If The Soul Of All Creatures Of The World Are The Same Then Why Is Killing An Ant Not Considered A Crime?

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It’s Indeed A Crime To Kill Any Living Being

Even using insecticides and repellants on bugs, insects, cockroaches, etc. is nothing less than a crime. Everything that one experiences in his present life is an echo of what all he did in his previous life. One would not have such echoes if he had not done such crime.

It Is A Crime In The Court Of Nature!

The law courts and the like have been established because people are seeking justice. However, the law of Nature is very exact for it precisely brings to everyone the results of each of their past karma. How can this world be wrong when it has been arranged with such precision? This very arrangement is the ‘regulator of the world’ and it continuously keeps the world in total regulation.

The Practice of Killing Will Not Stop Unless One Understands This Law That Governs the World

Until one understands the law of Nature, one will not be able to break away from the habits of this worldly life. Only the One, who is absolutely non-violent himself, can show others the true nature of violence and explain how the law of Nature operates. Such a being is eternally established as the Soul. The Tirthankaras and the Gnanis are these Enlightened beings!!!

So come, let’s understand from them the details pertaining to the subject!

A Person Has a Right to Kill an Ant Only If He Can Create One

For those who take pleasure in killing ants and who do not hesitate to kill an ant or any other insect or animal if it comes in their way, Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan explains the general rule, ‘you cannot destroy what you cannot create.’ He asks, “Can you create even one ant? No, it is not possible. Then how can you destroy what you cannot create? So, all these people (who are killing) should pray to the Lord and repent. There is a lot of violence in killing. You can only destroy that which you are capable of creating.

From the relative viewpoint the bedbug (or an ant or any other living being) is a bedbug (or an ant or any other living being), but it is a Pure Soul by the real viewpoint! So, would you want to kill a Pure Soul? If you cannot tolerate it (the ant), you should pick it up and put it outside. But man looks for his happiness through killing. Is it possible to kill and find happiness at the same time?”

Any Killing Does Not Go Unpunished

Dadashri explains the kind of consequences one has to bear if one indulges in an act of killing others:

– Can you not see people suffering? They are constantly suffering the results of violence. There is nothing but suffering in their life.

– Such people do not have any radiance on their faces and they are never happy because of the effects of the violence.

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– One will have to feed blood for taking blood from other beings in their past. One has to repay whomever one has troubled. All pending karmic accounts will have to be paid off; there is no way out for anyone without paying off one’s debts.

– Continued violence results in decline of spiritual awareness too.

– The external violence is insignificant because in reality it does not reduce the number of ants or pests just by killing some. “But there is an entire cosmos within you just as there is on the outside. So kill as much as you want to, but understand that the same destruction is taking place within you, for there is as much within the body as there is out in the Universe. The very moment you kill someone, a change occurs in the subtle subatomic particles within you and innumerable living organisms within you die. The killing you do externally is proportionate to the killing that takes place internally”, explains Param Pujya Dadashri. And since the subtle life-forms within one’s body are killed, as a result the person becomes blunt and insensitive in nature.

One Kills the Ant Thinking ‘This Is What Bit Me’

Not knowing the reality, one is under the veil of illusion. The Soul is the real Self. The real Self never does anything. It does not bite anybody. The world is simply an interaction of the non-Self elements, and it is there that the karmic accounts are ‘caused’ and ‘settled’. If a single ant even touches you, it is exact; it is meant to be for it is the result of your own karma. Or else, even if you are lying in a bed full of ants, not a single ant will touch you, since you have not caused hurt to it in your past life.

What Is The Law That Governs This?

People have thoughts like, ‘Kill all these ants, and get rid of them’. This is said to be hurting the ants through your thoughts. Instead, prevent ants by maintaining cleanliness, and if they still come in your way, lightly sweep them far away; but do not kill them under any circumstances. Param Pujya Dadashri reveals, “People find ants annoying, but in Nature, their nuisance lasts only for a few days and in no time, the ants disappear.” Rather than killing ants, one must move away from wherever their nuisance is; but ‘killing’ indeed is a very serious matter!!

Many not only kill, but they also take pride in it! Whatever degree of pleasure they experience, they will have to experience the same degree of sorrow from the karma that will present as a result. They will have to suffer as much misery and bitterness as the pride and happiness they derived from it, and even more!

But if ever one happens to kill any being by accident, then one must do pratikraman i.e. ask for forgiveness! For this, close your eyes and pray to God, “Oh God, this living being got killed by me. Please forgive me for this mistake and give me strength so that I do not repeat this mistake.”

Further, one must maintain a constant strong inner intent within that, “May no living being be caused the slightest hurt through my thoughts, speech or action.” This intent will go a long way in getting you the desired circumstances where there arises no situation whereby you are forced to kill.

Nevertheless, the Wrongful Deeds Will Continue

Such wrongful deeds are constantly taking place in the world. Each one has to take care of one’s own deeds and not worry about others. Each individual must look after himself. Therefore, treat every being with kindness! And yet if you see someone killing an ant, you may make them understand, ‘the Lord (the Soul) resides in every living being. If you hurt any living being you will incur liability for the hurt and violence that you cause. As a result, your spiritual progress too will be hindered because the layers of ignorance will have multiplied. This leads to more misery and birth in a lower life-form.

Further, pray to whichever God you believe in: “Dear Lord, make everyone non-violent.” Pray this way; this should be your pure inner intent all the time!