Yoga, Ahimsa and the Recent Terrorist Attacks

Yoga, Ahimsa and the Recent Terrorist Attacks
by Dr. David Frawley

The Yoga tradition emphasizes the principle of ahimsa or non-violence for its ideal way of action in the world. Therefore, we might assume that the yogic response to the terrorist attack on America would not involve any violent action against the terrorists. However, a deeper examination of the Yoga tradition, which has several teachings about political and military situations, shows that this might not be the case. The Yoga tradition can under certain circumstances recommend a violent response in order to prevent greater harm from occurring. This is like a surgeon removing a harmful tumor so that it does not grow and damage the whole body.

Many people in the Yoga tradition look to the non-violence of Mahatma Gandhi, which was applied against the British, as the appropriate yogic response to the current situation. They don’t realize that perhaps even greater yogis, like Sri Aurobindo, who headed the Indian independence movement before Gandhi, felt that Gandhian non-violence was too weak a strategy. He supported the allied military action both in World War II and during the Korean War. One is also reminded of the situation of Kashmir in 1947 in which Gandhi, though reluctantly, approved of bringing in the Indian army to deal with bands of brigands or terrorists who were plundering the area. In this regard, the Yoga tradition recognizes a warrior or Kshatriya path that did involve military training. So let us examine this difficult question further.

Ahimsa literally means "non-harming". It refers to an attitude that we should wish no harm to any creature, even to those attacking us. But ahimsa is not simply a passive strategy. It has an active side. It entails reducing the amount of harm that is going on in the world, which requires effort or even struggle.

Ahimsa does not simply mean "non-violence" as a physical action, nor is it not necessarily opposed to the use of violence in order to prevent harm from happening. In addition, ahimsa must be applied with courage and fearlessness, in order to expose and eradicate evil. It is not an attitude of tolerating or excusing evil. It is not a form of appeasement in which one lets bullies get away with their action or which rewards violent action by surrendering to its perpetrators in order to prevent them from causing more harm.