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COMPENDIUM OF JAINISM
3) Virodhi hiṁsā is committed in self-defence or defence of person or property of members of the family or relatives and friends. One has to defend against thieves, robbers, decoits or enemies in battles. Jainism does not preach cowardice. Defence of coutry is one of the obligations as a soldier in the army. The only restriction is that unnecessary hiṁsā must not be indulged in as a matter of hostility or revenge."
in order to guard oneself against hiṁsā, one must completely renouce wine, flesh, honey and the five udumbar fruits: that is fruits belonging to the fig variety or of the genus ficus in which tiny beings are born in numbers : gulār, anjir (fig), banyan, * peepal and pākar. In eating any of these kinds of fruits, not only is there hiṁsā of innumerable tiny insects and invisible organisms but also of countless seeds with which such a fruit is full. Wine is the birth-place of many organisms, like the flesh which is secured by killing an animal or from a dead animal. Every destruction of life involves destruction of compassion too. Honey is to be avoided not only because its collection involves himsā but also because it contains a large number of tiny invisible eggs. Wine intoxicates the mind of the drinker and its preparation by fermention involves inevitable himsā of jīvas.
Those who are non-vegetarians often argue that since taking vegetables, fruits, milk and cereals also involves hiṁsā there could be no objection to meat-eating. It should be remembered that taking vegetarian diet involoves injury to one-sensed beings. There is no injury to mobile beings. It is from this practical need Jaina authors have classified living beings according to their grades with reference to sense-organs and development. The argument ignores the fact that the body of an animal contains innumerable mobile and immobile beings. Microscopic examination will disclose the presence of a vast number of living organisms. In killing an animal or even in eating the flesh of a dead animal, one cannot escape from causing injury to a large number of vitalities. That is not so in eating vegetable food where himsā involved is the minimum and that too to beings of one sense which are immobile.
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