Śānti Veda · The Work of Just Peace
प्रतिहिंसा-निषेधः
pratihiṃsā-niṣedhaḥ
Mūla · Original verse
Sanskrit
Anvaya
Plain English meaning
Retaliation gives birth to further unrestrained violence. Having secured protection and justice, let us cut the chain of enmity.
Kāvya
Poetic rendering
Revenge asks the next generation to pay interest on a wound it did not make.
Manana
Contemplation
Refusing vengeance does not require passivity. Legitimate defence and lawful accountability aim to stop harm; revenge aims to reproduce suffering.
Prayoga
Civilizational practice
Separate protection from punishment and punishment from emotional retaliation. Reject attacks on civilians, collective penalties, torture, and celebratory cruelty.
Param Veda Upaniṣad · One-to-One Bhāṣya
Sit near the question
The companion moves from words and meaning to inward reflection, public application, boundaries against misuse, dialogue, and practice.
Padārtha · Key terms
pratihiṃsā — retaliatory violence; punar-hiṃsā — renewed violence; rakṣā — protection; nyāya — justice; vaira-śṛṅkhalā — chain of enmity
Anvaya · Sequence of meaning
Retaliation gives birth to further unrestrained violence. Having secured protection and justice, let us cut the chain of enmity.
Bhāṣya · Commentary
Revenge seeks moral balance through reproduced suffering. Because the new target has kin, memory, and identity, retaliation becomes evidence for the next retaliation. The hymn cuts this chain without abandoning protection: stop the threat, establish responsibility, repair the harmed, and refuse pain as spectacle or inheritance.
Loka-saṃgraha · Civilizational application
Security institutions should distinguish defence from punishment and punishment from vengeance. Civilian protection, discrimination of targets, proportionality, treatment of captives, medical care, documentation, independent investigation, and an end condition are not ornaments; they reveal the purpose of force.
Maryādā · Boundary against misuse
Non-retaliation does not mean surrender. It permits necessary defence and lawful accountability. What it forbids is harming uninvolved people, exceeding necessity to satisfy anger, or celebrating another’s suffering as communal nourishment.
Praśna–Uttara
Teacher and student
Prayoga · Practice
- 1 State the protective purpose and stop condition before force is used.
- 2 Remove collective, symbolic, and celebratory punishment from the response.
Saṅgati · Canonical correspondences