. 5, 1925), in Robert Traer, Faith in Human Rights: Support in Religious Traditions for a Global Struggle (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 1991), 132.
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