The Twenty Values of Jnanam - Part 2

Ahimsa

Ahimsa comes from the Sanskrit verb hims which means 'to hurt, injure, or cause harm.'  Ahimsa, which means 'non-injury or non-harmfulness,' reflects my inherent desire to live free of hurt or pain or threat of any sort.  Even thoughts can cause pain.  If I know someone holds hurtful thoughts about me, although these thoughts are not expressed in deeds or words, I am hurt.  Ahimsa means not causing harm by any means: by deeds, kayena; by words, vaca; or by thoughts, manasa.

Why should I not hurt other beings?  because I do not want to be hurt.  Commonsense ethics dictate that I cannot do to another what I do not want to be done to me. So ahimsa, non-injury, becomes a value to me.  The value of ahimsa requires daily alertness and sensitivity in all areas of my life.  It is a value that finds expression in my attitude towards plants as well as towards human beings and animals.  Wanton destruction of plant life indicates a lack of sensitivity for the value of ahimsa.  Ahimsa is a value for non-destruction or damage to any part of creation - a creation of which I too am a part.  Plants I do not casually crush, strip, uproot, or cut down.  With regard to my fellow human beings, I watch for those words or acts or even thoughts which may be hurtful.  I develop a finer appreciation for the feelings of others.  I come to see beyond my own needs to the needs of those around me.  I treat all things and beings with sensitivity and appreciation of their common existence with me.

With such an attitude I become an alert, observant person with a sensitive saintly mind which is ready to hear and appreciate the truth of Vedanta. Ahimsa is an important value among the values that constitute the jnanam for gaining Self-knowledge.

Ksanti

The Sanskrit word ksanti often is translated as 'forbearance' or 'endurance.'  But these two English words carry a negative flavor of 'resigned sufferance,' whereas, ksanti is a positive attitude—not painful resignation.  A better translation is 'accommodation.'  The attitude of ksanti means that I cheerfully, calmly accept that behavior and those situations which I cannot change.  I give up the expectation or demand that another person (or situation) should change in order to conform to what I think would be pleasing to me.   I accommodate to situations and people happily.

In order to discover within myself a value for accommodation, I should look to the person behind the act.  Usually it is when I am responding to the behavior of the person, responding to his action, that I find that it is difficult to be accommodative. When I try to understand the cause behind the action, I put myself in a position to respond to the person, not to the action, and my response to the person can be an accommodative response.  If I cannot see behind the actions, nonetheless I keep in mind the fact that many reasons, unknown to me, set the stage for any action on the part of another person.  With this frame of mind I will find it natural to be accommodative. To be free to respond to the person I must be free of mechanical reactions.  I must choose m attitude and take my actions deliberately. When I avoid reactions, I am free to choose m actions and attitudes - I can choose to be accommodative in my thoughts, words and deeds.

Accommodation is a beautiful and saintly quality.  Among the qualities, ahimsa and ksanti constitute the qualities of  a saint.  A saint is a person who never consciously hurts another person by action, word or thought and who accepts people—good or bad—just as they are; who has an endless capacity to be accommodative, forgiving, merciful.   These qualities accommodation, forgiveness, mercifulness, are included in the quality called ksanti.

Arjavam

Arjavam means 'straightness'.  When used as a value, the 'straightness' or arjavam is like English word rectitude ( from the Latin rectus, straight) which means conduct in accordance with one's ethical standards.  So arjavam means an alignment of thought, word and deed.  When there is rjbhava (arrow-like straightness)  between a physical action and the word, or between the word and the thought, that alignment is called arjavam.

What is non-alignment of thought, word and act?  When I think one thing and say another or when I say something and do another or when I think one thing and do even a third thing, all of these constitute a non-alignment on m part of thoughts, words and deeds.  The avoidance of this gap, this division between word and action, word and thought, and action and thought, is arjavam.  For arjavam my actions must be true to my words and my words true to my thoughts.

By non-alignment (between thought, word and deed) I become disintegrated.  When there is conflict between m values (my thoughts), my words and my acts, I suffer a destructive split in myself. I become splintered.  I am not 'together'.  To be prepared to listen to the teaching of vedanta, one needs to be 'together' - not split.  Therefore, arjavam, the alignment of thought, word and deed is included as one of the values of jnanam.

-Swami Dayananda Saraswati

Excerpted from "The Value of Values" by Swami Dayananda

Published: 12/15/98