The strong belief that the earth, the heavens, the four directions, fire, air, sun, moon, stars, water, herbs, trees, the sky and the soul contribute to life and influence life made it necessary for man to treat them with affection and respect. Disrespect would bring upon man the wrath of the gods and condemn us to repeating the cycle of rebirth and death. Love is an unlimited, self-giving compassion flowing freely to all living creatures. Himsa means causing pain to or killing any life out of anger or from a selfish purpose, or with the intention of injuring it. Refraining from so doing is ahimsa.
Selflessness means complete freedom from a regard for one's body.
If a man desired to realize himself, i.e., Truth, he could only do so on being completely detached from the body, i.e., by making all other beings feel safe with him. That is the way of ahimsa. This 'making all other beings feel safe with him' implied a positive duty and not just the avoidance of harm or violence. Daya The other quality that Hinduism calls upon in all situations, especially those with tragic connotations, is daya or compassion. In Hinduism, the justification of compassion comes not only from its nobility as a virtue but from the fact that all living beings are manifestations of the same universal Brahman.