Reverence for nature is essential. Reverence for nature will help us to preserve and protect this blessed earth for our children— and our children's children.
Reverence is essential— for our rivers and forests, lakes and waterfalls, trees, plants and the grass that grows beneath our feet, birds and beasts, whom I love to call our younger brothers and sisters.
My vision of unity and fellowship and brotherhood is of a world in which the right to life is accorded to every creature that breathes the breath of life!
Have you ever spared a thought for the atrocities that are perpetrated on the animals day after day, in laboratories and in slaughterhouses? My friends, let me tell you, we cannot speak of dharma, we cannot speak of creation as one family until we stop the exploitation of animals— until we stop all killing! All killing must be stopped for the simple reason that if man kills an animal for food, he will not hesitate to kill a fellow human being whom he regards as an enemy.
We cannot have a world family built on the exploitation of the poor, and on the blood of the dumb, defenseless creatures! The new global village, the new family of humanity must be built on a nobler, worthier ideal. If civilisation is to endure, it must be built in a new spirit of reverence, in a new religion of reverence for all life.
Animal welfare is not enough. I believe the time has come when all animal lovers must get together and formulate a charter of animal rights— a charter of man's duty towards the animal kingdom. I hope and pray that India— the country of the Buddha, Mahavira, Mahatma Gandhi and Sadhu Vaswani— will be first among nations to pass an enactment giving rights to animals.
Every animal has its fundamental rights. And the very first right of every animal is the right to live. We cannot take away that which we cannot give. And since we cannot give life to a dead creature, we have no right to take away the life of a living one!
In the words of my Revered Master, Sadhu Vaswani, "No nation can be free, until its animals are free." We cannot call this world our own family until all forms of exploitation cease.
To Remain Veg. on November 25, kindly pledge on www.sak.org.in/pledge
(November 25 (Sadhu Vaswani's birth anniversary) is observed as International Meatless Day.)
Dada J P Vaswani is a humanitarian, philosopher, educator, acclaimed writer, powerful orator, messiah of ahimsa, and non-sectarian spiritual leader
