George Anca - AHIMSA AND GANDHI

JAIPUR PAPER

de George Anca

9th International Conference on Peace and Nonviolent Action (9th ICPNA)

Jaipur,  December 17 - 21, 2017

AHIMSA  AND GANDHI

notes on Anthropology of Violence

Dr. George Anca, Romania

 ABSTRACT

This presentation belongs to a writer dealing for decennials with Indian and Romanian spirituality. It includes: Gandhian Jainism in Romania (meeting Acharya Mahapragya in Rajsamand – Gandhi and Sermon on the Mountain – Gandhi and Romanian Parliament via Argentina – Satyagrha, ahimsa and aparygraha statements); Indoeminescology – Mihai Eminescu and India; meeting presidents of India Shanker Dayal Sharma in Romania and Pranab Mukherjje in India – The International Academy Mihai Eminescu founded in India with Amrtia Pritam – Indian poems on Eminescu); A master courses on energetic nonviolence and non-possesion (anthropology of nonviolence / religion / mediation, Romanian thinkers on the subject). Gloss on Ahimsa and translation of Introduction to Jainism may have been a start in Romania - namo arihantaam namo sidhaanam  namo ayariyanam namo loye sava sahunam.

Inside:  Purvas by Lord Mahvira - Mahatma Gandhi on satyagraha, ahimsa, and aparigraha - To believe in science is a form of religion? - Rajsamand  - Son of Gandhi - Gandhi vs Machiavelli – Pedestal -  Religiology - Energetic nonviolence and non-possession

Purvas

 His disciple the Ganadhara Gautama once asked Mahavira: “Lord! Can man attain enlightenment (kevalya)?”

Mahavira said, “Yes, he can”.

Gautama: “Lord! how can he do so?”

Mahavira: “By renouncing violence and possessiveness”.

Gautama : “Can man be spiritually disciplined?”

Mahavira: “Yes, he can”

Gautama : “Lord! how can he do so?”

Mahavira : “By renouncing violence and possessiveness.”

Gautama asked Mahavira, “Lord! Are the souls of an elephant and a tiny insect equal?” He replied,“Yes, Gautama, the souls of an elephant and a tiny insect are equal. The body of an elephant is huge and that of an insect tiny. The difference in the size of their bodies doesn’t affect the equality of their souls. One who confuses the innate qualities of the souls with their external differences such as bodies, sense-organs, colour and form, caste etc. cannot be a votary of nonviolence. A nonviolent man is he who finds all souls to be equal in spite of external differences.”

Mahavira said, “O man! you have been passing through the cycle of various births from eternity in the course of which you were born as mother, father, son or brother etc. of each living being. Then, who will you treat as your friend or foe, high or low, beloved or despicable? You are not born only now, hence do not adopt a short-sighted view of things from a timeless perspective. Your soul is eternal and therefore you should try to experience the relationships between all souls. Try to control your mind by practicing concentration. By doing so, you will attain equanimity at all levels of principle, nature and mind. Once you attain equanimity, you will attain ahimsa. Where there is equality, there will be ahimsa (nonviolence). Both are proportionate to each other. Equanimity excludes love and hatred, attachment and aversion, inclination and disinclination. The behaviour of an individual, whose conscience is entrenched in equality or equanimity is always important. In the same way a society based on egalitarianism is free from all sorts of discriminations. Mahavira said, “Nobody likes suffering. Therefore don’t inflict suffering on anybody. This is nonviolence, this is equality. It is enough for you to understand this. To understand nonviolence in order to understand equality and vice versa is the summum bonum of all knowledge.”

Mahavira said, “He who does not see, does not look within, does not see himself, cannot realize the self. His knowledge depends on others. It is attained either on the basis of srutajñana (empirical knowledge), or through matijñana (articulate knowledge derived through the sense-organs and the mind). It is not in the form of innate knowledge. A man who has no direct knowledge of the self cannot practice righteousness. His behaviour cannot be free from attachment, aversion, and delusion. There can be no salvation (moksha) except through righteous conduct. Moksha can be achieved only after attachment and aversion have been completely annihilated. One who has not destroyed carnal desires cannot attain nirvana (liberation). The first step in the journey to nirvana is spiritual vision or self-knowledge. Mahavira said, “Perceive and discover the truth. Do not depend only on what I say but develop your own spiritual vision.” (1)

 Mahatma Gandhi on satyagraha, ahimsa, and aparigraha

It is impossible to detach, to separate the ends from the means.

 Any economy ignoring moral values is ultimately wicked and artificial.

The individual entrusted with a public mission should by no means accept valuable

presents.

Any person willing to act in support of social welfare should never depend on public

charity.

Only when a person is able to look at his/her own errors through a magnifying glass

and at the others’ through a minimizing one, is he/she capable to correctly evaluate

his/her and the others’ mistakes.

 Centralization as a system is improper for the non-violent functioning, and organization

of the society. It is hard to achieve a non-violent society within centralized systems.

