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श्री गष्टसंत शिरोमणि अभिनंदन गंथा
in the light of Jain philosophy. It is clear that there arise and grow from the basic feelings of non-violence. It is the non-violence which is at the root of' 'It is the principle of non-violence which is the foundation stone on which be entire Jain Philosophy rests. The feeling of violence can never breed the feelings of nature love or affection. It is therefore that all the religions of the world have recognised the importance of non-violence. But the Jain philosophy has accepted it as the very basic principle for everything. Here as we are talling with refernce to environmental pollution. We shall focus attention on material violence around we.
Basically man is a vegetarian animal, his anatomical constitution is more suitable for vegetarian food. In order to maintain ecological balance nature has decided the constitution, behaviour and food habits of all the animals in different ways. As a part of this design man was made to be a vegetarian animal. But it is astonishing to find that man has turned into a non vegetarian animal and totally changed nature's law. To satisfy his desire for taste he has been killing a number of animals and by eating them he has turned his stomach into a graveyard. He has even forgotten the feelings of mercy and sympathy and has indulged in indiscriminate violence. Even the wild and cruel animals do not kill lower animals when they are not hungry and do not indulge in needless violence. But man has killed defenceless animals and caused wide spread violence. The scriptures say when a person kills one animal for the purpose of eating, he does not kill only one living being but also kills many other potential lives arising from the flash of that dead animal. It is said in the that a true 'Shraman' is a strict vegetarian. 'Sagar Dharmamrit' and other holy books also support this view and advise us to abstain from meat, wine and honey because they are also considered to be included in the 'Mulguna'. In his book 'Paravachan Sar' Acharya Kund Kund says that in every piece of meat there are millions of other living cells continuously keep on arising. And therefore any one who eats raw or cooked meat or even touches it is guilty of killing millions of lives. Similarly items like eggs, roots etc. are also not considered edible because they are also covered under this category of items causing violence.
Besides killing animals for consuming them man is needlessly fond of killing animals simply for the sake of deriving pleasure of hunting. Hobby of hunting animals for pleasure is perversion on the part of man. Hunting is a perverted hobby of man. How many silent, innocent animals are an asset to Nature and when a hunter is cruel by his very nature. He kills innocent birds and animals only to decorate the drawingrooms. We wish he was able to see helplessness and a cry for mercy in the eyes of those animals when he wishes to kill.
Thousand of innocent animals have been cruelly killed to produce cosmetics and beauty aids, such as perfumes, sprays and lipsticks, etc. Instead of giving attention to the natural beauty and health man gives more attention to artificial ways and means to appear more beautiful. If we read the description of the precess in which animals are killed for this purpose our eyes would be filled with tears. Sometimes the hide of living animals is also removed for making costly leather garments. In this ways weakness for tasteful food, pleasure of hunting and fondness for fashion has motivated man to indulge in needless and cruel violence by killing innocent animals. As a result
हेमेन्द्र ज्योति* हेमेन्द्र ज्योति 135 हेमेन्द्र ज्योति * हेमेन्द्र ज्योति
