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JAIN DIGEST
Cover Story Vegetarianism & Ahimsal
W
orld peace can be achieved by practising ahimsa or non-violence, which is the fundamental doctrine of all religions of the world. Non-violence implies universal love and universal brotherhood of man. This doctrine has attracted the attention of the entire globe due to its successful application of liberating India from the fetters of foreign domination by the father of Nation, Mahatma Gandhi. These remarks of Mahatma Gandhi are illuminating. "If anybody has developed the doctrine of non-violence it was Lord Mahavira, but the modern society does not follow the Lord properly."
Non-violence or religion of ahimsa means love of humanity. Love is like an understanding which grows brighter, carving upon many truths, and love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind. Almost all religions of the world accept the superiority and majesty of this noble doctrine as a panacea for exterminating the ills of the world.
"Non-violence is the law of our species and violence is the law of the brute," Gandhi said. "Non-violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction derived by the ingenuity of man." Ahimsa is the right, royal road to peace and prosperity in the present world.
Acharya Gunabhadra's reasoning is very sound when he says, "Every living being has such a deep pit of worldly desires, that all objects in the world amount to a particle for it. What and how much, then, can we get? Useless is the desire of sense gratification." It implies that one should not be too much of body-minded but should try to think of the kingdom of heaven within. The Prophet of peace, Mahavira, taught us that ahimsa and truth will bestow genuine peace and happiness. Any nation in this nuclear and space age sincerely desiring for peace and harmony, should devote some time for introspection and contemplation upon the real nature of the self. Due to misconception we devote all our attention to the dead and nonsentient matter as the be-all and end-all of our life.
At this point I should like to stress again that the price for the real peace and harmony is a life of universal brotherhood and mercy. Peace can never be purchased by compromise with evil or surrender to it. The message of ahimsa is that miseries evolve out of violence or Himsa. The higher the type of noninjury the greater the peace enjoyed. Peace is not manufactured in an ordnance factory, or by piling up atomic weapons, or by accumulating wealth and power, but by constructive dialogue within oneself and amongst nations. Any nation desiring to achieve peace should eradicate the blemishes that deprave the soul. Peace is essential for the existence of the state and the individual and for the creation of a better society.
There is an imminent threat of nuclear war, and so we are expected to act quickly to prevent it and spread the message of the Religion of Ahimsa and a synoptic vision of life. When I emphasize the role of religion in the maintenance of peace, it does not mean that religion has any kind of monopoly on peace. The problem of peace in contemporary situation is closely related to the tensions existing between and among Jainations on various issues and therefore the degree of peace &
which we are able to achieve would be proportionate to the degree of the relaxation of tension in the international affairs and it is here we make a specific contribution from a spiritual standpoint. We should try to develop a spirit of global humanism based on a fusion of and a collaboration between religion and humanism so that religion can provide the necessary philosophical and spiritual foundation for peace. Under the banner of ahimsa, there is no discrimination between man and man, between one race and another, because it advocates all living beings should be treated as deserving our equal love. In such a religion of peace, there is no scope for rivalry or antagonism.
Editor's Note: This article is a reprint of World Peace through None-Violence (Ahimsa) by Pujya Swami Charukeerthiji of Shravan Bel Gola, Asian Jain Confernece, Singapore, March 1990.
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14
Explaining Vegetarianism
To Your Child
By Rosemary O'Brien
Most children who are vegetarian from birth or very young, are following their parent's beliefs. Although, I believe, children naturally have a sensitivity for animals, and a compassion for suffering, it would be uncommon for a small child to declare vegetarianism as his way of life within a meat-eating family. As our y r young people are becoming more widely read, and animal rights literature is widely distributed, there are more cases of young boys and girls and teenagers making judgements and becoming vegetarians. However, most of the vegetarian children now are within vegetarian family, which seems like the ideal place for them to be. It is necessary to explain to these children exactly what it means to be a vegetarian and why you are following these beliefs, especially as these children grow old enough to experience that the rest of society is doing something different.
As a teacher, I see that children like to know what they are doing and why they are doing it. As many vegetarians as there are, there are different ideas and ways of seeing things. If I had my own children, this might be how I would explain vegetarianism to them.
Animals have the right to live a happy and free life in the place that Nature has given them in our world. Some animals are meant to run free or hop in the grass, swim in the water, or fly through the skies. Animals have feelings. They feel cold, pain when hurt or sick, and sad when torn apart from their loved ones. They show love and tenderness in caring for their little ones, and affection for us when we care for them.
We have a special love for dogs and cats. We think they are cute and like to have them around. We are sad if they are hurt. The other animals deserve our respect and concern, too, such as ducks, chickens, rabbits, and lambs. Many times these animals are hurt or killed to provide food or other products for us.
For example, hamburgers are made from grinding up the body of a dead cow and leather shoes are made from the skin
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