Non-violence, and killing mosquitoes || Acharya Prashant (2019)
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~ .
Video Information:
Month of Awakening, 13.10.19, Advait Bodhsthal, Greater Noida, India
Context:
Why is the little man so contemptuous of himself?
How does the little man plot to stay being little?
Why does the little man live in his make-believe world?
Where does my pain come from?
How lucky is it to be born as a human being?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ .
Be a part of the Live Sessions: https://acharyaprashant.org/hi/enquir...
Want to read Acharya Prashant's Books?
Get Free Delivery: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/books?...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ .
Video Information:
Month of Awakening, 13.10.19, Advait Bodhsthal, Greater Noida, India
Context:
Why is the little man so contemptuous of himself?
How does the little man plot to stay being little?
Why does the little man live in his make-believe world?
Where does my pain come from?
How lucky is it to be born as a human being?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ .
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00Dear Achayaji, for the sake of not sounding hypocritical, I have to admit that I have
00:13killed more than one mosquito in my life and many other insects too, but never intended
00:19to cause pain and suffering to them.
00:22Now hearing, let alone seeing, relatively conscious animals being tortured evokes almost
00:28unbearable pain and helplessness in me.
00:30Yes, of course.
00:32If you understand where your pain, helplessness and concern come from, then you will be more
00:44determined, more unflinching in your stand.
00:51Otherwise you will remain a bit shaky, uncertain.
01:02When it comes to killing mosquito, you must remember the fundamentals.
01:19Man as he is, is bound to kill.
01:28Killing is necessarily associated with the human form.
01:36That's how we are and that's why the saints loathed the human form.
01:42They didn't say that it's a great joy to be born as a human body.
01:53They said, please, we do not want to come back again as a human body.
02:05We want to be liberated.
02:09Because to be human is to be violent.
02:16Now that's a fine thing that you must understand.
02:24To be lion does not mean that you are violent.
02:29To be a rat is not necessarily to be violent.
02:32In fact, the word violence do not apply to the lion or to the rat.
02:39They apply only to the human being.
02:43The lion kills all his life but he cannot be called violent.
02:48He cannot be called non-violent either.
02:56He is just doing what his physical conditioning compels him to do.
03:02He has no option.
03:06Man has the option to kill and to not to kill.
03:10Man has the option to choose what he wants to eat and therefore only man can be violent
03:16or non-violent.
03:23The most fearsome carnivore is not violent at all.
03:33The mosquito is not violent even if it survives only on your blood.
03:39But if you can avoid killing the mosquito and you still kill it, then you are violent.
03:43It's a strange thing.
03:45The rules are different.
03:49The rule that applies to mosquito does not apply to you because the mosquito owing to
03:56its form does not have a consciousness crying for liberation.
04:04No mosquito is crying for liberation.
04:07No rat, neither the elephant nor the lion are eager to get liberated.
04:20It's only the human form that seeks liberation.
04:29It is the human form that has a choosing consciousness.
04:35The word consciousness itself implies choice.
04:40What is non-violence?
04:41When you make the right choice, it is called non-violence.
04:45You always have to choose in favor of liberation.
04:50What is non-violence?
04:51To always choose in favor of liberation.
04:53What is violence?
04:54To choose in favor of bondages.
04:59And such a choice is not relevant to the mosquito or to the lion at all.
05:06And therefore they are absolved of all guilt.
05:10But man is guilty if man does not choose properly.
05:14To not to choose properly is called violence.
05:18Violence does not necessarily mean killing.
05:23Violence I repeat means choosing in favor of bondage.
05:33How will consciousness gain liberation?
05:38Consciousness gains liberation by being sympathetic towards itself.
05:45Follow it.
05:49Consciousness gains liberation by being sympathetic towards itself.
05:54It is concern towards your pathetic condition that impels you to seek freedom.
06:05Why does man remain in bondage and why do some people strive for freedom and attain it?
06:13Why do most people tolerate, happily tolerate remaining in bondage?
06:19Because they have no self-love.
06:23They have no empathy towards themselves.
06:31So to gain liberation what you require is a consciousness that empathizes with itself.
06:44A consciousness that empathizes with consciousness.
06:49To gain liberation you require a consciousness that empathizes with consciousness that looks
06:54at its own condition, its own form and says I am so sorry for myself.
07:04I don't like the way I am suffering.
07:09So consciousness that respects consciousness will gain liberation.
07:14Please understand this.
07:16Why do most people not gain liberation?
07:19Because they do not have any self-respect or any self-love.
