Re: I had to kill a mouse the other day..
Namaste Kiya,
I've been meaning to bring up this topic for some time, but it's been a while since we've had to deal with any rodents or anything like that in a while. No doubt it's a subject that has been brought up time and again here.
Back when I was very new to Sanatana Dharma and had learned all about the significance of ahimsa, I was somewhat sensitive to the idea of preserving life. Being an animal-lover before my study of Hinduism only made things worse. Actually, I was very hypersensitive to the idea - at one point, I would refuse to mow the lawn when my parents asked me to, knowing that inevitably a lot of animals would be killed in the process of keeping the backyard tidy.
I experienced a similar situation with a mouse, but it was the problem was more with the contention with my parents and I about how to get rid of it. My mother was particularly annoyed that night and reproached me endlessly for what she must have seen as my silly soft-heartedness. The poor mouse must have been so frightened by our arguing over what to do about it. In the end, my sheer stubbornness on the topic won out and we got one of those humane mouse traps that only holds them in the container and you can set them free.
In my opinion, when you believe any life to be expendable/not important, it reduces your compassion and it is easier to believe that another, more sentient life may not be as important either.
Yes, this is exactly how I have felt before. If you cannot have heart enough to spare the life of such a small thing like a housefly, how trying it must be to work up understanding and kindness (and then, eventually love) for some other creature, maybe even another human being! I don't know where I heard it, or who exactly it was about, but I remember listening to words of wisdom about ahimsa to sentient beings. It said that the measure of a man's greatness is in observing how he treats those lowliest around him, or those who are - largely - unable to defend themselves (animals, etc.) from the harm done by that person. The man who is kind to even these beings who cannot retaliate, will almost certainly show the same kindness to everyone else around him. I found it is a rough but ready window into understanding a person's capacity for compassion.
"Watch your thoughts, they become words.
Watch your words, they become actions.
Watch your actions, they become habits.
Watch your habits, they become your character.
Watch your character, it becomes your destiny."
ॐ गं गणपतये नमः
Om Gam Ganapataye namah
लोकाः समस्ताः सुखिनो भवन्तु ।
Lokaah SamastaaH Sukhino Bhavantu
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