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pratima (idol) of Neminath-ji on his office desk in front of him to constantly remind him that sometimes practice of ahimsa demands personal sacrifices, too.
PEOPLE FIRST, PROFIT LATER Many Jains know about a great and wealthy Jain shravak named Bhama Shah. He lived during the time of Maharana Pratap and Emperor Akbar (about 450 years ago). During this period, there was a large famine in the state of Rajasthan. There was absolute scarcity of food and water everywhere. People were dying due to starvation. Bhama Shah, being a trader, had extensive warehouses full of wheat and other food items. He practically controlled the prices and availability of food items. But for him, this was not the time to take advantage of people and make lots of money. He felt compassion for their suffering. Immediately he opened his warehouses for feeding the people. He did all this because of compassion and care. Again, this was ahimsa in practice.
FORGOT HOW TO HATE Recently, in July 2010, by chance, I happened to meet with a remarkable person —Dr. Ron Potter, an audiologist. He is a Lutheran Christian and lives in the city of Waterloo, Iowa. I met Ron several times and spent many hours with him in discussion and in getting to know each other better. The more I came to know of him, the more I realized that he is truly a remarkable man, a true gentleman, and caring, honest, humble, compassionate, simple, truthful, and straightforward. One day he told me that during the last thirty plus years, he has never hated anyone based on any differences of caste, Creed, religion, position, power, wealth, or nationality. He does meditation every day, asks for forgiveness, and if he hurts anyone, immediately he tries to contact that person and ask for forgiveness. Honestly, I believe all this what he told me. In my opinion, he lives by ahimsa all the time. He is not yet a complete vegetarian, but in that too he is trying
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An Ahimsa Crisis: You Decide
