Swami Rama

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VIOLENCE

When for a moment I cast aside all rationalism
and transport myself into the clear mountain air
on the solitary rock,
I spontaneously go into silence.

Solitude keeps me alive in a society
that knows no laws of love and harmony.

Violence, violence, violence
everywhere.

I do not understand the law
that prompts mortal beings to injure each other.
How do they forget that all creatures are breathing
one and the same breath?

Why are they ungrateful and why do they forget
that all breathing beings
are the children of one Father
who is giving the life breath to all equally?

From where arises this violence?
Which is that power that instigates them
to annihilate each other’s existence?

I return to my silence
without any reply
and with a simple conclusion
that human beings have not yet really found out
the art of living harmoniously.

The evil that forces one to commit such heinous crimes
is because of himsa, the absence of love,
consideration, kindness, and awareness
that we all belong to One.

By killing others
we are cutting the roots of the same tree
whose limbs we are.

From Sadhana: The Essence of Spiritual Life,

by Swami Rama, an HIHT publication