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being and another which gives rise to the second instinct, namely that of fear (bhaya-samjñā). The consumption of food sets in motion the third and probably the most virulent of the instincts, the desire for SCX (maithuna-samjñā), gratification of which produces further desire for food. This, in turn, produces a craving to accumulate things for future use, the instinct called parigraha-saṇjñā, which invariably goads the soul towards volitional harmful acts (himsā) inspired by attachment and aversion (rāga and dveșa). The Jainas therefore see the craving for food as the very root of all bondage, the uprooting of which is essential for the elimination of the other passions.
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The Jaina texts dealing with the training of mendicants constantly encourage the cultivation of distaste for food and stipulate a variety of ways of overcoming the desire for flavor (rasa-parityāga). They begin with the characteristic Jaina declaration that the desire for food is the prime cause for all fems of himsā since food cannot be consumed without destroying another life form. Because life cannot be maintained without consuming some amount of food, the Jaina teachers have devised various means of minimizing this himsa for their mendicants who have assumed the vow of total nonviolence (ahimsā-mahāvrata),1a In the Jaina classification of beings, souls endowed with all five senses (pañcendriya-jīva) occupy the highest position, while the vegetable life, endowed with only one sense, namely that of touch, is placed at the bottom of the list. Beings with two or more senses must not be willfully violated even by a lay person because their organisms (muscle, blood, bones, etc.) are similar to urat of human beings. Thus all forms of animal flesh, including foul and fish, are totally unacceptable for a pious Jaina who must depend on a vegetarian dict, with only dairy products as an exception to the rule (since it is believed that removal of milk does not hurt the animal). The list of prohibited food (abhakṣya), however, even extends to certain fruits and vegetables, especially the five kinds of figs (udumbara), fruits with many seeds (bahubīja), and a variety of plants called anantakāyas, which are thought to be inhabited not by individual souls but by an infinite number of living organism. These anantakayas include as many as thirty-two varieties of food including turmeric, ginger, garlic, bamboo, radishes, beetroots, and carrots. 15 The Jainas extend their scruples against destroying ekendriyas even to water used for drinking. No observant Jaina may drink un
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