Non-Violence
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picks from his fruit trees. People are afraid of him so they do not
touch his fruits. Now if you can refrain from stealing from your
neighbor’s garden, why can you not refrain from killing the bedbug
in the Lord’s garden? Do you understand that you are stealing
from the Lord’s garden?
Suffer the Penance before You
Questioner: But what if the bedbug bites you badly?
Dadashri: Blood is food for the bedbug. Do you expect it
to eat rice and ghee? Would it eat it even if you made it nice and
creamy for it? No, because blood is its food.
Questioner: But is it fair to just let it go on biting?
Dadashri: Do you not occasionally fast as a means of
penance? In that penance, do you not tolerate the pangs of hunger?
Then why not accept the bedbug’s bites as a form of penance?
This penance presents itself directly to you. It is the basis for
liberation - Moksha. Why must you create your own kind of
penance? Why not suffer the penance that presents itself naturally?
Naturally occurring penance is the cause of liberation, whereas
self-created penance is the cause of worldly life.
Questioner: Yes! That is a very good point. Let the
penance that presents itself, happen. Fasting is tough and requires
a lot of effort.
Dadashri: Yes. In that you are creating circumstances for
penance, whereas here penance occurs spontaneously without
you having to invite it. So feed all the bedbugs that come to you.
Treat them with kindness before you send them off.
Non-Violence: a Gift from My Mother
My mother, Zaverba, was thirty-six years older than I.
One day I asked her if the bedbugs also bit her and she replied:
“Naturally dear, they will bite. But the poor things eat their share