The Bhagavad Gita and the Octagon: A Conversation with MMA Fighter Leon Aliu
The Path of Ahimsa (Non-Violence).
Topic: Discussing Vedanta, MMA (Mixed Martial Arts), and Ahimsa (non-violence), quoting the Bhagavad Gita, with strong Italian fighter of Albanian descent, Leon Aliu.
MMA is a combat sport that takes its name from the English acronym Mixed Martial Arts, which means mixed martial arts. It is a discipline in which the two combatants can use any technique possible to defeat each other and which fuses the movements of Judo, karate, Muay Thai, boxing, wrestling, grappling, and kickboxing.
Leon Aliu, an MMA fighter of Albanian descent, lives and trains in Reggio Emilia, Italy. Under the coaching of Alessandro Iacono, Aliu recently had a major victory in the main event of Cage Warriors 138. In that middleweight bout, Aliu put on a masterful performance, knocking out James Webb in less than two minutes in front of Aliu's home crowd.
Ahimsa (non-injury) in its spiritual scope means never having cruel intentions. Non-injury is the spirit that should dominate all our motivations. Our intentions should not be polluted by even a trace of cruelty or hatred. Non-injury is not so much about never causing physical injury to any being as it is about never contemplating harming any living creature. Physically, not hurting is impossible. In order to continue living, some kind of physical harm is unavoidable. However, even if we create unavoidable disturbances around us, if our motives are pure and clean, the harm thus caused is not considered an injury.
To best understand the concept of Ahimsa, one must read carefully this story from the Sufi Tradition:
"A Sufi soldier was in the middle of a battle. It was hand-to-hand combat. He skillfully fought the enemy with his dagger. He soon knocked the enemy to the ground and sat astride his chest, raising his hand to drop the dagger. The enemy, in his helpless rage, spat in the face of the Sufi soldier. The Sufi soldier's hand remained suspended in mid-stride and did not strike. "What are you waiting for?" said the fallen enemy. "I am totally under your power. Go ahead, kill me!" The Sufi soldier replied: "I can't. I was doing my duty and you were doing yours. I don't know you and you don't know me. Now you introduced a personal note by spitting at me in anger and I got angry. Now killing you will not be an act of duty, but murder."
What Arjuna is taught in the Bhagavad Gita is the essence of all Eastern martial arts, where one is trained to strike the opponent, but within oneself, one remains in the center of stillness. They are told to kill but not to commit murder. This is ahimsa on the battlefield. This is the resolution of the Bhagavad Gita's "koan" of nonviolence.
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