Most of the people would rather forget their own father’s death than the loss of their

fortunes.

Not to admit and to detest your enemies’ mistakes should never rule out compassion

and even love for them.

The means should be in harmony with the purpose.

It is altogether difficult for a person living in dire poverty to achieve his moral

development. Those who accomplish it in such strained circumstances are people of

extraordinary ability.

Bad means cannot help attain good ends.

In my opinion any person who eats the fruits of the earth without sharing them with the

others and who is of no use to the others is a thief.

Non-violence is indispensable to genuine economic development.

I think only evil should be hated not evil-doers even when I could be the victim.

In my opinion a person should never use friendship to gain favours.

I think that the most efficient means to have justice done is to do justice to my own

enemy.

When many people live in dire poverty, it is of utmost importance to cultivate in all of

us the mental attitude of not boasting objects and appliances which are denied to

millions of people, and, consequently, to reorganize our lives in keeping with this

mentality as fast as possible.

I think that each and every person should give up the desires to possession of as many

things as possible.

Individuals should primarily use goods produced by indigenous economy. (2)

To believe in science is a form of religion?

1) What distinguishes the science of religion: science reveals the theoretical reason (the effort of knowledge), religion belongs to the practical reason; The postulate of the objectivity of science related to the belief of religion (3) 

2) What science religion brings: Referencing to faith; Their connection to metaphysics; The relationship with illusion.

Science and religion differ in purpose and means: there are two orientations on two different planes: for the revealed religions, the truth is in a founding discourse; For science the truth is infinite (Husserl); For religion, the truth is given, for truth, the truth must be conquered forever; Is the subject of their own discourse? (4)

            Somehow the person becomes  an embodiment of ahimsa.  One perhaps would leave his / her own ahimsa for the original one to drink from the spring started under the stars of India. On the other part, for example, the world anthropology congress  in Zagreb was followed by war in former Yugoslavia. With name of the singing black bird, Kosovo seemed as if renamed by a bloodshed in the threshold of the 3rd millennium. (5)

 Rajsamand (7)

            Meeting Acharya Mahapragya, listening to His Words, reading his books, and especially understanding, all the way through, what happens with one’s mind and actual Ahimsa path of transformation of heart and thus of mankind itself were among life term achievements. Post-Gandhian career of non-violence appeared as a global re-foundation of urgent ahimsa practice, from a non-violent life style to economics – e.g. hunger and poverty as sources of violence -, and spirituality in the light of Ahimsa Prashikshan. Instead of formal declarations we shared, tens and thousands of us, an intimate, almost silent consciousness change helped by most qualified trainers, under the guidance of Acharya Mahapragya and Uvacharya Mahashraman.

            Mihai Eminescu (1850-1889) rewrote in Romanian on his own the beginning of the world from a sparkling point, as in Nasadya Sukta.  Even a violent birth of cosmos has to be challenged.  I wish  Eminescu were in Rajsamand and see the tenth Terapanth Acharya Mahapragya as a confirmation of his holy visions. (3)

            Climbing the Hill with thought to Tirthankaras and Terapanths, some of us got an increased feeling of Christmas on 25th December, few days after Id. Dr. Gandhi made clear once more our growth through Rajsamand encounter, a landarmak in our way to better humanity. Rudi sent me in Romania his Introduction to Jainism. Mezaki found similarities between Shinto and Dacian Zalmoxis. Gabriela spoke of enthusiasm in Rajsamand. Thomas reformulated his interfaith statement. (8)

            

Son of Gandhi

            Romanian priest and scholar Constantin Galeriu speaks on Mahatma Gandhi as the only leader of revolutions who discovered the Saviour, through Sermon on the Mountain preaching to  love one's enemies. He proved to his enemies that he loved them, even dying as a martyr. In his own words: “I think only evil should be hated not evil-doers even when I could be the victim”; “Not to admit and to detest your enemies’ mistakes should never rule out compassion”,

and even love for them”.

            The same spirit was shared recently in Romania by the author of The man, his people and the empire, Rajmohan Gandhi. After his address at university in Baia Mare, a northern Romanian city of 130,000 that was once a major mining center, Prof Gandhi replied to a student, who asked him what is freedom: ‘if the state tells me what to do, I say I will resist. But if my conscience asks me not to do something, I want to obey it. Then I find I have inner freedom.’  (9)

            On the site of Biblitheca publishing house, May 2011, Introduction to Jainism (in my Romanian trnslation Introducere în Jainism) by Rudi Jansma and Sneh Rani Jain among key words of the presentation for general public are:   Ahimsa - “the heart of Jainism” -, Gandhi – modern apostle of Jainism -, Karma.

