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such a situation, offer their body to the snake rather than take its life. You may well ask, well, what about those who care little for spiritual good? For such people, my simply reply is that let them wander in wretched forms like hell etc. How can one, like me, advise them to kill a snake? It is the non Aryan attitude of mind which teaches the killing of serpents or other creatures. We should ever aspire to be free from this attitude, even in dreams. Such are my answers to your questions in short and here I close my letter. Şaddarśana-Samuccaya and ponder over these questions a bit more seriously. In case you need any further information, you may please just write to me and I shall try to elucidate. The best thing of course is that we should meet and have a personal talk about these questions.
ATTACHMENT
What Gandhi said about Rajchandra (Speech on birth anniversary of Rajchandra, Ahmedabad November 16th 1921) Today's occasion is twice welcome as affording an opportunity for reflection over the meaning of compassion. We revere the person for honouring whose memory we have gathered here. I, too, rank myself among his adorers. A critic can never be this. - - - I assume, therefore, that only those who love the poet and hold him in reverence have come to this meeting. It is to these persons that I say that today's occasion is twice welcome.
The man in whose hallowed memory we have gathered here was the living embodiment of this religion of compassion. He understood it well and had perfected it in his life. This same compassion inspires our present activities in the country. It is not anger which prompts them. The situation as it has developed has given us sufficient reason to be angry and has hurt us deeply. But, even at this unhappy hour we pause and think how we may act so as not to hurt the opponents; how, on the contrary, we may do a good turn even to them. Non-cooperation springs from compassion and not from anger. Afraid that we may be in
Gandhi & Jainism
Pg. 299
