This document provides background information and analysis of Narayana Guru's poem "Jiva-Kārunya Panchakam" ("Five Verses on Mercy to Living Beings"). It discusses the concepts of ahimsa (non-violence) and karuna (compassion) in Eastern philosophy. It then presents and analyzes each of the five verses of the poem. The poem advocates for non-killing and non-eating of animals based on the idea that all living beings are part of a universal brotherhood. It aims to clearly define right and wrong action in terms of dignity and self-realization.

1. NPHIL
Compiled by
Sujit Sivanand
For NPHIL Canada
August 2013
Mercy to Living Beings
‘Jiva-Kārunya Panchakam’

2. Background to the Poem
Jiva-Kārunya Panchakam was dictated by Narayana
Guru to Sri. Achambava, while the Guru was at Cherai
village near Eranakulam circa 1914.
It is unknown whether there was any incident or prior
discussion that led to the creation of this work. It is
gathered that Achambava was a man of considerable
means at that time and his family called the Nediyara
tharavad (joint family homestead) of Cherai owned
temples, schools, etc.
Narayana Guru used to visit the Nediyara tharavad
and stay at their madhom (hermitage).

3. Title Explanation
‘Jiva-Kārunya Panchakam’
The Sanskrit words forming the title of this
philosophic poem have the following meanings:
 Jiva = life, or life forms.
 Kārunya = of having Karuṇā or compassion as a
virtuous rational capability, leading to exercising mercy.
 Panchakam = a poetic composition of five verses.
The title transliterates as ‘Five verses on Mercy to
Living Beings’.

4. Two Ethical Virtues
Jiva-Kārunya Panchakam is a treatise addressing two
related virtues in Eastern philosophical wisdom as
follows:
 Karuṇā – meaning compassion; and
 Ahimsa – meaning refraining from injury to other living
beings.
Karuṇā, though considered an emotion, emanates
from rational thinking. Ahimsa is an ethical principle.
Both have a long history of adoption as virtues in
India’s cultural heritage, more so in Jainism and
Buddhism, two schools of Hindu reformative thought
that later evolved as distinct dharmas.

5. History of Karuṇā as a Virtue
Karuṇā is important in all schools
of Buddhism. For Theravāda
Buddhists, dwelling in karuṇā is a
means for attaining happiness in
present life and heavenly rebirth.
For Mahāyāna Buddhists, karuṇā is
a co-requisite for becoming
a Bodhisattva (enlightened one).
“Compassion is that which makes the heart of
the good move at the pain of others. It crushes
and destroys the pain of others; thus, it is
called compassion. It is called compassion
because it shelters and embraces the
distressed”
- The Buddha.
ICONIC REPRESENTATION OF
SHAKYAMUNI DISPLAYING "GREAT
COMPASSION" IN THE MAHA-
KARUNA MUDRA.

6. Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, dating back to 200-300 CE, provide
guidance for practicing yoga, though most of the guidance is
relates to the mental challenges, not the physical ones. In
Sutra 1.33, for finding peace of mind Patanjali prescribes:
Maitri karuna mudita upeksanam sukha duhkha punya
apunya visayanam bhavanatas citta prasadanam
"The mind becomes tranquil through the practices of
friendliness toward the happy, compassion toward the
miserable, joy toward the virtuous, and equanimity toward
the non-virtuous."
History of Karuṇā as a Virtue

7. Through history humans have found different reasons to
justify their claim for the existence of an unwritten ‘law of
supremacy’ over nonhuman animals. While these claims
manifest in religion and other social systems, essentially it
stems from man’s progression and ability to use weapons and
easily overpower and kill nonhuman animals.
Cultures have constructed social knowledge about human
beings and other animals, especially ‘knowledge’ regarding
views about the so-called ‘proper’, ‘justified’, ‘traditional’,
‘ethical’ relations between humans and nonhumans; indeed
leading generation after generation to regard many animals
as if they were ‘resource items’ or human ‘property’ for use
and destruction at man’s will and pleasure.
Why Karuṇā towards life forms

8. This thesis of assumed supremacy often overlooks the
dubious and ingrained psychological connections between the
harmful treatment of nonhumans and the comparable
harmful treatment of underprivileged humans. The same
warped law of supremacy could zealously possess certain
sections of humans that wield power and political control
over the weaker sections. History is testimony to such crimes.
Karuṇā or compassion therefore finds its place in a ‘brotherly’
view of other life forms, which by nature are helplessly under
domination and at the mercy of humans. Here, specifically
Narayana Guru calls for nonhuman animal killing to cease, for
the excuse of food and in the spirit of the universal kinship
underlying his instance of Advaita philosophy.
Why Karuṇā towards life forms

9. The History Of Ahimsa
Ahimsa is a Sanskrit word that means non-injury or non-violence
to living beings. It is a fundamental ethical virtue in Eastern
cultures and in particular the followers of Jainism.
In Jainism ahimsa is the standard by
which all actions are judged. For a
householder observing small vows
(anuvrata) the practice of ahimsa
requires that one does not kill animal
life, but for the ascetic observing the
great vows (mahāvrata) ahimsa
entails the greatest care to prevent
one from knowingly or unknowingly
being the cause of injury to any living
substance.

