Is non-violence about not fighting the false and evil? || Acharya Prashant (2019)

Question: The Sikh Gurus gave swords to the Khalsa to protect their religion. Gandhiji used non-violence to get freedom. Jainism too gives a lot of emphasis to non-violence. I don’t understand the concept of non-violence when freedom is at stake. Kindly give me clarity.

Acharya Prashant: Parmeshwari (the questioner), non-violence is not synonymous with non-resistance or cowardice.

Violence is fear, fear is ignorance – it’s obvious.

When you do not know yourself, then you somehow want your own limited, physical, personal security at the cost of everybody else, at the cost of the entire universe.

This division is fear and violence.

“I take myself as what I am not, I take myself as this little physical unit, I take my personal welfare as separate from that of universal welfare. In fact, I take my personal interests as opposite to the interests of others” – this is fear, and this is violence.

When you are afraid, then you want to increase your welfare by decreasing the welfare of others. This is what is these days called as ‘a zero-sum game’. You say, “I as a unit am different, rather separate from you as a unit. And there is this one piece of bread in between two of us. If I want to ensure my welfare, then I must deny this piece to you” – this is violence.