Gandhiana-16: "Unity of Life"

I do not want to live at the cost of the life even of a snake. I should let him bite me to death rather than kill him. But it is likely that if God puts me to that cruel test and permits a snake to assault me, I may not have the courage to die, but that the beast in me may assert itself and I may seek to kill the snake in defending this perishable body. I admit that my belief has not become so incarnate in me as to warrant my stating emphatically that I have shed all fear of snakes so as to befriend them as I would like to be able to. It is my implicit belief that snakes, tigers, etc are God's answer to the poisonous, wicked, evil thoughts we harbour.... I believe that all life is one. Thoughts take definite forms. Tigers and snakes have kinship with us. They are a warning to us to avoid harbouring evil, wicked, lustful thoughts. If I want to rid the earth of venomous beasts and reptiles, I must rid myself of all venomous thoughts. If in not seeking to defend myself against such noxious animals, I die, I should rise again a better and fuller man. With that faith in me how should I seek to kill a fellow being in a snake?

Gandhiji in Young India, April 14, 1927.