Sikhism on Bugs?

GurjitJ · #1 (**permalink**) 17-May-2011, 06:16 AM

If our house has bugs in it, are we allowed to kill them or put them outside or just leave them be?
*

Ambarsaria · #2 (**permalink**) 17-May-2011, 07:05 AM

GurjitJ ji the creator's job is to create you and the bug. Post creation, creator expects all to flow in consonance per rules programmed in. A bug out of place is a bug indeed. Go ahead and fight as fighting is allowed in creation. I think you will win if you stomp on it or squash it. If it gives you happiness to let it fly or crawl out of the door so be it. Both actions inconsequential in terms of creator's expectations of you..
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/sikh-sikhi-sikhism/35407-sikhism-on-bugs.html
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=35407

Sat Sri Akal.

Ishna · #3 (**permalink**) 17-May-2011, 08:56 AM

It depends if the bugs are dangerous, if they are swarming, if the are eating the wooden frame of your house, or if you can easily scoop it up and let it go.

I will ignore some little bugs in my home. I attacked the swarm coming through a hole in my ceiling with half a can of bug spray (and paid for it by coughing up my lungs shortly after) and patched up the hole. I will squash a poisonous spider in an instant, but I'll catch a big hairy harmless one and let it go outside. I squashed a spider on a table in a meeting yesterday and my colleagues gasped and said "but you're a vegetarian!" They had no trouble with me using a mouse trap on the mouse in the kitchen however (I've since been traumatised by the poor mouse in the mouse trap so I've purchased humane "catch and release" ones instead).
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=35407
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=35407

Oh and a massive grasshopper came into the first floor of my office building the last week -- a Christian colleage said "kill it! anything less than a human is fit to be killed" which upset me. But not to worry, I caught it under a plastic bowl and let it go outside.

It's probably busy eating through some crops with its cousins now... *snicker *

Ambarsaria · #4 (**permalink**) 17-May-2011, 09:09 AM

Ishna ji good examples just couple of comments,

Quote:

I squashed a spider on a table in a meeting yesterday and my colleagues gasped and said "but you're a vegetarian!"

Was your friend expecting you to eat it

Oh and a massive grasshopper came into the first floor of my office building the last week -- a Christian colleage said "kill it! anything less than a human is fit to be killed" which upset me.

I thought your friend would have said ,

kill it! anything less than a Christian is fit to be killed

Sat Sri Akal.

Ishna · #5 (**permalink**) 17-May-2011, 09:19 AM

BhagatSingh · #6 (**permalink**) 17-May-2011, 09:31 AM

Lol

Be happy while the bugs are still there and you will be happy when they leave.

spnadmin · #7 (**permalink**) 17-May-2011, 09:47 AM

spnadmin note: This is an honest predicament for many people. I know people whose homes are invaded annually by lady bugs (little round red beetles with black spots). Their infestation can be so bad that entire walls of rooms are covered. Yet people hesitate to harm them and just wait for them to leave. They are part of the folk culture and are difficult to dislike. Their infestation is almost a moral dilemma.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=35407

Up to a point the teasing on the thread works. However, the question was serious. Do we want to discourage a new member by teetering on the brink of making fun?
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=35407

BTW I really liked Ishna's description of how she handles this predicament.

Ambarsaria · #8 (**permalink**) 17-May-2011, 10:14 AM

Quote:

LADYBUGS ON THE SPACE SHUTTLE

Four ladybugs were sent into space in 1999 on NASA's space shuttle led by Eileen Collins. Ladybugs and their main food, aphids, were sent to a zero-gravity environment to study how to aphids could get away from the ladybugs without being able to jump using gravity.

According to the STS-93 Pilot Jeffrey S. Ashby, "One of the experiments that I do understand well, and is also very interesting, is an experiment that involves aphids and ladybugs. We are taking a small container with some leaves and aphids, and the ladybugs that are their prime predator. I'm told that the ladybugs on Earth will climb up a stalk to capture the aphids, and the aphids will use gravity to assist them to fall off of the leaf to escape from the ladybug. The question is, how will these defense mechanisms work in the absence of gravity, and what will happen to the relationship between predator and prey? One of the things that extra time has allowed us to do is to come up with names for the four ladybugs that we have. I think they have been very appropriately named after The Beatles: John, Paul, Ringo, and George. We're taking these ladybugs up and we're going to release them and see what they do."
Results of the Experiment: Upon completion of the mission, it was determined that the ladybugs survived and did eat the aphids while in a microgravity environment. Ladybugs do very well in space!

Ladybugs are an exception to squishing for me for sure.

Sat Sri Akal.

Confused · #9 (**permalink**) 17-May-2011, 13:10 PM

Ishna ji,

Iâ€™m using your post only to express my own thoughts on this issue. Hope you donâ€™t mind.

Quote:

It depends if the bugs are dangerous, if they are swarming, if the are eating the wooden frame of your house, or if you can easily scoop it up and let it go.

And what about to the bugs, are we not dangerous given especially that we have the means to easily kill them and so much ignorance and attachment to drive us? But of course there are times when kindness and compassion arises and as in your example, we can scoop them up and let them go.

Quote:

I will ignore some little bugs in my home. I attacked the swarm coming through a hole in my ceiling with half a can of bug spray (and paid for it by coughing up my lungs shortly after) and patched up the hole.

As far as Iâ€™m concerned, what you think you received is not the result of the particular immoral action. That will come in good time and can be either in the form of unpleasant experiences through the senses or rebirth in a lower realm of existence. The law that dictates this is however not for us to speculate about in terms of what, when and how.

Quote:

I will squash a poisonous spider in an instant, but I'll catch a big hairy harmless one and let it go outside.

I will likely kill when faced with a poisonous spider, but I would also accept that I will experience the results of the action some time down the road. More importantly though, I also know that in doing this, I am adding to the accumulated tendency to the same, such that one day I will kill even if the spider wasnâ€™t a poisonous one. And if I have moral restraint as in sweeping it out of the room or catching it in a jar, I know that this will result in some pleasant experience and add to the accumulated tendency to the same.

Quote:

I squashed a spider on a table in a meeting yesterday and my colleagues gasped and said "but you're a vegetarian!" They had no trouble with me using a mouse trap on the mouse in the kitchen however (I've since been traumatised by the poor mouse in the mouse trap so I've purchased humane "catch and release" ones instead).

Once we caught a small rat using one of those glue traps, I felt nothing, but like you, my wife was affected and didnâ€™t want me to do the same again. I tried other ways and it hasnâ€™t worked, and now I have a big problem with rats of all sizes in the false ceiling both downstairs and up. On top of this, the false ceiling of the â€˜prayer roomâ€™ has also become home to a great many pigeons and these make a lot of noise.

I have very little compassion for any of these creatures, and I do not kill them mostly because I think about what will happen to dear â€˜meâ€™. This shows the strength of attachment to self, which I must accept. Sometimes Iâ€™m motivated by kindness which prevents me from hiring some pest controller to get rid of these creatures and I can only hope to be able to bear with the situation long enough.

Quote:

Oh and a massive grasshopper came into the first floor of my office building the last week -- a Christian colleage said "kill it! anything less than a human is fit to be killed" which upset me. But not to worry, I caught it under a plastic bowl and let it go outside.

Imagine you were motivated by the kind of belief / understanding your Christian colleague had. This is actually an example of why â€œwrong understandingâ€ is considered the worst of evils.

Quote:

It's probably busy eating through some crops with its cousins now... *snicker *

Iâ€™m happy for you more than the grasshopper. It wasnâ€™t involved in any moral good, but you were. ;-)