Jain Journal 1990 04

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 28

APRIL, 1990
and ran to him. The sage asked him to sit and waving his hand forbade the tiger to advance. The tiger sat at distance, wagged its tail and growled for sometime and then went away. Mr. Anderson was astonished to see the wonderful phenomenon and asked the sage how he was able to pacify the tiger. The sage replied, "One who has no himsā, is never injured by tigers or snakes. Because you have a feeling of himsă in your mind, you are attacked by wild animals." Mr. Anderson from that day became a vegetarian and gave up shooting. He was seen by many people in Dacca and Chittagong when this change had come over him.
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In the same book. Part I, pages 151-152 Brahmachari Kuladananda writes about one Nanga Baba who occupied a mud hill in Fayzabad. During the course of a target practice by soldiers, a notice was served on him, announcing the time when the practice will be held and he was told that no one would be responsible for his death if he did not go elsewhere. The practice began and bullets whistled past his body on all sides, but he merely lifted his hand in front of his face and no harm came to him. Colonel Crawley who was in charge of the operation, and who was witnessing everything from a distance through binoculars, was astonished at the indifferent and calm attitude of the sage, and when everything was over, went to Nanga Baba and saluted him with reverence.
Kill the Infidel
Another form of himsā is that which arises from religious or superstitious persecution. Socrates was compelled to drink the cup of hemlock poison. Joan of Arc was burnt to death as a witch. The terrors of the Inquisition are matters of history. The crucifixion of Christ and the terrible persecution of the early Christain Fathers are also matters of record. So is the tragedy enacted at Karbala on the bank of the Euphrates, where Yazid cut off all supplies and prevented the 72 followers of Hasan and Husain from even taking water from the river, all of whom were killed, and their women folk taken as prisoners. The imprisonment of Vasudeva and Devaki, and killing of their 8 babies one after another by Kansa, their uncle; the attempt of Hiranya Kasipu to murder Bhakta Prahlada, the innocent boy devotee; the cruel murder to Hakikat Rai, the tortures inflicted on Sikh Gurus, Arjun Deo and others, are matters of Hindu tradition and history. The poisoning of Swami Dayananda Saraswati, the murders of Pandit Lekh Ram, Swami Sardananda and Rajpal are recent happenings of the present times. The murderers have after a sentence of death by a Court of Law, and execution at the gallows, been applauded as martyrs.