6
Non-Violence
and are off again. They don’t bring any containers; they simply
eat their share and leave!” Blessed is this mother. Blessed too is
the son!
Once I came home after a fight with someone at school.
My mother took pity on the other child and told me that I should
not have hurt him. She told me that the poor boy did not have a
mother, so who would take care of his cuts and bruises? She
even told me that I should not hurt anyone and that it was fine if
someone hurt me, because I had a mother who would take care
of me. Now tell me, is such a woman not worthy of being the
mother of Mahavir?
Questioner: It is the other way around nowadays.
Nowadays parents teach their children to fight back.
Dadashri: Not just nowadays, it has always been that way.
It has nothing to do with the current times. This is the way of the
world. There is a choice. One can become the disciple of Lord
Mahavir and be free, or become a disciple of worldly gurus, and
be bound. The latter creates further miseries. The Lord is vitraag
(without attachments). He is absolutely non-violent. So it is better
to be a disciple of Mahavir.
Maintain Cleanliness: Do Not Use Insecticides
Many people do not kill bedbugs. Instead they put their
mattresses out in the sun to heat. In my household I would tell
them not to do even that. Why trouble the poor bedbugs in the
sun? People would still protest, wanting to be rid of them. It is a
misconception to think that the population of bedbugs decreases
by killing them. They may appear to decrease, but the same number
will be found the following day.
We should simply keep everything clean and tidy.
Maintaining cleanliness is the key to eliminating the bedbug
problem. It is a crime to use insecticides and repellants on them.
Besides, the chemicals do not destroy them; the insects just