Posted on: 06 Apr 2021
[An online spiritual discussion was conducted on March 06, 2021, in which several devotees participated. Some of the questions of devotees answered by Swāmi are given below.]
[Śrī Satyanarayana asked: We all happen to give parties to our colleagues. Sometimes, when we get promoted or get a salary hike, our colleagues demand that we give them a party! They say that I should entertain them in the way they like and not in the way I like. Many of those colleagues are non-vegetarians. They demand non-vegetarian food to be served to them in the party. Even if I tell them that I am against non-vegetarian food which causes innocent animals to be killed, they do not listen. Even if I try to take them to a pure vegetarian restaurant, they insist that I should take them only to a non-vegetarian restaurant.
How am I supposed to deal with such people in a way that it does not affect my professional life? One way to avoid giving the party could be to instead donate some money in their names for a charitable purpose and inform them of the same. It should make them feel satisfied that something good happened in their name. But it might not work all the time. There are a few people who tell me on my face that all they care for is their own satisfaction. We must satisfy them in the form of giving them a party, it seems! How should we deal with such situations and such people?]
Swāmi replied: This issue is related to non-violence, which is the most basic and most important rule of worldly justice (pravṛtti). It is said that non-violence is the greatest justice (Ahiṃsā paramo dharmaḥ). Some other less important rules can be modified, as per the context. For example, to protect this highest justice, one can tell a lie. Non-violence is a higher justice than telling the truth. A sage once told the truth, which resulted in the killing of a saint. The sage went to hell and was punshied for the violence that he had caused. His telling the truth was not given any weightage. You should not yield to any extent of pressure to violate what is most disliked by God. Killing harmful living beings is not a sin. But killing an innocent living being, merely for the sake of your taste in food is the highest sin. You will face the highest punishment for it. The butcher and those who paid the butcher for the meat, will be reborn as animals and the killed animal will be reborn as the butcher in the next birth. God responds to your extreme sin through such extreme punishment.