From very early times two distinct traits are discernible in the religious life of the people in India. One is ritualistic and the other contemplative. The outcome of meditation and contemplation was expressed in the close-conversations of the Upanishads.
‘Whatever there is, is the abode of the Supreme’ declares the Isa Upanishad.
It expresses the recognition of life embodied in every organism. Living, therefore, was a matter of relationship with the entire Universe.
Oneness and harmony with everything around us in Nature is projected again and again in Indian philosophy and art. there is no scope for the brute force of violence where man has attained true harmony and feeling of oneness with everything surrounding him.
It is this feeling of oneness with the Universe that generates the concept of non-violence.
"As the Chandogya Upanishad says :
‘Tapa (penance), danam (giving alms), arjavam (honesty), ahimsa (non-violence and satyavachanam (truthfulness) are dakshina or a part of the sacrifice.
Non-violence is the final dedication of man in the yajna (sacrifice) of Life’"
Man is encouraged to look at the Universe not in an egocentric context instead he perceives himself as a part of the universe and respect the harmony of co-existence.
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