So what is ‘Ahimsa’?

When  

asked  

by  

his  

friends,  

a  

great  

teacher  

responded  

"not  

seven  

times,  

but  

seventy  

times  

seven".  

He  

was  

challenging  

his  

friends  

to

not put a limit on the number of times they forgive.

Is  

this  

even  

possible  

to  

attempt?  

Sometimes  

I  

feel  

it  

is  

not  

possible  

so  

we  

should  

accept  

the  

argument  

that  

Yeshua  

was  

not  

serious

about  

this  

and  

maybe  

just  

wanted  

to  

say,  

"well,  

try  

and  

forgive  

as  

often  

as  

you  

can.”  

Another  

of  

Yeshua’s  

statement,  

"these  

things

and  

even  

greater  

things,  

will  

you  

do  

if  

you  

believe"  

is  

again  

diluted  

by  

preachers  

that  

he  

did  

not  

mean  

we  

could  

raise  

the  

dead,  

walk

on  

water,  

feed  

the  

multitude,  

heal  

the  

sick  

or  

turn  

water  

to  

wine.  

That  

in  

saying  

these  

things,  

Yeshua  

was  

talking  

about  

spiritual

things that we could do after we die. But, Yeshua was clearly refering to the things he had done and that we could do them as well. 

Why  

have  

we  

accepted  

that  

forgiving  

and  

doing  

the  

things  

Yeshua  

did  

are  

not  

possible  

for  

us  

to  

do?  

He  

said  

forgive  

‘seventy  

times

seven’  

times;  

‘these  

things  

and  

even  

greater  

you  

will  

be  

able  

to  

do  

if  

you  

believe’.  

But  

who  

do  

we  

believed?  

The  

one  

telling  

us  

we

can do these things or the one telling us we cannot? Who is misleading us? Yeshua, or our leaders and preachers?

Under  

the  

guise  

of  

being  

cultured  

and  

evangelised  

we  

are  

being  

indoctrinated  

with  

what  

we  

are  

not  

capable  

of  

and  

thereby

rendered  

powerless.  

As  

our  

thoughts  

are  

doctored,  

our  

words  

and  

deeds  

become  

products  

of  

that  

indoctrination.  

We  

are  

told  

we

should  

not  

challenge  

the  

authority  

of  

‘pharisees’  

or  

others  

in  

power  

that  

we  

should  

be  

proud  

of  

them  

as  

this  

is  

our  

duty,  

culture,

our  

upbringing  

and  

our  

ancestors  

(purvoz  

in  

Konkani)  

taught  

us  

so.  

But  

are  

we  

really  

obliged  

to  

blindly  

honour  

and  

obey  

our

purvoz?  

Culture  

is  

nothing  

but  

an  

inculcation  

of  

thoughts,  

ideas  

and  

principals  

into  

the  

core  

of  

our  

being.  

It  

gets  

so  

ingrained  

into  

us

that  

we  

do  

not  

even  

think  

before  

regurgitating  

words  

or  

actions.  

We  

act  

automatically  

like  

doctored  

robots  

without  

involving  

our

thoughts  

and  

minds.  

On  

sensing  

certain  

stimuli,  

we  

react  

and  

produce  

actions  

what  

have  

been  

programmed  

by  

this  

process  

of

inculcation.This  

has  

made  

us  

a  

complacent  

and  

apathetic  

society  

that  

blindly  

follows  

the  

‘piper’,  

even  

though  

we  

all  

know  

where

the piper led the mice!

NOW  

is  

the  

time  

to  

THINK  

(CHINT  

in  

konkani).  

We  

often  

pray  

saying  

"I  

have  

sinned  

in  

my  

thoughts,  

words  

and  

deeds".  

Why  

do  

we

pray  

this  

way?  

Why  

that  

sequence  

of  

words?  

In  

the  

native  

language  

of  

Yeshua,  

'sin'  

(hatta  

in  

aramaic)  

is  

an  

archery  

term  

meaning

'to  

miss  

the  

mark'.  

So  

if  

we  

apply  

this  

aramiac  

knowledge  

of  

the  

word  

'sin'  

to  

that  

prayer,  

our  

prayer  

becomes  

"I  

have  

missed  

the

mark  

in  

my  

thoughts,  

words  

and  

deeds".  

Next  

to  

a  

realization  

of  

having  

missed  

the  

mark  

should  

be  

a  

decision  

to  

change  

our

thoughts  

first  

and  

as  

a  

consequence  

our  

words  

and  

deeds  

will  

be  

on  

target.  

The  

sequence  

of  

words  

in  

that  

prayer  

is  

deliberate.  

The

originator  of the prayer knew that thoughts are followed by words, which are followed by deeds.

Yeshua  

did  

not  

mislead  

us;  

we  

have  

misunderstood,  

misintepretted  

and  

misconstrued  

scripture;  

let  

ourselves  

be  

misled  

by  

leaders,

pharisees, pipers and handed ourselves over to power hungry egoists to reprogram our thoughts an turn us into automized robots.

We  

are  

now  

beings  

that  

cannot  

control  

our  

words  

and  

deeds.  

We  

have  

changed  

the  

natural  

progression  

of  

everything.  

We  

act,  

then

explain  

our  

deeds  

and  

rarely  

-  

if  

at  

all  

-  

think  

out  

our  

deeds  

and  

words.  

If  

we  

think  

out  

our  

deeds,  

we  

justify  

them  

by  

saying  

our

parents abused us, or were drunks, divorced, argumentative, la... la... la... and do re mi fa sol too!

I  

wonder  

often,  

as  

a  

baby  

I  

must  

have  

fallen  

and  

hurt  

myself  

as  

I  

tried  

to  

walk.  

Why  

then  

did  

I  

not  

think  

"this  

action  

of  

trying  

to  

walk

causes  

me  

hurt  

-  

therefore  

walking  

is  

not  

for  

me,  

I  

will  

avoid  

injury  

and  

pain  

and  

not  

atttempt  

to  

walk  

again."  

A  

little  

child's  

constant

attempts  

walk  

despite  

many  

falls  

is  

what  

we  

are  

called  

to  

do.  

When  

we  

miss  

the  

mark,  

we  

must  

try  

again  

and  

again  

until  

we  

get  

it

right.  

The  

ability  

to  

get  

things  

right  

is  

within  

us.  

Inculcation  

automized  

us  

to  

act  

without  

thinking.  

We  

-  

creations  

in  

the  

likeness  

of

God - have surrended our power and - by abandoning thinking - become AUTOMIZED ROBOTS!

We  

are  

capable  

of  

forgiving  

‘seventy  

times  

seven’  

times;  

this  

and  

even  

greater  

things  

we  

are  

capable  

of….if  

we  

choose  

to  

believe.

What we need to do is ask “who do we believe?”

Chint ixtta (think friend)

Ahimsa:  

A  

  

Sanskrit  

word  

meaning  

‘not  

to  

injure’  

and  

‘compassion’.  

The  

word  

is  

derived  

from:  

‘hims’  

-

to strike; ‘himsa’ - injury or harm. Ahimsa is the opposite of this - cause no injury, do no harm.

But  

I  

say  

unto  

you,  

That  

ye  

resist  

not  

evil:  

but  

whosoever  

shall  

smite  

thee  

on  

thy  

right  

cheek,  

turn  

to

him the other also. - Matthew 5:39