There is an intrinsic animality in man, a violence which he brings with his birth. Even small babies will find some ants and will kill for no reason: killing is a joy. And the same… there are so many hunters who are hunting deer, lions and tigers, and they call it ‘game’. But it is strange: when a lion eats a hunter… then it is a ‘tragedy’. Strange! And the lion kills you with bare hands, and you kill the lion from far away, with guns, arrows, and all kinds of devices.
You are a coward.
I used to stay in the palace of the maharaja of Bhavnagar and his whole palace was full of lions’ heads, deer heads, tigers’ heads on all the walls. And he used to be very proud to introduce people… telling who killed which animal – this one was killed by hisfather, this one was killed by his grandfather, this one has been killed by himself, this has been killed by his brother, by his son. In the same way, he also introduced those things to me the first time I stayed with him…
I said, “…All that you have been doing is killing animals. What is the purpose? You have enough food; you don’t need to kill them. ”
He said, “It is a game. ” I said, “But the game has some rules. Both parties should be provided with the same instruments. Both parties should be confronting each other in full light. You are hiding behind a tree, with a gun, and you kill an innocent deer, and you think you are playing a game? And what part has the deer to play in the game? Has he consented to play the game? And this is very unfair: why are you sitting on top of a tree?
“You are simply a coward, even with your gun. And this is not a game. This is simply your intrinsic violence which is finding some way to destroy. And if you have any sense of humanity, remove all this nonsense from this palace! This shows your real face. These are not the heads of the animals, these are your heads. ”
He could not understand…
Just as you are here, a guest, a tiger is also a guest. And it simply means that if you kill the tiger, you are insensate. I am not concerned with the tiger, because it is going to die one day. I am concerned with you, because killing each human or animal or anything that is living, goes on making your heart a stone. And if your heart becomes a stone, a rock, then your spiritual growth becomes impossible.
A rock will not allow you to reach your own being.
Anything that stops your evolution in consciousness is evil – it is a sin – and anything that helps you to move toward more consciousness is a virtue. That’s the only definition that I can give to you. Be more aesthetic, be more sensitive, be more respectful of life – because you are part of it. Whoever you are killing, you are killing yourself. Your destructiveness is suicidal.
Abridged from The Path of the Mystic, courtesy Osho International Foundation, www. osho. com