Book Title: Introduction to Jainism and its Culture
Author(s): Balbhadra Jain
Publisher: Kundkund Gyanpith Indore

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Page 118
________________ consequences of that violence are suffered not only by the organizers and participants but also by the large supportive audience. There are also instances where violence is committed by many individuals and the consequences are suffered by just one individual.'' For example, driven by selfishness, pride or some other feeling, a king attacks another state. Following his commands the salary earning simple soldiers of his army burn many villages and kill many people unwillingly. The consequences of such violence will have to be suffered only by the king. The individual soldier will just suffer the consequences of his own passions. PURPOSE OF VIOLENCE Basically the passion infested complex attitudes of a being cause violence. Irrespective of the form and purpose of violence, passions are the motive force behind all types of violence. However, superficially looking, there are numerous forms of violence in this world. If we open our mind to realities we will find that millions of beings are killed in name of religion. In India there are thousands of deities before whom animal sacrifice is made. On the day of Id-ud-juha, popularly known as Bakra Id, millions of goats are slaughtered. None of these animals, killed in name of religion, are either killed or consumed by a deity or a prophet. All these are killed and eaten by religious leaders, priests and their followers. Generally speaking one who kills animals is called butcher and he who kills men is called executioner or murderer. But a person who kills so many beings in a shrine is called a devotee. To kill or slaughter animals is the profession of a butcher. To execute men is the livelihood of an executioner. These people never conceal this fact. In fact, even for a priest killing animals before a deity is a profession because that is the means of livelihood for him and his family. But he does not have the moral strength to publicly accept it as profession. He puts the label of religion on his profession. But, in fact, this is no fault of that poor uneducated priest. It is to the credit of his clever ancestors who wrote some scriptures and pronounced them as the word of God in order to win confidence of masses. In these scriptures they made animal sacrifice an obligatory duty so that they and other people of their caste have a permanent profession that yields offerings of meat, cash donation, and respect. 101 Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

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