Circling the Globe with Ahimsa

This is an initiative linked to Jai Jagat 2020, a global peace march that began on October 2, 2019 in New Delhi and was meant as a one-year march to Geneva. The march has 4 main goals: to eradicate poverty, eliminate social exclusion, reverse the climate crisis and halt armed conflict and violence. After over 5 months of marching, the leaders of the movement had to call a halt to the physical march because of the threat of Covid 19. But the spirit of the march continues. Some of us who have been associated with the march are calling on everyone who cares about the four goals listed above to join this initiative. We want everyone to take metaphorical steps toward circling the globe with ahimsa. Ahimsa is a word that is usually translated into English as “nonviolence” but actually means to not do harm in thought, word or deed.

We want to engage people in virtual steps. Given that it would take about 20,000,000 steps to circle the earth and the Jai Jagat marchers covered 10,580,052 steps, we are looking for about 9.5 million actions to complete our circle of the globe. Each action you report is one step plus the action of contributing to our project is one step. So, if you tell us that you have cooked a meal for your neighbour that is one action/step and the fact that you are sharing it with us is one action/step. You would have contributed 2 steps to our collective journey!

We are asking people all over the world to let everyone know what steps they have taken or are taking to promote ahimsa. We who have started this initiative will all post some of our own steps in the categories of: what is ahimsa, practicing Ahimsa, and teaching Ahimsa. We hope you join us. We want these to provide positive moments for adults and children alike in this time of crisis. We hope that this also provides educators and parents some examples of ways they can talk with children about creating a world of ahimsa.

If you have something you would like to contribute, please submit it to the site administrator. Click on the link at the bottom of the page.