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417
SHRIMAD BHAGVAD GITA-A JAIN PERSPECTIVE
" (But) He who is free from such egocentric attitude and whose intelligence is not tainted is not slaying even if he actually slays and he is not bound (by his action)"-17 Note : Commentators have explained the words
"Hatvapi nahanti" meaning "do not slay though they actually do slays to mean that they do not advocate or preach violence of killing.
Jain doctorins have no difficulty to explain these words as not preaching violence because they have always emphasized the importance of Bhava (intention) Accor - ding to Jainism all "actions" start with inte - ntion. If intention is not to kill but a person is killed somehow by a process you are not bound by the action of homicide. For example a surgeon operates to save his patient from a disease and in the process the patient dies neither Jainism nor our laws would hold him liable for murder because his "Bhava" inten - tion was not to harm the patient.
So what this verse No. 17 says is that when one acts without any ego, ecutric atti - tude he is free from all sorts of Kashayas (passions) and in that state of mental attitude
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