Book Title: Jain Center Essex Fells NJ 1993 04 Ten Years Celebration
Author(s): Jain Center Essex Fells NJ
Publisher: USA Jain Center New Jersey

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Page 7
________________ 10th Anniversary Celebration Vegetarianism Vs. Non-Vegetarianism The scholars and saints of every religion of the world - Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Jains, Buddhists, and others - have described violence, cruelty, untruth, anger, and hatred as sins. Needless hurt and the infliction of pain on other living beings has been decried by all of them as equally sinful. Non-violence, kindness, forgiveness, and truthfulness are described as Dharma, or religion. Their main teaching is to see in every living being, the image of the great Heavenly Father and to deal with them accordingly. They not only condemned eating flesh for food, but also taught mankind to treat all living beings, animals, birds, etc. with compassion and feed them with grain, which was described as an act of kindness. Nature has also provided innumerable tasty and nutritious vegetable products for human consumption while at the same time created various birds and animals to help and serve mankind. These birds and animals not only lend a helping hand in maintaining the balance of nature, but on being accorded little bit of love and affection, serve mankind from the core of their hearts, and become more faithful and loyal than even their fellow human beings. It is definitely an act of total misconduct and ungratefulness that man, whose body has been made by nature akin to the body structure of vegetarian species and different from that of meat-eating species, goes against nature and defies the teachings of saints and sages, and consumes meat. All living beings - like us - are creations of the same Almighty. Will the Heavenly Father tolerate the crime of killing his children by his other progeny without justification? No, never! One will always be paid in the same kind for his deeds. No action, either good or bad goes unrewarded. Sooner or later, we are sure to be rewarded or punished for our deeds. This is unalterable, inevitable, and universal truth. Today, doctors and scientist from every corner of the world are warning that flesh-foods induce cancer and incurable diseases and shorten the life-span, whereas vegetarian foods yield more nutrition and enhance the body's immunity to fight diseases, promoting health and long life. Most of the animals used for food eat all sorts of unhygienic eatables and are likely to have harmful infection in their body. Imagine the plight of a person who consumes such flesh and becomes prone to innumerable diseases. If even then, human beings continue to destroy themselves by eating flesh-food, either in blind race of copying others or in the pursuit of so called modernity, it can only be called their misfortune of ill luck. Before slaughtering animals for food, no adequate examination is made of the diseases they harbor in their bodies and thus, their diseases enter the bodies of those who consume their flesh. Besides this, the cruel and torturous atmosphere in which these animals are killed, creates a lot of fear , tension, an anger, which further makes meat poisonous. This poisonous and disease infested meat, on consumption, induces lots of incurable diseases and it seems that it fulfills the killed animal's curse, "As you consume me, so will I consume you." Oh, my non-vegetarian brethren, before you get ready to eat meat the next time, please do pay a visit to the poultry farm and slaughtering house to see with your own eyes the torture inflicted on these silent victims, their pain and suffering, and the ghastly expressions on the faces of these animals. Then ask your conscience whether our superiority and humanity lie only in the selfish perception of our taste-buds and in snatching forever, the life out of these living beings, which we can never give back. Dear brother, please look into the pros and cons of your own interest. Flesh-foods, instead of providing nutrition, give you incurable diseases and diminish your life span. Such foods pollute your minds and hearts, destroy your happiness and peace of mind, leading to decline of morals and character, pushing not only yourselves but also your coming generations toward incurable diseases and unsurmountable troubles. For the sake of saving your children, whom you love more than your own lives, from the dangers of cancer, heart ailments and social disadvantages, please stop consumption of flesh foods right from today itself. Every moment is the right moment for repentance. According to the scriptures, "Those who renounce flesh-foods are equally rewarded as those who perform yajna." Gopinath Aggarwal અહિંસા પધર્મ NON-VIOLENCE IS WAY TO MOKSHA Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

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