24
Non-Violence
nothing wrong in what he was doing, but in selling the grains, he
was also charging for the weight of the insects that remained in the
grain and so he was selling lives for profit.
Jewelry-The Best Business
Dadashri: People with a lot of merit karma from their past
life acquire professions with the least amount of violence. The
business of selling diamonds and precious gems would be one such
profession. There is no scope of selling adulterated goods here. But
nowadays even in this profession people have learned to do business
dishonestly. Nothing prevents a person from doing business honestly
if he wants to. In this profession no living beings are killed, but
other kinds of violence can occur. Second to that would be the
gold and silver business. The butcher’s business involves the highest
amount of violence. The potter comes next because when he fires
his wares he does a lot of hinsa. It is all violence.
Questioner: Is a person still held accountable regardless
of the kind of violence he does, whether it is charge violence (violent
intent) or discharge violence (violence in action)?
Dadashri: Can you not see people suffering? They are
constantly suffering the results of violence. There is nothing but
suffering…
People in occupations that involve violence do not have
any radiance on their faces and they appear unhappy. A farm
hand is never happy because of the effects of the violence from
his past life. His landlord appears happy because he does not
have to toil and is enjoying the fruits of his merit karma. This has
been the law of life, the law of karma all along. The process behind
which a person acquires the kind of work he does is a natural
one. He could not run away from such an occupation even if he
wanted to. We would not have a defense force if all the parents of
our nation thought, ‘We do not want to send our son to the armed
forces because he might get killed’. Yet all nations have a defense