(Kadamba Kanana Swami, September 2013, Cape Town, South Africa, BYS lecture)
There’s a famous story of Alexander the Great who walked into this particular town. Apart from the presence of one saint, the town was completely empty. Alexander was used to this – he never walked into a town that was full of people. People had fled before he arrived!
But there was this one man sitting down. Alexander looked at him and said, “Don’t you know who I am?” He pulled out his sword. “Don’t you know that with this sword, I can just pierce you in a moment?”
And the person said, “Don’t you know who I am? Don’t you know that even if you pierce me with your sword I will not be affected because I cannot die?”
So saints are not so interested in killing or not killing. They try not to kill bodies as much as possible, but they know that the soul cannot be killed. And that’s more important.