Theos-Talk Archives (March 1999 Message tt00213)

Mar 17th

Dear Gerry:

You are of course right and even the vegetables ought to be
granted their right to live and grow without our "sacrificing"
them.

There are communities like the Jains in India who hold that any
taking of life is a sin.  Accordingly they try to live their
lives with the least violence to the world around them.  Their
diet among those who are the most devoted practitioners consists
of that which the plants give up such as seeds, fruits, and to
this diet they add milk and water and salt.

Anything can be pushed to an extreme.  The real matter is how
does one live a life in which one gives the maximum of
consideration to the rights and needs of others?

If we could live on water alone, it might be best of all.  I have
heard of some Yogis who have succeeded and demonstrated that they
are able to live on nothing for weeks and months at a time.  And
I have no explanation other than that they must have developed
some way in subsisting off the universal Prana/Jiva.

Dal

-----Original Message-----
From:	owner-theos-talk@pippin.imagiware.com
[mailto:owner-theos-talk@pippin.imagiware.com] On Behalf Of
Gerald Schueler
Sent:	Wednesday, March 17, 1999 9:15 AM
To:	theos-talk@theosophy.com
Subject:	Theos-World Sacrifice

>This is just an idea to be applied to "forgiveness."  I think
the
>best kind of forgiveness is to try to redress any wrong I have
>done to another, ..

Dallas, there is another law that we haven't mentioned lately--
the law of sacrifice. Life feeds on life. We all do "wrong"
every day in order to maintain our own lives, by eating the
bodies of other living things, whether animal or vegetable.
The American Indian used to say a prayer of gratitude to
God and one of forgiveness to each animal it had to kill.
Today many of us still say a prayer of blessing to God before
a meal, but how many ask forgiveness to those lives that
were lost in order to provide the food to be consumed?
Does a spinach have a right to life? As I have said before,
we are all victims in this world and it is absolutely impossible
to go through life without causing others pain and suffering.
All we can really do is to look within ourselves for both
gratitude and forgiveness.

Jerry S.




















-- THEOSOPHY WORLD -- Theosophical Talk --
theos-talk@theosophy.com

Letters to the Editor, and discussion of theosophical ideas and
teachings. To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message consisting
of
"subscribe" or "unsubscribe" to theos-talk-request@theosophy.com.


-- THEOSOPHY WORLD -- Theosophical Talk -- theos-talk@theosophy.com

Letters to the Editor, and discussion of theosophical ideas and
teachings. To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message consisting of
"subscribe" or "unsubscribe" to theos-talk-request@theosophy.com.