10. The History Of Ahimsa
Living matter (jiva) broadly includes not only human beings
and animals, but also insects, plants and atoms as well, and the
same law governs the entire cosmos.
The Chāndogya Upani ad, which dates back to the 8th or 7thṣ
century BCE, one of the oldest Upanishads, has the earliest
evidence for the use of the word ‘ahimsa’ in the sense familiar
in Hindu culture as an ethical virtue. It bars violence against all
creatures (sarvabhuta) and like in Jainsim the practitioner of
ahimsa is believed to be freed from the cycle of re-births.
Although Buddhists and others generally from the broader
Hindu culture were never required so strict an observance of
ahimsa as the Jains, vegetarianism and tolerance towards all
forms of life became widespread in ancient India.

11. Vegetarianism
Vegetarianism as a voluntary practice can not go without
mention in the discussion of ahimsa. Historically the Indian and
Greek civilizations have adopted vegetarian diets, both
attributable to ahimsa and philosophical wisdom. Even recent
medical and anthropological studies seem to point towards
humans not being meat eating in our evolutionary history.
“Early humans had diets very much like other great apes,
which is to say a largely plant-based diet, drawing on foods we
can pick with our hands. Research suggests that meat-eating
probably began by scavenging - eating the leftovers that
carnivores had left behind. However, our bodies have never
adapted to it. To this day, meat-eaters have a higher incidence
of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and other problems.”
- Dr. Neal Barnard (President, Physicians Committee for Responsible
Medicine) in his book, The Power of Your Plate.

12. ‘Ahimsa Paramo Dharma’
‘Ahimsa Paramo Dharma’ means ‘Ahimsa is the
Ultimate Righteous Virtue’. Ahimsa as an ethical
principle continues to be applied to many aspects of
life in India. Narayana Guru, as a true idealist, always
professed and practiced ahimsa.

13. Jiva-Kārunya Panchakam
(Five verses on Mercy to Living Beings)
Introduction: The willful destruction of nature is beginning to
be recognized as undignified behaviour for humans calling
themselves civilized. Some form of killing is incidental to life,
such as that involved in agriculture, so there is often a trend to
justify killing without any real criticism of its injustice.
Confusion between the unavoidable and the avoidable aspects
of killing gives rise to a vagueness of the boundaries of right
and wrong.
Narayana Guru aims to clearly demarcate the boundaries, in
terms of dignity of man and man as a measure of Self-
realization in universal terms in his goal. Once this
understanding has occurred, it is for each man to make up his
mind where he will draw the line of what is inevitably
necessary and what he should avoid for the sake of kindness to
life forms. An easy excuse, such as for food, should not be the
consideration for killing, as it is for personal taste and gain.

14. Jiva-Kārunya Panchakam
(Five verses on Mercy to Living Beings)
Introduction: The poem is composed in the Malayalam
language in the metre (rhythmic structure) called Upasthita.
JivaKārunya Panchakam together with other works by
Narayana Guru like Ahimsa, Anukampa Dasakam and
Atmopadesa Satakam etc., specifically stand testimony to the
Guru’s idealistic approach as a staunch votary of Ahimsa.
The five verses of the poem are set out in the slides that
follow. The transliterations presented here combine the best
of interpretations by various scholarly authors and therefore
might not conform to any one author.

15. Jiva-Kārunya Panchakam
(Five verses on Mercy to Living Beings)
Verse 1:
Isn't it right to state that all (living
beings) are brothers in Universal-
kinship? Be reminded!;
How could we then kill living beings,
And least mercilessly eat them too?
Purport: When man claims to be the civilized and Truth-seeking one, isn’t
he agreeing that all life forms are only manifestations of the Universal Self?
How then could killing, within the brotherhood, be justified? Worse still,
eating one’s kin without a grain of mercy! The reminder is to those who
otherwise accept that the wise ones (rshis) have sought Truth and realized
the Universality of all beings, and yet do not condemn, or worse continue,
the killing and eating of beings existing at the mercy of man.

