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feeling is not to inspire fear in any living being; it is opening one's heart to life.
Intention is what counts. Living in reverence means not condoning or consenting to any form of violence, even if someone else is willing to be the active perpetrator. It also means trying to prevent it before it happens, and trying to stop it once it has begun. Throughout history, Jain monks have tried to stop priests from other religions from dragging animals to altars to be sacrificed. Under Mahavira's gentle influence, many kings abolished in their lands slavery the caste system, degradation of women, hunting, butchering, and sacrificing of animals, and many people were inspired to live in Ahimsa and NonViolence.
It is true that just by breathing, using water, treading on earth, and taking plants as food, we are causing lives to be lost. The emphasis lies in reducing to a minimum the harm we do in order to survive.
We have to make a choice. Rather than take the flesh and blood of animals who have already evolved all five senses and a highly developed brain, whose nervous system and emotional life are so similar to ours, and in whose veins blood runs, as in our own, we sustain our bodies with the help of the bloodless plant kingdom, which has not yet developed any of the senses of taste, smell, seeing, or hearing.
The more sensory apparatus, the more a life form can be sensitive to pain. Since fish, birds, and animals are equipped in this way, we refuse to be a cause to their agony and pain. Also, when we observe how dearly animals cling to life and struggle to survive,
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