07:23They suffer and they keep suffering because they tolerate suffering.
07:29They do not love themselves enough to rebel against suffering.
07:35They do not respect themselves enough to say no to suffering.
07:42You therefore, I say, require a consciousness that is in love with consciousness itself.
07:54And if you have a consciousness that is in love with consciousness, how will you choose
08:01indiscriminate killing?
08:05When you kill, you do not kill a stone, right?
08:14What does the word killing refer to?
08:22Consciousness.
08:25In some way the mosquito is like you.
08:29If you love yourself, how can you kill the mosquito?
08:32It's a strange logic, but this is it.
08:39Liberation requires that you do not kill the ones who are like you.
08:46Jesus pointed at it when he said behave with the neighbor as you would behave with yourself.
08:55Why?
08:57Because the neighbor is like you.
09:02Just as the neighbor is like you, the goat or the bird too is like you.
09:17The greater your circle of empathy is, the greater will be your empathy towards yourself.
09:29It's almost as if it is your own empathy that spreads radially outwards in concentric circles.
09:40The greater is the intensity of the source of empathy at the center, the greater is the
09:47spread of empathy, then it starts encompassing more and more conscious beings.
09:56In other words, the more deeply you want liberation for yourself, the more will be
10:07the domain of conscious beings you would seek liberation for.
10:16Understand it this way.
10:19You would have thrown a stone into a pond.
10:26You would have thrown a stone into a pond.
10:46If you just drop it with almost zero speed, how big will be the ripples?
11:01Very small, without any power.
11:08Because there is not much depth in the impact that you are creating.
11:13Take the impact as the y-axis.
11:17There is not much depth that you are attaining in the y-axis.
11:24Therefore the effect in the x-dimension will also be negligible.
11:32The ripples that you will see will be very faint, very feeble.
11:41But if you throw the stone vertically right into the surface of the pond with power and
11:51velocity, then the vertical impact of the stone will be large, right?
12:02And because vertically the impact will be large, horizontally the ripples will spread
12:07far and wide.
12:12Vertically what you want is for yourself.
12:18You are the y-axis.
12:22Horizontally what you want is for others.
12:24The bigger the circle, the more are the number of people that are included in your circle
12:32of compassion and empathy.
12:38The point where you drop the stone is the center of your personality.
12:53Closest to this center are the ones closest to you.
12:56For example, your parents, your spouse, your kids, your friends.
13:03A little further away are your neighbors.
13:08A little further away are other human beings.
13:13A little further away are people of, let's say, other countries, other continents.
13:19Even further away are non-humans, other conscious beings.
13:27Even in the category of non-humans, radially outwards, first you will encounter, let's
13:36say, mammals.
13:42Then you will encounter, let's say, birds.
13:45Then you will encounter insects and so on.
13:48Then bacteria and so on.
13:51As you keep moving further away from the center, you are encountering more and more beings
14:00that are conscious but not like you.
14:06Your circle of empathy will never reach those beings if it does not have depth.
14:14But the more you love yourself, the more you are empathetic yourself, the bigger will be
14:19your circle and then you will be empathetic towards conscious beings far and wide.
14:31Therefore, if you are someone who can eat even a human being, it only proves that your
14:41circle of empathy is very, very small.
14:45You can eat even a human being.
14:47Even human beings lie outside your circle of empathy.
14:50So your circle is very small.
14:54And if your circle is small, what does it prove about the intensity of your self-love?
15:04It has very little intensity.
15:06Therefore, the circle that it created was very small.
15:10If you can eat a human being, it means you do not love yourself at all.
15:17If you do not love yourself at all, there is no possibility of liberation.
15:24You are a very violent person.
15:28If there is no possibility of liberation at all for you, then you are a very violent person.
15:33That is violence.
15:36To make a choice that will not lead to liberation, that is violence.
15:43Are you getting it?
15:47Who is the most like you?
15:51You yourself.
15:52So first of all, be empathetic to yourself.
15:56Then who is the one most like you?
15:59Your mother, your father, your siblings.
16:01Be empathetic to them.
16:03Then who is the one most like you?
16:06Your neighbors, your extended family.
16:09Then who is the one most like you?
16:17Be empathetic to all.
16:23If you are not displaying compassion towards other conscious beings, it will only hurt you.
16:34Kill the animal and in some way the animal is liberated of its misery, at least in the
16:42physical sense.
16:45But you having eaten the animal will now live to suffer the effects of eating that animal.
16:53That is your punishment.
16:57You will survive to see tomorrow.
16:59That is your punishment.