            A letter sent to Romanian Parliament by Cristina María Speluzzi from Buenos Aires República Argentina, dealing with “the dark specter of a death sentence for strays”, is opened by a quotation from Gandhi: “The greatness and the MORAL progress of a nation can be judged by the way the animals are treated ” (M. Gandhi)

Gandhi vs Machiavelli

            In his book  The Gandhian Mode of Becoming, (10) Dr. Catalin Mamali adds to the “simple list” of comparison terms -   Socrates, Jesus, Buddha, Confucius, Martin Luther, Thoreau, Ruskin, Tolstoy, Steiner, Marx, Tagore, Freud, Mao, Lenin, Savarkar, Martin Luther King Jr., and Mother Teresa -  one more frame of reference: Niccolo Machiavelli. A special feature for a book on Gandhi published in India may be also the large number of Romanian authors in bibliography: Badina O, Blaga L, Botez M, Brucan S, Constante L, Draghicescu M, Eliade M, Gusti D, Herseni T, Ierunca V, Istrati P, Mamali C, Neculau A, Preda M, Zapan G.

            “As a thinker and practioner of politics Machiavelli had a profound influence on European

political life. Seeking power through any means was the major principle of his philosophy.

As against this Gandhi preached and practiced ethical principles of purity of means for

attaining his objectives. One can hardly imagine two completely opposite view points and

their paths of life.” (Govindbhai Raval, Vice Chancellor, in “Foreword”)

            “Mamali’s book has one organizing axis a comparison of Gandhi with Machiavelli, for

understanding both of them better, as each other’s contrast, dialectionally – not to end up

telling the reader whom he should follow. Interestingly, they were both fighting for freedom

of their lands. But to Machiavelli such giant tasks accrued to the Prince. To Gandhi the

liberation could only be done by those who should be liberated; the people, not the way

Machiavelli (and the Marxist tradition) saw them, as “masses,” as superficial admirers of

success: hence to be led by feeding them with successes.” (Johan Galtung in “Introduction”).

            In the end the author makes a pool - each of the 140 statements can be given grades between 1 and 5 according to the readers’ degree of agreement or disagreement to the respective position. 

Pedestal

            In a song by Sarah-Hudson-Gandhi, the verse "I wanna find peace like Mahatma Gandhi" is repeated.

            After attending an addres by Mahatma Gandhi at Lausane, Lucian Blaga wrote in an article:

“Gandhi then began to speak, in a way that stunned by simplicity, first of all, by a simple, unobtrusive simplicity, of the spirits who no longer see only the ultimate essences. No gesture of a speaker, no rhetorical modulation in the voice, nothing sought to perpetrate, nothing of that unbearable attitude of the speaker. Gandhi spoke English in short phrases and predicates. He only pronounces a rare, non-sentimental sentence. A Frenchman translated, standing by the table, each sentence, and Gandhi, in a monotonous rhythm, continued. This head, stunningly ugly in the photos, had something transfigured in reality that it did not look bad anymore, though she had only a few teeth in her mouth. In this man, everything was reduced to the essence, even the appearance; Even the number of teeth, the unnecessary had fallen. Gandhi gives the strong impression of a man who is in a constant inner concentration but for whom concentration is no longer an effort but an organic state. His figure is accompanied by movements strictly necessary to appear rigid. No nervous or superfluous gesture. No word too much. Everything is mastered, without being artificial.” (11)

            Over years, within a roundtable dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Surender Bhutani, resident in Warsaw, referred to the book "Gandhi, a Sublime Failure" by Surender S.S. Gill, adding  question mark, but similarly inviting Gandhi's descent from the pedestal. It was speculated in the context that the Holocaust caused by the separation of India from Pakistan in 1947 could have been avoided. The speaker has been able to familiarize the audience with both issues, including that current political-social, and Gandhi's involvement at the scale of the Indian people and mankind (Gandhianism, noticeably through Martin Luther King, and Barack Obama's presidential campaign). 

            Some Western references on Gandhi:

“The Political Power of Non-Violent Resistance: The Gandhian Technique.” (2006)

 Non-violent action from Gandhi to the present, Postmodern Gandhi, Gandhi as political strategist,

Struggling for autonomy

 The Experience of Non-Violent Action from Gandhi to the Present.

New York: Oxford University Press.Rowbotham, Sheila. 1974.

Postmodern Gandhi and Other Essays: Gandhi in theWorld and at Home. (1979).

Gandhi as a Political Strategist – War without Violence (1939)

Gandhi: Struggling for Autonomy (2011)

   “Toward a Revaluation of Gandhi’s Political Thought.”

 “Gandhi on Democracy, Politics and the Ethics of Everyday Life.”

  Religiology

            Religiology or "Religious Studies" - "Sciences de la réligion" - "Religionwissenschaft"- "Ciencia de la Religión" etc. - refers to the scientific, neutral and multidisciplinary study of religions. It embraces and systematizes the conclusions of various sciences such as anthropology, sociology, psychology, neurobiology. German Friedrich Max Müller and Dutchman Cornelius P. Tiele are among the first representatives of the movement started in the nineteenth century, with the flourishing of biblical studies and the translation into European languages of Hindu and Buddhist texts. Comparative religion studies and methodological traditions drawn by the University of Chicago in general, and in particular by Mircea Eliade, have set the scene.

