Misuse of Ahimsa    

Thus said Banda:
I want to serve humanity
Till every striving heart is free,
But I’ve embraced the ways of peace,
And for thee battles never cease.
I know what killing’s all about-
That it is wrong I have no doubt.
I cannot do such heinous acts-
At the mere thought my heart contracts.
Could I inflict pain on a being
Because my view he is not seeing?
If I the Moguls were to slay,
I’d be barbaric, as are they.
Two wrongs do not make a right.
I speak from love and not from fright.
Ahimsa is a vow I’ve kept;
I hold it as my main precept.
Wouldst thou now want me to betray
My values? Do this doubt allay.
Thus spoke Guru Gobind:
State you well non-fighting’s view-
How I wish that it were true.
It is not clear to you right now,
But I’ve too kept ahimsa’s vow,
And yet I’ve dispatched to the Lord
Ten thousand men beneath my sword.

Thus said Banda:
But we are all part of the whole,
And each man has a sacred soul.
The foot does not cut off its toe,
So how one man kill his foe?
In doing that it’s his own person
The life of which he does then worsen.
For we cells of one body be;
If I hurt someone, that hurts me.

Thus spoke Guru Gobind:
You are right, in your own way,
But deeper, greater truths do lay.
For if a part be sore diseased,
The patient would be surely pleased
If the surgeon used a knife
To cut it out and save his life.
I am the surgeon for this nation,
And the sacred obligation
That I perform for its survival
Is cutting away any rival
To its spiritual welfare.
I have to, for we do not dare
Ignore a symptom that would grow
And create point we must draw the line
To prevent the further decline
Of principles that are required
To keep a culture’s soul inspired.
For what’s the use to be alive
If what has meaning can’t survive?

Thus said Banda:
Thou think’st my head’s up in the sky,
Yet for opinions wouldst thou die!
Life’s a precious holy trust;
Preserving it’s a sacred must.

Thus spoke Guru Gobind:
I revere life, just as you,
But I can look beyond it too.
Our life is not remembered by
Its length before we had to die,
But by the legacy we leave
And what we’re able to achieve.
We all must die; we’ve come to go;
The point is, what did we sow?
Did we remain forever true
Unto our hearts, or did we skew
Our values out of lust or fear?
Did we stand by what we hold dear?
Integrity and love are worth
All you can gather in this birth.

Thus said Banda:
How can we dare to interfere
With Providence, whose view is clear?
It knows how life should best unfold
Without by us its being told.

Thus spoke Guru Gobind:
Such passive thinking’s a distortion of Truth,
Yet many are taught it form their very youth.
Don’t go toward complacency. Do understand:
That lax weakness does success countermand.
It leads to ruin and erodes self-respect;
It’s an insidious form of passive neglect.
Its basis is fear and negative thinking,
And many seekers succumb to it, sinking
Down with excuses till they think they’re too tired
To come up from the pit where their energy’s mired.
They call it ahimsa and think they are holy,
But it’s not that at all. It is something lowly
That undermines virtue and makes one compromise.
His values until he cannot tell what is wise,
But just does what’s easy, what won’t makes a fuss.
So he acts not at all, keeps silent, and thus
He watches as life’s pillars fall down into rubble
And thinks he has nothing to do with such trouble.
But one who stands by as good’s made impure
Is responsible, just as if he were the doer.
Just think of the pain that is incurred
When to action the good are not stirred.
If goodness lets itself be destroyed
Simply to keep from acting annoyed,
Then it’s no longer good at all,
For it allowed itself to fall.

Thus spoke Guru Gobind:
Now calm yourself, Banda, and compose your mind.
We’ve come to the reason that you really find
Battle so awful: it your tender heart wrenches
To think of the men hurt and dead in the trenches.
Your sweetness and pity move your eyes to tears
To think of your brothers impaled on their spears.
And your sensitive sentiment is deeply appalled
When the fate of the widow and orphan’s recalled.
I know how you feel, but I must say to you,
You’re constraining yourself in a limited view.
The focus you’re taking is strictly material,
And it’s pushed you to ricochet to the ethereal.
You’ve reacted so strongly ‘against dying and pain
That toward its sweet opposite do you now strain.
You cannot escape the stark facts of life:
Part of it’s bound up in pain, death, and strife.
It’s so immature to react to that notion
With heartfelt displays of tortured emotion.
To fall prey and indulge thus is spiritually wrong.
Remember your philosophy; be inwardly strong!

Compassion should never make anyone weak;
Your distortion of love takes you from what you seek.
This softness does not flow from a concerned heart
But reveals a rift that could tear you apart.
You’re vulnerable, shaky, and have a thin skin.
Your mind harbors sentiment that is akin
To that of a young girl weeping o’er a hurt kitten!
How could a grown man be so strangely smitten?
Don’t think me hardhearted or full of war zeal:
I just want you to look at the way that you feel.
Whom does it help if you’re so overwrought
That you cannot take action due to a sad thought?
Your brooding betrays a strange morbid delight
In negative thoughts that do limit your sight.
Do you use this to explain
Why you from action do refrain?
If you’re rendered useless by your revulsion,
Then you are the victim of a compulsion.
This recourse to the sweet and gentle view
Is limited, and it ill becomes you.
You oppose this struggle not because it’s not right
But because the means is gruesome and ugly sight.
Expand the spectrum of your feelings
So you can have some mature dealings.
Don’t feign the holy by being susceptible
To pity and maudlin ideas detestable.
I know you’re a brave man; I never doubted it.
But this sad emotion-you should have routed it.
Rally your awareness and fortify your strength!
Extend your perception to a much farther length.

Listen, O Banda, the soul never dies!
The loss of the body its power defies.
It lives on beyond the restraints of time
And dwells ever in the domain sublime.
No fear of death can disturb the aware
In the bliss of the spirit beyond compare.
Dying is nothing, and pains quickly fade.
They’re often the price that has to be paid
To wrest from the darkness the forces of light,
Which we have to do with all of our might.
What other way to respond can there be
When the evil attack in a killing spree?
We’re long past the point of adjustment or truce.
Nice talk to the death-bent is not any use.
They chose the means and the conflict, not we:
We just wanted peace so our souls could be free.
But now that they’ve snatched up our lives and our rights,
How can we just run from their unholy fights?
Without moral strength nations degenerate.
And the people have nothing to then venerate.
So channel your tendency to be so emotional
To dynamic expression of your devotional
Nature in service of the people’s just need.
Act to defend them; they need you to lead!
Once you know firmly the issue is just,
Then upholding its life is an absolute must!