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Gurudev then sent personal invitations to leaders of all of the major religious and cultural groups to take part in a first All Religions Ahimsa Conference on Chowpatty Beach. On April 25, 1965, a massive crowd from all communities gathered together, with one person from each group speaking out their voice and their choice. Whether or not people were vegetarians, all joined hands to condemn the government's new plans. One question aroused people of all faiths - how could the Indian leaders ignore their nation's rich spiritual heritage of ahimsā in favor of earning profit at the daily cost of thousands and thousands of animals' lives?
Shri Gajadhar Somani, member of the Central Legislative Assembly, initiated a resolution to draft a formal protest to the Central Government. All religious leaders seconded it. The crowd voted unanimously for it. An AH Religions Ahimsā Committee was formed. They discovered yet another injustice. Automatic slaughtering machinery was about to be installed in one of the Bombay abbatoirs.
This would enable butchers to more than triple the number of animals to be sliced in one day. Fresh protests were sent to the Indian President as well as to the Prime Minister. Prime Minister L. B. Shastri was in favor of calling a halt to the plans, but unfortunately, he expired in 1965 while on a visit to Tashkent, Russia.
Thus, although agreement was reached to close slaughterhouses legally on eight holy days of the year, in the years to follow, the mechanism of habit, profit motive, and ignorance of life prevented a change in the course of events. Slaughterhouses increased and automatic machinery came to be installed. It was a time to test one's patience, one's compassion, and one's determination not to give up working for life, no matter what the outcome. It was a time to remember Shree Chitrabhanuji's lines from the 'Immortal Song,
“May I always be there to show the path to the pathless wanderers of life, But if they should not hearken to me, may I bide patiently."
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