When all killing brings karmic reactions how can we do pest control?
From: varun
1. can we kill cockroaches if they are comming on to the prasad prepared for lord krishna every day.
2. prabhupada said killing a lice is a sin but we use to remove dandruff it also kills fungus and bacteria what about that.
3. can we do pest control in the house
4. why did srila prabhupada allow to sell leather goods in the letter written to gargamuni on 31 may 1968.
Transcript
This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
question from Varun Prabhu there is a set of questions over here can we kill cockroaches if they are coming on the prasad and prepared for Lord Krishna everyday Prabhupada said killing a lice is a sin but we used to remove dandruff, it also kills fungus and bacteria, what about that and can we do pest control in the house and there is a question for the wife of Prabhupada allowed to sell leather goods in a letter written to Gargamuni on 31st May 1968 the answer to all these questions is a common principle that we avoid killing as much as possible and certainly when the killing is for our sense gratification as it is in the case of meat eating that has to be absolutely given up but jivo jivasya jivinam the Srimad Bhagavatam first kind of describes that in this world one living being lives in the life of another so we can’t avoid all forms of killing entirely in fact just by having a physical body we are killing we are killing in the sense that we may step on ants when we light a fire there may be germs or microscopic beings that may be killed over there and if we look at it in a biological sense then inside our body a constant war is going on between the germs that are there inside and our own white blood corpuscles and it is a battle, it is a war to death either we kill those germs inside our body or they kill us so therefore just for our living some amount of killing is unavoidable at the same time just because it is unavoidable doesn’t make it as a license for killing when it is avoidable also so now with this principle in mind let’s look at the examples of the specific situations that you have asked about can we kill cockroaches if they are coming on the prasadam prepared for lord Krishna everyday answer certainly that way of offering prasadam to Krishna that is touched by cockroaches is not at all recommended and we have to do whatever is required to avoid that sort of contamination of the prasadam the best way to do it is to have the kitchen environment so clean that cockroaches don’t come and that is not impossible if we clean regularly and rigorously then actually speaking it is possible to remove all sorts of pests by cleanliness itself the pests also need something to eat and cockroaches may not be exactly pests but they are in that sort of family category so if we keep things clean then surely the possibility of these sort of events happening becomes minimized and if in spite of establishing proper cleanliness we find that these cockroaches are still there or while we are setting up a schedule and a system for having rigorous cleanliness still these sort of unfortunate incidents keep happening then we can try various measures first is that we can try to use repellents which drive away the cockroaches by repelling them instead of killing them and if we do a little bit research we can find out which are the repellents that are available so there are insect repellents of various kinds and we can explore with that and if that doesn’t work for some reason although if we do sufficient research it is likely to work but in some situation if it doesn’t work then in the worst case situation we may have to do the needful but even then a devotee will try to avoid killing if it is possible a devotee will try to say sweep or throw the cockroaches out of the room rather than stamp them or beat them to death. Vishal Prabhupada was so sensitive about these things that he was not even in favour of killing mosquitoes even if they interfered with his essential and important services Vishal Prabhupada would at night wake up in the early hours do his translation and commentary at that time sometimes mosquitoes would trouble him and the devotees who were assisting him would make sure that they had a proper nest, net around him and they would make sure that there were no mosquitoes rather than killing the mosquitoes they used to have a net and at one time one of the devotees who was serving Vishal Prabhupada Harishori Prabhu found that there was a mosquito inside the net and Prabhupada also noticed it so Harishori quickly hastened into the mosquito net and slapped on the mosquito and the mosquito fell down and Prabhupada looked a little pain and he said oh you have killed it and then he picked up the mosquito as it was lying motionless and took it out and as soon as he took it out it fluttered and flew out of his hands so Prabhupada looked relieved he said oh good you didn’t kill it so the point is that Vishal Prabhupada did not even certainly didn’t want his service to be interrupted his service was so important at the same time as in the name of service he did not want even a mosquito be killed so as which is possible we try to avoid killing but when it is unavoidable then the needful has to be done and certainly we want to have good standards in the kitchen where we are cooking for Krishna that is our service to Krishna and it has to be done well so first high cleanliness secondly repellence and in third worst case if nothing else works then the extreme option may be chosen and of course we need to remember that just because we are doing it for Krishna doesn’t free us from karma we do get karma but if we are rendering intense devotional service then Krishna frees us from the sinful reactions that might come but it is only when it is essential and only when we are doing intense devotional service otherwise we can be culpable now regarding removing dandruffs well brahmacharis don’t face any problem because they shave their heads so that may not be practical for everyone but that is cheap time saving and violence avoiding it’s not just cheap it’s free so if that’s not practical then doing whatever if we apply proper oils to the hair and do the needful to clean and take care of the hair then it’s quite possible that dandruffs won’t come and still they come then again cleanliness is the first measure and secondly whatever is required can be done then thirdly can we do pest control at home yes in worst situations things can become so bad that either it is the pests who stay at our home or we stay at our home if we are not able to sleep at night if we are not able to sit peacefully on chairs or lie down on beds then what can be done it’s essential at the same time it’s always better if we can try to have proper cleanliness by which we can minimize the possibility of pests coming in but if in spite of all that pests do come in then we have to do the needful again so even while doing pest control we can explore options is it possible that we use certain chemicals that repel the pests away or that certain chemicals dehydrate the