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Jaina Acara : Siddhanta aura Swarūpa
but only purchase meat from the market. But Manu says that they cannot be excepted, since not only killers but supporters, purchasers, sellers, cooks, servers and eaters are all tr blame. Who will kill mute animals if men refuse to eat meat. It is they who started violence in the name of gods and goddesses. Why don't they realise that life is dear to all alike?
Once there was a conference of scientists in London. One of them remarked that what they can not make, they have no right to break. He rebutted others' arguments, saying that they were free to experiment on a fly. Its wings were chopped off and artificial wings were pasted on it, but it was unable to fly. The scientists passed a resolution to the effect that what they could not create they must not destroy. This they did with no dissenting note.
Those who think that meat is invigorator are mistaken, since vegetarianism gives more lasting strength. Meat may give temporary shake up, but on the whole it does more harm than good. In 1932, the League of Nations met in a conference and concluded that vegetarians are stronger, more energetic,and alert than the non- vegetarians. Dr. Graham observed in his speech that the decline of the Roman Empire was the result of its soldiers' addiction to meat.
Emerson was a strict vegetarian. An American remarked that meateating alone can strengthen bones and not vegetables. Emerson asked him whether he could cultivate the land, because he was a farmer and meat-eater too. On his saying no, Emerson said, "The bullocks' bones are admittedly stronger than man's and the poor animal eats but grass". This brought about a metamorphosis in the life of the American farmer. As a vegetarian, he won forty-six competitions and came to be a world-champion.
Meat may stimulate one for some time but can never invigorate the body. Those who eat meat avoid religious places. Not to talk of eating meat, none is allowed to take it inside a church, temple or Gurudvārā. Vasunandi says it is faeces infested with vermin and foul-smelling to. Meat does not contain calcium, and carbohydrate with the result that meat-eaters are irritable, angry, intolerant and pessimists. In vegetarian diets they are present in greater measure and so vegetarians are just the reverse in their nature. The Arabs could not be matched by others in bravery, quickness and tolerance, because their staple food was milk and date-palms. Meat and wine weaken the nervous system so much that the addicts contemplate suicide. Meat enervates the body and retards spirituality.
II Drinking All intoxicating drinks in whatever form like hemp, its leaves, its flowers, opium, cigarettes, bidis, tobacco, toddy, whisky, brandy, champagne, gin, rum, port, beer and the like impair intellect. A drop of wine is a drop of poison. It's an electric shock. Its first drop makes one a
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