09/04/2026
More thoughts about yoga, ahiṃsā, food choices, and bigger problems:
Ahiṃsā is a mahāvrata (great vow of the yogis) – but it’s also an ideal that in a relative world, can only be approximated. the yamas and niyamas are why we are here, they answer the fundamental existential questions. We come here to wrestle with the messiness of being human - and to get better at it - hopefully.
Living in a body means causing harm, unavoidably, unquestionably. We cause harm through the way that our food is grown, medicines are made, and, for example, through killing microorganisms with antibiotics. Heck even breathing kills microorganisms. Washing with soap kills them.
We also cause harm (knowingly or unknowingly) with our bodies - our words, glances, gestures, and movements. Ahiṃsā is an ideal. Its accomplishment is categorically impossible. The problem is that people conflate not reaching ideals with failure. They feel shame, and then decide the ideal was the problem in the first place, because they were too human to achieve it. But of course you didn't achieve it, it's an ideal - that's the whole point.
Here's something that we cannot pretend otherwise - the world is inherently violent. Nature is violent, storms, floods, earthquakes are violent. Medicine can be violent. I’ve rescued cats from being killed in shelters. My cats have occasionally fatally wounded mice and volves. I’ve killed those animals to prevent their suffering. I've killed bugs in my kitchen to keep them out of the fruit. I've accidentally run over animals with my car. Violence is unavoidable in the relative world, which doesn't mean non-harming/ahimsa shouldn't be an ideal.
Not all harm is equal – accidentally running over an animal is different from sadistically killing one. If there’s Dengue fever going around, kill the mosquitos. Ticks carry Lyme disease. And guess who's great at killing ticks for food? Chickens. And the cycle continues.
The Bhagavad Gita teaches that inaction is not an option. We are moving, time is ticking. not doing anything is doing something. And if you don't believe that, then just look at any recent election.
Systemic violence is worse than individual violence. We are all interconnected, so when the systems are harmful (i.e. the unmitigated, unfathomable violence committed through unrestrained capitalism) we cannot hold only individuals to Ahiṃsā. Ahiṃsā must be the guiding principle of ALL systems – food, economy, education, etc. Our culture loves to blame individuals because it detracts from the real source of the problems. Blame the Black guy who robs a store instead of doing something concrete and unwaivering about the systematic violence levied against Black people. our culture does it constantly, just look at the news for 2 seconds, because violence is embedded in and inextricable from a system that values only profits that has no interest in the mahāvratas.
Protecting yourself and innocents sometimes requires force - individually and at a societal level. Personally, I believe much more force needs to be applied if there is any chance in hell of ending the immense suffering and extinction being caused by the malevolent forces that are unduly destroying ecosystems, economies, and lives. Endless war for profit dwarfs any individual action and is a much more egregious violation of ahiṃsā than a dude eating a burger.
I eat plant based. I am lucky that I can. But I loathe self-deception. There are so many issues to fight against. Krishna says, mām anusmara yudhya ca - remember me and fight. Yeah, metaphorically, fight against the egoic narcissistic selfish tendencies within – but he is also calling for us to fight against them without. We all have our svadharma, our individual calling. We also have the collective dharma, our Bhagavad dharma if you will, of fighting for this world. What are we willing to fight for?
