Ahimsa Conversation # 95 Meenamkunnu Dinakaran
Channel: Ahimsa Conversations
Date: 2021-12-24

The Sanskrit word ‘Ahimsa’ is a double negation which makes it a dialectical concept. This is why there can never be an absolutist position on ahimsa. Meenamkunnu Dinakaran, a scientist by profession who is primarily a student of Indic philosophy, learnt this from his life-long study of the teachings of the philosopher saint of Kerala -- Sri Narayana Guru. Dinakaran describes why Narayana Guru’s Advaita philosophy gave him a deep understanding that nonviolence is the default condition of existence. This made him an opponent not only of physical violence but also all acts of treating some people as ‘other’. Narayana Guru was equally sympathetic to the oppressed and the oppressor, because he saw the oppressor as neglecting the reality that all humans are part of a whole thus there can be no othering. Dinakaran is also a co-founder of the Backwaters Collective a network that takes inspiration from the legacy of Narayana Guru and explores the fertile ground of Metaphysics and Politics in Indic and other traditions. 
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