How to practice Non violence/Ahimsa?

Questioner: Show us how to practice ahimsa.

Dadashri: First of all, you should not hurt any living being that feels tormented by you; do not torment it. And you can eat wheat, millet, rice; there is no objection to that. They do not feel tormented by you, they prevail in an unconscious state. Whereas the small ants and large black ants flee from you, so you should not kill them. You should not trouble living beings that are mobile, such as the two-sensed oysters and mollusks that live inside conch shells, all the way up to five-sensed living beings. Even bedbugs feel tormented when you catch them. So you should not kill them. Do you understand?

Questioner: Yes, I understand.

Dadashri: Yes, and secondly, do not eat after sunset.

Thirdly, when practicing ahimsa, you should exercise a lot of control over your speech. If someone were to tell you that you are worthless, then would you feel happy or sad?

Questioner: I would feel sad.

Dadashri: Then you should understand that if you were to call him worthless, then he too will feel hurt. That is himsa, so you should not say that to him. If you want to practice ahimsa, then you should be very alert in terms of himsa. If there is a certain speech that hurts you, then you should not speak in such a way with other people.

Furthermore, you should not even have negative thoughts arising in the mind. You should never have thoughts about stealing from others, cheating someone of his possessions. You should not have thoughts about accumulating a lot of money. This is because, the scripture writers have stated, “You will certainly get the money that is in your karmic account.” So there is no need for you to think about accumulating a lot of money. If you have such thoughts, then it means that himsa is taking place. This is because, when one takes things from others, when one has the desire to take money from someone else’s quota, then there is himsa embedded in that too. So you should not harbor any such intents.

Questioner: So are these the only three things I need to observe for ahimsa?

Dadashri: There are still some more. Then, you should never eat meat or eggs. You should not eat potatoes, onions, and garlic, even when you have no choice. This is because onions and garlic are considered items that instigate violence; they induce anger in a person, and when one gets angry, it hurts the other person. You can eat any other vegetables you wish to eat.

First Save the Larger Living Beings

Now, what the Lord was intending to say is that you should first take care of human beings. Yes, learn to stay within the boundary of not hurting human beings through the mind, speech, and body even in the slightest extent.

Then come the five-sensed living beings; the cows, buffalo, chickens, goats, all those animals. You do not have to worry about these as much as you should about humans, nevertheless, you should take care of them. You should take care of them in a way that they do not feel hurt. So you should take care up to this extent, take care of the five-sensed living beings other than human beings, but that is in the secondary stage. And what comes in the third stage? You should take care of two or more sensed living beings.

What is the best food to eat? That which is composed of one-sensed living beings! Those who want to attain moksha do not have the right to eat food that is composed of living beings that have two or more senses. So you should not incur the liability of [eating] living beings that have two or more senses. This is because the merit karma that is needed by a person is dependent upon the number of senses a living being [he consumes] has, that much merit karma of the person gets used up!

A person has no choice but to eat, and he definitely incurs a loss for [eating] that living being. The food that we eat is made up of one-sensed living beings. When we eat these one-sensed living beings, as long as they are something to be eaten and you are the one eating them, the responsibility lies with you. But the Lord has given the freedom to do this. This is because you have a large balance of merit karma and you are destroying those living beings. However, when you eat those living beings, how do they benefi t from that? In fact, by eating those living beings, they are certainly dying. Nevertheless, by eating them, you incur a loss, but you are also earning more profit. By getting the sustenance to live the entire day, and upon carrying out religious activities, you earn one hundred ‘points’ [merit karma]. From that, you have to pay a fine of ten ‘points’ to them. So you are left with ninety ‘points’ and upon getting ten ‘points’ from your earnings, they progress to a higher life-form. Therefore, their progress to a higher life-form is based verily on the law of nature. They are progressing from a one-sensed living being to a two-sensed living being. So in this way, the evolutionary development continues to take place. These living beings are benefiting from the profi t the humans have earned. In this way, the karmic accounts are all being settled. People cannot understand this science entirely, can they!

So do not become concerned with [the himsa towards] one-sensed living beings. If you interfere with one-sensed living beings, then you have egoism. One-sensed living beings are not mobile living beings. Therefore, do not have any second thoughts [about eating] one-sensed living beings. This is because this is simply the way of life. You will have to eat and drink, you will have to do all that.

Besides, the entire world is composed of living beings. The very basis of life are the one-sensed living beings. There is nothing in the world [that can be consumed] apart from living beings; non-living things are not edible. Thus, you definitely have to eat food that consists of living beings; that is the only way the body can get nourishment. And as they are one-sensed living beings, they do not have blood, pus, flesh; that is why you have been given the freedom to eat one-sensed living beings. If you start worrying about them to such a great extent, then when will it come to an end? You do not have to worry about those living beings at all. People do not worry about what they are supposed to worry about, and they end up worrying about what they are not supposed to worry about. There is no need at all to worry about this lightest form of himsa.