True Ahimsa

One morning Gandhiji was talking to his colleague, "Today. I could not sleep till late night."

'Why?'

Gandhiji, "When I went to sleep, after sometime I heard some sound from the fence on the rear side. When I looked there, I saw what looked like a mouth of a Serpent."

'The warder sleeps outside. You could have called him.'

Gandhiji replied, "I understand that too. But, if I had called him, he would have called others and they would have killed the serpent. Instead, I thought that, if the serpent comes inside and bites me, let it bite but I will not call the warder. But, later, I thought that if it comes inside and bites me, whatever would have happened to me, let it happen. But, suppose it went out again after biting me and if it was poisonous and bit the warder also, then he would have also died. So, I asked myself, what would be my duty in such a situation? If I don't tell, warder's life is in danger and if I tell then warder will kill it."

"Then what happened?"

Gandhiji said, "I was confused. But, in the meantime, the moon rose in the sky and the brightness of moonlight spread over the fence. I could then see that it was not the neck of a serpent, but that of a lizard. Thereafter, I went to sleep."

The colleague then asked, what is wrong in killing a poisonous animal like snake!

Gandhiji described to him the details of a conversation which he had with Shrimad Rajchandra, and what he had told him long ago. Just as we love our own life, likewise the animals also love their own. Therefore, true Ahimsa suggests that, let it happen which is bound to happen to us, but we should not kill even the animals.