Have you ever paid attention to the ringing of the temple bells? Now what do you listen to? To the notes or to the silence between the notes? If there were no silence, would there be notes? And if you listened to silence, would not the notes be more penetrating, of a different quality?

– J Krishnamoorthy

I visited golden temple yesterday, after 30 years. I love the cleanliness and tranquility of the place.

What I appreciate most are

1. All the services to keep it clean comes from Kar Seva, thus no wages for maintenance.
2. We ate Langar (Food) there, which is available to everyone throughout the day. Besides Seva (Service), there are 2 economic benefits of this practice.
A. The cost of food is just equal to Bill of material plus fuel cost since all other economic value addition comes free from Kar Sevaks.
B. Free Langar provides emotional security to the community that he need not worry about food. It’s like social security system, from a food perspective.
C. Eating the same food – rich or poor – ensures higher quality of food since everyone including management has to eat same food.
Excellent designed practices which are most economically and socially efficient.

1. Inorganic chemistry – where humans can create new compounds.
2. Organic chemistry – where only nature (life energy) can create new compounds.
Question : Humans have learnt to create such complex formulas in the pharma industry. Why then can humans not create Glucose – C6 H12 O6 – by its basic elements – carbon, hydrogen and oxygen?

It begins with a thought.

This morning, in the newspaper, I read that 147 students had been massacred in Kenya by group of terrorists. I wondered What caused such a huge agitation in a human being, that resulted in this unprecedented violent action.

I posted recently a message of Ahimsa, taught by Mahavir and then pursued by Gandhiji.

To understand Ahimsa, we first need to understand the anatomy of ‘himsa’ or violence. My observations about anatomy of violence –

1. Level 1 – Thinking violence – When I think something negative about another. The source of negative thinking can either be jealousy, or in defending your space or defending your beliefs.

2. Level 2 – Building support for the violent thought – I expresses this negativity about another person/beliefs in the confines of my personal space, i.e., my close friends. My mind wants to garner support of my thinking and beliefs.

3. Level 3 – Verbal violence – Here I express my negative feeling (jealousy or conflict) to the person in an ‘indirect’ manner (sarcasm). If I have courage and sufficient power, I use direct Verbal Violence.

4. Level 4 – Physical Violence – My mind suggests to my physical body to act. The intensity of the act can be
a. Just a small slap (like one uses on his child).
b. Hit with some strong tool – like a punch or with a stick, with intention to create significant physical hurt (what happens in street fight).
c. Kill the other person.

What happened yesterday in Kenya is highest order of violence in the hierarchy of violence. But any violence starts from level 1, i.e., Thinking violence. That is the place where we can control the process. This process can be controlled at an individual level whenever a negative thought arises in your mind. This requires Self awareness of the ‘Hurt cuboid’ which I shared in earlier posts.

The violence is like a viral infection. It spreads with the same intensity as any viral infection. It can have impact on personal relationships, family relationships, workplace relationships, community relationship or political relationship.

Source of violence is only – MY MIND.
The journey of Ahimsa start from JUST ME.