The empowered soul has respect for all forms of life, writes Sant Rajinder Singh
The soul is light and love. If we could look down on humanity from a higher vantage point, we would see a light illuminating each soul, just as when we travel in an airplane at night and look down at the earth we see a myriad of lights. The light in each soul is one and the same. God sees no distinction in any of the lights because they are all made of the same essence as the creator. What differs is but the outer human form surrounding it. When we realise our soul, we attain the same consciousness as God.
The Jain tradition promotes great respect for all life forms. The reason that Jains wear a mask around their faces is so as not to breathe in any living organisms that inhabit the air and thereby cause their death. They sweep the streets in front of them before they take a step, lest they tread on an insect.
Our soul treads softly over the soil of life. It has the ability to recognise God in all living creatures and would not take the life of any of God’s children. When we look at life through the consciousness of our empowered soul, we can begin to live in a more gentle manner and respect all forms of life. This is one of the reasons that many people who are in touch with their soul turn to a vegetarian diet. They feel that God has provided enough food in the form of plants to sustain us and it is not necessary to take the life of animals for food.
Buddhists, Jains, and Hindus alike, recognising that the soul transmigrates and that sometimes it is human and other times it may inhabit another life form, will not take the life of any creature. In their view there is a soul within every life form, and each soul has as much right to live as do human beings. They also recognise the law of karma, in which we have to account for all we do. If we take a life, one day we will have to pay for that act.
There is a wonderful story in the Jataka Tales of the Buddhists. In ancient times, some people followed the custom of offering a dead animal as a feast to the dead. One day, a teacher told his students, “I want you to bring me a goat to offer for the feast of the dead. Find a goat, take him to the river, and bathe him. When he is clean, place a garland of flowers around his neck.” The students agreed and set off to find a goat. When they found one, they followed their teacher’s instructions. While they bathed and prepared the goat, the animal began to laugh, and the students were startled. Then the goat began to cry.
Thinking this to be very strange behaviour, the students asked, “O goat, why did you laugh and then begin to cryIJ” The goat replied, “Ask me this question again in front of your “teacher.” The students brought the goat to the teacher and explained the goat’s behaviour.
The teacher asked, “O goat, why did you laugh and then cryIJ” The goat explained, “In one of my former lives I was a teacher like yourself. I also wanted to offer a feast for the dead, so I killed a goat. Because I killed that goat, I had to be killed 500 times by having my head cut off. This is my 500th and last birth. I laughed out of happiness because today I shall be free from that one bad deed.”
The teacher asked, “Then what made you cryIJ” The goat responded, “I cried when I thought that by killing me, you would have to be killed 500 times in your future lives. I wept because I felt sorry for you.” The teacher, fearing the same fate might await him if he killed the goat, decided, “Do not fear, goat. I will not kill you.” The goat said, “That doesn’t matter. Whether you kill me or not, I am supposed to die today.” The teacher insisted, “Do not worry. I will protect you and see that nothing harms you.” The goat told him, “No amount of protection will help me. I cannot escape paying for my deeds of the past.” The teacher wanted to save the goat, so he instructed his students to follow the goat around all day to make sure nothing hurt it.
later that day, the goat became hungry. He told the students, “There is a bush growing near the top of that rock. I am going there to eat some leaves.” As the goat ate the leaves, lightning flashed from the sky and struck the rock. A piece of the rock broke off and fell on the goat’s neck. The goat was killed instantly.
When lord Buddha was questioned by his own students about this story, he replied, “If you people only knew you would have to pay for your deeds, you would not kill any animal or living thing. You must pay for all evil actions.”
Some people are vegetarians because of their religious teachings, either because they believe in karma or in the commandment, “Thou shalt not kill.” Others maintain a vegetarian diet because they believe that animals have a right to live or that they should not take a life if they cannot give back life. There have been many notable vegetarians throughout history. Early Greek philosophers, such as Plato, Plotinus, Empedocles, Apollonius, Plutarch, and Porphyry followed vegetarian diets. Pythagoras instructed his followers not to defile their bodies by partaking of impure foods. He said that we have enough grains and trees which are loaded with fruits, delicious vegetables and roots that can be readily cooked, and no dearth of milk and honey. He told them that our earth has an abundance of pure and harmless foods and there is no need for us to partake of meals for which blood has to be shed.
When we live life according to the guidance of the empowered soul, we find it difficult, if not impossible, to partake of the flesh of living creatures because we see God’s light in them. We begin to feel an affinity with our younger brothers and sisters as did St Francis of Assisi. Rabia Basri, the great Sufi saint, also experienced connectedness to all God’s creatures. Once when she went to the mountains, she found herself surrounded by a group of wild animals. At that moment, Hasan-al-Basri arrived, but when the animals saw him, they fled in terror. Annoyed, he asked Rabia, “Why did they run away from me in fear yet they were friendly with youIJ”Rabia asked him, “What have you eaten todayIJ”He replied, “Some onion, fried in fat.” She pointed out, “You eat off their fat. Why should they not run from youIJ”
The empowered soul has respect and reverence for all forms of life. When we tap into the soul, our heart expands to invoke a connectedness with all living creatures.
The writer is a spiritual leader