Why we are violent? Psychoanalysis from the Bhagavad Gita-Dr. Ravi Khangai, Assistant ProfessorDepartment of HistoryRTM Nagpur University, NagpurE mail-ravikhangai@gmail.com

The question of why we are violent? has plagued the thinkers, philosophers since eternity. The Bhagavad Gita composed nearly two thousand five hundred years back also tries to search the reason behind the violence. So long we live we cannot avoid violence. Even the simple act like walking and breathing kills number of microorganism. Admitting the inevitability of violence the Gita says,all enterprises are clouded by defects as fire by smoke (17:48) Though we cannot escape violence, we can try to minimize it. The awareness that your existence by itself cause violence may make us introspect, analyze and explore if we can minimize the violence. The general stand taken by the Gita is that even though our physical existence causes some inevitable violence, by our conscious efforts we may minimize it. Ch. XIII of the Gita says that human personality is made of Purusha and Prakriti. Purusha is true divine self and Prakriti is a nature, born from the Purusha itself. Ch XIV further elaborates that this Prakriti is made of three Gunas (qualities) i.e. Sattva, Raj and Tam. These three Gunas try to overpower each other and also the Purusha within.According to the Gita, under the influence of Prakriti, human being is deluded by Avidya i.e. ignorance and forgetting their true divine nature, identifies oneself with Prakriti. Under the influence of the dominating Gunas of the Prakriti, we behave. Like when Sattva predominates, our heart is filled with peace and when Raja dominates it prompts us into action with a desire to acquire something and Tam prompts us towards indolence. The Gita says that the positive and negative emotions both are generated by the Gunas and by conscious efforts we can generate more positive thoughts. Understanding the root cause of negative emotion like violence may also gives us psychological tools to avoid/minimize the different types of violence; physical, verbal and psychological. The XVIth chapter of the Gita describes the nature of the Godlike and Demonic qualities which all of us have within us. The Godlike qualities are described as purity of mind, charity, self-control, austerity, non-violence, truth, freedom from anger, renunciation, tranquility, aversion to fault finding, compassion to living being, freedom from covetousness, gentleness, modesty, forgiveness, fortitude, purity, freedom from malice and excessive pride (16:1,2,3) Demonic attributes are described as ostentation, arrogance, excessive pride, anger, and also harshness and ignorance. (16:4) Continuing further description of the person of demonic nature, the Gita describes that they are Bound by hundreds of ties of desire, given over to lust and anger, they strive to amass hoards of wealth, by unjust means, for the gratification of their desires (16:12) Under the influence of Ahankara i.e. the excessive pride, the person under the demonic resolve thinks that he shall be wealthiest and greatest of all (16:13,14). This prompt men to discard others needs, treat them as inferior and thus perpetuate violence. This desire of being better than others at everything becomes a root cause of rise of negative emotion like jealousy and hatred in us making us first violent to our self and then violent to others. When we become violent, we create anxiety and thus the violence first hurt ourselves. The strife and conflict that we see outside are nothing but an extension of the conflict that goes on within us. How the unfulfilled desires creates a vicious circle is described by the Gita as,From desire comes anger. From anger arises bewilderment, from bewilderment loss of memory; and from loss of memory, the destruction of intelligence (2:62, 63) Coming under the sway of insatiable desires we often forget our true nature, which is often described by our scriptures as Satchitanand i.e. truthful and blissful. The other reason that makes us to trample upon other peoples rights is fear of deprivation in future. Violating other peoples rights, we try to amass wealth, with the hope that it will ensure comfort and pleasure in future. Gita advises that remaining unaffected by pain or pleasure is a better way of leading a life, because pleasure is never satiated! Ability to treat pleasure and pain equally will not create anxiety in our life and subsequently we may minimize violence from our side. Becoming totally immune to pain is probably a difficult task, but having an ideal (though difficult to achieve) is better. It helps in keeping our psychological energy in the right direction. Awareness that there could be a stage when one can become immune to pain in life is a great consolation. Most of the pains in our lives are our psychological creations and they can be controlled/ removed by our own conscious efforts. This belief can go a long way towards reducing strife and anxiety and minimizing the possibilities of violence. Gita says that reaching a stage, when one can treat pain and pleasure equally is like acquiring eternal life. ..who remains the same in pain and pleasure, who is wise makes himself fit for eternal life (2: 15)Passion, fear and eager desire troubles our mind and prompts us to indulge in violence to ourselves and to others. They need to be controlled and mind need to be made stable. He whose mind is untroubled in the midst of sorrows and is free from eager desire amid pleasures, he who from whom passion, fear and rage have passed away, he is called a sage of settled intelligence (2:56) He whose mind remains stable in all the situation is called Stithpragya by Gita. (2:55) Though Gita says that it is insatiable desires that propels us towards violence, it does not say that we should eradicate all the desires from our mind, but we should not let those desires rule over us,He unto whom all desires enter as waters into the sea, which though ever being filled is ever motionless, attains to peace and not he who hugs his desires (2:71) The way out of the vicious grip of the insatiable desire is given by the Gita as it says that one should turn inward and search for happiness within. If a man is able to find the happiness within, he is free from all the longings. (3:17) Another reason of violence is belief is duality. According to the Gita, treating others as separate form us is also a result of Avidya i.e. ignorance. It says that it is the same divine energy that pervades in everybody. (9:4) Consciousness that it is the same true self, the part of divine which resides in me and in each and everything around me, may make us more tolerant and compassionate to fellow human being, reducing the possibility of violence. Sages see with an equal eye, a learned and humble Brahmin, a cow, an elephant or even a dog or an outcaste (5:18) So accordingly Nirvana; the state of pure bliss is not an annihilation of the physical body but realization of the divinity within us. It is a positive state full of knowledge and self-possession. One of the quality described of the spiritually evolved person is Sarvabhutahite ratah i.e. who rejoice in (doing) good to all creatures (5:25).While commenting on this word, S. Radhakrishnan writes that the soul which has acquired wisdom and peace is also the soul of love and compassion. He who sees all existence in the supreme, sees the divine even in the fallen and the criminal, and goes out to them in deep love and sympathy. (p.184) Ch XIII describes that Gyana is having qualities like humility, integrity, non-violence, patience, uprightness, purity, steadfastness, self-control, self-effacement, non-attachment and a constant equal-mindedness to all desirable and undesirable happenings. All this is declared as knowledge. According to this having a theoretical knowledge about the divine is not knowledge, but having divine qualities is knowledge. This awareness about the divinity within us and conscious efforts to manifest that divinity might make this world less violent. References- 1. Radhakrishnan S. The Bhagavadgita, HarperCollins, New Delhi, 2004. 3