“Mr. B. Keightley: It is carrying the point too far.
Mme. Blavatsky: We have Jains among our Theosophists in India, and they plead to me, saying it is a very sinful thing that I permitted our Malay to kill cobras. But, I say I am not going to allow the cobras to sting.
Mr. Kingsland: Better a dead cobra than a dead Theosophist.
Mme. Blavatsky: He says: why don’t you throw some powder? He wants me to throw salt on his tail. They could not pardon me, and many of them left because I had two or three cobras killed.
Countess Wachtmeister: Mr. Johnson thought you had taken the Jain’s advice when we saw all the cockroaches about here.
Mr. B. Keightley: I am afraid that is illegal; that would not stand before law.
Mme. Blavatsky: We laugh at this, but really it is a most sublime thing – because they are so sincere, they would not breathe. They wear those things so as not to breathe the air and swallow those unfortunate insects, those animalculae; and they sweep as they go along not to walk by chance on some insect.
It appears ridiculous; but, really, if you analyze the thing, it is the most sublime thing. They do it with the greatest discomfort in the world, and they believe in it.”
H. P. Blavatsky
The Mark Of God: Understanding Your "I AM Presence" 