By Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
In this weekly wisdom, Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar explains ahimsa (non-violence), the first principle of yoga, and how to bring it into our lives.
Ahimsa, non-violence is a state of mind.
When your mind is stressed, you become aggressive. You can't help but be aggressive. This is what is happening in society today. Either people are aggressive or they’re depressed.
This aggression comes when you’re stressed. If you’re happy you cannot be aggressive.
So, ahimsa, which is the first principle of yoga, is a state of our life. That can only happen if we’re free of stress and tension.
If you have a broader perspective, ahimsa occurs naturally.
When you have a broader perspective about yourself and your life, or a context to life, ahimsa naturally happens to you.
Violence isn’t only with others. People are either doing violence to others or to themselves. This is also bad.
How do you inculcate ahimsa into your life?
Basically, we need to make our vibrations free from stress. Otherwise, drop by drop when stress accumulates, it leads us to burst.
Sometimes, out of courtesy, we tolerate, and we tolerate and tolerate and tolerate. We aren’t showing violence outside, but inside it’s boiling, building, and one day it just bursts. But wisdom doesn’t allow stress to affect us. It’s wisdom that doesn’t allow stress to get into our system.
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Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Founder, Art of Living, is a world-renowned spiritual leader, peacemaker, and master of meditation. You can follow him on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.
