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Not only the Jaina monks, but also the laymen are very particular about taking and keeping (besides those groups of fundamental “vows”, which are being taken only once in the whole life, and for lifelong) number of other, detached Pratyākhyānas of the above described character for an optional period. For the key to "Mokşa:” constant binding alone can lead to final "Liberty.” Thus, there is practically no Jaina who will eat meat or fish or fowl, or even eggs, and there is no Jaina who will intentionally and without purpose kill or trouble a harmless living creature, be it even a fly. Most Jainas even avoid potattoes, onions, garlic, and other vegetables believed to be endowed with a higher vitality, as well as eating at night; and most Jainas take; for certain days, the vow of abstention from green vegetables, or from travelling and moving out, or the vow of chastity and vows of innumerable other things.
The theoretical and practical valuation of the different kinds and shades of Pratyākhyānas depends not only on their duration, or on the quantity of the objects concerned, but first of all on their transcendental quality. For though all the souls, i.e., all the living creatures, are equal in their original disposition, still they are observed to be in various phase of development towards perfection, in various stages of self-realization. According to the principle of economy, the higher developed ones are higher valued than the lower developed ones. Therefore, the Karma bound by harming a higher developed being is thought to be of graver consequences than that bound by injuring lower creature. Thus, plucking a handful of vegetables is, by far, less harmful than killing a cow ; killing a menacing tiger less harmful than the murder of a peaceful antepol ; or punishing a dangerous criminal is of less consequences than an offence done to saintly monk. This valuation, by-the-bye, seems to have a counterpart in those less refined, universally adopted conceptions, which, with all expressions of
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