Jain Journal 1990 04

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 22

APRIL, 1990
133
Ahimsa League in London
It is a happy sign of the times that a World League of Ahimsa has been established in London by the Revd. E. F. Udny, M.A., as President, Mrs. M. F. St. John James, as Vice-President and Honorary Secretary. and Dr. W. Leslie Pearse, L. D. S., R. C. S., D. D. S., as Chairman, and Mr. Percy Hill as Honorary Treasurer at Ahimsa House, 137 Elgin Crescent, London W. 11. Their Motto is "Kill not for food, ornament or sport." The founders expect from a reformed diet the growth of a human and glorious civilization, where they shall not hurt nor destroy..... for the earth shall be full of knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." The President says that “never can man progress spiritually until he is willing to abandon cruelty. We cannot connect the word righteousness with the murder of the weak, and helpless. For lack of teaching of 'Not-hurting', the Christian religion has been and is sadly impoverished. There is reason to think that Christ himself expressly insisted on abstinence from flesh. Those who accept the idea of reincarnation would not find it difficult to believe that existence did not begin with the first birth in human form, but that life throughout all kingdoms was for ever one and divine in essence. A later generation would look back with horror and disgust at a practice which was now so general as hardly to excite comment or question. The benevolent intentions of many societies, seeking to relieve suffering of all kinds, were sadly hampered by the prevailing hardness of heart towards animals which hardened us even to our fellow men. It is no doubt an increditably hard task to place before an indifferent, and pre-occupied world the message that all life is one, human, sub-human, and super-human, one in essence and destiny, moving slowly but steadily, however unconsciously, towards a glorious destiny. There is one great ladder for all living beings, whether they walk the earth on two legs or on four, whether they thread the waters with fins or stretch their wings to the air. The world is not delibrrately cruel. It is but custom and thoughtlessness that support a cruel practice."7
The Flesh Food
While the principle of Ahimsā is gaining ground in the West, and vegetarianism is flourishing, we find that the evil habit of taking animal food is on the increase, spreading far and fast in India. There is at present a craze for moving in high society, and eating and drinking form the chief attractions of the upper social circles. The
• Isaiah, xi-9.
Revd. E. F. Udny, in the Ahimsa Journal.