Thread by @jainatva_

Many non-vegetarians ask what justifies the lives of Jains ? As eating grains, pulses and vegetables also cause violence. And even germs are killed every day by antibodies in their gut. अहिंसा preaches non-violence even to the smallest bacteria. Is this a violation of अहिंसा ?

This is certainly not a violation of the Principle of अहिंसा as preached in Jainism. The Principle of अहिंसा of Jainism is often misunderstood. Here are a few important points that need to be understood :

Certain types of हिंसा are permissible in Jainism:

In Jainism, हिंसा has been broadly classified in four categories:

1) संकल्पी हिंसा – deliberately killing a living-being

2) आरंभि हिंसा - हिंसा resulting from day to day household work

3) उद्योगी हिंसा – हिंसा resulting from agriculture, trade, profession etc.

4) विरोधी हिंसा – हिंसा resulting from war etc. to safeguard the country or fight injustice

Of the four categories, संकल्पी हिंसा is totally forbidden. The other three categories of हिंसा are not totally forbidden for the household persons as these are unavoidable.

हिंसा of one-sense living-beings is not forbidden:

For household persons, हिंसा of two, three, four and five-sense living-beings (बेइंद्रीय तेइन्द्रिय चौरिंद्रीय पंचन्द्रिय) is forbidden, but हिंसा of one-sense living-beings (एकिंद्रीय) is not forbidden because it is inevitable.

One should try to minimise हिंसा :

An important point in the context of हिंसा is that one should try to minimise हिंसा and be always cautious and watchful to ensure that even one-sense living-beings do not get killed unnecessarily.

What matters most is your thoughts and intention:

Another important aspect of हिंसा is – what exactly constitutes हिंसा. There may be physical हिंसा and yet no bad karmas are attracted. Inversely, there may not be any physical हिंसा and yet bad karmas get attracted.

There are two types of हिंसा - ‘द्रव्य हिंसा’ (physical himsa ) and ‘भाव हिंसा ’ (himsa in thought). भाव हिंसा is more important in the context of attracting bad karma.

Higher the number of senses, greater the हिंसा :

हिंसा involved in the killing of one-sense living-beings is not the same as killing two-sense or three, four or five-sense living-beings.

Higher the number of senses a living-being has, far greater the pain it would feel, far greater the bad feelings it would have towards its killer, far greater the efforts and cruel thoughts on the part of the killer and hence far greater would be the degree of himsa involved.

This explains why agriculture is fine with Jainism but not the fisheries or slaughter houses, though all fall in the category of उद्योगि हिंसा.

हिंसा has wider definition :

The wider definition of हिंसा includes actions like torture, causing any type of harm, pain or trouble to someone, exploitation, slavery, injustice, unethical practices etc.

If anything has been said by me against the आज्ञा of प्रभु वीर , then मिच्छामी दुक्कडम. 🙏

#Jainism