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Chapter 13
THE ENVIRONMENT
ONE day Ajay asked Abhaybhai, "Daddy, how should we care for the environment?" Abhaybhai replied, "Jainism teaches us to avoid waste, to limit our needs, and to avoid harm to all life - as much as possible. There is a nice story about this. Would you like to hear it?" Ajay said, "Oh! Yes daddy - I like stories."
Abhaybhai then told him this story:
There were six friends called Mahesh, Naresh, Mayuri, Kamala, Nayana and Raman. One day they were walking in the woods. They had walked a long way, and were getting very hungry. They were looking for something that they could eat. They were overjoyed to see a big jamun tree. The tree was full of juicy purple-black jamuns. Mahesh, who was the most impatient, said, "Maybe I could run to that cottage and get an axe to cut the tree down, so we can eat the jamuns to our satisfaction." Naresh said, "Wait, we do not need to cut the tree, we could cut some of the larger branches, and we need a saw for that. I will go and get one." Mayuri said, "Why should we cut the large branches? All we need to do is snap some of the smaller branches with the jamuns on them, and you do not need anything for that."
Kamala was listening to all this. She laughed and said, "My friends, you are not really thinking. We all want to eat jamuns, so why should we not cut only the bunches of the jamuns from the tree? We do not need to cut the tree, the large or small branches." Nayana said, "Think carefully; all we need to do is to climb the tree and pick the ripe jamuns to eat. That way we will not destroy the tree or its branches."
Raman, who was the wisest and kindest of all, said, "Listen to me, friends, trees are so important that they are called life-givers. Trees give us shade, they attract rain, they produce oxygen, and they give us fruit and food like this jamun tree. More importantly, trees support various forms of life. They give us medicines. We owe so much to trees. Therefore, if we need fruit, we do not need to cut the tree or its
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