Jain Journal 1990 04

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

Page 25

136
nothing. It helps us in no way. It is no justification for the commission of himsă. Please do not bother about the world. The world will take care of itself. You would do well to take care of yourself. Do what you think best in the circumstances in which you are placed; and do not worry about the others, how your action affects them. Do not cause injury to any living being by a voluntary act, or through thoughtlessness. When you have adopted the care and caution necessary under the circumstances, do not worry about the result of your action. But consider well, think carefully, act cautiously in right earnest, and do not delude yourself into a false belief that you are doing so. Do not shut your eyes to what is obvious and plain. Do your duty, but do it humanely, considerately, honestly, without the least malice, and without the slightest intention of causing injury to another. This is the gospel of Ahimsa. And remember that men who indulge in himsā and justify their actions on the ostensible plea of doing good to humanity in general, are really and actually moved by selfish desire of obtaining money, power, influence, popularity, name, fame, applause, advertisement, or some other personal benefit.
Hunting
To call the cruellest form of killing by the name of 'Sport' is an abuse of the word, a gross lie, and a despicable deception. What is fun to the boys is death to the frogs. Angling is fun indulged in on sacred Sundays. It is rather a desecration of the Sabbath, when creatures of water are baited out of their element and die an agonising death on dry land. The bringing down of chirping birds from their perches in trees by wounding them with stones thrown from a catapult, or with shots from a gun is cowardly cruelty, and no sport. The hunting of fox, deer, rabbit, etc, is equally cruel and cowardly. Big-game shooting is occasionally defended on the ground that the killing of ferocious animals saves men and beasts from their ravages. The pretext is false in fact. It is rarely that one goes with the sole object for shooting a man-eating, or a sheep-carrying wolf or a poisonous snake. Even when the avowed object of the hunter is protection of society from the ferocious wild animal, the real motives which impel him to such action are not humanitarian, but the desire of reward, the expectation of being called a brave man, or the excitement of the hunt.
JAIN JOURNAL
A person may have a justification for causing the death of a wolf, or a tiger when he is compelled to do so in order to save the life of a man, or a beast. But a lion-hunt, or tiger-shooting as such, is a sin, though it may not be a crime under man-made law. A hunting expedition is an expensive pastime indulged in by persons in high position, who are not