Transcript:

Question. Do you hate violence? Surprisingly, the answer is no. You don't per se hate violence. You hate and fear violence only when it is not in the right context.

Robert Sapolsky makes this point brilliantly in his book *Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst*. He says that many people pay good money to go and watch violence when it is in the right context.

For example, you go to stadiums, and you watch games. Sport essentially is combat between two parties. There is violence there.

So, only when the violence is not in the right context is when we fear it. Per se, we don't hate violence.

Except it's a requirement as set by Maharishi Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras. Maharishi Patanjali has laid out this eightfold path towards enlightenment. The first one is Yama, methods of interacting with the outside world.

And the first Yama is Ahimsa, non-violence. It's a requirement to move ahead on the self-development path.