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all of this kind of thing. I am a moral person.' Those who are pickpockets will shout more, and if the real pickpocket is caught, then the pickpockets will beat him to show everybody that they are very much against it.
This is a very very complex phenomenon. A religious person is a totally different person. He will be able to forgive, he will be able to understand. He will be able to see the limitations of man and the problems of man. He will not be so hard and so cruel -- he cannot be. His compassion will be infinite.
Before we enter into these sutras, a few things have to be understood.
First: the concept of sin, the concept of the immoral act. What is immoral? How should we define immorality? and what is the criterion? One thing is immoral in India, another thing is immoral in China. That which is immoral in India may be moral in Iran, and that which is moral in Russia may be immoral in India. There are a thousand and one moralities. How to decide? -- because now that the world has become a global village, there is much confusion. What is right?
To eat meat is right? Is it moral or immoral? The vegetarian says it is immoral. Many Jains have come to me many times and said 'What about Jesus eating meat? How can Jesus be an enlightened person -- and you say that he is enlightened -- how can he be an enlightened person? He cats meat.' For a Jain it is impossible to conceive that Jesus can be enlightened although he eats meat. Jains have come to me and said to me 'How can Ramakrishna be enlightened? He eats fish. He cannot be.' Now they have a very definite criterion with them -- vegetarianism.
One Jain monk was talking to me, and he said 'I cannot believe that Jesus or Ramakrishna are enlightened, they eat meat.'
I told him 'Do you know that there are people in the world who think that to drink milk is almost like eating meat? -- because it is an animal food. Now, milk is an animal food. It is almost like blood because it comes out of the mother's blood. It is also full of live bacteria. There are people in the world, real fanatics, who take things to the very extreme. They say that milk, cheese, and butter are all animal
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