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NEW IDEOLOGIES NEW TRADITIONS
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'We kill an elephant with a bow and arrow It serves us as food for a long period'
'What makes you think that it is a superior way of winning food than living on roots?'
'The reason for holding it superior is the less number of destruction of lives involved in our mode of living Vedantic monks destroy numberless lives for a day's meal while one life sustains us for days and days The violence committed by them is graver than that committed by us
This specious argument in favour of non-vegetarianism is at least 2500 years old Not only the householders but also meat-eating monks subscribed to it Mahavira condemned this argument1
His manifesto against carnivorous living was not a movement but an everflowing fountain of compassion The stream of love enveloped in its wake every living being. He had as much affinity for birds, vegetables and minute organisms as for man There was no scope for allowing any killing at all Non-violence was his dream of dreams But man, being what he is, would not readily accept the doctrine The question of human survival was also not to be lost sight of Food is a prerequisite of human life That cereals sustain life was a common knowledge. The Lord examined the issue from two stand-points, first indispensability and second human resolve The Lord would not support that which is unattainable
Vegetables food is the minimum requirement of human life Meat-eaters also consume vegetables but vegetarians scruplously exclude meat Meat is not indispensable like vegetables The will to live at another life's expense is there behind this way of living The Lord's first motto is-If violence under compulsion is unavoidable, at least violence voluntarily performed should be avoided This dictum renders nonvegetarianism assailable
The growing fervour for vegetarianism all over the world can be traced to Jainism Prior to that meat-eating was common
1
Suyagado 2/6/52, 55
