Religion and Philosophy of the Jainas

SR No.: 001190
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Virchand R Gandhi
Publisher: Jain International Ahmedabad
Publication Year: 1993
Total Pages: 266
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Philosophy, Ethics, & Principle
File Size: 13 MB

Page 55

22 RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY OF THE JAINAS at the time of being killed, and its mental condition, - our philosophy in this matter even analyses this feeling - we shall see that the mentality or emotion is only a peculiar state of vibrations of the physical matter of the body. If every thought, if every feeling, if every emotion causes a peculiar state of the body, such diet will certainly have its effect on our physical and mental nature. Suppose a merchant dealing in cotton receives a telegram in the city of New York that the price of cotton has fallen fifty per cent. He opens the telegram and reads it, and if you feel his pulse you will find that there is a very great change in the state of his pulse, although he has done nothing but read a few words on a piece of paper. If this is the effect of the mental upon the physical state of the human being, what would be the effect upon the animal of the knowledge that it was to be killed. Besides this, the animals which are eaten have only taken the elements which are in the vegetable and have assimilated them into their systems. We are in a sufficiently animal condition without adding the animal nature to our own. The physical impurities also and the injurious humors and ethers of an injurious nature are always present in animals which are especially raised for the purpose of food. The turkey is stuffed as it were with food, and is made to appear fat and plump. To try the same experiment with the human being would produce a state of body which you can all imagine. To keep our own body healthy we must take sufficient exercise; if we eat something which is not necessary for us we know that the result will be injurious, and that is the experience of all people in all countries of the world. In more ancient times the life was simpler, but now the discovery of all these different medicines for curing dyspepsia shows that people are suffering from this disease. In this country (= America) we know that there are so many kinds of pills and medicines used; we even have those in India now. These things show that not only in America but also in all countries it is because people do not know the rules for diet that they have recourse to artificial means. It is better to follow the rules of diet in the beginning