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devotes to take vows to refrain from eating after sunset and also to avoid certain kinds of pickles during certain times of the year. Please note—all of this relates to Thali ahimsa only.
In the afternoon, I went to meet with the same muni-ji in private at the place where he was staying. Here I said to him, “Respected muni-ji, you command a great deal of respect and a spiritual power within the Jain community. You have the power to shape the community. Today, I was surprised that you did not use that power effectively. Instead of asking your devotees to take vow of not eating after sunset and certain kinds of pickles, you could have asked them not to use and deal in animal-based products like silk, leather, wool, pearls, and silver foils and to abstain from all kinds of adulterations in food." To this he had no answers and he basically ignored
me.
We talk of veganism and cruelty-free products. And yet, one will be hard pressed to find even a dozen sadhus who do not use dairy products such as milk and milk products. In my opinion, either they don't believe that there is himsa in milk production or they don't want to know about it. Three years ago, during my trip to India, I was giving a talk about Ahimsa at a Jain institution and talked about himsa in the production of milk. After the seminar, I was told very plainly by a Jain sadhu not to talk about milk here. Imagine if sadhus become vegan (abstain from dairy products), how big a change that will bring within the Jain community. I am of the opinion that once you start giving up with dairy products, slowly the community will listen to other issues affecting ahimsa.
Many Jains currently display both a lack of understanding of Jain philosophy and pride in being Jain. This strange combination creates the mindset of "everything goes," and the false belief that all choices are equally okay and acceptable.
Additionally, many religious speakers are either ignorant themselves or do not want to talk about anything beyond the most basic issues. They say only those things that will please their listeners and financial contributors.
An Ahimsa Crisis: You Decide
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