            Unlike theology, religiology studies the religious phenomenon "from the outside", investigates and systematises the observable aspects of all religions in a historical context. The theologian is a believer, not (necessarily) a religionist.

            Reference ancients in the study of religions: Hecateus of Milet, Herodot, Cicero (De natura deorum). First History of Religions: The Treaty on Philosophical Religions and Sects (1127) by Muhammad al-Shahrastani. First Chair (Comparative Religion): Oxford.

            Religious sciences: the history of religions (the history of the characters, events, and religious doctrines), the sociology of religion (the social aspects of religious phenomena), the anthropology of religion (rites, beliefs, religious arts), the study of the scriptures, Principles of interactions between communities and practitioners), neurobiology, etc. Methodologically (phenomenologically), Gerardus van der Leew proposes in Sixth Stage of Analysis in Religion in Essence and Manifestation, 1933: 1) splitting the phenomenon into distinct categories, for example sacrifice, sacred space, sacred time, sacred words, festivities and myths; 2) interpreting the phenomenon based on its own experience; 3) Applying the principle of phenomenological reduction - "epoche" - suspending the value judgment and adopting a neutral position; 4) clarifying the structural relations and the holistic understanding of the religious phenomenon; 5) "Genuine understanding" (Verstehen), the transformation of chaotic reality into "revelation" (eidetic vision); 6) verifying the conclusions through the results of other disciplines, such as archeology, history, philology. 

Socio-anthropology of the sacred

            Invocations / prayers in various religions: Gayatri Mantra, Hinduism); (Khuddaka Patha, Buddhism); (Coran 1: Al-Fatihah); Bible, Matthew 6.9-13: The Lord's Prayer - Christianity; Kaddish, Judaism; Nuad, Sudan / traditional African religions; Avesta, Yasna 28.1, zoroastrianism; Namokar Mantra, jainism); Adi Granth, Japji p. 1: The Mul Mantra, Sikhism; Colibian Dance, Native American Religions); It is either the words of my mouth / and the meditation of my heart / received in your sight, O Lord, / My Rock and Salvation (The Bible, Psalm 19.14, Judaism and Christianity).

            God has become man so that man becomes God (Holy Fathers)

            Lat. Sacrum (priest) sacer (priest), sanctum (apart), cf. greek Hagios, ebr. Qadash, polynesian tapu (taboo), Arabic haram.

            Numen (mysterious power), cf. Sanskrit brahman, melanesian hand, old german haminja.

            Religion: the consciousness of being absolutely dependent on God (Friederich Schleiermacher). Establishing an a priori sacred reality (Rudolf Otto). The sacred is society itself (Emile Durkheim). The sacred (infinite) is not limited to the experience of a finite object (Max Scheler).

            Lat. Profanus (before / outside the temple, fanum, temple).

            Mircea Eliade, Sacred and profane (1. Space and sacrament of the world 2. Sacred time and myths 3. Sacral nature and cosmic religion 4. Human existence and sanctity life).

            "Satan is an essential part of the Christian system; Or, if he is an impure being, he is not a profane being"(EmileDurkheim)

"The important element from a practical perspective regarding the evolution of a religiosity towards a religion of the Book - either in the full sense of the word, ie the absolute dependence on a canon considered sacred or in a weaker sense, according to which the holy, fixed rules in writing, is the decisive criterion of orientation, such as those in the Egyptian Book of the Dead - the evolution of clerical education from the oldest, purely charismatic stage to the literary band. "(Max Weber)

Everyday's Religiology  

            Religious rituality in the context of postmodernity is the subject of religious work based on the thesis of the movement of the sacred, on the religious content of the daily, individual and collective life. Religion is defined as a hermeneutical view of the sacred experience and expression inspired by the thesis of the movements of the sacred. Religion would rather hold the order of an arts of gaze on the religion, it would be a way of seeing. For the sake of sensitizing the religious dimension to seemingly non-religious human productions, Denis Jeffrey (in the "Prolegomenes of a Religiology of the Cotidian", 1996/1999, on line) refers to works by Mircea Eliade, Roger Bastide, and Quebec, Yvone Desrosiers). The religiologist studies religion from human sciences (sociology, psychology, anthropology, etc.) Human activities can be translated, hermeneutically, in religious terms.

            Religiosity aims at: 1) preventing events - risk factors, disorder, anxiety, fear, insecurity (sacred respect); 2) transiting, pontificating the discontinuities of life (sacred transition); 3) causing a discontinuity to bring altering, enchantment, creation (sacred transgression) into life.