17:01The animal is gone.
17:05But you will not be allowed to go.
17:07You have just had flesh.
17:09The flesh will keep you alive and you will stay put.
17:15There will be a tomorrow for you and it will be a very dark tomorrow.
17:21That will be your punishment.
17:48Now you also know what is meant by oneness.
18:05The feeble ego has a very small circle of identification.
18:09It identifies only with 4-5 people.
18:13It says for the sake of these 4-5 people, I can set the world to fire.
18:19It has a very limited circle of identification.
18:22Your circle of identification is also your circle of empathy.
18:25It is also your circle of compassion.
18:29You care only for those people you feel identified with.
18:33And then there is the one whose ego takes a broadening.
18:45This person, this consciousness identifies with a bigger set of people.
18:54And then there is the one who has an even more accommodative, inclusive identity.
19:08His circle is really large.
19:11It includes not only human beings but animals as well.
19:22The wider your ego identity is, the greater is the possibility of liberation for you.
19:35Now you will ask why did I begin my response by saying that to be born human is a curse?
19:43Because some kind of violence becomes unavoidable when you are a human being.
19:54That is why the saints have said that final liberation will come only after you are physically
20:02gone as well.
20:07On one hand they have talked of the Jeevan Mukt who is liberated while being physically
20:14alive.
20:15On the other hand they have also said that something remains.
20:22The last step still remains because as long as you are alive, killing will be a prerequisite,
20:34a compulsion for you.
20:40Some bacteria is getting killed in your gut, millions of them.
20:48You are walking and the grass is getting trampled.
20:56You tried to eat some fruit and you found that the plant itself got killed.
21:06You are sleeping, the mosquito was there on your back.
21:12You just scratched and the mosquito got killed.
21:19This much killing will necessarily take place.
21:24It is unavoidable.
21:27Because it is unavoidable, so on one hand you are absolved of the guilt.
21:35On the other hand it is a fact that killing is indeed taking place.
21:42It is taking place without your consent.
21:44It is taking place without your consciousness.
21:49Nevertheless it is taking place through your physical form.
21:55So that much killing will happen.
21:57You cannot avoid it.
21:59What is your dharma then?
22:01What is your duty then?
22:02Your duty is to minimize it.
22:06It is not an absolute thing.
22:07You will never be able to absolutely not kill.
22:13That is the curse of the human form.
22:17You will never be able to say that you are an absolute non-killer.
22:22Because killing is happening.
22:26Every moment you are killing, you cannot avoid that.
22:32But if you want liberation then you have to minimize it, minimize it, minimize it as much
22:42as possible.
22:47And minimization of killing, you must understand, is the maximization of your consciousness.
22:58Can the minimization ever be zero?
23:01No.
23:03Which means your consciousness really cannot become unlimited.
23:11But it can at least rise so much, so much that it becomes a strong and crying petition
23:29to be miraculously uplifted.
23:35Your job therefore is not to attain liberation using your own agency and effort.
23:46Your job, please appreciate this, is only to elevate your consciousness to the maximum
23:57level allowed by the human form.
24:02The human form will not allow your consciousness to reach infinity.
24:09You will be limited somewhere.
24:11The test is to at least reach the limit.
24:16And once you reach the limit, then you are helpless but a miracle happens, help descends.
24:26So do not fall for absolutist arguments.
24:33Absolutist arguments say even if you are eating a potato, killing is happening.
24:42So when you eat a lamb, they are talking nonsense.
24:50Eating a potato is the compulsion of basic physical survival.
24:56Eating a lamb is not.
24:59You cannot absolutely stop killing.
25:04Your job is to minimize it, bring it as close to zero as possible.
25:10That is your job.
25:11Your job is not to turn it zero.
25:13Your job is to bring it as close to zero as possible.
25:18Without zeroness, that will come to you as a miracle.
25:21That is not in your hand, that is grace.
25:25How will that happen?
25:26We don't want to talk about it.
25:28That's beyond us.
25:30Are you getting it?
25:43It's a relative thing.
25:47It's a relative thing.
25:50It has to be relative because we are beings of duality, relativity.
25:58That's a compulsion of being born human.
26:00You will have to live in relationships, in duality.
26:07Your job is to do your best within the compulsions of duality.
26:19And it is not at all a compulsion of duality that you must have beef or pork or meat or
26:24fish or something.
26:26That is not at all a compulsion.
26:32It is pure violence.
26:34Avoid it.
26:35Avoid it for your own sake.
26:44When you are slaughtering an animal, you are actually slaughtering yourself.