Non Violence

Author(s): Dada Bhagwan
Publisher: Dada Bhagwan Foundation

Page 17

18
Ahimsa
Ahimsa
Dadashri : Yes the consequences will be different. The blade of grass is not significant.
Questioner : But is Soul not also present in the blade of
grass?
you be happy if you had to slaughter goats in your profession?
Questioner: I would not like that. But Dada what if one has absolutely no choice in this matter?
Dadashri : If one has no choice, then he should carry out the deed with total repentance. He should repent everyday for one hour. Can you or any scientist for that matter create even one butterfly?
Questioner : No, it is not possible Dada.
Dadashri : Then how can you kill something that you cannot create?
All these people should pray to The Lord and repent. They should question why they have to undertake such tasks. A farmer should question why he became a farmer. There is lot of violence in farming, but it is not as great as that of killing butterflies, Killing butterflies is an outright Ahimsa.
Dadashri : That is true. But the grass suffers in a state of dormancy.
Questioner : So the degree of the sin one binds is proportionate and directly related to the amount of suffering experienced by the entity transgressed upon?
Dadashri : Yes, the amount of sin one binds is based on the degree of suffering inflicted upon another living being.
Questioner : Many people have beautiful gardens surrounding their homes.
Questioner : Not only do they kill the butterflies, but if they happen to catch a good specimen, they also take pride in presenting it for a better grade!
Dadashri : Whatever degree of pleasure they experience, they will have to experience the same degree of sorrow from the karma that will present as a result. They will have to suffer just as much misery and bitterness as the pride and happiness they derive from it.
Separate Account Book of Sins Questioner: If one man cuts grass, one chops down a tree, one kills a mosquito, one kills an elephant and the other kills a human being, there is violence involved in each act, but are the consequences not different in each case?
Dadashri : There is nothing wrong with that. The only reason for telling people not to keep gardens is because a lot of precious time is wasted in maintaining them and not because of the violence it involves.
Questioner : But are we not instrumental in causing this violence?
Dadashri : There is nothing wrong with being an instrument. The whole world is in instrumental form. Everything just continues to happen in this way. You do not have to concern yourself with the single-sensory organisms because you are not inflicting any pain on them. Some people unnecessarily become overly concerned with such forms of violence. Nevertheless, you should not deliberately pick leaves from trees unnecessarily. You should not indulge yourself in meaningless things. If you need to break a twig, you must ask the tree for its permission.