314 Aptavani-2
himsa. What are anger, pride, deceit and greed? They are all bhaav himsa and this is precisely where the Lord has said for us to become ahimsak( non-violent). However, people set out to protect cows and elephants from violence. Who are you to save the elephants? And who really gives these animals life? What egoism in thinking you are saving the life of the animals!
One should never say,“ I am going to kill these bed bugs.” Get rid of any intent you have of killing any bugs, otherwise you are committing himsa against your very own self. The bugs will die when it is time for them to. Who has the right to kill them? Only the one who can create them! The Lord says,“ Whatever you can create, you may destroy. I do not interfere when you are destroying what you have created. Therefore do not kill anything.” It is so easy to understand such simple language, is it not? It is not possible to create a single bed bug, even if you want to. And yet, these fools do whatever they please; they kill so many bugs! They take so many lives.
Power of intent
Except for intentions( bhaav), nothing new happens in this life. Having created the intent to hurt or kill in countless past lives, whatever bugs that are meant to die, will die at the hands of the one who has made such intent. Nothing else happens. When it is time for the bugs to die, who gets to kill them? It is he who had made the intent to kill. No one has a right to kill, but is there not a time for every bug to die? Some bed bugs live for seventeen days, some for three months and some live for five months. Is there not a time for all to die? So when it is time for the bugs to die, they will encounter Chandubhai because Chandubhai had decided( in his past life),‘ I want to kill all the bugs.’ The Jains do not believe in himsa( violence) and hence their intent is‘ not to kill’ and so it will not fall upon them to become instrumental in the death of the bugs. This is all there is to it. There is no need for one to have the ego of being non-