Non Violence

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

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Ahimsa
terrified when you catch it, so you must not kill it. Do you understand this?
Questioner: Yes, I understand.
Dadashri : Secondly, do not eat after sunset.
Thirdly, in practicing Ahimsa, you must exercise control over your speech. How do you feel when someone tells you that you are worthless?
Questioner: I feel very hurt.
Dadashri: So in the same token you must realize that others too feel hurt if you were to say such things to them. Hurting people is violence, so you should not utter such words. If you want to practice Ahimsa then you should be very conscious about violence in speech. You cannot say to others anything that hurts you yourself.
You should not have bad thoughts either. Nor should you entertain thoughts about cheating someone of his possessions or taking things from people without compensating them. Even thoughts about accumulating or hoarding money are considered violence, because it deprives others of their share. You should not have any such thoughts or intentions.
Questioner : Are these three the only things I need to observe for Ahimsa?
Dadashri : No, there are still some more points. You should never eat meat or eggs. Nor should you eat potatoes, onions and garlic, even when you have no choice. Onions and garlic are considered hinsak foods because they contain properties that incite anger in a person, which in turn hurts others. Any other vegetable is acceptable.
Ahimsa
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First Try To Save The Larger Life Forms
The Lord tells you to take care of human beings first. Here is a guideline: Be aware to not hurt any human being, even in the slightest degree, through your mind, speech and actions.
Then come the five-sensory living things such as cows, chickens, goats etc. You do not have to worry about these as much as you should about humans, nevertheless you should be careful and not harm them in any way.
Then come the two or more sensory living things. The best kind of food to eat is any food that comprises one-sensory living beings. Anyone desirous of liberation should not eat foods comprised of two or more sensory life forms. The higher the numbers of senses of life forms in your food, the more of your merit karma is used up. You should not take on the liability for violence against lives with two or more senses.
We humans must eat to survive, but when we consume food, we incur a liability because the food we eat is made up of at least one-sensory life forms. When we eat this food, we are responsible for the violence that arises from the act of eating. But the Lord has allowed us the freedom to eat because of our high merit karma balance. In the act of eating these life forms, although you incur a liability, the benefits you gain are much greater. The nourishment sustains you and keeps you alive and because you do good deeds, you earn merit karma. For example, if you earn hundred points from your good deeds, in destroying these life forms, you lose ten points. The ten points you lose is credited to the life forms you kill, which will earn them a birth in a higher life form. This progression into higher life forms is a natural process in the universe. They will progress from a singlesensory organism to a two-sensory organism and so on. The