________________
216
THE JAINA GAZETTE
Every living being owes its existence to its past actions. Its future is to be determined by its life here and now. No deity can help us if we are not prepared to help ourselves. By offering an animal we commit two blunders. We cut short the span of life the animal has to live and we load ourselves with the sin of killing.
Animals are being tortured and killed for several other purposes besides the five mentioned above. This kind of killing is called Sankalpini himsa or Intentional injury and every follower of Ahimsa should be free from this kind of himsa at least
One who intends to practise Ahimsa should have control of speech, control of mind, carefulness in walking, carefulness in lifting and laying down things, and should examine the food and drink before taking them.
Control of speech. A follower of Ahimsa should not speak too much, should not speak unnecessarily, and should not speak things which will give pain to otbers. He should express bis ideas mildly in pleasant words.
Control of mind. A follower of Ahimsa should not allow his mind to wander about. Ho should not entertain any kind of evil thoughts.
Carefulness in walking. Since many small lives move about on the ground, a follower of Ahimsa should examine the ground in front of him and walk carefully and gently without causing injury to any life as far as possible.
Carefulness in taking and placing things, and careful examinalion of the food and drink are also insisted upon to help one from committing himsa to small lives.
The attitude of a follower of Ahimsa towards others is described as follows He should be friendly towards all the living beings, joyful in the company of good and great people, merciful to those that are in distress, and tolerant towards those that are perversely inclined.
Again, a follower of Ahimsa should also be free from the following faults. Keeping animals bound, encaging birds,
putting larger number of animals in a place smaller than the Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