The Promethean imaginary refutes human religiosity, and yet the Promethean behaviors do not oppose religious conduct. The sacrament does not disappear, it takes new and unique forms. The moment of dementia is the moment of transition from modernity to postmodernity. The secularized man may be more religious than ever, practicing a "nomadism of faith" or a tourism of religious sentiment. Gardening, for example, denotes a religious respect for the earth, a recurring eternity.

Dialectics between the established ritual and the institutional ritual. The established ritual refers to a codified system of rather rigid beliefs that condition the practices of manipulating sacred inertia. Functions: protection, enchantment, updating myth, perpetuation of petrified structures. The institute ritual, which is the origin of the reorganization of a myth or the creation of a new myth, gives access to "jouissance de l'interdit", generates disorder, imbalance, discontinuity, and forces a mythical system to renew, to complex or to transform. During an established ritual, such as Eucharist or Halloween, the possible death is euphemized to the fullest; During an institutional ritual - parachuting, rafting, Russian roulette, psychotherapy, etc. - Extending excessive life forces to overcome the excessive limit of death.

            The Candian School of Religiology also expressed itself in the Religiologiques magazine, introducing themes such as: invisible religion, atheism mysticism, postmodern as aesthetic of negation (Frances Fostier), postmodern, another name of another profane (Pierre Hebert), from our religion to our religiology (Despair), our religion is a fiction. In the essay "The Trojan horse of philosophia perennis: Mircea Eliade's Quest of Spiritual Transformation," Michel Gardaz, from the University of Ottawa, referring to the most important aspects of Eliades' inheritance to religious studies, concludes that “The Romanian scholar never reduced the spiritual history of humankind to a mere socio-cultural construction”, adding: “I hope that this essay will contribute to a better understanding of Eliade's philosophical presuppositions”.

 

New religions

            The new 19th and 20th century religions, with 130 million members, have their roots in older religious traditions. If Hare Krishna or independent African churches are recognized by the Hindus and African Christians, others, such as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Jehovah's Witnesses Yogi Bhajan are in conflict with the original religious institutions. New Sects and Movements in Hindus: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Arya Samaj, Brahmo Samaj, Ananda Marga, Transcendental Meditation, the Society for Krishna Consciousness (Hare Krishna), and Meher Baba, Sathya Sai Baba, Bhagwan Rajneesh and others. New religions in Japan: Rissh-K-osei Kai, S-oka Gakkai, Agon-shu, Omoto Kyo, Sekai Kyusei Kyo / World Messianic Church, Mahikari and Sukyo Mahikari, Perfect Liberty Kyodan. Religious Movements in Korea: Tan Goon Church, Tae Jong Church, Han Il Church, Chun Do Church, folkloric religious groups. Christian Sects and Groups: Kimbangui (Zaire), Cross of the Cross and Star (Nigeria), Rastafari (Caribbean). Additional scripture scripts: The Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price; Writings by Mary Baker Edy (Christ Scientist), Ron Hubbard (Church of Scientology). The Baha'i Faith, the writings of Baha'u'llah: the Book of Certitude (Kitab-i-Iqan), the Hidden Words of Baha'u'llah, and Epistle to the Son of the Wolf.

From Jung Lexicon

            Anima - the inner female feminine of the man, the archetype of life itself. Animus - The male inside of the woman. Collective unconscious - a structural layer of the human psyche containing the entire spiritual heritage of the evolution of humanity, born again in the structure of each individual's brain. The personal unconscious contains lost memories, painful ideas that are repressed (ie, suddenly forgotten), subliminal perceptions that mean sensory perceptions that are not strong enough to reach consciousness. Dreams - Fragments of Involuntary Psychic Activity. Mystical participation - mystical bond or identity between subject and object. Puer aeternus / puer animus / puella anima. Renaissance - Metempsyho (transmigration of souls), reincarnation (in the human body), resurrection; Psychological revival (individualisation) and indirect change that occurs through participation in the process of transformation. Religious attitude - careful observation of, and respect for invisible forces and personal experience. The term religion designates the specific attitude to a consciousness that has been changed by the experience of numinosum. Religion is an instinctive attitude specific to man, and its manifestation can be traced throughout human history. Religious attitude is different from the belief associated with a particular belief. Faith is a codified and dogmatized form of an original religious experience and expresses a certain collective creed. True religion involves a subjective relationship with certain metaphysical and extramundic factors. A belief is a confession of faith intended primarily for the world in general, and so is a intramundal business, while the meaning and purpose of religion lies in the individual's relationship with God (Christianity, Judaism, Islam) or the way of salvation and liberation (Buddhism) . Jung believed that a neurosis in the second part of his life is rarely healed without the development of a religious attitude inspired by a spontaneous revelation of the spirit.

Energetic nonviolence and non-possession 

            Lord Mahavira has classified people in three categories: having many desires (Mahechha), having few desires (Alpechha), having no desires (Ichhajayi). The economy of nonviolence, along with poverty eradication, applies also Mhavira's concept of vrati (dedicated) society. He gave three directions regarding production: not to be manufacturated weapons of violence (ahimsappyane), not to be assembled weapons (asanjutahikarne), not to be made instruction for sinful and violent work (apavkammovades). Following anekanta, the philosophy of Mahavira synthesizes personal fate and initiative.

