The Guru and the Disciple 73
for worship, in the Tapi River. He was bothering me so much that I became frustrated, so I threw them away.’ But why did you worship those photographs in the first place? And after doing so why did you throw them into the Tapi River? The guru did not tell you to worship the photos and then throw them in the river. You should have not worshipped them to begin with. If you worshipped him, the liability is yours; you have done wrong. One day you worship the pictures and the following day you throw them in the water? You yourself are the worshipper and you are the destroyer too. Is that not a sin? Then why were you worshipping them? And if you need to destroy it, then make sure you do a vidhi( special prayers) before you do so. This is not acceptable because it is himsa( violence) to worship a photo one day, and throw it away in the river the next. If we know that a picture is a picture of God, and still we throw it in the river, then we are liable for it. It would not be a problem if it was done in ignorance.
Questioner: It was because of the guru’ s action that he had to resort to doing that, is that not so? Did the guru not become a nimit in that? Is the guru not at fault?
Dadashri: The guru can do whatever he likes but you must not make a mistake. The karma of your mistakes will apply to you and the karma of his mistakes will apply to him. If you insult me and shout abuses at me, and I get angry and shout back, then the karma will bind me. I have no need to do such things, do I? You bind karma. If you are wealthy, if you have the status and the money, then you bind them. I do not have that kind of energy nor do I have that kind of wealth. If one had that kind of energy then he would bind karma, is that not so? That is why we say that if this dog bites you, does that mean that you should bite the dog back? The dog is likely to bite anyway!
Questioner: How is it a sin to throw away photographs of such a guru?
Dadashri: You should not speak this way; you cannot say