Non Violence

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

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Ahimsa
against one-sensory life forms. People have misconstrued all this. If The Lord had intended for us to worry about such matters, He would have advocated drinking only cold water, since so many life forms are destroyed when water is boiled. How many life forms do you think die in boiling water?
Questioner: Countless.
Dadashri : You cannot see the life forms but these life forms themselves make up the physical composition of water. Now tell me how can people see them when water itself is the body formed of the aggregate of all these life forms? These life forms are such that their manifest form is water. Now tell me how can you deal with something like this?
Misconception About Vegetables
Questioner: Why do they say not to eat green vegetables in the rainy season?
Dadashri : People have also misunderstood this. The Lord tells us not to eat fresh greens, not because it causes violence but because there are subtle life forms on the greenery, which enter the stomach causing disease and affecting the person's overall health thereby preventing him from effectively practicing religion. When people misinterpret the instructions, it is like ingesting medicine, which was meant for external use only. How can the medicine work if it is not taken correctly?
Violence Caused By Antibiotics
Questioner: What about the medications taken to reduce fever or infections in the body?
Dadashri: You need not worry about the violence to such life forms.
Ahimsa
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Questioner: An infant would die if it were not given the medicine to kill parasites in its stomach.
Dadashri : You have to treat the child. Give the child whatever medications are needed to kill all the parasites.
Questioner: I understand that the body must be kept healthy for the attainment of Self-Realization, but if many life forms are destroyed in the process, should we continue to keep the body healthy?
Dadashri : If you have the intent of heath as your main goal then your practice towards Self-realization will be hindered. True spiritual practice towards the Self happens when the aspirant's primary focus is not in achieving a healthy body. Your body has brought with it everything for its preservation so you need not interfere. You should completely immerse yourself in your spiritual goal. Everything else is as it should be. That is why I am telling you to remain in the present, because the past is gone forever and the future is in the hands of vyavasthit.
Think of your body, through which you have met a Gnani Purush, as a friend. Even if the medicine prescribed causes violence, you must still take it, and care for the body. Everything in life is based on the process of profit and loss. If this body were to live two more years, you can accomplish a lot within this time, because it is through this body that you have come to meet the Gnani Purush. You will incur some loss through violence, but your benefits will be twenty times greater! Your benefits will far outweigh your losses; it is all a business of profit and loss.
There is nothing but life forms in this world. Countless life forms are destroyed in just one breath, so does it mean that one