Bug Rights: Thoughts On Ants, Cockroaches, Mosquitoes And Other Insects

Actor James Coburn: (Buddhist) i do not kill flies.

Vedas: Jada Bharat was drafted to carry with others the
palanquin of the king. He stepped to avoid ants in such
a way that his actions were erratic and he was released from
compulosry duty.

Peter Burwash, professional tennis player and vegetarian
saw a column of ants come onto the court and crawl toward
the net. He lost the match because he would not harm them.
*
Warsaw ghetto concentration camp survivor Alex Hershaft: The last thing
my father told me before he was taken away to be killed was not to harm the cockroaches who ran along the walls of our holding area.

James E Ritchey At the base of the eyelash is an invisible mite.
Ask not what your mite can do for you but what you can do for your mite.
and always remember mite makes right.
*
"Even kings and emperors of great wealth and vast dominion cannot
compare with an ant filled with the love of God." -Guru Nanak-

Cockroaches:
When one grows up in Manhattan where apartment buildings are constantly involved in extermination of cockroaches one realizes)they are always waiting in the wings.
Jan Freundschuh:
*
johnny appleseed chapman biographer
james howard kuntsler:
if a hornet flew into his raggedy pants, why johnny (appleweed) just figured the poor thing was scared to find himself lost in such a deep dark cave, and he endured his stings until he departed. if he was fixing to sleep in the woods on a fall night, johnny would rather lie in the cold than build a fire that might kill any of the season's last lingering mosquitoes. as for the great beasts of the forest, the bears and wolves, they must have sensed that there was something different about johnny, 'cause they always were friendly and obliging. the bears would rub their backs against him like he was their favorite back-scratching tree and the wolves liked to lick his head.

wasps:
Patricia Cornwall paraphrased: Watching the way she calmly crushed a wasp, one wondered if she was capable of homicide.
c wilson: i was nursing my baby daughter.. a mosquito
landed on my arm.. i decided to let her nurse too 9
*
yogananda: (paraphrased): i slept covered in mosquito
netting. my master in the next bed had no netting at
all. i awoke with many bites, he with none. when i
asked him why, he replied i had mosquito consciousness.
*
chemical companies have billions of dollars in contracts to kill mosquitoes
using insecticide sprays which poison all the waters of the world. they act
with the cdc and the who in
promotion of the west nile virus
scam. politicians are invested in
huge corporations

nonvegetarians are more bothered by mosquitoes because of the odor of their blood.

brother james marcus: the sweet
rain has stilled the voice of the winged
ones.

cessation of mowing is one way to protect bees and other insects

St Francis of Assisi is said to have worn bells
on his toes as he walked barefoot to warn
the insects he was coming.
*
The self realized master Anandamayi Ma
once did obeisances to a cockroach to remind
her students that all living beings are sacred.
*
The Saint of Shirdi in the book Sai Satcharitra:
Never harm a snake or a scorpion. He will harm
you only if ordered to do so by God. If so
ordered there is nothing you can do about it.

(Yogananda about his master Sri Yukteswar)
A deadly cobra once confronted him, only to be conquered by my guru’s love.

A follower of Sai Baba was thinking that the Jain practice
of wearing a mask to avoid inhaling insects
was ridiculous. Immediately a fruit fly sailed up
his nose.

A British rabbi wrote in the magazine Jewish Vegetarian
several reasons honey was unethical.
The queen bee’s wings are often clipped so that she may not move
her hive way from human thieves.
Bees are often crushed as the racks are slid in and out.
Many bee hive operators steal all the honey allowing the bees to
starve in winter and to be replaced in the spring.
Is it ethical to steal from bees? 20

Silkworms are boiled alive in the process of manufacturing silk.

SNS: Japanese beetles to God are more valuable than a rose.

*Naomi E watching her grandfather bait a hook said "Grandpa, were the worms bad?"

Ram Dass’ statement about
the disciples of Maharaji: “When the flowers
blossom, the bees come.”

Tom Earley: Many who boil freshly picked cruciferous broccoli or cauliflower
don’t realize they are often boiling the worms hidden at the core.

Sufi tale of a baby bird and a wasp
http://spectrumofbel…sufi-story.html
http://mysticsaint.blogspot.com

Poisonous insecticides and herbicides including malathion and dioxin used throughout
the world to kill gypsy moths, pine beetles, poppy and pot plants
are filling the waters of the sea with these same poisons… which
concentrate in fishes killing or deforming them or making them
sources for cancer, while also killing whales, seals, dolphins and
other sea creatures.