16. Jiva-Kārunya Panchakam
(Five verses on Mercy to Living Beings)
Verse 2:
The non-killing vow is ideal indeed,
And, greater still is the non-eating
vow.
A cause to remind this, within the
essence of all faiths,
Should not we say so, O' men of
righteousness?
Purport: Most faiths in some way presuppose a universal brotherhood for
life, and even if selectively, also prescribe ‘refraining from killing’ as a virtue.
The question is directly posed to ‘men of righteousness’ who as leaders of
faiths try to keep the faithful on the path of righteousness (dharma). The
pointer to them is that ahimsa is indeed one of the greatest of virtues in
dharma. Killing is the material form of ‘himsa’ (injury) within the virtue
ahimsa; so also the mental attitude that ‘I’ and ‘you’ are different, and that
‘you can be killed for my food’ also constitutes ‘himsa’.

17. Jiva-Kārunya Panchakam
(Five verses on Mercy to Living Beings)
Verse 3:
If killing were inflicted upon oneself
Who, as a favour, would treat such as
a dire destiny?
Shouldn’t that be your joint
declaration, for a regulated life,
As touching all in equality, O ye wise
ones?
Purport: The ‘wise men’ are put on the spot, by asking them the direct
question whether - oneself faced with killing would consider such fate as a
favour or advantage? So, O’ ye men of wisdom is it not your righteous duty
to jointly and ‘in one voice’ declare that golden dictum - "Do unto others as
you would have them do unto you ". When karma is controlled by ethical
considerations, it becomes dharma, or right action. Fostering dharmic
actions in society is Dharmyam – what conduces a regulated life.

18. Jiva-Kārunya Panchakam
(Five verses on Mercy to Living Beings)
Verse 4:
No killer would there be, if no other
to eat there was,
Perforce, himself must eat!
In eating thus abides the cruder ill
In that it killing makes.
Purport: The aim of this verse is to beat the common argument that
someone else has done the killing, and therefore one can eat without the
uneasiness of one’s own conscience. The hollowness of that argument is
exposed here in light vein. If there is no one to eat the kill, then there will
eventually be no killer too. So the one who eats is the obviously the
motivator, the motivation for the killing and the cruder crime!

19. Jiva-Kārunya Panchakam
(Five verses on Mercy to Living Beings)
Verse 5 - The Last Verse:
Not-killing makes a human good
Else an animal's equal he becomes
No refuge has the taker of life
Although to him all other virtues
accrue.
Purport: The one who refrains from killing and motivating to kill is the one
who has the power of sensible discrimination (vivekam). Humans that lack
such sensibilities are only equal to the nonhuman animals that do not
possess such mental powers, living merely by the law of the survival of the
fittest. When man willfully kills other animal life forms, or causes others to
do so, such crude a crime it is that it overshadows all other virtues that he
may possess, or whatever other good he hath done in life.

20. Conclusion
Kindness to life and the noble virtue of ahimsa are traits that naturally find place in
the non-dual vision of Reality. Killing for the purpose of eating prevails in all
societies. We continue to live in conflicting social value systems, where on the one
hand organizations like SPCA (Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) actively
exist in most countries, side by side with the abattoir and butcher shops displaying
bloody animal carcasses in their street-side windows. We live in blindness of our
such hypocrisies.
Killing animals for food being a general practice does not take away the heinous
mindlessness and lack of understanding of the Reality it involves. Those who insist
on living a principled life might prefer to minimize the necessity for killing just to
please the palates. As Narayana Guru says, it is the demand from the eater that
maketh the killer.
If theoretical speculation and transparency of vision form the one side of the coin
in Narayana Guru’s philosophy, the self- contentment one experiences
uninterrupted in life, absolutely perfect morality, compassion, ahimsa, and such
other personal traits that become outwardly visible in practical life, comprise the
other side. These two are the dialectical counterparts of the non-dual vision of
Narayana Guru.

21. References & Acknowledgements
• ‘The History of Western Ethics’ edited by Brian Duignan.
• ‘The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali’ – translation by Gary Kissiah.
• ‘Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali’ – Rajendralala Mitra.
• Field research on Achambava, for NPHIL – P. R. Sreekumar and K. M. Ananthan.
• ‘The Social Construction of Human Beings and Other Animals in Human-
Nonhuman Relations. Welfarism and Rights: A Contemporary Sociological Analysis’
- Roger Yates.
• ‘The Religions of India’ - Auguste Barth.
• ‘Shattering The Meat Myth: Humans Are Natural Vegetarians’ - Kathy Freston in
the Huffington Post.
• ‘Works of Sree Narayana Guru with Complete Interpretations’ by Prof. G.
Balakrishnan Nair.
• ‘Life and Teachings of Narayana Guru’ by Nataraja Guru.
• ‘The Philosophy of Narayana Guru’ by Swami Muni Narayana Prasad (some
conclusion excerpts).
• Photographs and iconic images from the public domain (strictly non-commercial
usage and for educational purposes only).
• Gratitude to Narayana Gurukula Foundation for use of various reference material.

22. NPHIL
Compiled by
Sujit Sivanand
For NPHIL Canada
August 2013
The End