Jain Digest 2006 04

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

Page 25

Non Violent Approach
TO
Life Through Vegetarianism
By Pramodaben Chitrabhanu
In life sooner or later there is one question we are "wherever you see life-that is you. What is this recognition, faced with that is what is the purpose of our existence"? this knowledge apprehended by the most learned and most I have no doubt that many answers have been given to
childlike alike? It is *Reverence for Life,' reverence for the
impenetrable mystery that meets us in our universe, an this question, but the one that I find close to my heart is,
existence different from ourselves in external appearance "strive to free oneself from pain and misery and to help
yet inwardly of the same character with us. Terribly similar, other living beings achieve the same."
awesomely related. This dissimilarity, the strangeness I would like to start with a quotation:
between us and other creatures are here removed. "Unseen they suffer, unheard they cry.
Reverence before the infinity of life means the removal of
the strangeness, the restoration of shared experiences, and In agony they linger, in silence they die.
of compassion and sympathy." Is it nothing to you, all ve who pass by?"
In this way when we learn to see the animals as -Anonymous, ourselves we change our perception of them and become
more compassionate towards them. When such an These are the lines that express the pain and suffering
understanding dawns on us, the first change occurs in the of the animals that are subjected to exploitation and torturo
food pattern. One starts to observe what one puts into the for the human greed. It is sad to see that the innocent,
body where the soul is housed. For we know that, we are dumb and defenseless creatures are being put to cruel pain
what we eat. What we eat reflects in our thinking and our far from the human eyes. The thought itself makes one's
thinking reflects in our action. If we want a healthy body, heart bleed with anguish and grief. How can we as human
the body should be provided with healthy and wholesome beings sit quietly when our younger brothers and sisters
diet, pure and untainted by bloody food. If we want a are in terrible state? Is it not our duty to protect and help
healthy mind, the mind should be provided with inspiring them? But how difficult it is to predict man for, "Man is an
and positive thoughts. actor. He acts all manner of men, and each one is a lic. Only the animal in him is real," says William Saroyan. One is often not aware of the fact that when one eats Probably he is right by saying so, for the best iality in the meat, one takes in protein along with the chemicals that are man has created a violent and destructive world in which injected into the animals to fatten them up and antibiotics we live today.
to control diseases and viruses. One also forgets that in
flesh, the negative vibrations of pain, fear and rejection How long shall we pretend to believe that animals have
exist, and they permeate in every cell of the human body no souls and so they feel no pain. It is time to wake up
creating there the feeling of fear, pain and rejection. Meat from our slumber and ignorance and face the truth. Animals
contains no essential nutrients that cannot be obtained are living beings just like you and me and as we suffer
directly from plant sources. By cycling grain through from pain and agony they also do. Let us stop being violent
livestock, we lose 90% of the protein. 96% of the calories, to these dumb and innocent creatures. For violence begets
99% of its carbohydrates and 100% of the fiber. violence and love begets love.
How does one hope to live with good feelings of health, To begin with let us look at animals as living beings
happiness and sound mind when negative vibrations of pain and not as things that are made for human beings to use
blended with chemicals are working in the body? These and consume. For they are lives full of emotions and feelings
are the main causes that lead to the fatal diseases of the that experience pain and pleasure as we do.
mind and the body. That is the reason why we see so many Dr. Albert Schweitzer the Nobel Peace Prize Recipient people suffering from emotional, psychological and in 1952 said in his book "A Place for Revelation that physiological diseases. Meat-centered dicts are linked to
JAIN DIGEST. Summer 2006/23
Jain Education Intemational