Guiding Light: Can Violence Ever Create Justice?

It’s a known fact that today violence has become the means to seek social justice. Men kill men in the name of justice, and later on these killings are then justified as dharma by the custodians of religion when it is proclaimed for a righteous purpose. Yet, history has repeatedly shown that violence, however justified in the moment, only plants the seeds of the next cycle of bloodshed. Hence, in order to conquer Adharma, we need to first understand the true Dharma of the self.

Dharma in the true sense simply means living by the eternal spiritual values such as peace and love. When we share love and goodwill with others it is bound to stir up similar feelings in that person. Remember! goodness exists eternally; it is when we begin to lose touch with our real values that we are enslaved by negative tendencies. We must thus realize that good or evil are in fact the traits of the human soul and even after death these traits or sanskars are carried on to the next birth. These sanskars may change or become stronger as per the person's karma in the next life. Hence, it follows that one may kill an evil person but one cannot destroy the evil in that person.

An evil act is bound to be punished as per the Law of Karma in the present or the next birth, because There is a natural justice system that works infallibly and eternally. Hence,one must never think that if someone avenges a wrong by doing wrong in turn, he/she will not suffer. No!!the truth is that in this case, both the persons will have to pay for their respective wrong actions by undergoing some suffering, because any act done with ill will towards others is violence and it is bound to bring sorrow for the doer. The real war, therefore, is not fought on streets or battlefields. It is fought within , in the quiet choices we make every single day between hatred and compassion, between revenge and restraint. A truly civilized society is not one that has perfected the art of punishing evil. It is one that has learned, however slowly and imperfectly, to reduce the conditions that breed it. And that journey begins not with the other person , it begins with you.

(The writer is a spiritual educator and popular columnist for publications across India, Nepal, USA, UK, Canada, South Africa, Australia, and Mauritius. To date 9500+ Published Columns have been written by him. You can reach out to him at nikunjji@gmail.com or visit www.brahmakumaris.com)