Non-violence (Ahimsa) is the highest
principle of Jain religion. Jains are very compassionate people and they
have traditionally revered animals. Most of Jains do not take meat, fish,
eggs, and alcohol and their concern for animals goes beyond vegetarianism.
The Jain scriptures demonstrate a deep compassion for them. Animal symbols
and stories pervade the Jain tradition. For centuries, Jains have
protected and cared for animals. They have established many animal and
bird sanctuaries (panjarapoles) and hospitals in India.
However recent technological advances
have created a new environment for violence not visible to common people.
The cruelty to dairy cows and other animals has reached its peak behind
the walls of dairy farms and slaughter-houses. Their owners, both
industries and associated people treat animals and birds as commodities.
Animals are produced on a large scale through artificial insemination and
other means. The owners exploit and torture these animals on a large scale
during the prime of their life and ultimately slaughter them well before
the end of their natural life spans.
Even though Jains are vegetarian but
they continue to use dairy products and some of them wear silk and wool
clothes. Also the animal by products that are used in cookies, candy,
clothing, footwear, household cleaning supplies, cosmetics, medicines, and
in performing religious rituals are used by Jains on a daily basis.
The purpose of this book is to
educate the Jain community and other concerned and compassionate people
regarding the high tech cruelty to all types of animals that exist in the
production of dairy and other products. By reading the various articles,
you will realize that cruelty to animals occurs, in a similar way, in the
USA, India, in big cities, villages, and the world at large.
By consuming dairy (milk, cheese,
butter, ghee, and ice cream) and other products as mentioned above we
directly support large-scale cruelty to animals. Jains should pay
attention to animals, not in a sentimental way, but in a way that gives
both animals and humans the freedom to pursue their own paths and to
fulfill their self-made destinies
It is our humble request to the Jain
community that they should not use dairy products (milk and sweet for puja,
ghee for divo etc..), silk, wool, and varakh in Jain temples and in Jain
rituals and serve only vegan (vegetarian food without dairy products) food
in religious function.
The informations on various articles
were collected from many sources over many years. In particular we have
collected significant information from PETA (Ingrid Newkirk), Beauty
Without Cruelty (India), Dr. Neal D. Bernard's books and tapes, literature
and articles of John Robbins, Dr. Dean Ornish, Dr. Narendra Sheth,
Sangeeta Kumar and Dr. Christopher Chapel. We are very thankful for their
and many others contribution in the field of nonviolence, compassion,
ecology, and environment.
We are highly obliged to Gurudev Shri
Chitrabhanuji who has been constant encouragement to us in compiling and
publishing this book.
We are very thankful to the president
of Federation of Jaina (North America), Dr. Mahendra Pandya who
distributed this booklet to the entire Jain community (9000 families) of
North America in December 2000. He supported this project from the
contribution received for Calendar and Book source fund. This way the Jain
community will be made aware about the high tech cruelty that exist to all
types of animals around the world.
We hope this booklet will be well
received by its readers and it will serve its intended purpose to educate
the Jain community at large. If you have any more information, comments,
or corrections to information found in any of the articles, please let us
know. We continuously update these articles and add new information.
Pramoda Chitrabhanu
Jain Meditation International Center,
New York
Pravin K. Shah
Jain Study Center of North Carolina
(Raleigh)
