Friday, April 30, 2004
"The desire for self reform is the first sign of the activity of kundalini."
Living with Kundalini: The Autobiography of Gopi Krishna, Shambala Publications, Boston, 1993
Today my devotion to ahimsa was challenged by the appearance of a poisonous spider speeding along the floor toward
where I was sitting on my blankets. I called out "ahimsa, ahimsa", but the spider paid no heed, not wavering
in his advance. Insects such as flies and moths have taken advantage of the time I spend chanting "ahimsa" to change
their course, escape out the door, or otherwise disappear, but not this spider. On he came. I hopped up and grabbed a roll of packing tape, quickly ripping off a piece. Twice I pressed down the tape over the back of the spider, but each time I awkwardly peeled the patch of tape up the spider came free. He even ran to hide under my sitting blankets! Finally, after the third attempt to catch him, it ran between two tilting stacks of books and out of reach, saved by the disordered piles born of my habitual lack of shauca.
Weighing the harm I intend to the spider against the harm the spiders might do to my customers or their children, I nearly guiltlessly lay out more sticky strip spider traps. I console myself with the musing that the very effective traps are passive
devices and the spiders that are caught are the engines of their own fates.
Living with Kundalini: The Autobiography of Gopi Krishna, Shambala Publications, Boston, 1993
Today my devotion to ahimsa was challenged by the appearance of a poisonous spider speeding along the floor toward
where I was sitting on my blankets. I called out "ahimsa, ahimsa", but the spider paid no heed, not wavering
in his advance. Insects such as flies and moths have taken advantage of the time I spend chanting "ahimsa" to change
their course, escape out the door, or otherwise disappear, but not this spider. On he came. I hopped up and grabbed a roll of packing tape, quickly ripping off a piece. Twice I pressed down the tape over the back of the spider, but each time I awkwardly peeled the patch of tape up the spider came free. He even ran to hide under my sitting blankets! Finally, after the third attempt to catch him, it ran between two tilting stacks of books and out of reach, saved by the disordered piles born of my habitual lack of shauca.
Weighing the harm I intend to the spider against the harm the spiders might do to my customers or their children, I nearly guiltlessly lay out more sticky strip spider traps. I console myself with the musing that the very effective traps are passive
devices and the spiders that are caught are the engines of their own fates.
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