Terry McGovern, deceased daughter of Senator George and Eleanor McGovern, subject of the book Terry by her father: "i go out of my way to avoid stepping on ants."

Actress Rhonda Fleming "i cannot kill an ant."
*
SNS: Cockroaches don't bite like flies nor sting like beetles. They are amazingly adaptable.
Will these fertile gentle creatures be the last species protected on earth..

Jesus: Whatsoever you have done to these the least of My brethren you have done unto Me

Bhagavad Gita: He is dearest to God who has no enemies among living beings.

Father Ron Lengwin, KDKA host:
Adam's apple may have been the heart of the first butchered animal .

Mosquito Consciousness… a dialogue between Sri Yukteswar and Yogananda

My guru’s thoughts were weighed in a delicate balance of discrimination before he permitted them an outward garb. The essence of truth, all-pervasive with even a physiological aspect, came from him like a fragrant exudation of the soul. I was conscious always that I was in the presence of a living manifestation of God. The weight of his divinity automatically bowed my head before him.
If late guests detected that Sri Yukteswar was becoming engrossed with the Infinite, he quickly engaged them in conversation. He was incapable of striking a pose, or of flaunting his inner withdrawal. Always one with the Lord, he needed no separate time for communion. A self-realized master has already left behind the stepping stone of meditation. “The flower falls when the fruit appears*. But saints often cling to spiritual forms for the encouragement of disciples.

As midnight approached, my guru might fall into a doze with the naturalness of a child. There was no fuss about bedding. He often lay down, without even a pillow, on a narrow davenport ,,A night-long philosophical discussion was not rare; any disciple could summon it by intensity of interest. I felt no tiredness then, no desire for sleep; Master’s living words were sufficient. “Oh, it is dawn! Let us walk by the Ganges.” So ended many of my periods of nocturnal edification.
My early months with Sri Yukteswar culminated in a useful lesson -“How to Outwit a Mosquito.” At home my family always used protective curtains at night. I was dismayed to discover that in the Serampore hermitage this prudent custom was honored in the breach. Yet the insects were in full residency; I was bitten from head to foot. My guru took pity on me.
“Buy yourself a curtain, and also one for me.” He laughed and added, “If you buy only one, for yourself, all mosquitoes will concentrate on me!”
I was more than thankful to comply. Every night that I spent in Serampore, my guru would ask me to arrange the bedtime curtains.

The mosquitoes one evening were especially virulent. But Master failed to issue his usual instructions. I listened nervously to the anticipatory hum of the insects. Getting into bed, I threw a propitiatory prayer in their general direction. A half hour later, I coughed pretentiously to attract my guru’s attention. I thought I would go mad with the bites and especially the singing drone as the mosquitoes celebrated bloodthirsty rites.
No responsive stir from Master; I approached him cautiously. He was not breathing. This was my first observation of him in the yogic trance; it filled me with fright.

“His heart must have failed!” I placed a mirror under his nose; no breath-vapor appeared. To make doubly certain, for minutes I closed his mouth and nostrils with my fingers. His body was cold and motionless. In a daze, I turned toward the door to summon help.
“So! A budding experimentalist! My poor nose!” Master’s voice was shaky with laughter. “Why don’t you go to bed? Is the whole world going to change for you? Change yourself: be rid of the mosquito consciousness.”
Meekly I returned to my bed. Not one insect ventured near. I realized that my guru had previously agreed to the curtains only to please me; he had no fear of mosquitoes. His yogic power was such that he either could will them not to bite, or could escape to an inner invulnerability.
“He was giving me a demonstration,” I thought. “That is the yogic state I must strive to attain.” …. Sound and sight come then indeed, but to worlds fairer than the banished Eden.

The instructive mosquitoes served for another early lesson at the ashram. It was the gentle hour of dusk. My guru was matchlessly interpreting the ancient texts. At his feet, I was in perfect peace. A rude mosquito entered the idyl and competed for my attention. As it dug a poisonous hypodermic needle into my thigh, I automatically raised an avenging hand. Reprieve from impending execution! An opportune memory came to me of one of Patanjali’s yoga aphorisms – that on ahimsa (harmlessness).
“Why didn’t you finish the job?”
“Master! Do you advocate taking life?”
“No; but the deathblow already had been struck in your mind.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Patanjali’s meaning was the removal of desire to kill.” All forms of life have equal right to the air of maya. The saint who uncovers the secret of creation will be in harmony with its countless bewildering expressions. All men may approach that understanding who curb the inner passion for destruction.”
From the book “Autobiography of a yogi”
http://www.ananda.or…s/ay/index.html
www.natha.net
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