Non Violence

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

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Ahimsa
Questioner : Is there not a difference between walking on grass and walking on a footpath?
Dadashri: Yes there is, but the difference is insignificant. People have been misled into making an issue out of small things while the important points have been overlooked altogether. You commit greater violence when you become annoyed and irritated with people because such behavior hurts them.
The Role of Karma In Farming
Questioner: Does one bind sin (demerit karma) in
farming?
Dadashri: There is sin everywhere. There is sin in farming and also in the business of selling grains. There are so many tiny organisms involved in this. When people sell grain they are also selling the insects in the grain. Money is taken for the insects. The insects are eaten with the grain.
Questioner: But when the farmer nurtures one plant and kills the surrounding weeds, is that not a sin?
Dadashri : Yes, indeed it is!
Questioner: Then how can he farm?
Dadashri : Merit karma and demerit karma are intrinsic in all work. The farmer kills some plants and nurtures others. He will bind merit karma for the ones he nurtures, and sin (demerit karma) for the ones he kills. There is twenty five percent sin and seventy-five percent merit karma, so there is a profit of fifty percent.
Questioner: So does the sin get deducted from the merit karma or vice-versa?
Ahimsa
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Dadashri No, it does not work like that. Both the positive and the negative are recorded. If the positives and negatives negated each other, you would not come across a single unhappy person. And if that were the case, no one would seek liberation, because everyone would be perfectly content here.
The whole world is binding both sin and merit karma. Merit karma takes place alongside sin. But the Lord has said that one should do the kind of business where the profits outweigh the losses.
Special Pratikraman For Farmers
Questioner: In your book we have read the prayer: "Let no one be hurt in the slightest degree, through the medium of my mind, speech and body." But we are farmers. We grow tobacco and to get a good crop, we have to break off the tips of every plant. Thousands of plants are cut in this manner. How can we avoid this kind of sin?
Dadashri : In your mind you should be repenting. That is all you have to do. As you snap the tender leaves, you should repent from within as to why such a task has befallen you and why you are engaged in such an occupation. That is all.
Questioner: But the sin will occur anyway, will it not?
Dadashri: That is true. But you do not have to worry about that. You do not have to worry about the sin that is occurring. From within you must repent and inquire how you ended up with such a profession involving violence. Maintain the inner intent of non-violence and be resolute in that.
You would not be able to repent unless you have this