________________
Walk With Me
Bhagwan Mahavir actually welcomed this question. A dialogue allows for a message to be better understood. “You are right," Mahavir said. "We do inevitably kill or hurt other living beings every day through our actions, yet many of these activities are essential and unavoidable for our survival. However, know that violence is essentially of two types - violence motivated by our body (unintentional), and that motivated by our mind (intentional). We must understand the difference between the
two.
Our body's motivation is only survival, and therefore, our acts of survival, regardless of our caution, are inevitable acts. Yet even in such situations, our inner bhava and our inner conscience must always be
the violence we commit. We must avoid unnecessary violence,
must guard against excesses, and must seek pardon daily from the souls we hurt. In other words, even our inevitable violence must have our pure, non-violent conscience always associated with it."
“Why should it be so, Bhagwan? After all, a killing is a killing regardless of our conscience," asked the same shravak. Most people nodded apparently in agreement with him.
Mahavir replied by asking a question, "When a killer kills someone, whom does he kill? He cannot kill the body, for the body is itself material in nature and is thus lifeless. No one can kill the soul because the soul is immortal. So, where is the violence?"
While the audience was trying to figure out the answer, Mahavir conținued: “The killer hurts his own soul, bit by bit. This is so because while every soul wants to be liberated, violent acts attract karmic particles
92
Jain Education Interational
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
