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The Jaina Philosophy
some kinds of foods which are accepted as good by the chemists, and here the great distinction comes in which the Hindus make in regard to food. In the matter of animal and vegetable food they accept the one and reject the other. The reason for this is different from the reasons given by the chemists. We admit that we have the same elements in animal food as in vegetable, but there are certain injurious properties in the animal food which do not exist in the vegetable. Take the first property of matter, quietness, purity, calmness, which is to be found in all those very substantial and nutritious, in wheat and other nitrogenous substances, in milk, in butter even to a certain extent. These are used for the purpose of forming tissues, muscles, etc.
There are other substances belonging to the second class which create heat in the body, and these are the substances in which carbon is predominant. All fatty substance, all starchy substances are of the second class. In the human system these elements are necessary and therefore the first and second kinds of food are very important. The third kind gives sluggishness to the human body, and to this class belong the foods which we avoid. They clog the system. These are such foods as cheese, all earthy foods, and other substances in which there is difficulty of digestion. We do not stop there, but examine the nature of the animal diet and the vegetable diet. The very elements which are found in the vegetable diet are also found in the animal diet, but there are certain other reasons why we reject the latter. We first say that man was never intended to be a carnivorous animal. The scriptures are in favour of a vegetarian diet and not of the animal diet. There is a passage in Genesis which says that the God said, "I have given you every herb, etc., for your meat." Later on account of the fall of man as it is understood, of course by all advocates of that theory, the people became flesh eaters and were carnivorous, but the original idea of holy persons was that the food proper for man was the
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