As we are in the middle of Asian heritage month, I thought I would share something I have learned from South Asian teachings.

I knew that one of the texts that Mahatma Gandhi used was the Bhaghavad Gita so I was surprised when I learned that it set on a battlefield. The text records a conversation between a soldier and the man driving his chariot, who turns out to be Krishna. Why would this ground Gandhi's teaching of non-violent resistance?

Throughout the conversation, Krishna is trying to help the soldier learn how to govern himself, how to act with detachment. To understand what he means, we need to have in mind the Hindu and Buddhist understanding of the levels of human consciousness.

The first level is body or rupa. One of the things Krishna says is, "Feelings of heat and cold, pleasure and pain, are caused by the contact of the senses with their objects. They come and they go, never lasting long. You must accept them." The crucial point here is the instruction to take in the information from the senses rather than react to it.

If someone hits us, the immediate reaction might be to hit back. That is an action determined by the body, what we might refer to as a "knee jerk reaction."

If we take a moment and internalize the fact that we were hit, we may feel anger or shame. Based on the emotion of anger, we might hit back. Based on shame, we might cry or retreat. This is an action based on vedana or emotion, an inner version of body consciousness.

The next level of consciousness is manas or mental analysis. We might take the time to analyze the person who hit us, to see that they are bigger than us, so that if we hit back, we will start a fight that we will lose. This is the hockey player who analyzes the play and knows that if they hit back, they will get the retaliation penalty.

This placing of the next level is a bit of a surprise for a westerner. Built upon the karma from other lives, each person carries character marks or samskaras. Families look at a child and see that they are shy, or courageous, or adventurous. These character traits are in the person. It is their nature. Acting according to their nature is right, proper, natural. Again to quote the Gita: "performing the duty prescribed by one's own nature, one incurs no sin."

This is where I am inclined to ask: shouldn't I act courageous even if I am not. But Krishna says, "It is better to live your own destiny imperfectly that to live an imitation of somebody else's life with perfection. As I ponder this, I realize that if I am naturally shy, I don't need to be bold with my response but find the best shy way to address the violence.

At the next level, the person exercises self-control over their nature. They might be naturally adventurous, but at this level, they recognize the places where it is not a good idea to be adventurous. This level, ahamkara is often translated as ego, but it is not the Freudian "I" but the ego that can stand back and look at the self to choose wisely.

The last two are spiritual levels that one reaches for but does not claim: buddhi in which we acknowledge the pain of the world with compassion, and Atman where a person becomes the eternal.

If someone hits us, we might hit back. But if we see them with compassion, understand why they hit us, but also see that they could become a person who does not hit other people, we would choose a course of action that would show them who they can become and move them in that direction.

Gandhi's campaign of non-violent resistance reached for the higher levels of consciousness. We can consider his reaction to the British monopoly for selling salt. Salt is an essential for life, and the poor suffered from the inflated prices. To challenge the British policy, he led a march to the ocean to make salt. By simply walking to the ocean to collect the mineral that naturally occurs there, he showed compassion and courage and demonstrated what is naturally right behaviour. He was arrested, but this act of non-violent resistance mobilized his nation and called the government to act justly.

For my western mind, a quick look at the Gita is still uncomfortable. But as the philosophy is traced for me, I begin to see a path to non-violence and compassionate living.
Cathy Hird is a farmer, minister, and writer living near Walters Falls.