Sorry I missed seeing this earlier.
What is wrong with violence as an option? Because history has proved time and again that violence tends to become a culture of its own and those indulging in violence quickly lose track of their original purpose. The LTTE is an excellent case in point. Would you believe that the LTTE started off as a student movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s? They didn't have violence in their agenda then but eventually decided that that was the only way to go. To say that today they are fugitives in their own homeland is an understatement. They have gotten to a point where no one knows what is enough and where it all ends. Their reasons for their struggles began for sound, legitimate reasons which is why India offered its support. But India eventually didn't know the kind of colour that LTTE picked up and so wound up looking like a fool in the end.
When you stay out of violence you stay legitimate. When you stay legitimate you always have the power to invoke the help of anybody in the world. The minute you (I don't mean you) start killing you start infusing terror in the minds of people. And that has a negative karmic effect on the person perpetrating the killing.
When you kill you are essentially passing a judgement on those being killed. And this is ok if you are a person or a body or an organization that has the authority to legitimize killing - such as the government, justice department and so on. Even here it must be done according to law otherwise it will quickly become what Hitler did to the Jews. To quote Gandhi here, I believe that we are all sinners in some way that we should leave that kind of punishment to God. The question is do you fight to kill or do you fight to change the minds of people? I believe that changing the minds of people is infinitely more productive. Does this mean that we can get everybody to feel positively about Brahmins? Certainly not. But we can, in a democratic society influence law, media and policy that brings such rules into vogue. And this is not as mild as it sounds. It is much, much more powerful than killing. If we have sound ties with the West it is only because of the non-violent way by which we got our independence. We EARNED our respect. We havent done much to retain it but the West still holds India in esteem not just because of its recent economic prowess but because of what Gandhi did.
This might seem like a dream but it is just a matter of believing in oneself. If you visualize the times of independence struggle - those folks didn't have half the kind and number of tools we have at our disposal today. Illiteracy was at its peak. So was poverty.
I think we can do much better. And today we have more number of international agencies waiting to help people who are being persecuted in any way. It is just a matter of strategy.
And I personally like the non-violent way because it cannot be done unless one changes oneself. Usually it requires people to undergo some sort of change for the good - whether it means picking up the right kind of education, right kind of attitude, patience, forebearance, courage of conviction, relentlessness, service-mindedness, etc. Some combination of these qualities or their variants need to be developed by the struggling group which eventually turns out to be beneficial in the long run not just for the movement but also the person.
With all the craziness in the world, this is still the one that God created. It still all Maya. And it dealing with Maya if I as a person don't take the chance to build and expand on the Divine love sowed in me I have wasted my lifetime instead of uplifting it. (When I used the phrase Divine Love I mean that quality which upholds what one's intuition suggests is right and just. It is not weak and effete and all of the silly flowery things it is made out to be. It is a very powerful quality.)
I am a child of God. And guess what? So is everybody else. When non-violent methods fail it is different; but they should be tried first, whole-heartedly, with belief, with prayers, without ego. To pray that, ' I will reason; I will will; I will act. But be the guiding light of my reason, will and actions', seems to be the best way to go.
Do write me in case of more clarifications.
srkpriv said:
What's wrong in fighting that way. I used to say that too, We need to object, but always end it with peacefully!. If we are talkign about protests and asserting our rights and nothing is working, that's the last resort isn't it?.
There is a thing with humans you know, we are all fundamentally the same people no matter what. But we are in a different group now or atleast perceive ourselves in different groups. Being that the case, why not take it all the way till the end. Why remove that option from the table?. Btw, dont we know the four basic things in art of negotiation the "Sama, Dhana, Beda, Dhand" methodology?.
Anyway I am still not espousing the last option, I think, we haven't even properly tried the first option.
