Q: What do you think about Lord Krishna who initiated Arjuna to fight against his own brothers in Mahabharata. Non violence is solution of every problem, like killer Angulee Mal when came in contact with Lord Buddha got completely transformed or like Mahatma Gandhi who always followed the path of Ahinsa. Why did Lord Rama & Krishna not use the way of non-violence? It means non-violence is not enough power to change people and quality of their mind.

A: Well, it seems to me either you are a Jain or you are a Buddhist else why would you begin to compare Rama, Krishna with Buddha. Every situation is different & every Master’s way of working is different. And you have no right to compare Rama & Buddha.

When a Surgeon operates a patient, can a Surgeon be called as killer or butcher? Isn’t it brutal, he is going to use his scalpel and open up the patient’s stomach and further going to use other instruments to remove the tumour & sometimes even organs? For example, if someone has snow bite on his foot or some septicemia has happened to a part of the body and that part has to be amputated. Or some accidental case is brought to the emergency room and the arm or the leg needs to be amputated and surgeon is doing that. Would you call that surgeon a violent person, would you say that this person or doctor should have a non-violent approach?

Well, if you are a logical person you can understand what I mean to say. Sometimes it is required, and Krishna & Rama were performing these surgeries for the sack of society because that was the only alternative in front of them. They were facing the tumours, they were facing egoistic tumour of Kansa, of demons and over there you cannot have a debate or discussion with a demon who is ready to kill you and you may say, well get killed, so what. But if you get killed; ‘you’ meaning the great enlightened person; if you get killed all the good things which would have been possible through you for the society, or for the whole world are not possible then and people are deprived of that.

And that is the reason Shashtra, Shashtra meaning scriptures, & weapons are used very duly, in a very balanced way. I would like to quote one episode in Krishna’s life where Shishupal was heavily abusing Krishna and Krishna, in a very calm way said, “Well, I have promised your mother that I will pardon your hundred mistakes. So be careful because I am counting”. Shishupal went on & on and Krishna joyously just counted 22, 23, 24, 25……. Shishupal was hurling abuses and said all bad & nasty things to Krishna in front of great assembly of all great people and when it came to 98 Krishna warned Shishupal that now you have leverage of just 2 more mistakes, watch it. Still Shishupal went on and then 99, then 100, and then Krishna used his discus to chop off Shishupal’s head. Can an angry person or violent person hold his patience for this long, I don’t think so.

When you take any medicine dear Jitender, at that time, you too are violent as all those bacteria & viruses which are creating disease in your body would get killed. So in that case you shouldn’t even take any medication because what does the medication do? It is just going to kill all those unwanted bacteria & viruses in your body. Even that is violence.

Have a broader look, don’t be a narrow minded person. Everything has the usage under the sky, violence and non-violence too. Non-violence is a great thing, great-great thing. So many Sufi-Fakirs were slaughtered and they died smilingly, never complaining to God for being killed.

Actually, in Sufism death is considered as a finial moment where one meets his beloved Allah. So at one side, slaughterers are taking away his precious life but Sufi-Fakir is celebrating even death and allows the slaughterers to slain him, to kill him and still bless that person by saying, “You are helping me to get joined with the existence. Body is the only obstacle in between me and infinitum Brahma and now I will be dissolving in that and you are taking away the last hurdle, this body.”

Violence and non-violence are part of the life and Master use both as and when it is required to do so. And Mahavir, Buddha, Krishna, Rama cannot be compared. They are different, unique, and different from one another. They are flowers which can’t be compared as a rose is a rose, a lotus is a lotus but even cactus is very beautiful if you have an eye to look and understand the beauty.