            The anthropology of non-violence may deal with Jain ahimsa, Buddhist karauna, Christian mercy, Gandian nonviolence; Principles of relativity (anekanta). According to United Nations Conflict Prevention NHDR Thematic there are three level of conflict prevention: a) systemic prevention: factors of the global conflict (the unfairness of globalization, the negative effects of globalization, arms trafficking, international organized crime); b) structural prevention: weak, falling or predatory states, group identities, horizontal inequalities, inequity, insecurity; c) operational prevention: conflict accelerators and detonators (resource poverty, small arms influx, public health emergencies, military dismantling, sudden immigration or population deployment, redistribution of land, severe inflation, contentious choices, etc.

            (Master Course: Psycho-sociology of Deviance, Victimology and Social Assistance / Discipline: Anthropology of Violence: Coordinator: Prof. Dr. George Anca) 

            Main themes of the master course in psychology-sociology on energetic nonviolence and non-possession:

            Exploring social violence. Motivation of violent behaviour (protection, „fight or flight”, groups and identity). Conflict prevention – systemic (globalization, international crime), structural (predatory states, horizontal inequities), operational (accelerators and detonators of conflict – e.g. Poverty of sources, influx of small guns, elections). 

            Among the objectives of the "anthropology of violence" program for the master courses  in sociology were: deepening the theories, concepts, socio-anthropological solutions and awareness of the conflict dynamics; The appropriation of critical reflection on social violence, history and humanity; Enhancing the capacity to use instruments of nonviolence, reconciliation, peace; Developing collaborative abilities, learning and creative teamwork, as well as individuals, in the perspective of doctorate.

            Violence is investigated by socio-biology, ethology, psychoanalysis, media studies, irenology, philosophy etc. Even if the successive trends of social anthropology - evolutionism, functionalism, diffusionism, structuralism, etc. - it does not provide theories or methods of study of violent practices; at present, violence is central to theories on the nature of society, from a comparative, intercultural perspective, to case studies on war, state violence, sexual violence, genocide, ethnic conflict, etc. Reconsidering subjectivity as intersubjectivity in a postmodern context addresses themes such as: alterity, transcendence, responsibility, language, community, politics, divinity, futurism. On a small scale, anthropology analyzes the causation, experimentation and justification of violence (in families, villages, suburbs, gangs, combat groups, committees, counseling groups) on a large scale, the aggression (inborn or not) Species of mankind as a whole. Thus, violence seems to be the true secret of social life, more than death or sexuality.

            Instead of violence, Origen and Tertullian recommended martyrdom. Hermeneutical exercises of Origen of Alexandria faced torture and martyrdom. As “decisive means for politics is violence” (Max Weber), a post second World War example is given by torture of political prisoners during Communist regime in Romania oposed by poems prayers, perhaps in tune  with non-resistance, nonviolence, ahimsa, soul force, and satyagraha.

            “Gandhi was particularly concerned with how one might confront physical violence in the very moment it was being practiced. He discerned that one might be able to engage in“conscious suffering” (or tapas) where certain actions were taken with the expectation of provoking physical punishment from others. This kind of suffering, unlike the suffering of people resigned to their fate, could be used to one’s political advantage.For political campaigns that might involve putting one’s body at risk, he coined the term satyagraha, or 'holding fast to the truth.'The term avoided the negative, inactive, and 'passive' connotations of non resistance and non violence while acknowledging that refraining from violence in the face of the violence of others is difficult. Gandhi also continued to employ the term

ahimsa to refer to the broad range of practices (satyagraha among them) that he wished to cultivate in himself and encourage in others.” (12)

            Some  modules:

1.1 Explaining social violence over time: symbolic and structural violence, violence in war and peace, cataclysmic violence of the prolonged past in the modern world - the persistence of prisons, campuses, ghettos, world wars, genocides, terrorism;

2. motivating violent behavior through: a) the need to protect self-respect, b) the inborn "fight or flight" response, and c) the human tendency towards group and identity formation;

3. conflict prevention at three levels: a) systemic prevention: factors of the global conflict (the unfairness of globalization, the negative effects of globalization, arms trafficking, international organized crime); b) structural prevention: weak, falling or predatory states, group identities, horizontal inequalities, inequity, insecurity; c) operational prevention: conflict accelerators and detonators (resource poverty, small arms influx, public health emergencies, military dismantling, sudden immigration or population deployment, redistribution of land, severe inflation, contentious choices, etc. (13) Cf United Nations, Conflict Prevention NHDR Thematic

