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Chapter 6.5 JAIN DIET
very living being requires air, water and food for its existence. Clean air and water L are more important than food, and they are still available without much effort on the
individual's part and are provided by nature. Food, on the other hand, has to be gathered, prepared and consumed for sustenance. Animals eat to live and generally accept what is available, but humans, although they require food for their physical and mental well being, consume socially acceptable food, many a times to satisfy their palates. Jainism believes the necessity of sound physical and mental health for spiritual progress and that the food influences the body, mind and all that is associated with our lives.
Jain seers taught of the importance of food and wrote a vast amount of literature on the subject: its definition, procurement, preparation and purity, non-violent dietary habits and the effects of food on health. Most of this work concerns the dietary regulations of ascetics, but later such details as acceptable food, methods of preservation, and time limits after which food becomes unacceptable were made available to the laity.
Generally, the word 'food' connotes the idea of morsels of food. Jains call it aahaara, a combination of two words (aa, meaning from all corners', and haara, meaning 'receiving' or 'taking in'), indicating substances injested by any method for the building the body, its vital functions and vitality, and anaahaara to the abstaining from food. Bhagvati Sutra and Prajnaapana Sutra use the following terms to describe the methods of food intake
aahaara: Intake of appropriate food substances. oja aahaara: Intake of food by the karmic and luminous body of the soul, in the process of transmigration, before a new body is formed. roma aahaara: Intake of food by the skin. kaval aahaara: Intake of food by mouth (Jain, N. 1996: p.505).
Table 6.2 Classification of types, sources and methods of food intake
Types Morsel food Diffusable food Absorbable food Mental or volitional Karmic food Quasi-karmic food
Source Foods, drinks Oil, cream, etc. Air, sunlight Mental activities Karmic particles Karmic particles
Methods of Intake Mouth Skin (by massage) Breathing, skin Passions like anger and greed Activities of body, speech, mind Quasi-passions: laughter, disgust
(Dhavalaa's classification by Virasena quoted in Jain N. 1996: p.506).
Thus, according to Jains food includes commonplace food and drinks, oily substances diffused through skin, air, sunlight, and the karmic particles. Jainism and other Indian religions have laid great emphasis on the purity of food and classified it in three types:
Taamasika food (emotional) induces vice and the spiritual decline of an individual, includes meat, alcohol, honey, and root vegetables.
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