Loving, Kindness & Non-Injury

Without self-purification there will be no spiritual growth. This thought has been emphasized across several spiritual disciplines and religious orders.

Character building through self-purification is simplified by Master Choa Kok Sui, the founder of Modern Pranic Healing and Arhatic Yoga. Master Choa says, “Character Building is a manifestation of your spiritual development"

In Arhatic Yoga, self-purification is done by practising character building. It includes 5 virtues. One does not need to be an Arhatic Yoga practitioner to practice these 5 virtues. It can be practiced by one and all on a daily basis.

Today I attempt to reflect on the first virtue from Master Choa’s teachings and what it means for us, while living in this world and interacting with others.

Loving kindness and non-injury

"Life is like an echo. What you send out comes back to you many, many times! Practice loving-kindness." -Grand Master Choa Kok Sui

Loving kindness and non-injury is the first virtue and it means absence of cruelty or aggression physically, verbally and mentally.

In our daily lives, what does this mean for us?

Physical:

Physical can represent our actions and our expressed behaviour.

Loving kindness and non-injury in this realm will thus mean performing helpful, kind actions; whether they are obvious face-to-face actions or behind-the-scenes actions. It includes actions towards self and others.

Injurious actions can mean hurting someone physically out of anger or malice. Physically injurious actions are deeply disrespected and scoffed upon in society and I think we choose not to indulge in the same.

However, behavioural injurious actions are quite common. For example:

-      walking into a shop and throwing items around in aggression because one is angry with a sales person, irrespective of whether a salesperson is wrong or right is behavioural aggression.

-      Throwing money on a beggar, or at a sales person in a petrol station or in a retail outlet because one is upset or for whatever reason, is behavioural aggression.

-      Banging the desk of a security guard in a residential complex, because a guest car was parked inside the premises is behavioural aggression.

-      Puncturing the wheel of a cycle or a bike or a vehicle to teach someone a lesson is behavioural aggression.

-      Causing self-inflicted injury if a close relationship goes awry is behavioural aggression

-      Unfair treatment to a team member while being biased towards a few other team members is behavioural aggression

While it is injurious to the person at the receiving end of this behaviour, it is actually worse for the person that acts in such a way towards others. This kind of behaviour must be avoided, not just for the sake of others, but more for the sake of self.

Master Choa also emphasises on the act of harmlessness towards other creatures. He mentions that the act of killing animals for food must not involve any cruelty, malice or enjoyment in seeing the animal suffer.

Verbal:

Loving kindness and non-injury in words means using kind, motivating, inspirational, compassionate, positive words; not only in front of someone, but also behind; not only for others, but also for self. Injurious words create pain that takes time to heal, and many of us may be privy to that experience.

Some of us cause verbal injury not in front of people but behind their back. This is often termed as gossiping; an activity that does not serve any purpose, is always on a downward spiral and is a red flag in the path of self-purification.

Sometimes unkind humour is used as a subtle attempt to get a message across. While people around may enjoy the humour and laud us for being smart, what is definitely not subtle is the message of unkindness.

If we really must express something undesirable, it can be done in the right way, such as using softness in our communication. It is far more powerful and effective than nastiness.

Mental:

According to Master Choa Kok Sui, loving-kindness and non-injury mentally means blessing other people.

A lot of times we practice loving kindness verbally and physically, however mentally we are cribby and unhappy about the same person.

For example, with a certain boss that we aren’t able to work with, we feel forced to be nice in words and actions however in thoughts day-in and day-out we could be sending so much negativity to the person. This negativity not only affects them, it primarily affects us.

Loving kindness and non-injury in thoughts being on a more subtle level may seem slightly difficult to work on. It means abstaining from injurious thoughts and mental criticism. It means thinking positively of others and self, eliminating self-criticism and criticism of others, thereby living grudge-free and resentment-free.

In life, we always choose. No matter how difficult the circumstances, we always, always, always have a choice. There is no excuse to bring our own purity and spiritual consciousness down, just because others around us are behaving in a certain way. No.

A lotus grows in a pond full of muck yet it is the most beautiful flower. It’s the nature’s way of telling us something.

Loving, kindness and non-injury is the first and foremost practice in character building. By practicing this daily, one may be able to attain not only the best karma but also a lot of blessings.

Stay tuned on the upcoming virtues and how you may be able to practice them daily

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