            Within their three volumes (2009-2011, Anthropology of violence, Anthroplogy of religions, Religion conflict and Mediation) ), papers by  master students on Anthropology of violence /religiology / mediation make room too ahimsa: Violence, another kind of religion; Nonviolence and Ahimsa Jaina – Martin Luther King and nonviolence – Rituals in Judaic, Buddhist and Zoruba religions; Rites of passage in life of a Hindu; Vegetarianism and violence; Violence and sacred.   Along with themes and bibliography suggested (14) there were also approached updated happenings such as: Pilgrimage on the Way of Saints,  in Bucharest; destruction of  monuments from the Jewish Cemetery; words about God said by parents to the children ("sees you and punishes you if you are evil"); fraudulent real estate transaction between the Vatopedi Monastery on Mount Atos and the Greek State; “Nymfos" site, translated with tendency to "Christian Nymphomania";

Vatican's suspension of 58-year-old Bishop John Thattungal from the Kochi Diocese of India to adopt a 26-year-old woman ("Spiritual Power"); Religious / satanic verbiage in electoral polemics.

            Religious Conflict and Mediation

The paradox of religion as a source of division and conflict, on the one hand, and aspirations of peace and compassionate service, sacrifice, on the other.

Ambivalence of the sacred. Religion, violence, reconciliation. What is a religious terrorist and a peacemaker? "Religion causes peace," but it can mobilize for war, attacking religious targets, or converting the enemy.

Authority, autonomy and religious conflict. Politics of religion, cause of conflict. The intensity of politicization is greater in monotheistic religions. Secularization, religious revivalism, modern fundamentalism. Human rights, religious conflict and globalization. Geopolitics of the main religions of the world. Ultimate values in the new world order.

Ethnic-religious conflict within states and in the international context. Ethnic and religious conflicts in Southeast Europe and the Black Sea region. Confessional confrontation between Protestants and Catholics, Muslims and Hindus, etc. Islam in Europe and the world. Soldiers fighting against the same religions (American soldiers come from 700 religions). "Cosmic War". "Peace Negative".

It was religious extremism. Extremist movements, escalating conflicts. "Violence, a debt". From fanaticism to terrorism in the name of religion. Holy war, holy peace. Suicidal attacks, martyr operations. "Brainwashing" and the movement of new religions. Satanic ritual abuse. The diabolical authority. Limits of victimization.

Religion, conflict and reconciliation. The contribution of religion and culture to mediating peace and conflict. Narrative, ritual, context and symbol. Religious reconciliation, in accordance with the rule of law, but also with the principles of justice included in the scriptures (love, forgiveness, reconciliation). The experience of mediation and prayer.

Religion defined as mediation between finite and infinite (Hegel). Christ, mediator between God and man, but also between the exorcist and the evil spirit. The spiritual charismatic leader as a mediator of conflicts and intereligious dialogue. "Demos and Deus".

Religious construction of peace. Transforming the conflict through spiritual services. Inner Peace and exterior Peace. The roles of religious actors, peace-makers, the typology of pacifist activities. Sacred texts and conflict mediation / transformation. Forgiveness and enemies. Healing and reconciliation.

Notes and References

(1)As quoted by L. S. Gandhi at Mahavira's 2616th birthday

(2) As quoted by Catalin Mamali

(3) Jacques Monod, Le Hasard et la nécessité, Seuil, pp. 184-195

(4) Cf. Religion http://www.philagora.net/philo/religion.htm 

(5) This author presented literary, indological, anthropological, educational papers  with International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (New-Delhi, 1978 ; Zagreb, 1988  ; Lisbon, 1991;   Mexico, 1994; Williamsburg, 1998 . World Association of Educational Research (Jerusalim, 1992; Rethiymno - Greece, 1997.   International Association of Education  for World Peace (  associated general secretatry and editor for  I.A.E.W.P. News Letter in early '90). Constitution and Parliament Association, first participation 1980, New-Delhi, then registered as a member of International Academy "Mihai Eminescu".

(6) See also our book Chaos, Prison and Exile to Mihai Eminescu, Aron Cotruş, Radu Gyr and Horia Stamatu.

(7) As a Romanian, I tried to spread the teachings of Rajsamand. I wrote afterwards a micro-novel / Jain poem – “The Orissa Woman” – and I did  search for  Ahimsa in Romanian literature, publishing  a booklet, “Gloss on Ahimsa”. Before Rajsamand I lectured, at Delhi University, on Mircea Eliade’s Centenary in the World, mentioning that he has introduced ahimsa concept in Romania and commented Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violent revolution, also with reference to Corneliu Zelea Codreanu.

(8)Vinod wrote me a letter just in Rajsamand. And I received in Bucharest from the editors – P.V. Rajagopal and S. Jeyapragasam – Ahimsa NONVIOLENCE -, International Gandhian Institute for Nonviolence and Peace, Madurai, May-June 2007, including articles “Economics of Nonviolence and Peace” by Acharya Mahapragyaji, and “The Nonviolent Revolution – the Italian who embraced Gandhi’s Satyagraha to oppose Fascism and War-II” by Rocco Altieri.

