Jain Journal 1990 04

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

Page 24

APRIL, 1990
135
The lions and tigers and other members of the cat family enjoy their meal of raw flesh, as also do crocodiles, centipedes, dogs, weasels, sealions, walruses, seals, and birds of prey like the golden eagle.
Though it is disturbing to hear of the slaughter and spilling of blood that goes on all day and every day in Nature's kingdom, so that appetites may be satisfied, yet it must be remembered that under the present order of things, the flesh-eaters are playing a big and useful part in keeping down numbers and in balancing the scales of prolific life.
The argument that there are countries like the polar regions where no other food except flesh is available, is as irrelevant as the argument that life lives upon life, that wolves and tigers, cats and dogs, eagles and crows, fish and fowl, snakes and lizards etc., are all purely carnivorous ; and hence himsā is inevitable in the world. It may be inevitable in some circumstances ; but those circumstances do not apply to us. We must look to our immediate surroundings. Irrelevant speculation, supposititious arguments, and discussions as to what happens elsewhere, what happened in the past, and as to what may possibly happen in the future, lead not only to a sheer waste of time and energy but also to an abuse of intellect, and are positively injurious and harmful. Again, in a si strain exclaims a carping critic, that the present cities have been turned into safe and secure, sanitary and sacred habitations as a consequence of the killing of wild and ferocious beasts, the destruction of death-dealing poisonous reptiles and the clearing away of thick forests and vegetable undergrowth, which involved gross himsā on an extensive scale ; and that if man would cease to kill the ferocious beasts, the venomous reptiles. and the vermin which destroy human life, domesticated animals, agriculture, and horticulture, life would become intolerable and impossible. Such speculations are advanced, not only by men of science, but by men of religion as well. They may or may not be excusable for the purpose of advancing honest scientific research, but they are quite out of place when indulged in by persons discussing religious principles. The essential truths, the universal principles, the basic axioms, do not admit of changing circumstances. They are eternal, everlasting, true in all circumstances, at all times, under all conditions. Himsā would not cease to be himsā by force of circumstances. Its resulting reaction, its karmic effect, as regards duration, kind, intensity and mass may vary with circumstances but its nature is unchanging. Even if it be excusable, or slightly harmful, in certain circumstances, it is never commendable.
What would happen if every living being in the world turned a Jaina, and ceased to commit himsā ? This is again an idle question. It leads to