Superphysics
The True Meaning Of Ahimsa
5 minutes • 1049 words
Table of contents
I had pain in my back and it was difficult to sit in the lotus posture at the time of receiving initiation.
My mind was greatly disturbed by the devious and immoral behaviour of Ajit Singh, and the poisonous atmosphere created by it in my office.
Within a week of my return after initiation I had to go by motor launch to tour the border area of Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) by river, as at that time there was lot of open smuggling of betel nuts to India.
The tour of duty lasted about a week. Due to the constant travel on water, I again caught cold and my back pain increased.
I also started having fever, and was forced to cancel the rest of my tour.
I returned on a Sunday, so the offices were closed.
Even so, I came to know that one of my subordinate inspectors, who was a confidant of my boss Ajit Singh and his right hand in maligning me, was caught red handed while receiving a bribe.
My boss was viciously trying to implicate me in this affair somehow and to blame me for the crime of that inspector.
I came to know all about this whilst still ill and my mental tension was further aggravated and I became bedridden.
When I recovered my health, I again went to Jamalpur to see Baba.
This was my second opportunity to meet Him.
After giving me some instruction about my meditation, Baba told me that he tests his disciples.
Without much thought I blurted out that I was not afraid of tests, and was ready to have as many as He wanted!
Baba said no more about tests at that time. With His permission, I returned to Bhagalpur.
During the return journey, my mind was quite peaceful. But after I returned, I felt that a mountain of troubles had exploded on me.
Ajit Singh began to fabricate fresh charges against me everyday, He began to adopt more and more evil ways to harass me.
He went so far as to plant illegal items at my workplace, such as drugs and guns and frame me for possession of them. He had spread a rumour that he would send me to jail any day.
Due to this hostile atmosphere, my subordinates also began to shun me. As my troubles grew daily, I became more perturbed.
Sometimes I felt as if I would lose my mental balance completely.
The principle of ahimsa (non-violence) which I had promised to uphold at the time of initiation, seemed the greatest obstacles in my way to protecting myself for I felt it would be inviolation of this principle if I retaliated.
Thus disabled, I was destroyed by these attacks and so I again sought Baba’s shelter.
Baba smiled as He knew my troubles and said:
Lo! You would not run away from tests! If you like, your enemies will surrender to you right now.
Baba, what kind of test is this that makes one completely insane?"
I have instructed you to do meditation with the mind, and so it is the strength of mind that will be tested.
I again blurted out that He could take as many tests as He wished.
Then I told Baba I was following ahimsa and said that Ajit Singh was attacking me fatally and I was bearing it all silently.
This means that you have not understood the true meaning of ahimsa. Suppose you are going through the jungle on a zigzag path full of shrubs. On both the sides, there are shrubs. Your enemy is sitting somewhere by the side of your path, and will attack you as soon as you reach near. What should you do in such a situation?
Baba, either I would return or bear the blow silently.
No my instruction on ahimsa does not mean this. In such a situation it would be your duty to pick up a long and strong bamboo and beat the bushes on both sides of your path as you proceed along. If this makes the hidden aggressor gets injured or dies, you will still remain a follower of ahimsa. Ahimsa does not mean that you will do nothing to protect yourself
This interpretation of ahimsa renewed my inner strength. My mind felt deep peace. In fact just being at Baba’s feet gave a sense of lasting peace, which lingered long afterwards in the mind.
The Test Of Iista Mantra
The real test of iista mantra is that one will see that whatever conditions a sadhaka is experiencing at the time of initiation will become further intensified subsequently.
If one has taken initiation in a painful condition, then one will face even further calamities. If initiation has been given when the pleasant mental condition, then many happy occasions will follow.
Iista mantra works like fire to the gunpowder of accumulated or unexhausted samskaras (karma).
But sadhana helps the growth of mental strength. The sadhaka can easily bear the flood of happy or painful experiences that may follow. In both these conditions, contact with the guru is most essential and beneficial.
My faith was further strengthened when I heard all this from Baba. I began to do my sadhana with greater intensity.
Whenever I felt restless, I would take some time off and go and have Baba’s darshan and touch His feet which would work like a tonic for me.
On that first occasion I got an opportunity to meet Baba in the morning and when the appointed time was coming to a close I bowed my head at His feet and departed.
On returning to Bhagalpur, keeping in view the interpretation of ahimsa given by Baba and keeping Him in mind, I began preparations for proper self-defence.
However, I also developed a strong fear complex.
In fact, this tendency had developed so much, that I began to take fright at every small thing. Although I pretended to be fearless outwardly, inwardly fear had pervaded my being, to the extent that even when anyone talked loudly in my office or at home I became startled.
But despite my state of fear, I remembered Baba and continued to fight against the attacks my boss was attempting to make on me.