pests so that they become unconscious immobilized and then they can just be swept out so there are options for minimizing violence within pest control and we can try to explore them as much as possible within our practical limits but in the name of practical limits we shouldn’t justify just doing the cheapest and the easiest thing even if it involves unnecessary violence now lastly regarding the specific letter which Prabhupada wrote to Gargamuni Prabhu this was in 1968 which was just 2-3 years of the movement and at that time in America Krishna Consciousness was not very stable and book distribution which later on became a primary source of revenue for the movement had not yet started off in a adequate way so at that time various devotees were doing different kinds of jobs Maharaj used to work in a social welfare office and in the early days of the movement in New York he was the only earning member and it was his salary that was maintaining the full temple so at that time devotees were taking different kinds of jobs and Srila Prabhupada when he is saying that leather goods can be sold he is not recommending that as a recommended profession for devotees and certainly he is not saying that it is devotional service if we look at the letter carefully Prabhupada is saying regarding your seeking permission for selling some leather goods and water pipes I say yes you can sell we have nothing to do with these things so first Srila Prabhupada is saying that actually devotional service means that we render service to Krishna we have nothing to do with things like leather goods but in special cases Prabhupada is saying to allow it but again Srila Prabhupada is keeping the instruction ambiguous if somebody asks us to sell intoxicants or similar things we cannot do that that means intoxicants is involved in directly breaking the four regulatory principles and on the other hand leather may also involve killing animals at the same time Srila Prabhupada is not unequivocally recommending that he is saying in special cases things might be allowed but he is saying if somebody asks us to sell intoxicants and similar things we cannot do that and then he goes on to say how we are doing this primarily for for maintaining Krishna’s mission on a circumstantial basis and then Srila Prabhupada used two warnings over here but anyway in all such odd circumstances like this you should ask my permission so Srila Prabhupada is very strongly and unambiguously qualifying the limited and ambiguous permission that he has given so Srila Prabhupada has given a limited and ambiguous permission if you look at it we have nothing to do with these things but in special cases if somebody asks us to sell intoxicants or similar things we cannot do that so he is not really clearly allowing it he is saying that ok this might be a special case but as far as intoxicants is concerned that’s not allowed and then he is saying further that in all such odd circumstances specifically consultation needs to be done so if we are in a situation like that we need to consult our spiritual guides whether we need to whether we can or whether we should do such a thing and then Prabhupada uses a warning again but be careful that you may not be attached to such business so we may find that such a business is lucrative and we think let me do this in a big way Srila Prabhupada says no don’t become attached if required we can give up such business at any moment at any moment Srila Prabhupada is preparing him so maybe at this particular juncture that was what was the most practical feasible alternative for earning an income for Gargamuni Prabhu and for that situation Srila Prabhupada allowed it but Srila Prabhupada is alerting him to the possibility that anytime in the future he may tell him that you should give this up so from that perspective Srila Prabhupada is certainly not giving an ambiguous or universal license over here in general Srila Prabhupada’s letters are authoritative but they are not necessarily universally authoritative in the Bhaktivedanta Veda base front piece where front matter by Jaya Dvait Maharaj explains how the Veda base should be used although all that Srila Prabhupada has said is authoritative all of that is not equally authoritative that is there is a hierarchy in the authoritativeness the most authoritative are the purports because they are written by him in the privacy of his translation in the early morning or in the study room and there he is actually instructing the world giving the message as it is and second is the lectures so lectures are also important but because they are given at specific places to specific people there might be some circumstances adjustment within that and conversations are even more so because they are with specific people who might have brought up specific questions and they need specific answers at specific times and this is all the more so to letters because letters are going to generally one specific person so just as a doctor may in a specific treatment to a specific person might allow although you have diabetes you can also eat sugar now there can be any number of extenuating circumstances over there that patient may not be in a situation where he can avoid sugar or that person may be in such a situation that he just wants sugar and will not take up the treatment only if he is not allowed to give up sugar then the doctor may allow in a specific prescription to a specific patient ok you can take sugar also no sugar ban for you but the same doctor when he writes a medical textbook at that time he will write for diabetes to be given up for diabetes to be effectively treated and cured giving up sugar is not desirable but in most cases essential so although both statements the specific prescriptions and the standard textbook have come from the same doctor and although both are authoritative both are not having the same level of authoritativeness one is contextual the other is much more broader and universal similarly Srila Prabhupada’s letters are contextual whereas Srila Prabhupada’s purports are much more universal and there he has clearly classed meat eating and animal killing for any purpose of that sort that is commercial is involving breaking of the four inherited principles so therefore that is not to be done so at the same time again this particular letter also illustrates the same principle which we have been discussing that that we have to continue our service to Krishna and we are not devotees of non-violence we are devotees of Krishna and so for our service to Krishna if under extreme situations there is no alternative but violence to to cockroaches or pests or whatever then for our service to Krishna we will do the needful we will not let non-violence come in the way of our service to Krishna at the same time in the name of service to Krishna we should not just indiscriminately and unnecessarily indulge in violence so that is the broad principle and as for the specific answer to a specific situation is concerned one can use one’s God-given intelligence and consult one’s spiritual guides and see what can be best done