________________
dispositions of the two. The doctor has the intention of saving the patient and the robber has the intention of robbing and killing his victim. Therefore, one earns merit for the same act while the other incurs sin.
8. Objection - When one living being kills another, to save the one being killed would amount to having attachment for the victim and aversion for the attacker. Attachment and aversion are sinful. Therefore, the act of saving some creature is sinful and it is dharma to avoid it.
Answer - It is not necessary to have attachment for the victim to save it and to have aversion for the attacker to prevent it from killing. The saviour does so with a feeling of universal love. The reason being that the feeling of attachment and aversion is present only where there is a selfish interest and a desire to derive sensory or mundane pleasure from someone. Attachment is to have attraction towards someone or something with a view to derive sensory pleasure from him or it and to have the feeling of anger when such a pleasure is interrupted is aversion. Attachment-aversion and passions rise only due to selfish desires for pleasures. There is no attachment-aversion or violence in saving a living being. There would be attachment for the one being saved if a desire to derive pleasure from it exists and there would be aversion for the attacker if there is a feeling or an intention of harming it. If there is no feeling of selfishness in the heart of the saviour and he wishes well by both the attacker and the one being attacked, then there is no attachment or aversion. He intends no ill or harm or hurt to anyone. He wishes to benefit all and he has a feeling of friendship for all.
In reality there is no aversion in the heart of the saviour for the attacker. Had it been so, the saviour would not save him if someone else attacked the attacker and if there was any feeling of attachment for the victim, the saviour would not prevent him from killing or hurting another creature, rather he would encourage it to proceed for its pleasure. But it is not so. The saviour tries to save the attacker also if someone else attacks it and the saviour prevents the victim also from attacking another creature. This can be clearly understood by the example of a mouse, a cat and a dog. When a cat attacks a mouse the saviour saves
158
Positive Non-Violence
Jain Education International
For Personal & Private Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
