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CONDUCT
C08 - Application of Nonviolence
When they stop growing, they are transferred to different wooden baskets with spiral compartments filled with stems of straws and twigs. Here, the worms have very little space to move. To attach themselves to the twigs, the worms spin a web. While moving around, the worms secrete a gum-like fluid that hardens the silk threads together. After spinning for about 3 days, a cocoon formation is completed around the worm. Now the worms change into a pupa that lives inside the cocoon. They mature until they become moths which can emerge out of the cocoon. If the pupas were allowed to have their natural life, they would grow inside the cocoon to a silk moth in about 3 weeks. However, they are not allowed to reach this stage because when the worms break the cocoon, the silk threads are broken into small fragments. These fragmented threads cannot be used to make silk yarns.
To produce 100 grams of elegant silk yarn, about 1, 500 pupas have to be killed. Therefore, we can calculate how many pupas would have to be killed to obtain different silk products for human pleasure- maybe 1,000; 2, 000; 5, 000; 10,000; or more! Some people gather large numbers of cocoons in wooden baskets and put them in boiling water for a certain period of time. Other people put the large baskets of cocoons in heat chambers for some time. Silkworm pupas have to die so humans can wear silk. This is not the end of story of the silk moth. To harvest healthy moths and to preserve high quality of silk threads, the moths have to go through different types of treatments in labs. If we touch a hot pot or stick our finger in hot water, it hurts. We get blisters and need a lot of love and care to make the hurt feel better. Imagine your entire body being put into an oven or in boiling water! We Jains, believers of Ahimsä, have many more choices of what to wear. Clothes only cover our bodies; our inner beauty is of importance and what counts. Are we willing to take responsibility for all the four-sensed beings killed just to wear one outfit? The choice is ours: whether we care or not for the pupas that have to be killed to make silk. The more aware we are of the violence involved and the more we choose to ignore it, the more the karma
becomes a part of our soul. We have a choice; the pupas do not! Varakh
Varakh is silver foil used for decorating Indian sweets. But to prepare this Varakh some body parts of cattle/ox are used. The process makes use of intestines of cattle or ox that are obtained from the slaughterhouse. This is obtained after killing the cattle/ox for beef. The intestines are pulled out of the animal and handed over to the manufacturers of Varakh. Before handing over the intestines, they are washed in the slaughterhouse to get rid of the blood and mucus in the limited facility that is present in the slaughterhouse. We are not sure how well they are cleaned. Intestines are cut into small pieces and bound together like pages in a notebook. Silver pieces are placed in the middle of these bound intestines, and the whole thing is placed in a leather bag and sealed. Experts, who know how to make Varakh, hammer the bag with wooden sticks until the entire bag flattens out. The silver piece would be flattened into silver foil. This silver foil is separated from the intestine pack and placed between pieces of paper. This is Varakh - ready for use. Even staunch vegetarians, who shy away from eggs, unknowingly consume this as a part of sweets, pän, supäri, and fruits. Idols of Tirthankars are covered with varakh when they are adorned. The silver-topped sweets are even served as prasäd in temples and religious occasions. Some unknowingly consume this because of the additional taste that Varakh supposedly provides. Now the question is "Why the intestines of the cattle/ox? Why not use something else?" The reason behind using the intestines of the cattle/ox for preparing Varakh is because of the elasticity of the intestines. They do not break or tear even after severe pounding. In India, estimates indicate that 2, 75, 000 kilos of "Varakh" are consumed. Can you estimate how many cattle and ox are sacrificed for just a bit of taste?
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Compendium of Jainism - 2015
