Does one have to be a pacifist to be spiritual?

I have often been asked if one has to be a pacifist to be spiritual. Actually, nothing can be further from the truth than this. If you say you have to be a pacifist to be spiritual, then you're highly impractical. We will always need the army, the security forces, to protect our life, our culture, our heritage, religion and our spiritual values. It's only if they're standing at the border and also taking care of internal issues that can one lead a peaceful life. To say that we will be spiritual and disband the army, security forces, the police is to be highly impractical. On the other hand, to take the help of all these people who risk their lives so that we can be safe and be spiritual while also looking down upon them for not being a pacifist and spiritual is to be a hypocrite. In the Gita, Bhagwan Krishna says that you do your duty, irrespective of what it is, even if it involves violence like on the part of a soldier. You do your duty, offering the actions to Bhagwan and accepting whatever is the result as a prasada, grace from him. That makes you a spiritual being, having a mind that can know the truth about yourself and God.

What about the value of ahimsa? Yes, ahimsa is universal but a relative value in application. Ahimsa is at various levels. A soldier can practise ahimsa by following the Geneva Convention — no torture of prisoners, taking care of the injured even if they belong to the enemy forces. This itself will make a person spiritual because he's fighting with the enemy but there is no hatred for the enemy. If he's doing it with hatred, of course, there is no spirituality. But if he can look at it as doing his duty, without a sense of enmity then the soldier also becomes a spiritual person. I have interacted with people in the security forces and found that many of them are highly spiritual beings.

The writer is the founder of Aarsha Vidya Foundation. You can write to him at aarshavidyaf@gmail.com