“The search for spiritual salvation did not require Gandhi to retire to a cave as a hermit, for he carries the cave with him” (A. Capitini )

(9) An article by Satish Kumar on Jain religion, translated into Romanian, keeps in original the supplementary readings as for a global communion: Padmanabha Jaini, Jaina Path of Purification, Jawahar Nagar, Delhi, India: Motilal Banarsidas, 1979. / Acharya Mahaprajna, Anekanta: The Third EyeLadnun, Rajasthan, India: Jain Vishva Bhavati, 2002. Email: books@JVBI.org. / Umasvati, That Which Is: Tattvartha Sutra, translated by Nathmal Tatia, San Francisco and London: Harper Collins, 1994. / Pratapaditya Pal, The Peaceful Liberators: Jain Art from India (1995). New York and London: co-published by Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Thames and Hudson. / Jan Van Alphen, Steps to Liberation: 2,500 Years of Jain Art and Religion (2000). Antwerp, Belgium: Etnografisch Museum.

(10) Gujarat Vidyapith, Ahmedabad, 1998.

(11) Peisaj si aminire (Landscape and memory)

(12) Dustin Elis Howes, The Failure of Pacifism and the Succes of Nonviolence, in  Political          Research  Quarterly, June 213 / www.academia.edu/2634432)

(13) Cf. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; Cf United Nations, Conflict Prevention NHDR

(14)Themes  

Violence in a Transitional Romanian Society

Border phenomenon and aggression theory

Overcoming the state of conflict in ethnic relations

Corruption in the Anomic State

Sociology of dominance

Minority neurosis and conflict of nationalities

Anthropology of Violence and Eastern Communism

The theory of social disorganization

Torture and hermeneutics of nonviolence at Origen

Violence in the ancient Greek tragedy and in Shakespeare's plays

Revolutionary program of Ion Heliade Rădulescu

Eternal peace to Mihai Eminescu

The Realistic-Scientific Concept of Peace at Dimitrie Gusti

Regional ontology at Traian Herseni

Socio-anthropology of the totalitarian regime

Suicidal behavior as a social phenomenon

Anomie, crime, deviance

Social Tanatology

The Concept of Subjective Poverty in Romanian Society

Social inequality for people with disabilities

Sexual exploitation of children and women

Ethology and prevention of murder offenses

Media and violence, violence in television programs

Decolonizing the future

Value conflicts

Abuse of authority

Violence and aggression in the family

Contemporary political crises

Contemporary conflicts

Criminology and sociology of crime

Victimization in the social construction of murder

Romanians about Roma, Roma about Romanians

Strategies in Drug Prevention

Aspects of cybercrime

Socialization in total institutions

Preparing and combating domestic violence

European Differences of Social Tolerance

Types of violence and crime among multicultural communities

Media coverage of political crises and conflicts

Poverty, effect or cause of juvenile delinquency

National Anti-Poverty Plan and Social Inclusion

Restorative justice, victimology and victim's right

Socio-anthropology of social prohibitions

The sociology of experience in limiting situations

Mediation and reparation between victim and offender

Intolerance, discrimination, extremism

Nature of War in the 21st Century

"Anti-Semitism of Romanian Intellectuals"

The media construct of the actors of a conflict

Captures the deviation from neutrality through trend analysis

Law on Combating Domestic Violence

Aggressiveness as a legitimation of political aggression

From gesture aggression and speech to physical aggression

Carrier Rituals

The Internet as a wartime marketing support

Violence in sports

Relapse

Social phobia

Crime committed in the name of honor

Press aggression

Violence against animals

Globalization, localization and violence

Violence and difference

The mimetic theory of violence

The Anthropology of Violence and Peace

Constitutive violence and imaginary nationalist

"Is the United States Europe's Other"?

Identity Violence

Danger and disorder

The cultural difference and the craving to kill

Violence is always a social act

Ritual violence

Creolisation, cultural hybridization

Anthropology of Social Exclusion and Structural Violence

The socio-biological and psychological evolutionary basis of violent behaviors

Non-violent social structures in the history of anthropological thinking

Practices of social violence in ancient societies - war, slavery, sacrifices

When ethnic identity is a stigma

Violence and Peace in Cognitive Anthropology

Violence, memory and natural cosmology

Influence of alcohol and illicit drugs on the social context of violent events

Emic and ethics in gang culture

Epidemiology of alcohol and violence

Anthropology of radical alterity and social commensuration

Violence, an effective or final cause of social forms

Global trials and violence - the war in Iraq, total war

Global governance and new wars

Conflict analysis - structure, profile, causes, actors, dynamics

Holocaust Anthropology

Biology of aggression

Violent people in violent contexts

Violence as raison d'etre, humanitarianism as violence

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http://georgeanca.blogspot.com.au/2017/05/jaipur-paper.html