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of hunting, slaying or killing animals, birds or fishes it is not possible for him to nurture non-violent thoughts. It has been observed that the flesh foods are deficient in the amino acid called Triptofen and this deficiency causes a reduction in the quantity of Serotonin in the brain, which, in turn, makes the non-vegetarian flesh eaters cruel, merciless, violent and aggressive. Statistics also support the view that flesh foods increase a person's tendency to commit criminal acts of violence.
It is plain that flesh foods, derived from animal sources, cannot be obtained without killing. Slaying of animals is essential for getting flesh foods. One can hardly slay a living writhing and bleating goat or calf, or any other creature for that matter, without being cruel and heartless. On the other hand, even when we concede to the existence of vegetable life-forms, foods of vegetable origin are obtained with comparatively much lesser violence. These two types of violence cannot be compared, as the animals, birds and fishes are fully developed life-forms that are capable of expressing themselves and struggling to escape the cruel fate that awaits even the most harmless of these creatures. Only the cruellest of the cruel can slay such creatures. It is, therefore, not surprising that flesh foods breed barbarous wildness in a person and makes him uncivilised. It deprives him of humane sensitivity, which is the very hallmark of humanity. The flesh eater may still look like a human being on the outside but within himself he is full of animal instincts worse than those of a predator.
Even from the health considerations vegetarian foods have long been accepted as healthier than the flesh foods. Flesh eating has been associated with a large number of diseases that the vegetarians do without. Flesh foods are difficult to digest, remain longer in the intestines and increase acidity, flatulence and many other disorders of the digestive system. Flesh foods are also carriers of many contagions of animal origin, which are transmitted to the humans consuming them. Even in the western
82: JAINISM: THE CREED FOR ALL TIMES
