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peace and happiness in this world, we have to bring ourselves together. We have to integrate our thoughts, words and action in a holistic way for the various parts make the whole. When they are in harmony they will create the music of life. As Robert Browning stated that our mission in life is to set free the imprisoned splendor within.
I am reminded of an incident where a 5 year old boy was playing in the study room of his father. He saw a piece of paper lying on the table and thinking that it was not important he tore the paper into pieces. Suddenly the father saw that the boy had torn the most important work of his day. He had just finished drawing a world map. He was sorry that the hour's work was destroyed in a moment. But instead of getting mad he calmed himself down and started thinking how to mend this mistake. All of a sudden, he remembered that the paper he had taken to draw had a picture of a man at the back. So he figured out that it would be easy to put the man together and gradually started figuring out the eyes and the nose and so on. He finally put the man together and to his surprise on the other side of the paper, his work came together. So all we have to do is to put ourselves together by our own initiatives and the world will be put together all by itself.
To begin with, we have to first start with ourselves. We have to start respecting and not abusing ourselves. After a deep study on this subject, I think the first step is to respect our body. To do this, we have to nourish the body with the kind of food that is not tainted with blood or violence and by adopting a vegetarian life style. The word vegetarian is derived from the Latin word vegetus, meaning whole, lively, sound, fresh. Our food habits and the nourishment we provide ourselves, orients our ways of thinking and living. Vegetarianism is a choice by which we not only nourish the mind and body with nutrients but also help reduce the violence committed in the world on the dumb and the helpless.
Here, I am reminded of a quote by a person whose name I do not know but who has aptly defined the suffering of living beings. He says:
'Unseen they suffer; unheard they cry; In agony they linger; in silence they die. Is it nothing to you all ye who pass by?'
-- Anonymous
We do not witness the suffering of innocent, dumb, defenseless creatures. But there is a lot of suffering. Because we do not see it, we do not feel it, we do not accept it. These penetrating and powerful lines of the author reflect the inner feelings of a person who feels the pain of others.
We do have a choice to make and it is sad that to considerations of palate and taste we make choices that involve such great violence committed on innocent and defenseless creatures. The animals cannot express their pain or speak for themselves, and they cannot fight for themselves, so it is our duty to help them. It is time we
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Jain Education Interational 2010_03
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| SR No. | 527527 |
| Book Title | JAINA Convention 2005 07 JCNC |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Federation of JAINA |
| Publisher | USA Federation of JAINA |
| Publication Year | 2005 |
| Total Pages | 204 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Magazine, USA_Convention JAINA, & USA |
| File Size | 10 MB |