I am not sure how this impression came across that this saying is about gods and deities. It is indeed, as you say, one of the main foundational principles of Sanatana Dharma, yet one of the least understood as far as its practice is concerned. The irony is obvious as it occurs so often in the Mahabharata whose grand culmination is one of the goriest of wars where Sri Krishna himself stands at a central figure. It is because we have seen it in isolation that we are often paralysed into inaction in the face of even stark violence. The warring instinct is yet a part of human nature and it is much better to discipline, train, refine, sublimate and rightly channelise it through the code of the Knight and the Kshatriya than to stifle it unnaturally. To do so will leave a gap in the stairway of human evolution that climbs through the warrior soul to the soul of Compassion and Love. Part of this training involves teaching us not to hate or be in a state of frenzy of revenge when a just and righteous war is thrust upon us. After all that is one of the differences between a military that is meant to defend against aggressors from outside and the mercenary or a religious bigot or an overzealous ideologue who destroy in a state of anger, hate and spite or ambition and money. Ahimsa is primarily an inner state and not a laying down of arms either as a coward or for the lure of an other-worldly good.
Affectionately,
Alok Da
Source: यूरोप, एशिया और सतयुग | श्री अरविन्द के भविष्य – सूचक काव्य (2) | TH 452
YT Link: https://youtu.be/Otb3lYCcowE
