Ahimsa the Science of Peace

Author(s): Surendra Bothra
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy

Page 75

to survive and the natural processes of perishing are the basic and dominant factors.
As long as individual consciousness is not developed to a certain level, all natural processes are cyclic and there is a balance in nature. Every act is directed towards this natural balance. There is no need to judge the destruction of things or beings on the scale of good and evil at this point.
A simple example of nature's balance is the life in a desert, where living conditions are very harsh. Vegetation is scarce, as also water. Still one can find thousands of species of specially adapted and interdependent animals. After the microscopic life forms, the lowest life forms are insects, on which birds, bats, many reptiles and rodents depend for food as well as water. These, in turn, are food for higher animals like fox, bobcat etc. If any species at any level disappears, those that form its food would multiply and disturb the balance.
If some new variety is introduced in some area there are chances that, if not properly controlled, it may disturb the already existing balance. When English settlers brought rabbits to Australia, in the nineteenth century, they never thought that this small, harmless animal could create any problem. The environment there had nothing to control the population of rabbits. The animals soon spread across vast areas of the continent. As rabbits get most of their moisture requirement from vegetable food, half a billion rabbits soon consumed most of Australia's grassland and turned to consume water supplies. In 1950 scientists had to introduce a disease to reduce the population of rabbits.
At this level, if one thinks properly, the interference with the natural balance would be termed violence, although AHIMSA: THE SCIENCE OF PEACE 32