What is the difference between a theist and an atheist? It is a difference in behaviour.

(Devotee’s Letter to Son)

Here are some explanations regarding ‘ahimsa’-nonviolence.

What is the difference between a theist and an atheist? It is a difference in behaviour. The first believes in the existence of God, Krsna, the second doesn’t and acts on his own whims, thinking himself not answerable to anyone. Those who are not in God-consciousness are simply wasting their time in frivolous activities and they have no tangible proof of spiritual life.

A devotee of God tries to please the Lord by following His instructions as given in all sacred literatures. In the Vedas, the law books for mankind, it is advised to first and foremost follow the four regulative principles to become free from material contaminations accumulated over millions of lifetimes in the material world.

The Four Regulative Principles are

1/ no meat-eating
2/no illicit sex
3/no intoxication
4/no gambling (this includes in modern times also the stock market)

and the chanting of 16 rounds Hare Krsna every day

These are the austerities a sincere devotee tries to undertake voluntarily over the span of his lifetime to become purified from material contamination. Consequently, through this purificatory process the material contamination diminishes and proportionately spiritual advancement manifests. One can judge himself.

God expands Himself into many for His enjoyment, still He is always the same full ‘purnam’. He is the father who enjoys His many children. Like You now, you enjoy little Mijis association. If now some of the stronger children start fighting with their weaker brothers and sisters, killing and eating each other, do you think He likes that? Would you like that? No! Then the father will meet out punishment for the disobedient children to correct them. Does the father not have the right to correct their misbehaviour? Is the father not looking for the maintenance of the children? He gives the food, the clothing? Does God not give the sun, moon, stars, earth, water, fire, air and aether? This much acknowledgement at least a soul should give as we cannot manufacture any of this, without which we could not survive for 3 days. This is called gratefulness otherwise one is a thief, stealing, taking and using something which you have not paid for, a criminal. The payment is the acknowledgment with a grateful heart.

For the punishment of the unruly, disobedient children God has created this material world so they can live out their being lords of all they survey. Living the life of urchins, poor, unhappy, desperate and destitute, the struggling children have by now forgotten that they have a very, very rich loving father who wants nothing more than that the children come back to the father and enjoy their rightful property together with the father and their many siblings. That is why God, Krsna is sending the holy scriptures, his bonafide servants like Jesus, Allah and many other pure devotees and He comes Himself, personally in different incarnations to attract His lost children to remember Him and He says “My dear children, don’t waste your time here come home to me and you will be happy without having to endure the miseries of Birth, old age, disease and death. Please listen to me, lend me your ear, listen to me!”

But most all Persons in the material world have the atheistic temperament and have no interest in learning about this process of understanding God. Neither are they grateful nor do they acknowledge the Lord’s generosity. They take it all for granted and think ITS MINE. In fact they have no interest to know where the Lord lives, what He looks like, what He likes to eat, His address, His material and spiritual creations, the laws of material nature, the nature of human beings, activities-karma. THE WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY AND HOW. Such unguided persons are compared to merchants going to sea on a ship without a captain. They take pleasure in their own mental speculations like the frog in the well

who speculates about the vastness of the great ocean. Is the ocean twice the size of my well or maybe thrice? What importance can one give persons puffed up in such concocted thoughts of mental gymnastics, jailed within the four walls of their concoction matrix? NONE, totally useless.

The first of the above mentioned principles namely ahimsa, nonviolence is most important. Such ahiṁsā is not a religious principle itself, but it is an important quality for persons who are actually religious. It is a common-sense religion because one is advised to do no harm to any other animal or living being because such harmful actions are equally harmful to he who does the harm. But before learning these principles of nonviolence one has to learn two other principles, namely to be humble and to be prideless. Unless one is humble and prideless, one cannot be harmless and nonviolent. And after being nonviolent one has to learn tolerance and simplicity of living. By such ahimsa one develops the quality of mercyfullness, than one has to learn to be truthful. Without being merciful, ahimsa, nonviolent one cannot be truthful and cannot be trusted and one who puts his faith into such individuals will eventually be ruined. WHAT DO YOU THINK ONE CAN EXPECT OF INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE NOT HARMLESS AND NOT NONVIOLENT?

In religious principles there must be God in the center; otherwise simple moral instructions are merely subreligious principles, generally known as upadharma, or nearness to religious principles.

The devotees are not at all interested in arguing with the nondevotees to nullify their theories. Rather than wasting their time, they always try to engage themselves in the transcendental, loving service of the Lord of hearing, chanting and remembering Him in full Krsna consciousness.

A sincere devotee humbly stays for himself and persues with unwavering determination the path outlined by the great acaryas, pure devotees and Lord Krsna himself as He has spoken of in the Bhagavad-gita. These great devotees in an unbroken line of spiritual teachers, acaryas, have shown their PERFECT character by their EXAMPLARY activities and behaviour in delivering this knowledge HUMBLE and SELFLESS for the eternal benefit of all human beings on behalf of the Lord since time immemorial. They are NEVER puffed up with material opulences.

Generally, the material opulences are good parentage, education, beauty and riches, but although a devotee of the Lord may possess all four of these material opulences, he is never carried away by the pride of possessing such distinctions. Great devotees of the Lord travel all over the world and on their way they meet many conditioned souls and deliver them by their association and distribution of transcendental knowledge. Srila Prabhupada IS the latest in the line of such great souls. In this way the conditioned souls take advantage of saintly association, and by such association the devotees advance more and more in Krsna consciousness. Srila Prabhupada left behind his transcendental translations, books, so we can take advantage of His association in His Vani form (association by instruction).

The question now is, how does one know if it’s working? As George Harrison said “the proof of the pudding is in the eating”, in the reading Srila Prabhupada’s original books.
https://prabhupadabooks.com/kb/1

None of what I said is my own speculation, it’s all in Srila Prabhupada’s Original Books. I have recollected some of it for this letter. Again, it’s a difference in behaviour!

Yours M.