Jain Digest 2001 03 Vol 18 No 02

Author(s): Federation of JAINA
Publisher: USA Federation of JAINA

Page 32

THIS IS JAINISM
by Dhrumil Purohit
I was so excited! Just a few months ago I had turned vegan, make sense to devote much of our attention to the avoiding onand I was searching everywhere for a natural foods store that would ions and potatoes when we are still consuming products that supmeet my needs. And there it was, I had finally found one! All port the killing of cows and other higher sensed beings? this time it was right under my nose, only a five minute drive J ains and Non-Jains alike often ask me whether this "Vegan from my house here in Delaware.
thing is a “Jain thing". When I reply I often illustrate this analFirst on my grocery checklist was Vegan Chocolate! ogy for them: Recall a restaurant that you recently visited. See if MMMmmm, so good. I had tried some a few days ago at a veggie you can recall the menu. Did it have any "Fried Human Legs" on market in Philadelphia and enjoyed it very much. The chocolate the appetizers list? What about "Cat Dung"? If they answer yes taste itself was nothing special, but just knowing it was vegan made that is another issue, but if they answer no I ask them why. The me love biting into it all the more.
general answer I get is that it is unheard of. “Who serves cat dung After I had found my chocolate, I walked around a bit more. at a restaurant?" they often ask me. In that same sense, it was My eyes showed my enthusiasm as I roamed the aisles in astonish- previously unheard of for a practitioner of the Jain religion to supment. About fifty percent of the total goods in the Newark Co- port the killing of a five-sense being. The concept of being a Veop Natural Foods store were vegan, and I was loving it! I found gan was never an issue for the Jain community, because animals everything I needed and so much more. Vegan items from marsh- were treated with great care. Previously cows were not injured mallows and cereals, to cheese, recipes and even toothpaste, were while obtaining milk, previously animal products were not used in abundant and ready for my taking.
the cooking and preserving of materials and foods, but they are The toothpaste was something that really made me smile. I today. What we must realize is that usage has caused immense had only recently learned that the majority of brand named tooth amounts of suffering to our surrounding environment. pastes out there were made with cow bones and other similar in- I think it is great that people avoid onions and other undergredients. I could no longer look in the mirror each morning ground vegetables. I think it is great that people are vegetarian. I knowing that my teeth were being cleaned at the expense of a also think it is great that people eat one less meat because they sentient being. Not only that, but sixty-one percent of the cow's have had an encounter with one of you lovely members of society. value is based upon the sales of its by-product (Stepaniak Pg 114). In addition, I realize that veganism, like avoiding underground Meaning, farmers make most of their money by us using products vegetables, is only one small step in the gigantic ladder we are like these toothpastes with animal by-products in them. trying to ascend. I don't consider myself better than someone who Unfortunately, I was faced with a dilemma. The natural tooth
is vegetarian, but I do consider myself fortunate to have had the paste was made with the underground vegetable ginger. Although experiences that led me to it. For those who have not had similar I had only given up some underground vegetables, (reasons were
experience, it is my obligation to present them with it. for strengthening of will power) I had never given much thought We must take some time to sit down and think about our to ginger. So I contemplated whether to buy the product. actions and the reactions that follow. We cannot go by what others
Contemplation took thirty seconds. What is worse. I told have said, rather we must learn to investigate for ourselves and myself, to continue to use a product that supports the killing of
ports the killing of
come to
come to our own conclusions. However, we can only come to sentient being, or to get an underground derived toothpaste for
for conclusions after we have investigated.
conc now, and look for others that are not made with a root later? Al
This is Jainism. though we are deciding from one of two necessary evils, the answer is simple. Why do I raise this if it is so easy to understand? *Bibliography*
Avoidance of underground vegetables originally came about Stepaniak, Joanne The Vegan Source Book by those who began to take karmic principles to the next level. Lincolnwood, Illinois. Lowel House. 1998 Minimization of suffering, one of the great Jain themes, was the basis behind this action. Underground vegetable extraction was associated with the harming of beings in the ground and the de
Vegan Sites struction of the actual soul of the plant (when pulling an apple off
http://www.goveg.com a tree the tree itself is still intact but when pulling a carrot out of
http://vegsource.com the ground, the whole carrot plant dies).
http://vegan.com At that time, the suffering of higher sense beings was unheard
http://www.vegan.org of (someone who was concerned about the suffering of lower sense
http://milksucks.com beings was not causing harm to higher sense beings). Does it Jain 30 JAIN DIGEST: SUMMER 2002 For Private & Personal Use Only