Dear All,
According to Yoga-sūtra 2.35, अहिंसाप्रतिष्ठायां, तत्सन्निधौ वैरत्यागः ।
which apparently means that when someone is thoroughly established in non-violence, (mutual) enmity disappears in his environment.
Commentaries and references given for aphorism and referred to for instance in James Wood’s translation emphasize that in this situation *even* wild animals, no more attack their prey. An example is Kirāṭārjunīya 2.55 (meter viyoginī): Vyāsa is looked at by Yudhiṣṭhira:
madhurair avaśāni lambhayann api tiryañci śamaṃ nirīkṣitaiḥ /
paritaḥ paṭu bibhrad enasāṃ dahanaṃ dhāma vilokanakṣamam //
“Calming even wild animals by his gentle looks, spreading a blazing radiance around which burns away guilt, (but which yet) can be gazed at (the sage, i.e., Vyāsa son of Parāśara, was seen by the king, Yudhiṣṭhira)” (tr. following Roodbergen 1984, p. 143; cp. also Raghuvaṁśa 13.50, 14.79.)
Are any more convincing stories or anecdotes known in Sanskrit literature, in which the peace-creating influence suggested in YS 2.35 inspires animals or *even* humans to behave in a more peaceful way ?
With best wishes for a Peaceful Christmas New Year to all:
शान्ते ! ऽस्मिन् लोक एधस्व विद्यातः प्रेमतस्तथा ।
तव भक्तजनानां च कल्याणमस्तु सर्वदा ॥
--
Jan E.M. Houben
Directeur d'Études, Professor of South Asian History and Philology
Sources et histoire de la tradition sanskrite
École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE, Paris Sciences et Lettres)
Sciences historiques et philologiques
Groupe de recherches en études indiennes (EA 2120)
LabEx Hastec OS 2021 -- L'Inde Classique augmentée: construction, transmission
et transformations d'un savoir scientifique