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110
JANISM AND WORL) PROBLEMS
SOME OBSERVATIONS AS TO THE FOOD
OF SAINTS
As has now been made clear by the researches of modern science itself, green leaves continue to manifest the phenomena of life for some time even when plucked off the plant on which they grew. A plant is like a colony of living cells', so that those of the living 'cells' which are in the plucked-off leaf continue to live for a time even though deprived of the services of the cominon feeder (root). The Saints who aim at the perfection of Love and Mercy, seek to avoid destructive contact with “living matter,' so as not to cause injury and pain to any form of life.
Saints only use boiled or "spiced' water. This is due to the desire to avoid swallowing down living water-gernis which abound in unsterilized liquid. Water may be sterilized by boiling, or by the addition of certain spices, e.g., cloves and cardamums. But Saints will not use water if it has been sterilized for their use. They may only use it if it was sterilized for his own use by the householder, in the course of the ordinary household routine, and not so that he might utfer it to a Saint. The refusal to accept a thing the preparation of which has involved destruction of life when done for their use, places the Saints higher in respect of the elements of Mercy and Love. By doing so they escape from the third form of himsa, termed anumodana, which is the acclaiming of a wrongful act subsequent to its commission. For them sterilized water stands on the same footing as dried grain, unless the destruction of life be caused especially for their use, in which case some of the taint of the himsa involved in the taking of life must necessarily accrue to them. It should be remen bered that only those Saints who have attained to Omniscience are able to go without food, so that it is as much as can be expected from an ordinary Saint if he is able to avoid himsa in all its three forms, namely, krita, karita, and
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